Chaya Mushka Schneerson

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For the wife of the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, see Chaya Mushka Schneersohn.
Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka

Chaya Mushka Schneerson
BornMarch 16, 1901
Babinovichi, Belarus[1]
DiedFebruary 10, 1988(1988-02-10) (aged 86)
New York
Resting placeOld Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York
SpouseRabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Parent(s)Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak and Nechama Dinah Schneersohn

Chaya Mushka (Moussia) Schneerson (March 16, 1901 – February 10, 1988), referred to by Lubavitchers as The Rebbetzin, was the wife of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh and last Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. She was the second of three daughters of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn. She was named after the wife of the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn.

Biography

Early life

Chaya Mushka Schneerson's gravesite

She was born in Babinovitch, near the Russian city of Lubavitch on Shabbat, the 25th of Adar of the year 5661 (March 16, 1901; or March 3, 1901 by the Old Style calendar). At the request of her grandfather, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, she was named Chaya Mushka after her great great grandmother, the wife of Menachem Mendel Schneersohn.[2] She lived in Lubavitch until the autumn of 1915 when due to World War I, she and her family fled to Rostov. In 1920, on the death of her grandfather, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, her father became the sixth Rebbe of Lubavitch. In the spring of 1924, due to increasing dangers for the Jews in Rostov, she and her family moved to Leningrad. In the autumn of 1927, her father was imprisoned for disseminating Torah observance, and she participated in successful efforts to have him released. His sentence was first commuted to exile,[3] and Chaya Mushka accompanied her father to Kostroma.[4] After his release, the Schneersohn family left the Soviet Union and moved to Riga, Latvia.

Marriage

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In 1928 she married Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson in Warsaw, and they went to live in Berlin, where he studied in a local university. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, they fled to Paris. When Germany invaded France in 1940 they escaped from France on the Serpa Pinto, the last passenger ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean before the U-boat blockade began. They settled in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, where many Lubavitcher Hasidim had already settled. However, her younger sister Shaina Horenstein and Shaina's husband, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Horenstein, were trapped in Poland and murdered by the Germans at Treblinka.

In 1950 her father died and her husband was formally appointed as the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.[5]

She saw her role as wholly subordinate to her husband's mission of Jewish leadership. In public, she always referred to him as "the Rebbe." When she relayed an answer from him to those seeking his guidance, she always repeated his exact wording, refusing either to interpret or elaborate upon his advice. She resisted efforts among the Lubavitchers to bestow public honors on her.[6]

In the court case over ownership of the Chabad Library, Chaya Mushka testified saying, "My father, along with all his books, belong to the Chassidim."[7]

Death

She died on February 10, 1988, 22nd of Shevat, 5748.[8]

Soon after her death, her husband founded a charitable organization, Keren Ha'Chomesh (Chomesh is an acronym of Chaya Mushka Schneerson), primarily working in women's religious, social and educational programs. A campus of the Bais Rivka girls' school ("Campus Chomesh") was also named after her.

References

  1. ^ https://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/day.asp?hdate=13/25/5727&mode=j[bare URL]
  2. ^ Birth – Jewish History – Chabad.org
  3. ^ Encyclopedia of Hasidism, entry: Schneersohn, Joseph Isaac. Naftali Lowenthal. Aronson, London 1996. ISBN 1-56821-123-6
  4. ^ Ami Magazine Features Spread on the Rebbetzin – CrownHeights.info
  5. ^ The Rebbetzin – Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson
  6. ^ Edward Hoffman, Despite All Odds: The Story of Lubavitch (New York, Simon and Schuster, 1991), p. 45 ISBN 0-671-67703-9
  7. ^ Her Name – Jewish History – Chabad.org
  8. ^ Goldman, Ari L. (February 11, 1988), "Chaya Schneerson, Wife of the Leader Of the Lubavitchers", The New York Times

Bibliography

  • The Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneersohn. A Brief Biography. Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch: New York, 1999, 2004. ISBN 0-8266-0101-4

External links


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