Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson

Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson

Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson (25 Adar 5661 – 22 Shevat 5748; March 15, 1901 – February 13, 1988) was the daughter of the Frierdiker Rebbe — Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the sixth Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch — and the wife of The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. She stood at the center of Chabad's most turbulent and consequential decades, bearing witness to exile, rescue, and the building of one of the most far-reaching Jewish movements in history — always from a place of deep personal reticence, quiet wisdom, and extraordinary strength of character.

Life

The Rebbetzin in her childhood years

Birth and early years

Chaya Mushka was born on the holy Shabbos, 25 Adar 5661 (March 15, 1901), to the Frierdiker Rebbe — Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn — and his wife Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, in the small town of Babinovitch, near Lyozna, in what was then the Russian Empire. Her maternal and paternal lineages both traced back to the Tzemach Tzedek, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the third Rebbe of Chabad.

Her grandfather, the Rebbe Rashab — Rabbi Shalom DovBer Schneersohn, the fifth Chabad Rebbe — was traveling outside of Russia at the time of her birth. He sent a telegram to his son instructing that the newborn girl be named Chaya Mushka, after the wife of the Tzemach Tzedek, who was herself an ancestor of both parents.

She grew up in her parents' home, living first in Lubavitch, the ancestral seat of the Chabad dynasty. In 5676 (1916), the family relocated to Rostov, having been displaced by the upheavals of World War I, together with the Rebbe Rashab and Rebbetzin Shterna Sara. In 5684 (1924), the family moved to Leningrad. In 5688 (1928), following the Frierdiker Rebbe's release from Soviet imprisonment and his departure from Russia, they settled in Riga.

Power of attorney

On 7 Kislev 5685 (December 4, 1924), Chaya Mushka's father, the Frierdiker Rebbe, entrusted her with a formal written power of attorney — an unlimited authority to receive funds and documents, both official and unofficial, registered in his name, and to delegate this authority further to whomever she saw fit. She was twenty-three years old.

The year of her father's arrest

In 5687 (1927), when the Soviet secret police arrested her father, Chaya Mushka was the first to carry the news to the young man who was to become her husband, The Rebbe, who in turn spread word of the arrest further. When the sentence of internal exile to Kostroma was pronounced, she accompanied her father from Leningrad to the place of exile. And when word came that the sentence had been commuted and her father was to be freed, it was Chaya Mushka who telephoned the news from Kostroma to her father's household in Leningrad — the first voice to carry the tidings of his liberation.

Wedding

On 6 Kislev 5689 (November 9, 1928), the engagement of Chaya Mushka to The Rebbe was formalized in Riga.

On 14 Kislev 5689 (November 14, 1928), the wedding took place in Warsaw, Poland. The ceremony was officiated by her father, the Frierdiker Rebbe. The reception began at five o'clock in the afternoon; special guards ensured that only invited guests with entrance cards were admitted to the hall of the Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva of Warsaw, where the wedding was held.

The groom was seated at a table together with many Rebbes, rabbis, and communal leaders from across Poland. The Frierdiker Rebbe delivered a Chassidic discourse — a maamar, an elevated spiritual address rooted in the teachings of Chassidus — on the theme of Lecha Dodi Likrat Kalla ("Come, my beloved, to greet the bride"), the Shabbos hymn. The wedding canopy itself was erected in the courtyard of the yeshiva, where more than five thousand people had gathered.

The wedding attendants — those who escort the bride and groom — were the Frierdiker Rebbe and his wife, Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, and Rabbi Moshe Horenstein and his wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka (herself named for the same ancestor). During the celebratory meal, each guest received a tashurah — a commemorative gift: a facsimile of a handwritten text by the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad, accompanied by a handwritten note from the Frierdiker Rebbe.

At the very same time as the wedding in Warsaw, a parallel celebration was held in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, Ukraine), at the home of the groom's parents, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson and Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, who had been unable to leave Soviet Russia and could not attend.

Life after the wedding

Following their marriage, the Rebbe and Rebbetzin made their home in Berlin. In 5693 (1933), they relocated to Paris.

During these years, the Rebbetzin served as a de facto personal secretary to her father, the Frierdiker Rebbe. She managed his accounts, oversaw the transfer of charitable funds according to his instructions, and signed correspondence on his behalf.

When Nazi Germany occupied France, the Rebbe and Rebbetzin fled to Nice (Nizza), in the unoccupied zone of southern France then governed by the Vichy French authorities.

