Long letter of condolence, handwritten and signed by the Lubavitch-Chabad Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson (the Rayatz), to Ms. Rachel Schneerson [mother of the poet Zelda], upon the death of her husband Rabbi Shalom Shlomo Schneerson. Leningrad, 1926
The rebbe opens the letter with the words: "I was taken aback by the sad news of the death of your husband, the renowned Rabbi…", and afterward he consoles and blesses her and her daughter. At the end of the letter, the Rayatz writes that he has decided not to show the widow's letter to his mother, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, wife of Rebbe Shalom Ber of Lubavitch lest her distress upon hearing of the tragedy cause her health to deteriorate in her old age.
R. Shalom Shlomo Schneerson, son of R. Baruch Shneuer Schneerson, related to the Lubavitch-Chabad Rebbes (father of R. Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, father of the last Chabad Rebbe), son-in-law of R. David Zvi (Radatz) Chen, Rabbi of Chernihiv (Russia) and a prominent Chabad rabbi. First he served as Rabbi in a Jewish agricultural colony in the Kherson district (Russia). Following the Bolshevik revolution, he left the colony and in Sivan 1925 moved to Eretz Israel together with his son-in-law the Radatz Chen and with his wife and only daughter Zelda. Less than one year after their Aliya to Jerusalem, the Radatz Chen died and six weeks later his son-in-law, Rabbi Shalom Shlomo also suddenly died after contracting pneumonia. His daughter, mentioned in the letter by the Rayatz is the celebrated poet Zelda who was 11 years old at the time of her father's death. Zelda, the orphan, received special permission to recite Kaddish in the Georgian synagogue and during the year of mourning, she said Kaddish daily for her father and grandfather.
15 autograph lines signed by the Rebbe the Rayatz. 21.5 cm. Good condition. Folding marks. Stains.