5 kopek coin given by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn – the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch, to his grandson Rebbe Shalom Dov Ber Schneershon – the Rashab.
Copper coin. Obverse: value of the coin, date and place of minting: E.M. Ekaterinburg Mint, 1860. Reverse: coat of arms.
The Rashab received this coin as a child from his grandfather the Tzemach Tzedek (the Rashab was five years old when the Tzemach Tzedek passed away on 13th Nissan 1866).
Letter of authenticity enclosed (handwritten note, in English), signed in Hebrew by Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary (1899-1991), eldest daughter of Rebbe Rayatz: "I hereby gift… one of the 5 Kopka coins that my grandfather – the Rashab received as a child from the Tzemach Tzedek. My grandfather gave it to me for my 15th birthday". Dated 14th May 1989.

Sefer HaSichot 5681 (1921) by the Rayatz mentions the Tzemach Tzedek's custom of giving coins to his grandsons the Rashab and R. Shneur Zalman Aharon, the two sons of his son R. Shmuel Schneersohn (the Maharash): "Every Thursday, my father [the Rashab] would go to the Tzemach Tzedek and receive a pyetok (5 kopek coin)" (ibid., p. 20). In Sefer HaSichot 5691 (1931), the Rayatz relates: "Every day, they would go to the Tzemach Tzedek, recite Shema Yisrael and Baruch Shem, and he would give them a zweyer [half a kopek]"; he also describes how the Tzemach Tzedek once sat his grandson the Rashab on his lap and gave him coins for his Chassidim: "Once, during private audiences… he asked him if he wants money, and the Rashab answered in the negative. He gave him a few coins to give the Chassidim for alcoholic beverages, and the Rashab went out to the Chassidim saying "the Zeyde… gave for buying Mashkeh" (ibid., p. 226. See also Torat Menachem – Diary 1931, pp. 28, 193). Torat Menachem – Reshimat HaYoman 5693 (1933) records: "The Rashab, R. Shneur Zalman Aharon and their sister Devorah Leah would visit the Tzemach Tzedek every day, as young children, in the morning, and the Tzemach Tzedek would give them money" (ibid. pp. 69, 276).

R. Refael Nachman (Fole) Kohen related in the name of his father R. Baruch Shalom Kohen, who heard from R. Monya Moneszon the following episode: "Both sons of the Maharash, i.e. Rebbe Rashab and his brother R. Shneur Zalman Aharon, would visit their grandfather the Tzemach Tzedek every day. On the last time before the passing of the Tzemach Tzedek, R. Shneur Zalman Aharon had some impediment and could not come… the Rashab went in alone to the Tzemach Tzedek. The Tzemach Tzedek would give each one of them every time they visited him a 5 kopek coin. But this time… he gave him a half-ruble saying: You see, this is a Machatzit HaShekel" (Shemuot VeSippurim MeRabbotenu HaKedoshim, part I, p. 78).

Diameter: 36 mm.

Coin purse which Rebbetzin Rivkah received as a gift from her husband R. Shmuel Schneersohn – Rebbe Maharash of Lubavitch.
Silver (marked); chain mail.
A letter of authenticity (handwritten note, in English) is enclosed, signed in Hebrew by Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary (1899-1991), eldest daughter of Rebbe Rayatz, great-granddaughter of Rebbetzin Rivkah: "I hereby gift… the silver coin purse of my great grandmother Rebbetzin Rivkah. She received it as a gift from her Husband the Mahrash after he returned from one of his trips to Paris". Dated 14th May 1989. Enclosed: Wooden jewelry box of Rebbetzin Rivkah (the box was given as a gift together with the purse, but is not mentioned in the letter).

Rebbe Maharash, fourth Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty, was the first rebbe of Chabad to visit Paris. His first trip was in 1868, at the age of 34 – in order to meet with communal activists (HaYom Yom, Shalshelet HaYachas). In 1870-1881, the Maharash paid several more visits to France, whether to stay at health spas and consult doctors or for communal matters (particularly renowned is the episode which took place when the Maharash lodged in the Alexander Hotel in Paris, and influenced a young Jewish man to repent).

