Nine Cloth Napkins Purchased by the Rayatz and His Wife for Their Youngest Daughter Rebbetzin Sheina, Upon Her ...

Nine Cloth Napkins Purchased by the Rayatz and His Wife for Their Youngest Daughter Rebbetzin Sheina, Upon Her Marriage to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Horenstein – Letter H Embroidered in the Corner – With Certificate of Authenticity Signed by Her Eldest Sister Rebbetzin Chana Gurary

Cloth napkins purchased by Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson – Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch and by his wife Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, as a wedding gift to their youngest daughter, Rebbetzin Sheina, upon her marriage to R. Menachem Mendel Horenstein in Landwarów in 1932.
Nine napkins; the letter H (for Horenstein) embroidered in the corner.
Letter of authenticity enclosed (handwritten note, in English), signed in Hebrew by Rebbetzin Chana Gurary (1899-1991), eldest daughter of Rebbe Rayatz: "I hereby gift… the set of dinner napkins embroidered with the letter H which my father and mother bought as a gift before the wedding of my youngest sister Shaina. She had a very small apartment in Paris and left them with my parents. When the house was packed up at the beginning of World War II they were put in a box. They arrived in 1942 before Pesach. After my sister and brother-in-law were killed in Treblinka my mother gave them to me". The letter is dated 26th November, 1989.

On Lag Ba'Omer 1932, in Riga, R. Menachem Mendel Horenstein (grandson of the Rebbe Maharash, son of his doughder Chaya Mushka), became engaged to his (second) cousin, Rebbetzin Sheina (Sonya) Schneerson, the youngest daughter of Rebbe Rayatz. The wedding took place on Tuesday, 10th Sivan 1932 in Landwarów, on the outskirts of Vilna. On the next day, Wednesday, 11th Sivan, a joyous banquet was held in honor of the wedding, with celebrations lasting from the afternoon until the wee hours of the morning. The famed R. Chaim Ozer Grodzensky participated in the banquet and danced with the Rayatz at one of the Shabbat Sheva Brochot meals. Based on the enclosed letter of authenticity, these nine cloth napkins were given by the bride's parents, Rebbe Rayatz and Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, as a wedding gift to the young couple, Sheina and R. M.M. Horenstein.

Several months after their wedding, the young couple moved to a small apartment in the Hotel Max building on 9 Bolar St. in the 14th Quarter (Arrondissement) of Paris. In 1933, after the Nazi party rose to power, Rebbetzin Sheina's sister and brother-in-law, Chaya Mushka and R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson, left Berlin and moved to Paris. Rebbetzin Sheina and R. Menachem Mendel helped them adjust to their new surroundings and found them an apartment near to theirs, in the same building. The two brothers-in-law, R. Menachem Mendel Horenstein and R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson, registered for studies at a school specializing in public work in construction and industry (ESTP), and concluded the program in 1937.
Their proximity in Paris, nurtured a warm close relationship between the two couples. For the festivals and various special Chabad occasions, they would travel to the court of the Rayatz in Riga, Warsaw and Otwock, and on the visits of the Rayatz to Paris for medical purposes, the two sons-in-law would accompany him and assist him in all his personal and communal needs. Parallel to their studies, the two brothers-in-law also kept the finance books of the Rebbe's Chassidic court and delt with various communal activities of the Rayatz. Their father-in-law, the Rayatz, regularly sent them letters and booklets and Chassidic essays and requested that together they study the Chassidic teachings. In 1938, the two couples moved to more spacious quarters adjacent one to another in the 15th Quarter of Paris.

Based on the enclosed letter of authenticity, Rebbetzin Sheina's apartment in Paris was small, and some of her possessions and household items, including these cloth napkins, were left at her parent's home in Warsaw and in Otwock. In a letter written by Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka to her father and mother-in-law, R. Levi Yitzchak and Chana Schneerson, a few days after her move to their new apartment, she mentons household items she left at her parents' home. She writes that they have finally moved to a small two-room apartment and that she is very pleased that her younger sister and brother-in-law will be living nearby. She mentions that tablecloths, towels and napkins are unnecessary burdens and that all their belongings are by her mother, Rebbetzin Nechama Dina and that if ever she will want these items, they will find a way to fetch them.

With the outbreak of WWII, R. Menachem Mendel and his wife Sheina 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 citizenship, only Polish citizenship, were left in Poland. In spite of urgent and intensive efforts of the Rayatz, the were not able to escape Europe, and in 1942, were murdered at Treblinka. To spare the Rayatz heartbreak, the painful news of their death was concealed from him until his death in 1950.
As written in the letter of authenticity, after Rebbetzin Nechama Dina learned of the murder of her daughter Rebbetzin Sheina and of her husband, R. Menachem Mendel HaKohen Horenstein, she gave her eldest daughter, Chana, these cloth napkins.

Approx. 45X48 cm. Good condition. Stains and minor damage. Tears and small holes to one napkin.