A look at the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s wedding 25 years after his death

The recent discovery of the wedding invitation of the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, provides new insights into the Jewish leader’s life, ahead of the 25th anniversary of his passing on the third of Tamuz, which fell on Saturday.

On the 14th of Kislev 5689 (November 27, 1928), following an uncommonly long engagement, Rabbi Menachem Mendel and Chaya Mushka Schneerson were married at the Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva in Warsaw. The groom was then a student at the University of Berlin. The bride lived with her parents in Riga.

Her father, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, had been persecuted by Soviet authorities for his religious activities and fled the Soviet Union following his release from prison, never to return.

The wedding would become a watershed event in 20th-century Jewish history, paving the way for the groom to eventually succeed Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak as Chabad’s leader. Over the course of nearly half a century, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, known simply as “the Rebbe,” would turn the Chabad movement into a household name, with educational and outreach activities across the globe.

Nonetheless, at the time of his wedding, “It wasn’t at all clear that Rabbi Menachem Mendel would eventually succeed his father-in-law as the Lubavitcher Rebbe,” says Rabbi Dr. Zvi Leshem, head of the National Library of Israel’s Gershom Scholem Collection for Research in Kabbalah and Hassidism. “In hindsight, we see that not only did he become the rabbi of Lubavitch Hassidism, but without a doubt one of the most famous hassidic and even Jewish figures, known throughout the entire world.”

The site of the wedding reflected the times. Despite neither the bride nor the groom having any particular attachment to Warsaw, it provided a relatively central and prominent location not under Soviet rule to celebrate the marriage of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s daughter to a distant cousin and a celebrated Torah scholar.

“In the 1920s, under the growing antisemitism and anti-religious persecution of the Soviet regime, hassidim, of which Lubavitch was a major group, found themselves under increased persecution,” Leshem explained. “As it became increasingly difficult to have a Jewish lifestyle under these conditions, some hassidim emigrated to the West or to Palestine, and those who stayed were forced underground. Obviously in such a situation, the eventuality that families would be separated became quite common.”

While the crowd at the wedding included many notable rabbis and communal figures, two guests of honor were conspicuously absent: Rabbi Menachem Mendel’s own parents, who were prohibited by Soviet authorities from attending. The hope that they might ultimately be able to come has been suggested as a potential cause for the couple’s extended engagement. Stuck in what was then called Ekaterinoslav, Ukraine (later Dnipropetrovsk), the groom’s parents famously insisted on holding a celebration for hundreds of guests at their home.

Many others could not attend, and so a few slightly different versions of the invitation were prepared, including one for invitees who could not physically attend the wedding but were nonetheless invited to celebrate from afar.

One such invitation has recently been discovered in the archive of Levi Yitzhak Schneersohn, a cousin who had moved to Palestine at a young age.

The archive has been reviewed and described with the support of the Leir Foundation.

Levi Yitzhak became active in the legendary NILI underground organization, serving as a liaison between its operatives and British intelligence during World War I.

According to his own account, he even coined the name NILI, and acronym of Netzach Israel lo yishaker – “The Eternity of Israel will not deceive,” from the Book of Samuel.

Following the war, he reported on Arab affairs throughout what is today Israel, Jordan and Syria. A prolific writer all of his life, Levi Yitzhak composed poetry (largely in Russian), and published two books: an autobiography detailing his time in the NILI underground, and an early history of the city of Hadera.

Both Levi Yitzhak and Rabbi Menachem Mendel were born in Russia, descendants of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, who founded Chabad in the 18th century. Their stories otherwise share very little in common. One was a relatively unknown Zionist activist and writer, while the other became one of the most important figures in modern Jewish history.

JTA and Ivgi Slutzk contributed to this report.