The Lubavitcher Rebbe describes (in the name of his father-in-law the Rayatz) the Maharash's practice of buying gifts and jewelry for his wife Rebbetzin Rivkah when he travelled abroad: "The custom was that Rebbe Maharash frequently travelled abroad, and when he sometimes offered the Rebbetzin to accompany him, she would ask him to give her instead the value of the ticket, and she would know what to do with the money… she also had a lot of jewelry – gifts she received from her husband, Rebbe Maharash, upon returning from his travels – which she would pawn in order to borrow a few more rubles for her activities" (Torat Menachem, part 13, p. 337). In Divrei Yemei HaRabbanit Rivkah, her grandson the Rayatz relates about the Tzemach Tzedek's great affection for his daughter-in-law Rebbetzin Rivkah, and his practice of giving her jewelry through his son the Maharash:"Likewise, he would draw her close with expensive gifts, through his son, her husband, large gifts to buy jewelry and the like" (ibid., p. 52).
According to the enclosed letter, Rebbe Maharash bought this coin purse after he returned from one of his visits to Paris.

Rebbetzin Rivkah Schneersohn, mother of Rebbe Rashab and grandmother of Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch. Born in 1833 to Rebbetzin Sarah, daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe of Lubavitch and to R. Aharon Alexander of Shklow. She was orphaned of both her parents at a young age, and was raised by her grandmother, Rebbetzin Sheina, wife of the Mitteler Rebbe (he himself passed away before she was born, in 1828). In 1849, her wedding to Rebbe Maharash was celebrated. After her marriage, Rebbetzin Rivkah assisted her husband in all communal matters. She took upon herself the responsibility of the finances of the rebbe's court, and was in charge of distributing the Maamad funds (charity given by Chassidim to support the rebbe's court). She was also very active on behalf of the students of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Lubavitch. She supervised the boys' eating and sleeping arrangements, inquired about their wellbeing and made sure they could study diligently without material worries. She was known as a "Baalat Shemuah" and was the source of many stories on the history of the Chabad Chassidut and its rebbes. Her grandson Rebbe Rayatz would visit her regularly to hear her stories, as instructed by his father Rebbe Rashab. Many of these stories were later published in the books of the Rayatz – Sefer HaZichronot, Likutei Diburim, Sefer HaSichot, and others. The Rashab once related to his son the Rayatz that his father the Maharash once stated that when his wife Rebbetzin Rivkah would relate a certain story to him, he would experience an "inner pleasure", since she was a "Baalat HaShemuah". Her father-in-law, the Tzemach Tzedek blessed her with longevity, and Rebbetzin Rivkah indeed lived to the ripe old age of eighty, passing away on Erev Shabbat 10th Shevat 1914. She was buried in Lubavitch, close to the gravesite of her father-in-law the Tzemach Tzedek and her husband the Maharash. In a letter to his daughter-in-law and grandsons, her son the Rashab wrote: "There are no words sufficient to describe our great loss. A great and holy light was removed from our home… I am consoled only with the clear knowledge that she is still with us now, and wherever we are, she is there with us" (Igrot Kodesh of Rebbe Rashab, part II p. 781). The Beit Rivkah network of educational institutions were established in her memory.

Silver purse: approx. 7X6 cm. Good condition. Wooden jewelry box: 20.5X14 cm. Good condition. Scratches and abrasions. Minor defects.

Glasses of Rebbe Shalom Dov Ber Schneersohn – Rebbe Rashab of Lubavitch.
Letter of authenticity enclosed (handwritten note, in English), signed in Hebrew by Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary (1899-1991), eldest daughter of Rebbe Rayatz and granddaughter of Rebbe Rashab: "I hereby gift… the glasses of my grandfather the Rashab. He wore them in the final weeks of his life". Dated 10th September 1989.

