A Story with Rebbetzin Chana: In Memory of Her Yortzeit

by Henya Laine

Bubbe Sara Katzenellenbogen, a famous Chabad woman who assisted many in leaving Russia, went to help Rebbetzin Chana leave the Soviet Union. When she arrived at the Rebbetzin’s apartment, she heard voices talking.

Hadasa (Perman) and Yocheved (Zalmanov) were with the Rebbetzin attempting to convince her to leave, but the Rebbetzin was refusing to go unless the passport had her real name on it.

Bubbe Sara joined the other two, begging the Rebbetzin to go with her immediately because time was of the essence.

The Rebbetzin told Bubbe Katzenellenbogen that in her life she never told a lie and she does not plan to tell a lie now, so she will only leave if the passport is in her name.

Bubbe attempted another tract, telling her not to tell a lie but also not to tell the truth. She would just have to be quiet and let Bubbe Sara speak on her behalf.

The Rebbetzin looked at the young girls and said “If two young girls want to escort an old lady, she will go!”

When they arrived at the train station, Bubbe Sara purchased tickets for the First Class cabin. She sat the Rebbetzin on a bench near the window, put on her a large babushka (scarf) and told her to go to sleep.

Bubbe Sara sat down on a table where you could play dominos checkers or chess, and immediately started the game with the three men sitting there. The game was for real stakes, and when the conductor walked in demanding tickets, Bubbe showed her train ticket and the Rebbetzin’s.

The conductor then walked over to the Rebbetzin, who was pretending to sleep and demanded to know her name. Bubbe Katzenellenbogen jumped out of her seat and yelled, “leave the old lady alone! She is sick and tired, can’t you see that she is sleeping!”

Meanwhile, the three men were getting agitated because they were in the middle of a high-stakes game and the conductor was interrupting. The guys started to yell at the conductor. “Don’t you see that we are playing a game for keeps? You are mixing us up! Leave the old lady alone. You have her ticket! Let us go back to play.”

Miraculously, the conductor continued on without bothering the Rebbetzin anymore.

Many years later when Rabbi Zalman Kazen was in New York he went to visit the Rebbetzin, where he heard this story.

The Rebbetzin told him that she thought that his mother, Bubbe Sara went nuts. “How could she sit with three ‘shikurim’ and play dominos?” They were all goyim and pretty drunk! But now it’s clear that she actually saved her life.

If the conductor persisted she would have told him her real name ‘Chana Schneersohn!’ Anyone who had any connections with the Shneersons were either sent to Siberia or killed!