The Frierdiker Rebbe worked urgently and persistently to bring his daughter and son-in-law out of a burning Europe. After months of efforts and intense intervention, an American visa was issued to them. On 20 Nissan 5701 (April 17, 1941), they received it at the American consulate in Marseille.

After further extraordinary efforts, the Rebbe and Rebbetzin reached Lisbon, Portugal, where they boarded a ship bound for the United States.

On 28 Sivan 5701 (June 23, 1941), they arrived in the United States aboard the ship Serpa Pinta. This date has since been observed as a day of celebration and gratitude, commemorating the miraculous rescue of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin. Only three days after their arrival, in the early afternoon, the Frierdiker Rebbe sent word asking the Rebbe and Rebbetzin to come to him — separately.

The secret visit to Paris

In 5714 (1953–1954), the Rebbetzin made a quiet, private visit of several days to Paris, in order to see firsthand the condition of the Jewish refugees who were then living there. A considerable number of Chabad chassidim were living in genuinely difficult circumstances. The Rebbetzin inquired into every detail of their situation, and one night, unnoticed, she visited the refugees in person — to understand their lives directly, to speak with them, to care for them as a mother cares for her children. Those who knew her recalled that alongside her warm concern, she displayed remarkable practical wisdom.

The Library Case

During the Library Case — the legal proceedings over the ownership of the Frierdiker Rebbe's library, which became one of the defining legal battles in Chabad's modern history — the opposing attorneys asked the Rebbetzin for her view on to whom the books rightfully belonged. Her answer was immediate and unhesitating: her father and his books alike belonged to the Chassidim.

This single sentence had a profound effect on the outcome of the case. The judge was deeply struck by it. After her passing, the Rebbe referred to this episode on a number of occasions.

Passing

The Rebbe at the Rebbetzin's funeral procession

Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka passed away on 22 Shevat 5748 (February 13, 1988), following a brief illness.

When she had begun to feel unwell, she was rushed to the hospital. Upon arrival, she asked for a cup of water, recited the blessing Shehakol nihyeh bidvaro — "All things come into being through His word" — and her soul returned to its Maker.

More than fifteen thousand people accompanied her in the funeral procession, which was led by a motorcade of police motorcycles, making its way to the Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York, where she was buried beside her father, the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Rebbe personally composed the inscription on her gravestone.

The Rebbe gave Rabbi Chaim Sholom Dov Ber Lipsker a small sewn pouch, asking that it be buried together with the Rebbetzin; it was sewn close to her head, within the burial shrouds. Its contents have never been disclosed, though various accounts have been offered.

Some time before her passing, someone had brought the Rebbetzin a ring that had belonged to her sister, Sheina Horenstein. The Rebbetzin had guarded it carefully, as it was her only memento of her sister. Rabbi Chasdia Halberstam, who was aware of the ring, believed it was the Rebbetzin's wish that it be buried with her. When Rabbi Lipsker placed the ring in the casket, the Rebbe asked him about it, and he explained.

The gravestone was erected on the eighth day after the burial.

Throughout the seven-day mourning period, the thirty days of mourning, and the entire year of mourning, the Rebbe prayed at home at the prayer stand. Until Passover of 5749 (1989), the Rebbe remained at home on weekdays, where prayers, Chassidic gatherings (farbrengens — intimate gatherings for spiritual renewal and inspiration), the Sunday distribution of dollar bills for charity, and similar communal activities were all held. On Shabbos he generally returned to 770.

Legacy and memorials

The Chomesh Fund and birthday campaigns

On the very day of her passing, the Rebbe established in her memory the Keren Chamas — the Chamas Fund — dedicated to supporting women in the three mitzvos that are central to the Jewish home: the separation of challah dough, the lighting of Shabbos candles, and the laws of family purity. The fund operates under the directorship of Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky and continues to assist tens of thousands of women in educational and communal endeavors to this day.

In the days and months following her passing, the Rebbe repeatedly cited the verse v'hachai yiten el libo — "the living should take it to heart" (Ecclesiastes 7:2) — teaching that the passing of someone close must lead to positive action: living in the spirit of the one who has left, and initiating acts of goodness in their memory.

Following the Rebbe's call to establish institutions in her name, the Or Chaya Seminary was founded in Jerusalem in 5749 (1989) — a Torah center for women, offering classes in multiple languages.

Approximately one month after her passing, on 25 Adar (her birthday), the Rebbe launched the Birthday Campaign, announcing customs connected with observing one's birthday as a day of personal renewal, good resolutions, and communal celebration in the form of a farbrengen.

The Rebbe described the date of the Rebbetzin's passing as the beginning of a new era in the leadership of the Nasi of our generation — one in which the final spiritual refinements of history are complete, and the Jewish people need only prepare themselves for the coming of Mashiach.

