Suitcase of Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn – the Rayatz of Lubavitch.
Leather covered suitcase, divided into four compartments – large compartment in the middle, with three smaller compartments in the lid (one including another small compartment). Mark on bottom reads: Pandora Product Co. Birmingham Mich.".
The suitcase was used by Rebbe Rayatz in the 1930s and on his travels to health spas in Vienna and Paris.
Enclosed is a letter of authenticity (handwritten note, in English), from his grandson, Barry Gurary: " I hereby gift to... my grandfather's suitcase he used in the 1930's when he visited Dr. Max Gersun in Vienna and later in Paris. While in Paris he stayed at Hotel Moderne. This was a hotel which also my great-grandfather – the Raschab stayed and my great-great grandfather the Mahrash stayed at. My grandfather even had stickers from this hotel on his suitcase. I would often tell my grandfather that it was the nicest hotel I had ever seen. My grandfather would smile and told me that when he traveled with his father, he too was very impressed by this beautiful hotel".
The letter of authenticity is signed (in Hebrew) by Shalom Ber (Barry) Gurary (1923-2005), grandson of Rebbe Rayatz (son of his daughter Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary and her husband R. Shemaryahu Gurary – Rashag), and is dated – 29th January 1989.
This suitcase was presumably purchased by the rebbe during his trip to the United States (Elul 1929 – Tammuz 1930). After his return from the U.S., the rebbe's health deteriorated and he began having difficulty walking and talking. In the winter of 1935, the rebbe met Dr. Max Gerson (1881-1959), a Jewish-German doctor who developed a unique therapy based on a vegetarian diet. The latter claimed that the rebbe's illness was caused by "much anguish and internal suffering". Dr. Gerson prescribed a strict diet for the rebbe, and instructed him to rest and speak little. In 1935-1936, the rebbe reposed in the health spas of Dr. Gerson (who meanwhile became his chief physician), in the suburbs of Vienna and Paris. In Kislev-Nissan 1935, and in Shevat 1936, the rebbe lodged in Dr. Gerson's Sanatorium Westend in Purkersdorf, near Vienna (the sanatorium was housed in an elegant building built in 1904 by the famous architect Josef Hoffmann), and after the doctor moved to Paris, the Rebbe travelled in the summer of 1936 (Tammuz-Elul) to his new sanatorium in Ville-d'Avray, a suburb of Paris. The rebbe was accompanied on these trips by one of his secretaries or relatives. Occasionally, his daughter Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and son-in-law R. Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, future Lubavitcher Rebbe, joined him and assisted him in his work (as seen from his letter, he was once accompanied by his grandson Barry Gurary).
Rebbe Rayatz describes these trips at length in Igrot Kodesh HaRayatz, vol. IV, letter 1042.
Approx. 44X27 cm. Good condition. Abrasions, scratches and minor damage. Minor tears to leather handles.