Women Pay Tribute

Jamaica, NY — Thousands of Hasidic Jewish women recited psalms and prayed for guidance Friday as they huddled around the Queens gravesite of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, wife of the last Lubavitcher rebbe.

The rebbetzin, who died 19 years ago Saturday, was known for her loyalty to her husband, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, whom she pushed to become the seventh rebbe – or spiritual leader – in 1950.

Acknowledging the rebbe and rebbetzin’s inspiring lives, scores of female emissaries from places as distant as Australia, Japan and Siberia journeyed to the couple’s final resting place in Cambria Heights.

“It’s a spiritual boosting,” said Nechama Greenberg, 25, an emissary in China. “She was a role model for us, for what we want to exemplify. She was given over to the Hasidim. She was given over to the rebbe.”

Mariasha Groner, 46, and her daughter Rochel Vorst, 26, traveled from Charlotte, N.C., to ask for blessings from the rebbe and rebbetzin.

“They were role models,” Groner said. “They were our spiritual parents. Their teachings are forever.”

The rebbetzin kept a very low profile during her life, but after she died in 1988, it was learned that she was a major part of Lubavitch outreach movements.

The rebbe, credited with revitalizing many Jews after the Holocaust, died in 1994.

The emissaries were in town for a five-day women’s conference in Brooklyn and Queens on the Lubavitch movement. Many hoped to defy stereotypes that Hasidic Jewish women are insular and not active.

“What you see here today is the exact opposite,” said Nechamie Sileerberg, 28, of Ontario. “Here you have the powerhouse of women.”

After arriving at the Lubavitch office on Francis Lewis Blvd., the women packed themselves into a heated extension where they could warm up.

They then pushed their way through an obstacle course of baby strollers and began the wintry walk to the gravesites.

“We would brave any temperature for this,” said Rivkah Slonim, 43, of Binghamton, N.Y. “It’s energizing. It’s focusing. It brings you back to your roots.”

Among those reflecting at the graves was Sema Zeilingold, who wouldn’t give her age but said she had been an emissary in Minnesota for 41 years. Zeilingold said she had much respect for the rebbetzin.

“Just being the wife of such a remarkable giant of a leader was itself a very big merit,” she said. “But the way she conducted herself – she was modest, she was loyal. It would be great if we could emulate her.”