R Boruch Sholom (b. haTzemach Tzedek)’s son R Levi Yitzchok of Podobranka had 3 sons. (A daughter “צ״ז” is mentioned exclusively in Reshimos Rabash).
The 3 sons were R Boruch Shneur, R Avrohom & R Menachem Mendel.
It seems that R Avrohom has no living descendants, as his son Levik (“דער קליינער”) had two children, Avrohom & Margolia. Avrohom went missing in WWII, and Margolia never married, as you say.
R Boruch Shneur has two living lines of descent, as follows:
He had 4 children — R Levik, R Shmuel, R Sholom Shlomo & Rada Sima.
R Levik had 3 sons (the Rebbe, Dovber & YAL), of which only Yisroel Aryeh Leib had children — Dalia (Rothman), who has 2 sons, Aryeh & Daniel Yehoshua. I’m assuming that at least one of the two boys has a family, which is one line of descent of R Boruch Shneur.
R Shmuel had one son, Menachem Mendel, who had one son, Menachem Mendel “Eduard”, who evidently had children. This is the other living line of descent from RBS.
R Sholom Shlomo (who married Rochel, daughter of Radatz Chein) had one daughter, Zelda Schneerson-Mishkovsky, who married but had no children.
And lastly, I couldn’t find any information on Rada Sima, including her husband, whose last name was evidently “קאזאצקוב”. Nothing on Geni, Chabadpedia, etc.
So R Avrohom: 1 son (Levik), who had 1 son (Avrohom) & 1 daughter (Margolia), neither of which had kids. (Maybe R Avrohom had more kids than just Levik? Idk anything about him)
R Boruch Shneur: 3 sons (R Levik, Shmuel, Sholom Shlomo) & 1 daughter (Rada Sima), btwn which were 5 grandkids (the Rebbe, Dovber, YAL, MM and Zelda), of which 2 had kids (YAL had Dalia, MM had MM/Eduard).
The other son of R LY of Podobranka was R Menachem Mendel, much of whose family *you’ve* discovered (I really, really appreciate all of your work!!!! Not just on this subject).
R MM had 5 children:
- Boruch Sholom “Boris”
- Shneur Zalman
- Yehudis Butman
- Freida Eber
- Genia/Evgenia
- Boris had 2 children: Yaakov & Rosa
- Shneur Zalman had 2 children: Hadassah Carlebach & Sholom Ber
- Yehudis had 4 children: Leah Kahn, Sholom Ber, Shmuel MM “Mule” & Merele Swerdlov
- Freida had 2 children: Avrohom Elya & Leah Henia, who murdered together with her & R Yehuda Eber in Riga
- Genia had 1 son: Leonid
So MM had 11 grandchildren from 5 children, 9 of which survived to adulthood, (unless there are more to be discover from Boris or Genia).
That isn’t a big family considering normal trends in Orthodox/Chassidic families, but *far* outpouces R Boruch Shneur & Avrohom.
Why I wrote this? Idk. I guess I just wanted to get it down “on paper”
I’m curious who put those names there. As you say, Geni is unreliable, but *someone* thought those names belonged.
In Sefer HaTze’etza’im, (which was printed before a lot of new documentation and other sources were discovered), RLY of Podobranka’s kids are only R Baruch Shneur, Avrohom & Mendel.
But you can see how two girls can be overlooked. The sons of Maharash, and we still learn new things about them. What it to say about a Rov in a small village.
As a long time fan of the mentalblog of old, who while partisan to Chabad, interested in your conversations... some thoughts on podcast #1 and 2.
In terms of the connection of the modern day chabad to the Chabad of old, I actually think there's a new awakening amongst younger chevra - my age (30s) and 20s, to better understand that historical context - a clearer understanding of the role, place and context of the other sons of the Tzemach Tzedek etc.
More importantly, there are many chevra who have a real koch in chasidus - not just in the Likkutei Sichos sense but the breadth of the Chabad canon.
