Sound No. 6 - Sholem Aleichem: The Eclipse of the Schneerson Family

Rebbetzin Nechoma Dinah with her daughters. The oldest Chanah on the right, Musia on the left and the youngest Sheina is held by her mother.

This is a new mentalblog, please forward to your friends who might be interested in our conversations.

Speaking of PR, we are pressing to understand and unearth the two subjects the PR driven Ramash administration tried and still trying to obfuscate the most, the culture of Chabad in Russia and the Holocaust. Both subjects do not fit neatly in the propaganda.

Grandson of Maharash Mendel Horeinstein with his wife Sheina, the youngest daughter of the Rayatz (perished in Shoa). On the right is Mendel’s sister Sonia.

The reason we are writing about Mark Borisovich Schneerson, the memories of Margolia Schneerson or the NKVD Martyrs, is because we want to understand the Chabad culture in Russia and the CCCP, especially the mishpoche Schneerson.

In this podcast, we are looking at the dark mystery of the disappearance of this royal family.

For sure the Shoa and Gulag dealt a mortal blow but more importantly the secularization of Russian Jews started well before the revolution, at least a century before or even earlier. Due to the financial status, exposure to the educated aristocracy, the maskilim and the natural or even hereditary inclination for knowledge, the Schneersons themselves were much more assimilated than an average poshuter yid.

Horeinstein Family. Moshe Hakohen with the beard. Mendel is the one with the cap and glasses. Mendel’s sister Sonia standing on the right.

Another aspect is the fact that both Zionism and Communism, that attracted many if not most young Jews in Russia at the time, were both hyper messianic. The messianic language and thinking comes to the Schneerson family naturally. The messianic hope and the heartbreaking belief in change and progress is our ruinous gift to the world, and it came knocking on the door of the Schneerson family.

P.S. Another aspect rarely mentioned out loud. People who still stayed religious or “traditional” in Russia, the majority come from the lower social class, the rural, the uneducated, peasant strata of the Russian Jewry. This group of the Samarkand Front survivors formed the foundation and the culture of the new Chabad after the war.

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Birthplace of Reb Levik and his cousin Reb Levik who was in exile with him in Kazakhstan. See post about Mendel Repker and Margolia Schneerson.

Photo of Mendel Repker, father of Zalman and Yehudis Schneerson.

Rabbi Zalman Schneerson, leader of Orthodox Jewry in France, stands outside on a balcony. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Hadassa Carlebach.

French rabbis and religious leaders gather for a meeting of the Association of Orthodox Jews (AIP) in France after the war. Rabbi Zalman Schneerson is speaking. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Hadassa Carlebach.

Studio portrait of Hadassa and Shalom Ber Schneerson, children of Rabbi Zalman Schneerson. Circa 1936 - 1938. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Hadassa Carlebach.

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