Rivka (mother of the Alter Rebbe)

Rebbetzin Rivka

Rebbetzin Rivka was the mother of the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad Chassidus.

Life

She was born in Vitebsk to her father, the gaon (Torah luminary) Rabbi Avraham.

On 17 Elul 5503 / September 6, 1743 — the eve of Shabbos, the Shabbos of the Torah portion Ki Tavo — Rebbetzin Rivka married Rabbi Boruch, a hidden tzaddik who was a sixth-generation descendant of the Maharal of Prague.

Her Wedding

Although the wedding ceremony took place on Friday, the 17th of Elul, the date of the marriage is considered to be 18 Elul (Chai Elul). This is because one of Rabbi Boruch's conditions with his father-in-law had been that the wedding take place on Chai Elul. Since Chai Elul that year fell on Shabbos, Rabbi Boruch had originally set the ceremony for Motzoei Shabbos (Saturday night). Only a few weeks before the wedding did he inform his father-in-law that he had agreed to move the ceremony forward to Friday, the 17th of Elul.

In memory of this, the weddings of most of the Chabad Rebbes have been held on a Friday.

Visits to the Baal Shem Tov

Rebbetzin Rivka merited to visit the Baal Shem Tov in Mezhybizh on two occasions.

She was a woman of great learning — well-versed in Tanach and Midrash, and studied Mishnah and Gemara as well. She was especially devoted to the study of mussar, the classical works of Jewish ethical literature.

When the Tzemach Tzedek — the Alter Rebbe's grandson and the third Rebbe of Chabad — was ten years old, the Alter Rebbe instructed him to sit with his grandmother Rivka for two hours each day and listen to her stories. The young boy himself asked Rebbetzin Rivka to share with him everything she knew. The Tzemach Tzedek kept notebooks in which he recorded the stories he heard from her, entries that begin with the words: My mother told me…

Passing

She was known to be alive at least until the year 5560 / 1800.

Children

On 18 Elul 5505 / September 4, 1745, their eldest son, the Alter Rebbe, was born.

Three more sons were born to Rabbi Boruch and Rebbetzin Rivka:

• Rabbi Yehuda Leib, rabbi of Yanovitch.
• Rabbi Mordechai, rabbi of Orsha.
• Rabbi Moshe, rabbi of Rudnya.