There are also younger personalities emerging that have an impressive understanding of nigleh and halacha... An appreciation of the greater Jewish world (Rabbi Henkin in his own context, a real respect for the Rav (and a drop in using his English initials in favor of real titles of respect (I say drop since while I no longer hear it at all, I obviously don't know what others say outside of my circle) etc etc
This is not to say that the Lubavitcher parochialism doesn't continue among some (I'd argue that it's really just an expression of the Litvishe shtoltz, in the nusach of the backwaters of Belarus - but perhaps Sholom Aleichem would have a clearer take with his knowledge of that history) - but I think there is a respectable part of the younger generation is reclaiming their place after the madness of the 80s and 90s.
---
In terms of the impact of shluchim, while I'd argue some of the numbers (tefillin for example) are noteworthy, I'm curious if SA is familiar with the Hertog study on Chabad on Campus. I ask only because he mentioned that no academic study has been done to his knowledge - and thus would be curious on his analysis.
RMM’s older brother R Boruch Shneur was evidently born in 5613 (1853), meaning there was a nearly 20-year gap between the two.
(I’d assume R Avrohom was born sometime between them)
That age gap accounts for the fact that R MM’s children were closer in age to the Rebbe than to R Levik, their first cousin.
R LY of Podobranka, the father of Rs Boruch Shneur, Avrohom & Menachem Mendel, passed away in 5638 (1878), at 44 years old. R Boruch Shneur was 24 at the time, but R Menachem Mendel was just 5-6.
So interesting…
R Boruch Sholom (b. haTzemach Tzedek)’s son R Levi Yitzchok of Podobranka had 3 sons. (A daughter “צ״ז” is mentioned exclusively in Reshimos Rabash).
The 3 sons were R Boruch Shneur, R Avrohom & R Menachem Mendel.
It seems that R Avrohom has no living descendants, as his son Levik (“דער קליינער”) had two children, Avrohom & Margolia. Avrohom went missing in WWII, and Margolia never married, as you say.
R Boruch Shneur has two living lines of descent, as follows:
He had 4 children — R Levik, R Shmuel, R Sholom Shlomo & Rada Sima.
R Levik had 3 sons (the Rebbe, Dovber & YAL), of which only Yisroel Aryeh Leib had children — Dalia (Rothman), who has 2 sons, Aryeh & Daniel Yehoshua. I’m assuming that at least one of the two boys has a family, which is one line of descent of R Boruch Shneur.
R Shmuel had one son, Menachem Mendel, who had one son, Menachem Mendel “Eduard”, who evidently had children. This is the other living line of descent from RBS.
R Sholom Shlomo (who married Rochel, daughter of Radatz Chein) had one daughter, Zelda Schneerson-Mishkovsky, who married but had no children.
And lastly, I couldn’t find any information on Rada Sima, including her husband, whose last name was evidently “קאזאצקוב”. Nothing on Geni, Chabadpedia, etc.
So R Avrohom: 1 son (Levik), who had 1 son (Avrohom) & 1 daughter (Margolia), neither of which had kids. (Maybe R Avrohom had more kids than just Levik? Idk anything about him)
R Boruch Shneur: 3 sons (R Levik, Shmuel, Sholom Shlomo) & 1 daughter (Rada Sima), btwn which were 5 grandkids (the Rebbe, Dovber, YAL, MM and Zelda), of which 2 had kids (YAL had Dalia, MM had MM/Eduard).
The other son of R LY of Podobranka was R Menachem Mendel, much of whose family *you’ve* discovered (I really, really appreciate all of your work!!!! Not just on this subject).
R MM had 5 children:
- Boruch Sholom “Boris”
- Shneur Zalman
- Yehudis Butman
- Freida Eber
- Genia/Evgenia
- Boris had 2 children: Yaakov & Rosa
- Shneur Zalman had 2 children: Hadassah Carlebach & Sholom Ber
- Yehudis had 4 children: Leah Kahn, Sholom Ber, Shmuel MM “Mule” & Merele Swerdlov
- Freida had 2 children: Avrohom Elya & Leah Henia, who murdered together with her & R Yehuda Eber in Riga
- Genia had 1 son: Leonid
So MM had 11 grandchildren from 5 children, 9 of which survived to adulthood, (unless there are more to be discover from Boris or Genia).
