the Czars was never easy, but it became much worse when Czar Alexander I was succeeded by Czar Nicholas I in 1825. The restrictions against the Jews increased in number and severity, and the Jews continued to be confined to the Pale of Settlement. They had no right to live, work or do business outside the Pale, where conditions had become very difficult in the wake of the Franco-Russian war. Schneuri thus launched a campaign (in 1822, or 1823) to urge Jews to learn trades and skilled factory work. He urged communities to organize trade schools. He also encouraged the study of agriculture, dairy farming, and the like, reminding them that once upon a time, when the Jewish people lived in their own land, they were a people of farmers, fruit growers, and herdsmen. He urged that boys who did not show promise of becoming Torah scholars should, after the age of 13, devote part of their time to the learning of a trade, or work in the fields, to help support the family. In 1815, with government permission and sponsorship, he set up Jewish agricultural colonies. He took to the road to raise funds for this purpose, and he visited the Jewish farmers and encouraged them in their pioneer work, also seeing that their spiritual needs and the education of the farmers' children should not be neglected. He was active in the collection and distribution of financial aid from Russia to the Jewish population in the Holy Land. He intended to settle in Hebron himself, believing that this was the "gate of heaven," and prayers to be particularly effective there. He instructed Chabad followers living in the Holy Land to move to the city for this reason. Like his father, he was informed upon by his enemies, accused of being a danger to the Russian government. He was arrested on charges of having sent 200-300 rubles to the Sultan, and was ordered to appear for a trial in Vitebsk; however, due to the efforts of several non-Jewish friends he was released before the trial. The day of his release, 10 Kislev 5587, is celebrated joyously to this day by Chabad Chassidim. Death He died in Nizhyn on November 16 1827, on his Hebrew birthday, 9 Kislev. Family He had two sons, Menachem Nahum and Baruch, and seven daughters. The oldest of his daughters, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, was married to