Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Son of The Rebbe Maharash)
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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 remains were 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)[1] 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.[2]
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.[2] After several months, the couple divorced. In the winter of 5646 (1885–1886) he began engaging in commerce.[3]
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.[4] When the Rebbe Rayatz was arrested that same year, Rabbi Menachem Mendel worked to secure his release.[5]
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.[6] 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
- ↑ Sefer HaToldos — Admur HaMaharash, p. 22.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Yagdil Torah (New York), issue 61, p. 316ff.
- ↑ Likkutei Dibburim, Vol. 4, p. 930.
- ↑ Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rashab, Vol. 1, pp. 264, 314; Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. 16, p. 6.
- ↑ Introduction to Kuntres U'Maayan, p. 26.
- ↑ See Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe, Vol. 10, p. 214.