Bidspirit auction | Unknown Childhood Photograph of the

Unknown Childhood Photograph of the Lubavitcher Rebbe – Yekaterinoslav, 1911/1912 – Two Copies - Unknown photograph of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as a child. [Yekaterinoslav (present-day Dnipro), late 1911 or early 1912]. Two copies (one was owned by his sister-in-law, Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary, and the other by his niece Rebbetzin Mina Gurary). The photograph shows the Rebbe as a young 9-10-year-old boy with a tall and slim build. His expression is solemn, and he is dressed in a dark jacket and a wide-collared, light-colored shirt, with a cap on his head. He is wearing short trousers (reaching his knees), with long socks and boots. Several study books are held in his left hand. There are remarkable similarities between the famous picture of the Rebbe prior to his third birthday, before his upsherin, and the present picture – in both pictures one can notice his high forehead, serious expression and penetrating gaze. Both photographs also display a long right eyebrow and a short left eyebrow. Letter of authenticity enclosed (handwritten note, in English), signed in Hebrew by his sister-in-law Rebbetzin Chana Gurary (1899-1991), eldest daughter of the Rebbe Rayatz: ”I hereby gift... a photo of my brother-in-law [the Lubavitcher Rebbe] at 9½ years old. It was taken in Yakekttrinislav by my brother-in-law's neighbor and cousin the father of Avraham Shlonsky [Tuvia Shlonsky]. My brother-in-law [the Rebbe] was on the way to cheder. My sister [Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka] gave me the photo when she cleaned out her mother-in-law's apartment [Rebbetzin Chana, wife of R. Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, the Rebbe's mother]”. The letter is dated November 12, 1989. There is a second letter, from the Rebbe's niece, Rebbetzin Mina Gurary, wife of R. Barry (Shalom Ber) Gurary: ”Photo from Chana Schneerson's apartment. Given to me by my aunt by marriage Moussia [Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka]. Barry's uncle [the Lubavitcher Rebbe; age] nine just before his tenth birthday” (the letter of authenticity is typewritten and attached to the back of one photograph). After the passing of the Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, in 1964, her daughter-in-law Chaya Mushka asked her sister and niece Chana and Mina Gurary for help clear out Rebbetzin Chana's apartment in 1418 President Street, Kingston Avenue, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. As mentioned in the letter of authenticity, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka took this opportunity to give them copies of the photograph (on the clearing out of Rebbetzin Chana's apartment by Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, see HaRabbanit Chana, p. 190). Enclosed with the photograph received from Rebbetzin Mina Gurary is a photocopy of a visiting card of Mina Gurary, and a photocopy of the envelope in which Mina sent the photograph, dated 1995 and inscribed in English on the front and back – ”DO NOT BEND”. The Shlonsky and Schneerson Families.  The present photograph was taken by Tuvia Shlonsky, from a Chabad Chassidic family in Kremenchuk (”a man who fused Chabad, Haskalah and Zionism”). His wife Tziporah, née Braverman, was the first cousin of Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson (mother of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) – both were granddaughters of R. Yisrael Leib Yanovsky and great-granddaughters of R. Avraham David Lavut, Rabbi of Nikolayev. Among the six children of the Shlonsky family, of special note are the poet Avraham Shlonsky and the composer and pianist Verdina Shlonsky. For several years, the Shlonsky and Schneerson families lived together in Yekaterinoslav, in two adjacent apartments (on the ground floor of the same building, with ”only a corridor separating, or rather connecting us”). The neighborly and familial ties led to a close friendship between the two families – they spent time in each other's homes and sometimes even held joint meals on festivals; the mothers went out shopping together and the children played together in the yard; the boys studied in the same Cheder under the same teacher – the Chassid R. Shneur Zalman Vilenkin. (As mentioned in the enclosed letter, this photograph was taken by Tuvia Shlonsky in Yekaterinoslav in late 1911 or early 1912, when the young Menachem Mendel, future Lubavitcher Rebbe, was on his way to Cheder). The photograph was presumably taken near the Schneerson family's first residence in Yekaterinoslav, 1908-1913, on the corner of Alexanderskaya and Bolnichnaya Streets. Two copies (sepia), mounted on card: 14X10 cm; approx. 14X9.5 cm (one photograph trimmed unevenly). Good condition. Minor defects. Please note that this item can be viewed  by appointment only. The Rebbe as a Child In her memoirs, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, the Rebbe's mother, describes him at bar mitzvah age: ”He was a skinny child, with a gentle, inspired expression, the type one very scarcely encounters” (Reshimat Zichronot, booklet 33, p. 14). In an article in the Maariv newspaper (March 25, 1977) entitled ”Verdina Shlonsky: the Rebbe – Childhood Memories”,