Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Son of The Rebbe Maharash)

This article is about the son of the Rebbe Maharash. For the seventh Rebbe of Chabad, see Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson — son of the Rebbe Maharash

His restored headstone in Tzfas (Iyar 5771 [May 2011])

The death certificate of Rabbi Schneerson

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (6 Adar 5627 [February 11, 1867] – 23 Tishrei 5702 [October 13, 1941]) was the son of the Rebbe Maharash. He lived in Russia and France, and passed away and was initially buried on the island of Corsica; his body was later brought to the Land of Israel and interred in the Old Cemetery of Tzfas.

Life

Rabbi Menachem Mendel was born on 6 Adar 5627 (February 11, 1867) to the Rebbe Maharash and the Rebbetzin Rivkah. He was born in the year of mourning following the passing of the Tzemach Tzedek and was named in his honor. In 5633 (1873) he was registered together with his brother Rabbi Avraham Sender Schneerson in the record book of the Malbish Arumim society — a charitable organization that provided clothing to those in need.

As a child, he once asked his father where G-d could be found. The Rebbe Maharash replied: "The whole earth is filled with His glory" (Isaiah 6:3).

On 6 Adar 5640 (February 28, 1880), his bar mitzvah celebration was held, at which his father the Rebbe Maharash delivered a Chassidic discourse beginning with the words Naase Adam — "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). At the time of his bar mitzvah, Rabbi Menachem Mendel composed a lengthy poem in Aramaic, known among Chassidim as the Masa HaHiskashrus — "The Ode of Connection" — in which he extols his father in the most exalted terms.

On 14 Sivan 5642 (June 30, 1882), he married in his first marriage Miss Sarah, daughter of Rabbi Akiva Kornitzer of Krakow — who was himself a son-in-law of Rabbi Shimon Sofer, author of the Michtav Sofer, and a grandson of the renowned Chasam Sofer. The wedding took place in Lubavitch, at which the Rebbe Maharash delivered several Chassidic discourses. That same year Rabbi Menachem Mendel was accepted into the Mitzvos Society of Lubavitch. After several months, the couple divorced. In the winter of 5646 (1885–1886) he began engaging in commerce.

He assisted his brother the Rebbe Rashab in communal affairs and was sent by him on numerous missions.

In 5648 (1888), he married in his second marriage the Rebbetzin Batya, daughter of Rabbi Nachum Dovber Schneerson of Ovruch — who was a son of the Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson of Ovruch, himself a son of the Tzemach Tzedek. Rebbetzin Batya was the sister of Rebbetzin Sterna Sara, the wife of the Rebbe Rashab.

By 5662 (1902) he was living in Vitebsk, where he was engaged in a commercial partnership with his brother-in-law Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Leib Ginsburg. When the Rebbe Rayatz was arrested that same year, Rabbi Menachem Mendel worked to secure his release.

the Rebbe related the following in one of his talks:

My father-in-law the Rebbe [the Rebbe Rayatz] recounted that his uncle — his father's younger brother — once translated a concept from the teachings of Chassidus into Russian, in order to make an impression on one of the influential and respected figures in Russian society at that time. This, however, was an isolated occurrence and did not become known or widely publicized — nor is it known what effect it had — and it was not done in any organized or systematic fashion.

— Talk of Parshas Vayeishev, 5748 (1987)

Due to his financial circumstances, he was compelled to leave Russia, and in 5664 (1904) he relocated to Paris, France, leaving his family behind in Lubavitch.

He later moved to the French island territory of Corsica, where he established a mechanical timber-cutting factory in the city of Bastia. (A Jewish community had existed in Corsica since the late nineteenth century, formed by the first Jewish immigrants to arrive on the island; the Jews who settled there made their home in Bastia, the same city where Rabbi Menachem Mendel lived.)

He passed away on 23 Tishrei 5702 (October 13, 1941) in Bastia, and was buried there.

