Hat Worn by Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson (Mother of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)

Hat Worn by Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson (Mother of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)

Hat worn by Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, mother of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Black hat, with velvet ribbon. Made by Mitseré, USA, ca. 1940s.

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… the Mitseré French hat worn by my brother-in-law's mother. When my sister and daughter-in-law cleaned out her apartment after she passed away my sister gave me the hat. I wore it a few times in the 1960's". Dated – December 3, 1989.

There are several pictures of Rebbetzin Chana Schneersohn, dating to the 1940s-1950s, where she is seen wearing a dark-colored hat, similar in shape and style to the present hat.

Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson (1880-1964),  mother of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and daughter of the Rabbi of Mykolaiv (Ukraine), R. Meir Shlomo and his wife, Rebbetzin Rachel Yanovsky. Married R. Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, and with utmost devotion joined him in fearlessly spreading Judaism under communist rule, first in Ekaterinoslav and later in his exile to Chiali, Kazakhstan. During this time, she produced ink from weeds, to enable her husband to write his Torah novellae, and later risked her life by carrying his writings while traveling from place to place. These writings were later printed in his series of books Likutei Levi Yitzchak on the Zohar.

R. Levi Yitzchak passed away in Alma-Ata (Almaty), Kazakhstan in 1944. In 1946, Rebbetzin Chana crossed the Russian border to Poland, and reached Paris in Adar 1947. Upon hearing the news of his mother's arrival in Paris, her son, Rebbe Menachem Mendel, who was already living in Brooklyn, immediately boarded a plane to meet his mother, who had been confined behind the Iron Curtain and whom he had not seen for 20 years. The Rebbe stayed in Paris for three months to arrange all the necessary authorizations for her immigration to the United States and in Sivan, embarked with his mother on a ship to the US.

After her arrival in the United States, Rebbetzin Chana lived near her son and near 770, on the corner of President St. and Kingstone St. no. 1418 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. Some three years later, the Rayatz passed away and her son Rabbi Menachem Mendel became the Rebbe of Chabad.

Rebbetzin Chana was very involved in the lives of the Chassidim and in the various Chabad activities and served on the board of Chabad women's organization in the United States. She passed away on Shabbat, 6th Tishrei 1964, and is buried near the Rayatz and the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Beit Chana network of girls' schools was named after her.

Approx. 22 cm. Good condition. Stains and minor blemishes.