R. Refael Nachman (Fole) Kohen in his book Lubavitch VeChayaleha mentions the glasses Rebbe Rashab wore: "The rebbe did not carry in public domain on Rosh Hashana, and when he went to Tashlich, he would give his siddur and glasses to one of the students. Once he gave me the siddur and glasses, and when we reached the river, I wished to return them to him, and the students around him wished to give them themselves to the rebbe but I refused. I pushed forward and gave them myself" (p. 29, note 9). Another testimony is brought in the book Ashkavta DeRebbi, by R. Moshe Dov Ber Rivkin, where he describes the final days before the passing of Rebbe Rashab on 2nd Nissan 1920: "I did not budge from his bed and from him almost for even a second, until he was taken… and throughout his illness I would help him sit up or stand when he had to… and I would pour water on his hands when he wanted to wash his hands" and he mentions the glasses the Rashab needed when praying from a siddur: "I would put his glasses on him each time he would pray from a siddur (apart from Sunday when he put them on himself) and he did not help me at all" (ibid., p. 52).

Good-fair condition. Minor defects.

Six silver forks used by Rebbe Rayatz while in exile in Kostroma in 1927.
Silver forks, with the hallmark of Kostroma and the maker's mark – ИІМ (late 19th or early 20th century).
Letter of authenticity enclosed (handwritten note, in English), signed in English by Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary (1899-1991), eldest daughter of Rebbe Rayatz: "I hereby gift… a Silver set of forks my father used in Kostroma. My father stayed in the house of Yerachmiel Kugel a shochet who lived there. The hallmarks show that they were made in Kostroma. My father used them to eat fruit". Dated 17th September 1989.

On Wednesday, 15th Sivan 1927, shortly after midnight, the OGPU – the Soviet secret services, burst into the home of Rebbe Rayatz in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and after performing a rigorous search in his belongings, they brought him to the notorious Spalerka prison. The official reason for his arrest was his raising funds for yeshivot and establishing illegal ties with people outside Russia. However, in truth, it was his fearless activities to preserve the Jewish ember throughout Russia that angered the authorities and led to his arrest. In face of the communist regime's policy of oppression of any trace of religious activity, the Rayatz set up a large underground network of Chabad Chassidim whom he sent wherever Jews could be found, to establish boys' schools and yeshivot, and run synagogues and mikvaot and perform Brit Milah and kosher shechitah.
After several days of exhausting interrogation, the Rayatz was sentenced to death without judgement. However, intense international pressure was put on the Russian government (the efforts were led by the Jewish parliament member in Latvia Mordechai Dubin, Dr. Oskar Cohn member of the German Bundestag, and head of the Russian Red Cross Yekaterina Peshkova), and the death sentence was commuted for three years of exile in Kostroma (small town on the banks of the Volga with a small Jewish community, 800 km away from the Rayatz's home in Leningrad). On Sunday, 3rd Tammuz 1927, after 19 torturous days in prison, the Rayatz boarded a train for Kostroma, accompanied by his young daughter Chaya Mushka and his son-in-law R. Shemaryahu Gurary (husband of Rebbetzin Chanah, signatory of the enclosed letter) .As stated in the enclosed letter, while in Kostroma the Rayatz lodged in the home of the local shochet and mohel, R. Yerachmiel Kugel.

In her testimony, R. Yerachmiel's daughter, Mrs. Rosa Melamed, who was 12 years old at the time, describes her memories from the Rayatz's stay in her parents' home in Kostroma: "The rebbe was sent to us be a Jew from Leningrad, Aharon Kuznetsov… the rebbe was a good, kindhearted and polite person. There was something holy about him… in my memory he remains G-dly… my mother cooked for him, and my father organized prayers in our house on Shabbat. Everything was arranged for him in the best way possible. Our synagogue was compelled to close, and our home became a synagogue… the local Jews were in awe of the rebbe… others would climb on the fence of our house to have the merit of seeing his face… my mother would bake challah and other baked goods… we bought berries for him, and many strawberries, and he lived on strawberries. I don’t know if my mother cooked them for him, but we would arrange them one the large table in the courtyard – we had a large yard – and he ate them there, and offered us all some… the rebbe would bless us every morning. He would ask how we are and then go pray and learn. He always had books with him… the rebbe blessed us all with good health, and that we should never experience ourselves the suffering he was going through… when he described what he had undergone, our hair stood on end! A nightmare. How they tortured him… he was in town for ten days. He was sentenced to exile in Kostroma, but he was released after ten days only (see Jem website: https://he.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/1558521).

