Chof-Beis Shvat — Yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka
Hebrew: כ״ב שבט | When: 22 Shvat | Year of passing: 5748 / 1988
Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka was born in Babinovitch, Russia in 5661/1901, the second daughter of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (the Frierdiker Rebbe) and Rebbetzin Nechama Dina. She married Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson in Warsaw in 5689/1929. Theirs was a partnership of extraordinary depth — she was, in every sense, the eizer kenegdo (helpmate) of the future Rebbe, accompanying him through the years in Berlin and Paris, through the escape from Nazi Europe in 1941, and through all the decades of his leadership in Brooklyn.
She passed away on 22 Shvat, 5748 / February 10, 1988. She was 86 years old.
The Rebbe’s Response
The Rebbe’s reaction to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s passing was one of the most publicly emotional moments of his leadership. At the farbrengen following the shiva, the Rebbe spoke with visible anguish — and then pivoted to something remarkable. He said that because he had no children of his own, the Chassidim and shluchim were his children. And he directed that the funds collected in her memory be given to education — particularly Beis Rivkah, the Chabad girls’ school network, which she had supported.
He later distributed the Rebbetzin’s own personal funds — her yerushah (inheritance) — entirely to tzedakah and Jewish education, keeping nothing for himself.
Her Role and Significance
Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka deliberately maintained a very private life, never seeking the public attention that her position could have commanded. She was known for her warmth, her wit, and her fierce protectiveness of the Rebbe’s wellbeing. Chassidim who met her speak of a woman of tremendous dignity and inner greatness who expressed it through restraint rather than display.
The Rebbe spoke very rarely about her publicly — which made the moments when he did speak all the more powerful. He described her as having sacrificed her entire personal life for the sake of Klal Yisrael — because his complete dedication to the community meant he had little time for private family life.
How the Day Is Observed
Chof-Beis Shvat has become a day of special attention to Beis Rivkah and Chabad women’s education more broadly. It is marked with farbrengens for women, chessed projects, and donations to Jewish girls’ education — in consonance with the Rebbe’s own direction. It is a day to honor the quiet, essential role of the Rebbitzen — and by extension, of all Jewish women — in sustaining the Torah world.