Boruch Dayan Hoemes: Mrs. Hanna Tennenhaus, 89, OBM

With sadness we inform you of the passing of Mrs. Hanna Tennenhaus, of Montreal, Canada, at the age of 89. She was a survivor of the Holocaust who penned one of the first novels on it with blessings from the Rebbe.

Born on the 3rd day of Chanukah 1923 in Fuerth, Germany, to Raphael and Adele Faust, she was sent on the final Kinderstransport to London, England, where she survived the War.

Her parents were murdered Al Kiddush Hashem in the Concentration Camp in Riga, Latvia. Her paternal grandfather, Rav Mordechai Yehuda Leib Faust, a descendant of the Koznitzer Magid, knew Shas by heart, and was the Rav of the Klaus Shul in Fuerth, a city which was an Ir Vo’aim BiYisroel.

Many Seforim had their first printing in Fuerth. In Likutei Sichos, it is often mentioned when a particular Sefer is mentioned, that it is the “Fiyurda” printing which means Fuerth. In the index of the Rebbe’s library, the list of Seforim from Fuerth is extremely long.

In Fuerth, the Fausts were close to the family of Dr. Henry Kissinger. This friendship was maintained until today. Henry Kissingers’s father helped arrange for Mrs. Tennenhaus to receive compensation from the Germans. Many years later, because of this friendship, Mrs Tennenhaus’ son Raphael had a meeting with Dr. Kissinger, gave him a book written by Mrs. Tennenhaus, and had Dr. Kissinger inscribed in one of the Sifrei Torah for Jewish unity.

In 1949, she married Reb (Avrohom) Dovid Tennenhaus, in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. The young couple received a letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe for their wedding. They were a pioneering couple in spreading Yiddishkeit from the day the Rebbe became Rebbe. Her husband received over a hundred letters from the Rebbe, many of them addressing the spreading of Yiddishkeit in Bathurst and its surroundings, a small town in the Maritimes over five hundreds miles away from Montreal.

In 1953, Mrs. Tennenhaus had a long Yechidus with the Rebbe. She was accompanied by her two older children, the late Rabbi Yisroel Tennenhaus OBM, and the late (Chaya) Aydel Lebovics OBM.

At the end of that Yechidus, the Rebbe told her: “You requested Brochos for many people, but you neglected to ask a Brocha for yourself.”

Mrs. Tennenhaus was a highly accomplished novelist, writer and poet. She penned a novel “Eva” in 1959, with the encouragement and blessings of the Rebbe. Although at that time, Holocaust books were not that common, her novel was a bestseller at the time, depicting her life in pre-war Germany, London during the war, her move to New York, and eventually settling in Canada. Eva is 70% non-fiction, 30% fiction.

Prior to its printing, the manuscripts were stolen. The Rebbe advised her husband how to expedite the printing of Eva, before the person who stole the manuscripts had a chance to publish his ”altered” edition of the book.

She was a contributor to the Canadian weeklies Macleans and Chatelaine, the Canadian Edition of Readers’ Digest, local newspapers, and the Canadian Jewish News, which published her first hand account of Kristalnacht.

Her home in Bathurst, New Brunswick in the 1950’s was an open house for religious business travelers and Meshulochim, who needed a kosher place to stay, whilst on the road. Mrs. Tennenhaus also served as the Mikvah attendant of the Bathurst Mikvah that was built by her husband. She taught numerous Kallas in Bathurst and neighboring towns the laws of Family Purity, and encouraged them to continue Mikvah observance after they were married.

Her home in the 1960’s in Montreal was often filled with her husbands students, and in addition to the tutoring her husband offered the students, Mrs. Tennenhaus would from time to time help students with learning difficulties complete their homework assignments.

Her writings in her earlier years, which include short stories and poems, dealt primarily with the Holocaust. In her later years, her writing dealt mainly with life as a senior citizen.

Well in to her eighties, Mrs. Tennenhaus continued her passion for reading, writing and Yiddishkeit. She recited every day 30 chapters of Tehillim. In the last few years of her life, her Shabbos schedule included Daavening Shachris and Mussaf, learning the entire weekly Sedra, and reading from cover to cover many of the Jewish weeklies. She admitted that some Shabbosim she was too tired to learn the weekly Haftorah.

She barely survived the Holocaust and left the world with some 80 descendants, k”ah. Mrs. Tennenhaus had been battling an illness for over a year, and passed away on Simchas Torah.

She is survived by her children Esther Solomon (Efrat, Israel), Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus (Hallandale Beach, FL), as well as her older siblings, Mr. Joe Faust (Cote S Luc, Quebec), Mrs. Francis Frankel (Washington Heights, NY), many grandchildren and great grandchildren, who she adored and had a special relationship with so many of them.

She was predeceased by her husband Reb Avrohom Dovid (3rd of Tishrei 1993), her older son Reb Yisroel (16th of Kislev 2008), and her older daughter Chaya Aydel Lebovis (15th of Elul 2001).

“My mother left a legacy of tremendous Emunah in Hashem, uncompromising Tznius, and genuine Simchas Hachaim”, her son Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus remarked.

The Levaya will take place on Tuesday at 1:00pm, Chesed Shel Emes, 935 Beaumont, Montreal, Kevura to follow at Lubavitch Cemetery in Laval.

Shiva will be observed at the Dworcan house, 4934 Kent Ave. Email rtennenhaus@gmail.com.

Boruch Dayan Hoemes