when japan's consul to lithuania, chiune sugihara, sacrificed his diplomatic career to issue japanese passports to jewish refugees, raichik helped procure visas for his fellow students and others. after spending close to a year in kobe, japan, the yeshiva relocated again, this time to shanghai, china, where many other jews spent the remainder of the war years as well. in shanghai, rabbi raichik became the foundation for the uprooted lubavitch yeshiva. in addition to overseeing the daily running of the school, friends recall how lovingly he served as surrogate parent to the younger students. though given many chances to leave, raichik chose to stay in until the very last student was able to leave, in 1946.