Rebbetzin Sheina
Rebbetzin Sheina was the wife of the Mitteler Rebbe.
Biography
Rebbetzin Sheina was the daughter of the chassid Rabbi Yaakov, a follower of the Alter Rebbe who served as a melamed (teacher of young children) in the town of Yanovitch and was the father of five daughters.
The Alter Rebbe chose her as a bride for his son the Mitteler Rebbe after the melamed had come to him in yechidus (a private audience with a Rebbe) and poured out his distress: he was consumed with worry over how he would arrange marriages for his three daughters who had reached marriageable age, since no chassid wished to marry into such a poor family, and the anxiety was preventing him from praying with the concentration expected of a chassid. Upon hearing this, the Alter Rebbe told him: "I will become your mechutan (in-law), and through this all the chassidim will want to become your mechutan as well."
He then approached his son the Mitteler Rebbe with the match. The Mitteler Rebbe, who was eager to hear the wedding discourses his father would deliver at the celebration, wanted the match arranged as quickly as possible. At the age of fourteen, in 5548 (1788), he married Rebbetzin Sheina.
In time, all of Rabbi Yaakov's other daughters were married to chassidim and men of good standing — among them Rabbi Yisrael the cantor and Rabbi Shmarya Berlin, and others.[1]
Rebbetzin Sheina raised in her home Rivkah and Gittel, the daughters of her daughter Rebbetzin Chaya Sara.
After the passing of Rebbetzin Sterna, wife of the Maharash, Rebbetzin Sheina sent a messenger to her son-in-law the Tzemach Tzedek asking him to arrange a match for one of her two orphaned granddaughters who were being raised in her home. After a series of developments, the Maharash married Rebbetzin Rivkah.
On the day of the wedding, the Tzemach Tzedek instructed his son (the groom) to go to the kitchen and ask for the blessing of his grandmother Rebbetzin Sheina, who was occupied there. The groom went to request her blessing, but she replied with some sharpness that the day was still long and she would bless him at the chuppah (wedding canopy). When he returned and relayed her words to his father, the Tzemach Tzedek sent him back to insist that she bless him right then and there.
When Rebbetzin Sheina understood that the groom would not relent, she asked for water to wash her hands, placed her hands on his head, and in the presence of two witnesses blessed him with these words: "May it be G‑d's will that all the spiritual powers I inherited from my husband [the Mitteler Rebbe] rest upon your head."
Her dates of birth and passing are not known.[2]
Family
- Sister — wife of Rabbi Shmarya Berlin of Yanovitch
- Their son: Mendel, passed away 5615 (1855), in the same town; his wife was Pessia daughter of Rabbi Yehuda
- Their son: Schneur Zalman; his wife was Beila daughter of Rabbi Yisrael
- Their sons: DovBer (wife: Feiga daughter of Rabbi Yitzchak; children: Mordechai, Menachem Mendel, Yisrael), Leib (wife: Chana daughter of Rabbi Baruch; children: Runya, Sonya), Yisrael (wife: Rashe daughter of Rabbi Hirsh), Yehuda
- Their daughters: Shifra, Zusya, Freida, Sheina, Rivkah, Tamara
- Their son: Yisrael; his wife was Ettel daughter of Rabbi Avraham; children: Shmariyahu, Yehuda, Sara, Sheina, Shifra, Chaya
- Their son: Dovid; first wife: Pipaysa daughter of Rabbi Volf; second wife: Nechama daughter of Rabbi Yehuda; sons: Yehuda, DovBer; daughters: Rikah, Yilkah, Sheina
- Their son: Schneur Zalman; his wife was Beila daughter of Rabbi Yisrael
- Their son: Mendel, passed away 5615 (1855), in the same town; his wife was Pessia daughter of Rabbi Yehuda
- Son — Rabbi Menachem Nachum
- Son — Rabbi Baruch Shmuel
- Daughter — Rebbetzin Sara Drabmediker, married to Rabbi Eliezer Drabmediker, son of Rabbi Meir of Pikov, son of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev
- Daughter — Rebbetzin Beila Vols, married to Rabbi Yekusiel Zalman Vols in 5567 (1807)
- Daughter — Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneersohn, married to the Tzemach Tzedek on 5 Kislev 5564 (November 10, 1803)
- Daughter — Rebbetzin Devorah Leah Twersky, married to Yaakov Yisrael Twersky on 6 Shevat 5571 (February 1, 1811)
- Daughter — Rebbetzin Bracha, married to Rabbi Yona of Zhitomir on 14 Shevat 5568 (February 10, 1808); they lived their entire lives in Lubavitch
- Daughter — Rebbetzin Menucha Rochel, married to Rabbi Yaakov Kuli Slonim
- Daughter — Rebbetzin Esther Miriam — no biographical details are known about her[3]
- Daughter — Chaya Sara, married first to Rabbi Aharon Alexandrov of Shklov (son-in-law of the Mitteler Rebbe) on 15 Menachem Av 5586 (August 19, 1826); after his passing on 24 Iyar 5597 (May 9, 1837), she married Rabbi Aharon Zaslavsky of Kremenchug, son of Rebbetzin Freida (daughter of the Alter Rebbe), in 5603 (1843)
- Daughter — Rebbetzin Sterna Freida[4]
Notes
- ↑ The names of Rabbi Yaakov's sons-in-law are cited in the book Toldos Chabad b'Russia HaTzarit, pp. 83–84.
- ↑ However, since she presided over the wedding of the Maharash in 5609 (1849), it is certain that she lived until at least that year.
- ↑ Over the years her gravestone was discovered in the cemetery in Lubavitch, although she is not mentioned in the genealogical record at the opening of the Hayom Yom.
- ↑ Mentioned in the notes of the Rashab, in the chronicle of Rebbetzin Rivkah, and elsewhere. The chronicle of Rebbetzin Rivkah notes that she was the youngest of the daughters, born after the passing of Rebbetzin Sterna (wife of the Alter Rebbe) and named for her. Rebbetzin Sterna passed away during the nesius (leadership tenure) of the Tzemach Tzedek. No further details about her are known.
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