Character and personality

Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka was known for three qualities above all: exceptional acuity, absolute modesty, and a devoted dedication to her husband and his mission.

She was a woman of great learning and wisdom in her own right — yet she shunned recognition, recoiled from public attention, and was never seen in the women's gallery of 770. As a result, very little was known about her daily life while she lived. All her life she embodied the verse: Kol kevuda bat melech penima — "The entire glory of a king's daughter is within" (Psalms 45:14). Only after her passing did those who had known her begin to speak of what they had seen.

Ways and customs

She was known to listen to Torah classes given by Rabbi Yoel Kahn.

She took a deep and sustained interest in the well-being of young men and women who had come to Chabad from Satmar and other communities — concerning herself with their futures, their integration, and their marriage prospects.

The Rebbetzin showed keen interest in everything connected with Chabad emissary families — their working conditions, their living circumstances, the smallest details of their sacred work. She spoke of them with evident admiration and affection, and maintained personal contact with a number of emissaries and their wives, inviting those who came to Brooklyn to visit her at home.

In her later years she devoted considerable energy to the Mivtza Neiros Shabbos Kodesh — the campaign to spread the lighting of Shabbos candles — and to the Ten Yad organization for assisting brides in establishing their homes.

The meaning of her name

The Rebbetzin's gravestone, bearing the date 22 Shevat 5748 (February 13, 1988)

Chaya — from the Hebrew root for life (chayim), life drawn from the ultimate Source of all vitality and channeled through the dimension of the soul, down to the physical body itself. The letter hei, which closes the name, alludes to the five organs of speech and the ten divine utterances through which the world was created.

Mushka — a name of non-Hebrew origin, evoking a type of precious fragrance. That the name comes from another language itself alludes to the most refined spiritual elevation; that it refers to fragrance points to the transcendent, enveloping dimension of the soul — its makif, the light that surrounds from without rather than pervading from within — whose essence is likened to scent.

The combined numerical value of both names (gematria) is 470 — hinting at the word ittim, "times," suggesting both the good times that are openly good and those that, though challenging, are transformed through one's spiritual service into good.

Institutions established in her memory

• Merkaz Chomesh — Network of Kollelim — a network of fifty study centers for advanced Torah study throughout Israel
• Beis Chaya Mushka of Crown Heights
• Beis Chaya Mushka (Paris) — the largest Jewish girls' elementary school in Europe, enrolling approximately 2,500 students
• Or Chaya Seminary, Jerusalem
• Beis Chaya Mushka (Migdal HaEmek)
• Beis Chaya Mushka Seminary, Safed
• Beis Chaya Mushka Girls' School, Netanya
• Beis Chaya Chabad — Elementary and High School, Haifa and the Krayot area
• Merkaz Nefesh Chaya institutions, Chabad-Lubavitch, the Krayot area
• Beis Chaya Girls' School, Chabad-Lubavitch, Beitar Illit
• Ma'onos Chaya — a network of daycare centers under Chabad Kollel
• Or Chaya Girls' School, Petah Tikva
• Beis Chaya Mushka Gilo, Jerusalem
• Kerem Chaya Mushka, Kiryat Shmona
• Beis Chaya Mushka, Los Angeles
• Beis Chaya Mushka Seminary, Nof HaGalil
• Beis Chaya Mushka — Synagogue and Chabad House, Netanya
• Beis Chaya Mushka — Girls' School, Kfar Chabad
• Ateres Chaya — Girls' School, Bnei Brak