Transfer of His Remains to the Land of Israel

In 5715 (1955), the Rebbe instructed Rabbi Binyamin Eliyahu Gorodetzky to arrange the transfer of Rabbi Mendel's remains from the island of Corsica to the Holy Land. Rabbi Gorodetzky carried out the instruction and dispatched the casket aboard a ship bound for Haifa. At the same time, Rabbi Ephraim Wolf received instructions to photograph the remains before burial and send the photographs to the Rebbe.

The ship arrived at the port of Haifa on a cold and rainy winter night in 5716 (1955–1956), and in the late hours of the night the burial was conducted in the ancient cemetery of Tzfas. Given the difficult conditions, Rabbi Wolf was unable to find a photographer willing to come at that hour of the night. Rabbi Wolf himself, however, examined the state of the remains and observed that the body had remained remarkably intact despite approximately fifteen years having passed since the passing. Shortly afterward, Rabbi Wolf traveled to be received by the Rebbe in a private audience — known in Chabad as a yechidus, a one-on-one meeting with the Rebbe — and the Rebbe asked to hear the full details of the burial and the condition of the remains.

In 5739 (1979), shortly after Rabbi Levi Bistritzky was appointed as the rabbi of the Chabad neighborhood in Tzfas, two of the elder Chabad Chassidim of the Holy Land approached him wishing to speak with him on a highly confidential matter.

When they met, they disclosed that now that a Chabad rabbi had been appointed in the city, they were able to reveal a secret they had kept for many years: Rabbi Mendel Schneerson, the brother of the Rebbe Rashab, was buried in the old cemetery of Tzfas. They cautioned him that according to the Rebbe's directive, the matter was to remain strictly confidential.

After accompanying him to the cemetery and pointing out the location, they recounted the full story: his passing in 5702 (1941–1942) in France, the relevant laws regarding disinterment, and the transfer of his remains to the holy city of Tzfas in 5716 (1955–1956).

The transfer had been carried out in complete secrecy, as Rabbi Menachem Mendel's daughter was living in France and was not observant, and it was known that she would object to the transfer to the Holy Land. To prevent her from becoming aware of anything, the original gravestone in Corsica was returned to its place. In Tzfas as well, the instruction was given that he be buried without a marker, so that no one would know he was interred there. A concrete slab lay flat at ground level at the site, so that anyone passing through the cemetery would see what appeared to be an ordinary paved pathway in the middle of the grounds.

The Erection of a Headstone

The existing situation troubled Rabbi Bistritzky, and he submitted two questions to the Rebbe:

1. Should the situation be left as it was — a grave without a headstone — or had circumstances changed sufficiently to permit the erection of a marker?
2. If the Rebbe's answer was to erect a headstone, what inscription should appear on it?

A response arrived from the Rebbe that very day. To the first question — whether to leave things as they were — the Rebbe replied: "This is contrary to the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch" (the authoritative code of Jewish law), and added that a headstone should be erected without delay. As for the inscription, the Rebbe indicated it should follow the wording found in the journal HaKria VeHaKedusha and in a published talk of his father-in-law the Rebbe Rayatz.

Upon receiving the response, they searched through all the issues of HaKria VeHaKedusha and found no reference to Rabbi Menachem Mendel. However, in one of the published talks of the Rebbe Rayatz, they found the precise wording they were looking for.

A headstone was promptly commissioned. Once it had been prepared, Rabbi Bistritzky asked the Rebbe whether a formal unveiling ceremony should be held in the customary manner, or whether it should be done quietly without publicity. The reply was to hold a proper public unveiling ceremony.

The Chabad community of Tzfas gathered together at the cemetery for the occasion. Rabbi Bistritzky ensured the event was documented, and as he was shortly afterward traveling to the Rebbe's court in Brooklyn, he brought along the photographs together with a detailed written report — noting among other things that the cost of the headstone would be covered by the local Chabad community — and submitted the report to the Rebbe's secretariat.

