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Yisrael Noach Schneersohn of Niezhin

Yisrael Noach Schneersohn of Nizhyn[edit | edit source]

Rabbi Yisrael Noach Schneersohn (known by the acronym Maharin, from Moreinu HaRav Yisrael Noach; 1815–17 Nissan, 1883) was the fourth son of the Tzemach Tzedek (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the third Rebbe of Chabad). Following his father's histalkus (passing), he led the chassidic court of Chabad-Nizhyn.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Rabbi Yisrael Noach Schneersohn was born in 1815 in Lubavitch to the Tzemach Tzedek and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. He was named in honor of the Baal Shem Tov (whose name was Yisrael) and of his maternal grandfather, Rabbi Noach Altschuler.

He first married Rebbetzin Freida, his cousin and a granddaughter of the Mitteler Rebbe (Rabbi Dovber Schneersohn, the second Rebbe of Chabad), daughter of Rabbi Yekusiel Zalman Vols. After her early passing he married Rebbetzin Zlata; he later took a third wife, Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, a sister of Rabbi Akiva Ratner of Minsk; and in a fourth marriage, another granddaughter of his own grandfather, Rebbetzin Chana Chike (Chisha), daughter of his uncle Rabbi Menachem Nachum (son of the Mitteler Rebbe).

During the years he spent at his father's court, Rabbi Yisrael Noach devoted himself primarily to the study of nigleh — the revealed, legal dimension of Torah, as distinct from Chassidus — and became renowned as a master of the Talmud and the halachic codifiers. Because the Tzemach Tzedek was occupied with the many demands of his leadership, he regularly referred halachic questions to his son for response, and also appointed him to head the yeshiva he had founded in Lubavitch. Responsa composed by Rabbi Yisrael Noach both during his father's lifetime and afterward were later published in Chabad periodicals. His personal mode of divine service was characterized by merirus — a spirit of inner brokenness and earnestness before G-d.

Leadership in Nizhyn[edit | edit source]

After the Tzemach Tzedek's histalkus in 1866, Rabbi Yisrael Noach remained in Lubavitch for two years. Toward the end of 1868 he was appointed rabbi of the city of Nizhyn (in present-day Ukraine), which was the hometown of his father-in-law and the burial place of the Mitteler Rebbe. He settled there and also served as Rebbe to a segment of Chabad chassidim — one of several communities that had divided among the Tzemach Tzedek's sons during that period — under the name "Chabad-Nizhyn."

Together with his brother-in-law Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn, he headed the yeshiva in Nizhyn, which functioned for approximately fifty years and produced prominent rabbis who served communities across Russia, among them Rabbi Yehuda Leib Tzirelson of Kishinev.

Rabbi Yisrael Noach was the last surviving son of the Tzemach Tzedek. He led the Nizhyn community as Rebbe for some fifteen years until his histalkus on 17 Nissan, 1883. He is buried in Nizhyn in the ohel (burial enclosure) of his grandfather the Mitteler Rebbe.

Family[edit | edit source]

Rabbi Yisrael Noach had children from several marriages; the precise matrilineal attribution of each child is not always certain.[1]

From his first wife, Rebbetzin Freida, daughter of Rabbi Yekusiel Zalman Vols:

  • Rabbi Shneur Dovber Schneersohn — served as rabbi in Surash; born 1834;[2] passed away Adar 1891 in Nizhyn.[3]
  • Perla Devora,[4] wife of her cousin R. Shneur Zalmanson; born 1836.[5]

From his second wife, Rebbetzin Zlata:

From his third wife, Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, sister of R. Akiva Ratner:[6]

  • Rebbetzin Sterna,[7] wife of the Raza (Rabbi Zalman Aharon Schneersohn) in his first marriage; born approximately 1860. Following their divorce in 1887, she married R. Yosef Auerbach.
  • Sheina Rivka Sheinberg, wife of R. Tzvi Hirsh Falik son of R. Bendt Sheinberg (born 29 Tishrei 1857, Kishinev); born approximately 1859.[8]
  • Rabbi Avraham Schneersohn (11 Sivan 1860 – 2 Cheshvan 1937).

From his fourth wife, Rebbetzin Chana Chike (Chisha), daughter of Rabbi Menachem Nachum (son of the Mitteler Rebbe):

  • Rabbi Moshe (2 Sivan 1869–); married Chaya Weiss and lived in Lublin.
  • Figa (8 Adar 1871–).
  • Shpira (2 Rosh Chodesh Iyar 1872–).
  • Dovid (2 Sivan 1873–).
  • Malka (12 Menachem Av 1874–).
  • Menucha Rochel (2 Elul 1875–).
  • Rabbi Yaakov Yosef (approximately 1879–).[9]
  • Zusya (1881 – 6 Shevat 1882).
  • Rabbi Menachem Nachum Schneersohn (grandson of the Tzemach Tzedek) — the last rabbi of Nizhyn.

External Links[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Based on the article by R. Michael Ron in Heichal HaBesht, issue 24; the journal Ohalei Torah, issue 101, p. 117; and other sources.
  2. ↑ HaKria VeHaKedusha, Cheshvan 1941; and documents in the Agudas Chassidei Chabad archive (Igros Kodesh of the Tzemach Tzedek, p. 121). In a letter from his son R. M. M. Schneersohn written around 1890, he refers to R. Shneur Dovber as the firstborn, who was still living in Nizhyn at that time.
  3. ↑ HaTzvi, 24 March 1891.
  4. ↑ See Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe, vol. 3, letter 588.
  5. ↑ From Agudas Chassidei Chabad documents: a register of residents of the village of Nasovka near Nizhyn, dating from 1906, lists their son R. (Yosef) Bunim Schneersohn as then aged fifty-eight, suggesting he was born around 1848 and that his mother was born no later than 1836.
  6. ↑ See Nachalas Tzvi, vol. 10, Elul 1994.
  7. ↑ The genealogical work Sefer HaTzetzaim lists her as a daughter of Rebbetzin Chana Chisha, but she appears to have been approximately the same age as her husband R.Z.A., who was born in 1858; one of her daughters was named Dina, likely after her mother Nechama Dina.
  8. ↑ Their wedding took place in Nizhyn on 15 Kislev 1876; the record states that the groom was then eighteen years old, and the bride appears to have been approximately the same age.
  9. ↑ Not mentioned in the Nizhyn municipal records among the Maharin's children. Listed in the Hayom Yom roster of the Maharin's sons between R. Moshe and R. Nachum. A letter from his nephew R. M. M. Schneersohn written in late 1890 mentions him as a boy of eleven at that time.
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