Rebbetzin Sterna
Rebbetzin Sterna was the wife of the Alter Rebbe, the first Rebbe of Chabad Chassidus.
Life[edit | edit source]
Rebbetzin Sterna was born to R' Yehudah Leib HaLevi Segal, one of the leading figures of the Vitebsk community and an eighth-generation descendant of the Maharil Segal, and to her mother Marat Beila.
On the 12th of Menachem Av, 5520 (1760), she married Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. At the time of the wedding, the bride's family was unaware of his involvement with the Chassidic movement, and when this became known, her parents pressed their daughter to divorce him. She refused, and devoted herself entirely to her husband. It is told, however, that when she would provoke him she would fall ill for three days; when she asked her husband why he was displeased with her, he replied that he was not displeased with her at all — for had he truly been displeased, she would have fallen ill for nine days.
For fourteen years after the wedding, only daughters were born to the Rebbetzin and the Alter Rebbe. After receiving the blessing of the Maggid of Mezeritch — who instructed them to be especially diligent in the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim, welcoming guests[1] — they were blessed with three sons: the Mitteler Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Avraham, and Rabbi Moshe. In keeping with the Maggid's instruction, throughout each pregnancy the Rebbetzin drank a cup of milk with honey every night.
When the Alter Rebbe arrived in Liozna and saw thousands of Chassidim streaming toward his home, he began rolling on the floor in anguish, crying out in humility: "What do they want from me? What have they found in me?" His wife the Rebbetzin approached him and said: "They are not coming because of you — they are coming because you are a disciple of the Maggid of Mezeritch. They want you to tell them of him." He replied: "In that case, I will tell them" — and he received the thousands of Chassidim.[2]
Her self-sacrifice on her husband's behalf continued even after he became widely known. The first time soldiers came to arrest him, he was in hiding, and the soldiers demanded that she reveal his whereabouts. When she steadfastly refused to disclose anything, one of the soldiers struck her forcefully across the face, knocking out two of her teeth.
After the passing of the Alter Rebbe, she moved into the home of her grandson the Tzemach Tzedek in Lubavitch — whom she had raised from early childhood and who regarded her as a mother. She lived to an advanced age, into the years of her grandson's leadership as Rebbe.
Her dates of birth and passing are not known.
Family[edit | edit source]
- Her daughter Rebbetzin Freida — married Rabbi Eliyahu Klotzker.
- Her daughter Rebbetzin Devorah Leah — married Rabbi Shalom Shachna Altschuler.
- Her daughter Rebbetzin Rochel — married Rabbi Avraham Sheines.
- Her son Rabbi Dovber, the Mitteler Rebbe — married Rebbetzin Sheina Schneuri.
- Her son Rabbi Chaim Avraham.
- Her son Rabbi Moshe — married Shprintza Schneuri, née Rivlin.
Further Reading[edit | edit source]
- Beis Rebbe, p. 158 (new edition)
- "A Star Behind the Curtain," supplement Nashei in the weekly Kfar Chabad, issue 1885, p. 11