The storm in the Jewish world over the Rayatz's arrest did not abate, and the pressure on the Russian government to release him continued relentlessly. Eventually, after ten days of exile in Kostroma, the efforts to rescue him bore fruit, and on 12th Tammuz 1927, the Rayatz was informed that he was free to return to his home. His discharge certificate was only given to him the next day, on 13th Tammuz. Since then, the day of the Rayatz's release is celebrated by Chabad Chassidim throughout the world – Chag HaGeulah, 12th-13th Tammuz.

Six forks: 13 cm. Good condition. Stains, bends and minor defects.

American flag received by Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn – Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch, during his visit with the president of the United States, Herbert Hoover in the White House in 1930, with which he sailed ten years later in 1940, when escaping Nazi Europe for the United States.
A large American flag (with 48 white stars. Nowadays, after Alaska and Hawaii joined the Union, the flag bears fifty stars).
A letter of authenticity is enclosed (handwritten note, in English), signed in Hebrew by Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary (1899-1991), eldest daughter of Rebbe Rayatz: "I hereby gift… the American Flag that my father [the Rayatz] received at the White House during His visit with the President [Herbert Hoover]. One of the private secretaries of the President gave it to him as a parting gift. The flag has 48 stars representing the 48 States at the time. My father gave it to Mordechai Dubin for safekeeping. Before leaving Latvia in 1940, my father asked Dubin for the flag. We took it on the boat to America and my father told my son [Shalom Ber – Barry Gurary] to open it full size and wave it when we left Europe. People cheered on the boat. Also when we saw the Statue of Liberty my father told my son to wave it. At the Greystone hotel a few days after we arrived my father gave it to me as a gift". Dated 10th September 1989.

Some two years after his release from the Soviet prison and settling in Riga, Rebbe Rayatz made a trip to the United States. Towards the end of the trip, which lasted for close to a year (Elul 1929-Tammuz 1930), the Rayatz met with Herbert Hoover, president of the United States, in the White House (on 14th Tammuz). During their meeting, the Rayatz thanked the president for the freedom of religion given to American Jewry and for the help his government provides to Jews throughout the world.
The Rayatz came to the United States accompanied with his son-in-law R. Shemaryahu Gurary (the Rashag), his uncle R. Moshe Horenstein (son-in-law of the Maharash) and R. Mordechai Dubin (a Chabad Chassid, prominent communal activist in Europe, member of the Latvian parliament instrumental in attaining the Rayatz's release from prison and exit from Russia). The objective of the trip was to raise awareness of the plight of Soviet Jews and to encourage and strengthen American Jewry.
Wherever he went, the Rayatz campaigned to strengthen and fortify Torah observance, and propagandized for Shabbat observance, laying tefillin and establishing Torah classes. He founded Agudas Chassidei Chabad and women's societies to promote Taharat HaMishpacha. On Shabbat, he would hold gatherings and deliver Chassidic teachings, and on weekdays, he would convene various meetings and receive people in private audiences. The Rayatz ended his visit on Thursday, 21st Tammuz 1930. He set sail from the port of New York on SS Bremen and reached Berlin on 27th Tammuz. After spending several weeks in the Marienbad health spa, the Rayatz returned in the middle of Elul 1930 to his home in Riga.
In 1933, the Rayatz moved to Warsaw and in 1935, settled in Otwosk. Several days after WWII broke out (Elul 1939), the Rayatz returned to Warsaw. During these difficult times, he was compelled to flee from one house to another in fear of raids and bombings, and false rumors circulated that he had been arrested and executed by the Germans. With the intervention of the American government and the help of several German officers, the Rayatz succeeded in escaping Warsaw, together with some twenty family members and associates, and at the end of Adar 1940 he left occupied Europe and set sail on the Drottningholm from the port of Gothenburg, Sweden, for America. According to the enclosed letter, the Rayatz took with him the present American flag, which he had received a decade earlier at his meeting with the President of the United States, and instructed his grandson to wave it when the ship left Europe, and when they reached America, near the Statue of Liberty.

After his arrival in the United States, the rebbe stayed for a while in the Greystone Hotel in Manhattan, and later settled in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where he reestablished the Chabad court and its institutions and continued his activities for another ten years, until his passing on 10th Shevat 1950. He was succeeded by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Approx. 173X115 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains. Small open tear to one corner. Tears and fraying to all 48 stars.