That isn’t a big family considering normal trends in Orthodox/Chassidic families, but *far* outpouces R Boruch Shneur & Avrohom.
Why I wrote this? Idk. I guess I just wanted to get it down “on paper”
It appears that Podobarnke Rov had two daughters, Dvora Lea and Musia (according to Geni, a bad source), no one knows anything about them. It's mentioned here, on the bottom https://mentalblog.substack.com/p/post-no-1-boris-markovich-schneerson
I’m curious who put those names there. As you say, Geni is unreliable, but *someone* thought those names belonged.
In Sefer HaTze’etza’im, (which was printed before a lot of new documentation and other sources were discovered), RLY of Podobranka’s kids are only R Baruch Shneur, Avrohom & Mendel.
This is a cool PDF of the book, (which I didn’t know existed before yesterday) https://baalhatanya.org.il/book/#p=175
But you can see how two girls can be overlooked. The sons of Maharash, and we still learn new things about them. What it to say about a Rov in a small village.
Thank you for the book link.
I 100% agree with that
Thinking aloud here…
Is it possible the paragraph beginning “My grandfather” was written by *Levik* in some arrest document, and Margolia is quoting it?
I.e. “My grandfather” refers to R LY of Podobranka, who died at 44 years old, and “my father” refers to R Avrohom?
It’s improbably given the format of the post, but maybe?
I do not read it this way. She wrote a letter and began with her words. Later she quotes from the case.
Ah… thanks!
The Margolia Schneerson post is great. Thank you.
As a long time fan of the mentalblog of old, who while partisan to Chabad, interested in your conversations... some thoughts on podcast #1 and 2.
In terms of the connection of the modern day chabad to the Chabad of old, I actually think there's a new awakening amongst younger chevra - my age (30s) and 20s, to better understand that historical context - a clearer understanding of the role, place and context of the other sons of the Tzemach Tzedek etc.
More importantly, there are many chevra who have a real koch in chasidus - not just in the Likkutei Sichos sense but the breadth of the Chabad canon.
There are also younger personalities emerging that have an impressive understanding of nigleh and halacha... An appreciation of the greater Jewish world (Rabbi Henkin in his own context, a real respect for the Rav (and a drop in using his English initials in favor of real titles of respect (I say drop since while I no longer hear it at all, I obviously don't know what others say outside of my circle) etc etc
This is not to say that the Lubavitcher parochialism doesn't continue among some (I'd argue that it's really just an expression of the Litvishe shtoltz, in the nusach of the backwaters of Belarus - but perhaps Sholom Aleichem would have a clearer take with his knowledge of that history) - but I think there is a respectable part of the younger generation is reclaiming their place after the madness of the 80s and 90s.
---
In terms of the impact of shluchim, while I'd argue some of the numbers (tefillin for example) are noteworthy, I'm curious if SA is familiar with the Hertog study on Chabad on Campus. I ask only because he mentioned that no academic study has been done to his knowledge - and thus would be curious on his analysis.
Warmest regards,
Regarding R Menachem Mendel of Repke’s birth year:
The case file says 1864. That’s not possible, as he’s named after the Tzemach Tzedek, who passed away in 1866.
Chabadpedia claims the true year as 1872, as does this doc with the arrest files of a bunch of Chasidim (page 2) https://col.org.il/files/uploads/original/2022/02/62167b0a12c1c_1645640458.pdf
I’m curious where that’s known from.
RMM’s older brother R Boruch Shneur was evidently born in 5613 (1853), meaning there was a nearly 20-year gap between the two.
(I’d assume R Avrohom was born sometime between them)
That age gap accounts for the fact that R MM’s children were closer in age to the Rebbe than to R Levik, their first cousin.
R LY of Podobranka, the father of Rs Boruch Shneur, Avrohom & Menachem Mendel, passed away in 5638 (1878), at 44 years old. R Boruch Shneur was 24 at the time, but R Menachem Mendel was just 5-6.
Did Margolia marry or have children? Any basic info on her bio?
I don't think she was married and had a family.