Two Cigarette Holders Used by Rebbe Rayatz in Europe in the 1930s – With Letter of Authenticity Signed by His ...

Two Cigarette Holders Used by Rebbe Rayatz in Europe in the 1930s – With Letter of Authenticity Signed by His Daughter Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary

Two cigarette holders of Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the Rayatz of Lubavitch.
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 two cigarette holders used by my father in the 1930's". Dated – 3rd September 1989.

Rebbe Rayatz would smoke extensively, already in his youth and in the lifetime of his father Rebbe Rashab. The Rayatz was known to "smoke without matches" – he would light the first cigarette of a new packet with the last cigarette of the previous packet – without using a new match. During the Rayatz's imprisonment in the Soviet prison in 1927, for lack of paper, he would write Torah novellae on his cigarette stubs. According to the enclosed letter, the Rayatz used the present cigarette holders in the 1930s. In several photographs portraying the rebbe during his years in Latvia and Poland in the 1930s, the rebbe is seen smoking with a cigarette holder (see enclosed pictures).
In the final decade of his life, the Rayatz stopped smoking entirely, due to his ill health, and he also strictly forbade smoking amongst the students of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva.

Two holders: 8 cm and 8.5 cm. Good condition.