Online Auction 42 - Chabad

Special Chabad Auction in Honor of Chag HaGeulah Yud-Tes Kislev – Rosh Hashana of Chassidut - Marking the Date in which Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi was Released from Czarist Imprisonment

One-Hundred-Dollar Bill Received from the Lubavitcher Rebbe – Contribution Towards the Costs of the Meal in Honor of the Shloshim of Yankel Rosenbaum

Opening: $1,000
Sold for: $2,500
Including buyer's premium

One-hundred-dollar bill received from Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The bill was given to R. Shaul Shimon Deutsch, who inscribed it (in pen): "From the rebbe, contribution towards the costs of the meal in honor of the Shloshim of Yankel Rosenbaum".


On the night of 9th Elul 1991, a group of some twenty African American youths surrounded Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old Australian student studying at the time in the Central Tomchei Temimim yeshiva at 770, cruelly beating him up and fracturing his skull. One of the youths, 16-year-old Lemrick Nelson, stabbed Rosenbaum several times in his back. Rosenbaum was rushed to hospital, where he passed away several hours later from his wounds.
Several hours before the attack, two African American children were hit by a car which was part of the motorcade accompanying the Lubavitcher rebbe. The driver, a 22-year-old Chabad Chassid, went through a red light and struck two children – a girl named Angela Cato was seriously injured, while Gavin Cato was killed on the spot.
The accident immediately sparked what was later called the Crown Heights Riots – a series of riots in the Crown Heights neighborhood, Brooklyn NY. For three days, (9-11 Elul 1991), the neighborhood Jews suffered violent attacks from African American youths – stores were torched and looted, houses and cars were destroyed, with extensive damage to Jewish property. During the course of the riots, three people were killed (including Yankel Rosenbaum), and many dozens of Jews were injured.
R. Shaul Shimon Deutsch, a close friend of Rosenbaum, published a tribute in his memory in one of the Jewish newspapers, under the title: The Shabbos Guest – Yankel Rosenbaum Zt"l. In the tribute, R. Deutsch describes the deep friendship they shared, Rosenbaum's academic work on the history of Polish Jewry, and the Shabbos meals they shared at the Deutsch's. R. Deutsch concludes his tributes with the words: (English. See enclosed article).
According to the enclosed letter from R. Deutsch, after the Lubavitcher Rebbe read the tribute, he instructed him to made a meal in honor of the Shloshim of Yankel Rosenbaum, and gave him the present bill as a contribution towards the costs of the meal.
Good condition.

Books and Dollars, Distributed by the Rebbe
Books and Dollars, Distributed by the Rebbe