משתמש:שמואל חיים/Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
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תולדות חייו

ילדותו וצעירותו

The Rebbe was born in 1902, on the 11th day of Nissan, in Nikolaev, Russia, to the renowned kabbalist, talmudic scholar and leader Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson. Rebbetzin Chana

. The Rebbe was named after his ancestor, the third Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch

At age seven, the Rebbe moved with his parents to Yekatrinislav (today, Dnepropetrovsk), where Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was appointed Chief Rabbi of the city.

In 1923, the Rebbe met Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who then served as "Rebbe" (teacher and leader) of the world wide Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

נישואיו ומגוריו בברלין ופריז

In November of 1928, the Rebbe’s marriage to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, daughter of the then Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, was held in Warsaw, Poland.

Shortly after their marriage, the Rebbe and his wife moved to Berlin, where the Rebbe enrolled in the University of Berlin and took courses in philosophy and mathematics.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, the Rebbe and Rebbetzin relocated to Paris, where the Rebbe continued with his studies, at the Sorbonne and at a Parisian engineering college, until 1938.

הצלת הרבי והרבנית

On June 14, 1940, the armies of Nazi Germany conquered Paris. A French General offered the Rebbe a residence in the countryside; but the Rebbe, comprehending the true significance of the Nazi occupation, declined the offer and fled Paris on one of the last trains to leave the city. After a perilous passage over the front lines of the occupation, the Rebbe and his wife arrived in Vichy, France.

They remained in Vichy for a few months, then relocated to Nice in Southern France where they stayed until their final escape from Europe. Throughout this time, the Rebbe’s father-in-law — who had survived the bombing and occupation of Warsaw and had arrived in New York in March of 1940 — conducted a vigorous campaign to rescue them and bring them to the haven of America.

On June 12, 1941, the Rebbe and Rebbetzin boarded the Serpa Pinto in Lisbon, Portugal, the ship that would take them to the United States. On Monday, June 23 (28 Sivan on the Hebrew calendar), 10:30 A.M., the Rebbe and Rebbetzin arrived in New York.