DovBer (Berel) Schneerson
Reb DovBer (Berel) Schneerson Hy"d (3 Kislev 5665 – 5701/5702) was the second son of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson and Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, and a brother of the Rebbe.
Life edit
He was born on 3 Kislev[1] 5665 in Nikolayev, and at his bris he was named after the Mitteler Rebbe — the second Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch — whose day of release from Czarist imprisonment falls on the very day of the bris, 19 Kislev.
In 5669 [1909], he moved together with his family to the city of Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk).
He suffered from a chronic illness, and because of this there were periods when he was treated in a hospital.[2] The Rebbe's father said that with three gifted sons, the evil eye had struck them. In the summer of 5682 [1922], his brother the Rebbe traveled to Kharkov to consult with doctors about his medical condition — and on that same occasion also visited the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva there.[3][4]
Toward the end of 5701 [1941], he was being treated in a hospital in the village of Igren[5] near Dnepropetrovsk.[6] At that time, the Nazi army captured the city and executed all the patients in the hospital. The Jewish patients were treated with particular cruelty, subjected to brutal torture before being murdered. The victims were buried in a mass grave in the hospital courtyard, in a large pit. Reb DovBer was murdered there as well, at only thirty-eight years of age.[7]
In 5753 [1993], the mass grave was located, and approximately a year later a matzevah was erected over it. In 5768 [2008], a new and dignified matzevah was erected over his grave, and a dedication ceremony was held with the participation of the city's Rav and shliach, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky, and the leaders of the local Jewish community. During the ceremony, those present recited Kel Maleh Rachamim and lit candles in his memory.
The Rebbe's References to Him edit
When parents asked the Rebbe whether they could name their son DovBer after the Rebbe's brother[8] — the Rebbe replied:
DovBer — I will mention him at the gravesite.
The Rebbe also wrote (translated from English): "I too lost in the Holocaust close family members who were very dear to me — a grandmother. A brother. Cousins. And others."
The Date of His Murder edit
In a calendar from 5707 [1947] in which the Rebbe recorded the yahrzeit dates of his family — apparently having clarified them at that time with his mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson[10] — next to 24 Tishrei he wrote "Berel," and next to 25 Elul he recorded another name, though that portion of the manuscript is torn in the photograph. Years later, in a sicha delivered on 24 Tishrei 5750 [1989], the Rebbe spoke and included an explanation of the Mishnayos recited on a yahrzeit. When those preparing the transcript brought it to the Rebbe for review and asked in a note whose yahrzeit it was, the Rebbe chose to answer that it was the yahrzeit of his maternal grandmother, Rebbetzin Rachel Yanovsky, and did not mention that it was also connected to his brother.[11]
For this reason — and for other reasons discussed at length elsewhere — it appears that 24 Tishrei may have been an initial recording, but the date was subsequently established as 25 Elul.[12]
Regarding the year of the murder: the city of Dnipro was captured by the Germans at the beginning of Menachem Av 5701 [1941], and there are conflicting testimonies as to when exactly the murders at the hospital took place[13] — whether toward the end of 5701 or in the winter of 5702. However, given that the Nazis consistently murdered hospital patients first before proceeding to the rest of the city, the testimony pointing to the end of 5701 appears more plausible — and this is also consistent with the yahrzeit having been set as 25 Elul.[14]
In the central database of Holocaust victims' names at Yad Vashem, Reb DovBer is recorded as having been murdered on 25/06/1941 — corresponding to 30 Sivan 5701.[15]
His Burial Place edit
The location of his burial near Dnepropetrovsk was first published in Beis Moshiach Weekly, issue 11, by the chassidic researcher Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kaminetzky.
An initial matzevah was erected at the site, and in 5768 [2008] a more dignified matzevah was put in its place.
His Family edit
- Father: Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson
- Mother: Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson
- Brothers: The Rebbe; Reb Yisroel Aryeh Leib Schneerson
External Links edit
- Dovid Lubetzky, Biography of Rabbi DovBer Schneerson, 4 Kislev 5774 — Chabad Info
- New Matzevah Erected on the Grave of the Rebbe's Brother — Gallery from the 5768 Ceremony — Chabad Info
- "Mi Yitancha K'Ach Li — Biography of Reb DovBer Schneerson" — COL.org.il
References edit
- ↑ In the Hayom Yom for this date, the Rebbe cites a teaching concerning the Maggid of Mezeritch — after whom the Mitteler Rebbe was named, and after whom Reb DovBer, the Rebbe's brother, was in turn named: "One of the differences between the conduct of the Baal Shem Tov and that of the Maggid of Mezeritch is this: the Baal Shem Tov was occupied with various journeys, while the Maggid remained at home. Yet despite this, during the Maggid's leadership Chassidus spread even to distant places — through the travels undertaken by his disciples, the 'Chevra Kadisha,' and many ordinary householders of the middle class became connected to the teachings of Chassidus and traveled to the Rebbe in Mezeritch."
- ↑ See the memoirs of Mr. Tzvi Kesse, Teshura Naki-Wortzov, 19 Adar 5780, "Mi Yitancha K'Ach Li," p. 20.
- ↑ Hayom Yom, 5753 edition.
- ↑ See the memoirs of Mr. Tzvi Kesse, Teshura Naki-Wortzov, 19 Adar 5780, p. 20. In the journal Hearos HaTmimim V'Anash (Morristown), issue 730, p. 19, Rabbi A. Kaplan wrote: "I once heard that in his youth he spent time with the Rebbe Rashab, who was very fond of him and drew him particularly close. This account requires verification."
- ↑ Igren or Nova Igren (Ukrainian: Ігрень / Нова Ігрень).
- ↑ The village has since been incorporated into the city of Dnipro.
- ↑ For further details see Cities of Childhood.
- ↑ The question arose because there was no clear information about his full name (and whether he may have had an additional name), and no one had been seen doing this previously.
- ↑ "Parents Asked to Name After the Brother — the Rebbe Responded in His Own Hand" — Shturem.
- ↑ First published in Beis Moshiach Weekly, issue 51, pp. 8–9.
- ↑ Sefer HaSichos 5750, p. 63. A photograph of the Rebbe's handwritten annotation is printed in Toldos Levi Yitzchak, vol. 1, p. 67.
- ↑ See the extensive discussion by Reb Shmuel Krauss in Beis Moshiach Weekly, issue 303, p. 62 ff.
- ↑ See Beis Moshiach ibid.
- ↑ Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kaminetzky, who researched the subject, reported that he has testimony of a massacre at the hospital during the winter of 5702 — "New Matzevah Erected on the Grave of the Rebbe's Brother", COL.org.il.
- ↑ Reb DovBer in the Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names.