Further reading

• Rabbi Chasdia Halberstam — recollections of his years as personal attendant to the Rebbe and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka — Beis Moshiach Weekly, issue 470 (2004)
• Recollections of the attendant Rabbi Chasdia Halberstam on the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, Ateres Chaya supplement to Beis Moshiach Weekly, issue 1396 (2020)
• Likkut Igros Kodesh from the Rebbetzin — a collection of her sacred letters, issued for the 120th anniversary of her birth, 25 Adar 5781 (March 9, 2021)
• Through You, Israel Will Be Blessed — an English-language volume containing her biography, stories, and episodes about the Rebbetzin. Compiled and edited by Malka Schwartz. Published 5764 (2004)
• V'HaChai Yiten El Libo — a Hebrew anthology of biographical accounts, memoirs, and stories. Compiled and edited by Rabbi Mishael Aronson (Aronovov). Published 5769 (2009)
• HaRebbetzin — published by Neshei U'Bnos Chabad of the Holy Land, edited by Sholom Magidmen, Shevat 5781 (2021)
• HaRebbetzin HaTzadekkes — published by the Federation of Chassidim for the Reception of Mashiach, edited by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Tamrin
• "HaRebbetzin Sheli" — women's supplement to Kfar Chabad Weekly, issue 1895, p. 8
• "HaMifgashim Sheli Im HaRebbetzin" — Ateres Chaya supplement to Beis Moshiach Weekly, Parshas Yisro 5780, p. 6
• "Ani V'HaRebbetzin" — interview with the wife of the personal attendant, Mrs. Shoshana Malka — Ateres Chaya supplement to Beis Moshiach Weekly, Parshas Yisro 5781, p. 4
• "Rare testimony from the Rebbetzin about the Rebbe" — Beis Moshiach Weekly, issue 1249, p. 45
• Rabbi Adin Even-Yisrael (Steinsaltz), "Her True Greatness" — Kfar Chabad Weekly, issue 1895, p. 35
• Rabbi Shlomo Zarchi, "Crown of Her Husband" — Kfar Chabad Weekly, issue 1895, p. 38
• Rabbi Shneur Zalman Berger, "Temporary Secretary" — a historical study of her role as her father's secretary — Beis Moshiach Weekly
• Mendy Cortez, "All the children are the Rebbe's children" — interview with Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Holtzman and Rabbi Uri Holtzman on visits to the Rebbetzin — Kfar Chabad Weekly, issue 1996, pp. 28–34
• Mendy Cortez, "The Rebbetzin gave me the feeling of a mother" — interview with Rabbi Chaim Boruch Halberstam — Kfar Chabad Weekly, issue 2045, pp. 24–33
• "Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka" — from the series The Rebbetzins, published by Ohr Esther Library
• Rabbi Moshe Ornstein, "Her Husband's Heart Trusts in Her" — Kfar Chabad Weekly, issue 2054, p. 111

External links

Articles and archives

• Members of the 5748 class reconstruct the events surrounding the Rebbetzin's passing — Beis Moshiach Weekly
• Archive: 22 Shevat with the Rebbe — chabad.info
• Thirty years on: how the press covered the Rebbetzin's passing — COL
• The Rebbetzin as we knew her: a series of personal accounts for 22 Shevat — COL
• On the spiritual significance of 22 Shevat in the Rebbe's teachings — chabad.info
• Chassidic feminism — chabad.info
• A name that means life — the Rebbe on "Chaya" — COL
• An instruction I received from the Rebbetzin: Rabbi Lipsker's personal account — COL
• The first blessing: the physician who treated the Rebbetzin shares moving recollections — COL
• Remarkable stories about the Rebbetzin — Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Greenberg — COL
• Rare disclosures from the archives — COL
• The attendant, the secretary, and the mashpia share memories of the Rebbetzin — COL
• Rabbi Butman reconstructs his conversations with the Rebbetzin — COL
• First-hand stories about the righteous Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka — Rabbi Shmuel Butman — COL
• "The Rebbetzin was like a mother to me — I miss her every day" — Rabbi Mendel Notik, Seattle — COL
• The secretary shares recollections — COL
• Four conversations I had with the Rebbetzin — Rabbi Sholom Dovber Levin, librarian — COL
• The attendant recalls: memories from the Rebbe and Rebbetzin's home — Rabbi Shimshon Aaron Yunik — chabad.info
• What is our connection to the Rebbetzin? What is 22 Shevat? — Rabbi Shmotkin — COL
• In Father's party — Zusha Wolf — COL
• Ten facts about Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka — Beis Moshiach Weekly
• Rabbi Chasdia Halberstam: stories of the Rebbetzin — hageula.com

Document archives

• Collection for 22 Shevat — discourses, stories, and essays about the Rebbetzin, published by Vaad Chayelei Beis Dovid
• Collection for 22 Shevat — twenty-fifth yahrzeit edition — published by Vaad Chayelei Beis Dovid

Video

• A comprehensive chronicle of the events of 22 Shevat — chabad.info
• The Rebbetzin's funeral — 22 Shevat 5748 (February 13, 1988) — chabad.info
• Additional footage from the funeral — hageula.com
• The Rebbetzin speaks about her father — chabad.info
• The Rebbetzin we knew: personal testimony — COL
• "Her first name, Chaya, means life — life is eternal" — COL
• A portrait in photographs: a presentation from her life — chabad.info
• Rabbi Kahana reveals stories from his personal diary about the Rebbetzin — chabad.info
• Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Chitrik: memories of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson — sinun770.org