That very same day, on the eve of Shabbos, he received an urgent telephone call from Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Aizik Hodakov, the Rebbe's chief secretary. Rabbi Hodakov conveyed that the Rebbe wished to personally cover the cost of the headstone, and asked that contact be made immediately — before the onset of Shabbos in Tzfas — to notify them that there was no need to collect money from the community members. On Sunday, Rabbi Hodakov called Rabbi Bistritzky once more and showed him a personal check from the Rebbe in the amount of five hundred dollars, made out to the Melach organization. Rabbi Hodakov explained that the Rebbe had intentionally not written the check in Rabbi Bistritzky's name, knowing that Rabbi Bistritzky would not use it for himself but would instead pay the cost of the headstone from his own funds; he therefore made the check payable to the Melach organization and asked that it be shown to Rabbi Bistritzky and exchanged for cash.

Following the passing of Rabbi Menachem Mendel's daughter, she too was interred in the new cemetery of the holy city of Tzfas.

On 13 Iyar 5771 (May 17, 2011), the headstone was restored and renovated through the efforts of the organization Histadrut HaChassidim L'Kabbalas Pnei Moshiach.

The Death Certificate

In the summer of 5771 (2011), two young men traveling on a Chabad outreach assignment to the island of Corsica became aware that Rabbi Mendel had spent his final years on the island and decided to investigate the matter through the local government offices. They approached the local interior ministry and, after a thorough inquiry, obtained a copy of the local death certificate, which records the date of passing as 23 Tishrei 5702 (October 13, 1941). Despite the discovery of the certificate, the precise date of death remains uncertain: a local Jewish resident told the two men that a cleaning worker had found Rabbi Menachem Mendel in his home after he had already passed away, and it is not known whether he died on that day or sometime before — making the date on the death certificate the date on which he was found, rather than necessarily the date of his actual passing.

His Journey to the United States

In the month of Sivan 5772 (June 2012), a previously unknown episode came to light. It emerged that after Rabbi Menachem Mendel had left for France, he traveled to the United States on a business trip, where he was mistakenly suspected of being a different Schneerson — one who had served as a secretary to Lenin — and was summoned for questioning by the FBI. The error was ultimately clarified and he was released. Numerous documents pertaining to the matter appear in the FBI's archives.

Family

From his second marriage:

• His son, Yisrael Dovber.
• His daughter, Miss Mussia, who passed away in her youth.
• His daughter, Miss Chana (Uzerman).

From his third marriage:

• His son, Binyamin, who passed away as a young boy.
• His daughter, Miss Sarah — also known by the name Mendela (Edmée). Edmée-Minette Schneerson (born 1907) spent most of her life in Paris. In her later years she married a Chassid and moved with her husband, Yisrael Greenberg, to Bnei Brak, though she was not blessed with children. She was interred in Tzfas; her headstone reads: "Here lies Sarah of the Schneerson family, daughter of the pious Rabbi Menachem Mendel, son of our holy Rebbe the Maharash. She passed away on 8 Kislev 5746 [November 20, 1985]. May her soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life."

Further Reading

• Shneur Gandel, "The Mystery of the Son of the Maharash," Kfar Chabad Magazine, issue 2156, 5786 (2026).

External Links

• A Collection on the Life of Rabbi Menachem Mendel, Son of the Rebbe Maharash and Brother of the Rebbe Rashab — Meir Shlomo Lubetzky and Shmuel Lubetzky; commemorative booklet from the wedding of Shneur Zalman and Sara Lubetzky, 5768 (2008).
• A Biography of Rabbi Menachem Mendel, the Youngest Son of the Rebbe Maharash — Yosef Yitzchak Melul; commemorative booklet from the upsherin (the traditional first haircut of a Jewish boy at age three) of Menachem Mendel Melul, Brooklyn, 5779 (2019).