Chaya Mushka (Moussia) Schneerson (March 16, 1901–February 10, 1988) referred to by Lubavitchers as
The RebbetzinRebbitzin or Rabbanit is the title used for the wife of a rabbi, typically from the Orthodox, or Haredi, and Hasidic Jewish groups...
was the wife of Rabbi
Menachem Mendel SchneersonMenachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe amongst his hasidim, was a prominent hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch movement...
, the seventh and last
RebbeRebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the identical Hebrew word Rabbi. It mostly refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
(spiritual leader) of the
Chabad-LubavitchChabad-Lubavitch is a Hasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. One of the world's largest Hasidic movements, it is based in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York...
branch of
Hasidic JudaismHasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew: , Hasidut, meaning "piety") is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith. The majority of Hasidic Jews are ultra-orthodox....
. 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 SchneersohnMenachem Mendel Schneersohn also known as the Tzemach Tzedek was an Orthodox rabbi and the third Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement.-Biography:...
.
Born in Babinovitch, near the Russian city of
LubavitchLyubavichi is a village in Rudnyansky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia. In the days of the Russian Empire, it was a shtetl in Orshansky Uyezd, in Mogilev Governorate. It is known to have existed since at least 1654. For two weeks in 1812, was occupied by Napoleonic troops. Had 2500 inhabitants...
, she lived in Lubavitch until the autumn of 1915 when due to
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, she and her family were forced to flee to
RostovRostov-on-Don is the city and the administrative center of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia, located on the Don River, just 46 km from the Sea of Azov. Population: -Geography:...
.
Chaya Mushka (Moussia) Schneerson (March 16, 1901–February 10, 1988) referred to by Lubavitchers as
The RebbetzinRebbitzin or Rabbanit is the title used for the wife of a rabbi, typically from the Orthodox, or Haredi, and Hasidic Jewish groups...
was the wife of Rabbi
Menachem Mendel SchneersonMenachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe amongst his hasidim, was a prominent hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch movement...
, the seventh and last
RebbeRebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the identical Hebrew word Rabbi. It mostly refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
(spiritual leader) of the
Chabad-LubavitchChabad-Lubavitch is a Hasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. One of the world's largest Hasidic movements, it is based in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York...
branch of
Hasidic JudaismHasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew: , Hasidut, meaning "piety") is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith. The majority of Hasidic Jews are ultra-orthodox....
. 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 SchneersohnMenachem Mendel Schneersohn also known as the Tzemach Tzedek was an Orthodox rabbi and the third Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement.-Biography:...
.
Biography
Born in Babinovitch, near the Russian city of
LubavitchLyubavichi is a village in Rudnyansky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia. In the days of the Russian Empire, it was a shtetl in Orshansky Uyezd, in Mogilev Governorate. It is known to have existed since at least 1654. For two weeks in 1812, was occupied by Napoleonic troops. Had 2500 inhabitants...
, she lived in Lubavitch until the autumn of 1915 when due to
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, she and her family were forced to flee to
RostovRostov-on-Don is the city and the administrative center of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia, located on the Don River, just 46 km from the Sea of Azov. Population: -Geography:...
. In 1920, on the passing of her grandfather, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi
Sholom Dovber SchneersohnSholom Dovber Schneersohn was an Orthodox rabbi and the fifth Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement...
, 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
LeningradSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd and Leningrad...
. In the autumn of 1927 her father was imprisoned in 1927 for disseminating Torah observance, and she participated in efforts to have him released that were ultimately successful. After his release, the Schneersohn family left the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
and moved to
RigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia, a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltics, and an important seaport, situated on the mouth of the Daugava...
,
LatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...
.
In 1928 she married Rabbi
Menachem Mendel SchneersonMenachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe amongst his hasidim, was a prominent hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch movement...
in
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
, and they went to live in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, where he studied in the local
UniversityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
. After the Nazis came to power in 1933 they fled to
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. When the Nazis invaded France in 1941 they managed to escape from France on the Serpa Pinto, which was the last boat to cross the Atlantic ocean before the
U-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
blockade began. They settled in the
Crown HeightsCrown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....
section of Brooklyn, New York, where many Lubavitcher Hasidim had already settled. However, her younger sister Shaina and Shaina's husband, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Horenstein were trapped in Poland and murdered by the
GermansThe German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
in the gas chambers of Treblinka.
In 1950 her father died. According to the Chabad biography, Rabbi Menachem Mendel initially did not want to take on the mantle of leadership, but Chaya Mushka (along with many of her father's Hasidim) persistently urged him to reconsider, and in 1951 he was formally appointed as the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Chaya Mushka had no children, however once, when a child visiting her house asked her, "where are your children?" she answered, "the Chassidim are my children."
Gracious and courteous to everyone, 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 and made sure that the listener knew it, invariably refusing either to interpret or elaborate upon his advice. She resisted efforts among the Lubavitchers to bestow public honors on her.
During the court case held against her husband over ownership of the
Chabad libraryThe Central Chabad Lubavitch Library is the Library of Agudas Chasidei Chabad. It opened its reading room in 1992 and exhibition hall in 1994. The library is housed in the Lubavitch world headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, NY, and is utilized by Chabad and general Judaic scholars and...
, Chaya Mushka testified for the federal court, saying, "My father, my husband, along with all his books, belong to the Chassidim."
Chaya Mushka died on February 10, 1988, after a brief illness, and was buried in the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York, next to her mother, Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, and grandmother, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, and near her father.
After her passing, her husband immediately founded a charitable organization in her name. The organization,
Keren Ha'Chomesh (Chomesh is an acronym of Chaya Mushka Schneerson), serves a variety of causes, primarily those related to women's religious social and educational programs. A campus of the
Bais RivkaBais Rivka is the name used for the Bais Yaakov-type private girls' schools of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement.The main branch is located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn named Campus Chomesh, and there are a number of other branches in Jewish communities around the world...
girls' school ("Campus Chomesh") was also named in her memory, as were many other institutions. After her passing, when the Rebbe was asked about the extent of the Rebbetzin's greatness, he remarked, "Only Hashem knows."
External links