Auction 042 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
By Kedem
Dec 6, 2022
8 Ramban St, Jerusalem., Israel
This auction features letters, books and rare items of Chabad Rebbes and Rebbetzins.
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LOT 11:

Silver Spoon Placed at the Threshold of the "Yichud Room" of the Lubavitcher Rebbe – Large Silver Spoon Owned by ...

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Silver Spoon Placed at the Threshold of the "Yichud Room" of the Lubavitcher Rebbe – Large Silver Spoon Owned by the Rebbe Rashab


A large silver spoon that was placed on the threshold of the "Yichud Room" at the wedding of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the future Lubavitcher Rebbe) - Warsaw, 14th Kislev 1928.
The spoon belonged to the Rebbe Rashab, and was also placed at the threshold of the "Yichud Room" during the weddings of the Rebbe Rayatz's other two daughters – the wedding of his eldest daughter, Rebbetzin Chana, to Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary (the Rashag), in Rostov on 11th Sivan 1921, and the wedding of his youngest daughter, Rebbetzin Sheina (Sonya), to R. Menachem Mendel Horenstein, in the resort town of Landwarów, on 10th Sivan 1932.


Silver (84), marked: Vilna – 1871; maker's mark: M. Shakov (м. шаковь).


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... my grandfather's large silver spoon. At my wedding as well as by my sisters wedding we walked into the yechud room with our right foot first over the spoon. By all three wedding it was used. It arrived in the shipment in the end of World War II. My parents cried when the saw it, because by then we know that my younger sister and brother-in-law had died". Dated – 14th Februar 1989. Enclosed is a wooden box which may have also been used by the Rebbe or his family (the box was given together with the spoon, though it is not mentioned in the letter).


The Silver Spoon in Chabad Weddings
It is customary in Chabad to place a silver spoon on the threshold of the "Yichud Room", over which the bride and groom step when entering the room after the Chuppah (see: "Sefer HaMinhagim", p. 76).

In the Sicha of Shabbat Vayishlach, 14th Kislev 5714 – a Farbrengen held in honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's 25th wedding anniversary – the Rebbe described in detail the various customs and rituals performed during his own wedding, and during the weddings of his sisters-in-law (daughters of Rebbe Rayatz): the wording of the wedding invitations, times of the day to hold the reception and Chuppah, inscribing the Ketubah, the procession, the escorts, Kiddushin with a gold ring, breaking the glass, and placing a silver spoon at the threshold of the "Yichud Room", detailing how the newlyweds were instructed to step over the spoon, first the groom, followed by his bride, and not on it (ibid. 200).
With the outbreak of WWII, R. Menachem Mendel and his wife, Sheina Horenstein, traveled to Otwock, to assist R. Menachem Mendel's elderly and sickly parents, R. Moshe and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Horenstein. On 5th Tevet 1939, the Rayatz and some of his household members fled Warsaw to Riga, Latvia. However, his daughter and son-in-law, who did not hold Latvian citizenships, but only polish citizenships, were forced to stay in Poland. In spite of urgent and intensive efforts by the Rayatz, they did not manage to escape Europe, and were murdered in Treblinka in 1942. To spare Rebbe Rayatz the pain and heartbreak, the news of the death of his daughter and her husband was concealed from him until his passing in 1950.
The present silver spoon arrived in the USA at the end of World War II; in light of that, and of the many reports regarding the horrific scope of murder and destruction of European Jewry, it is reasonable to assume that by that time, Rebbetzin Nechama Dina and her husband, the Rebbe Rayatz, already guessed what had become of their daughter and son-in-law, of whom they did not receive any information since 1942.


Length: 23.5 cm. good condition.