Rebbe’s Wish from 1988 is Fulfilled

By COLlive reporter

On Wednesday, Shevat 22, 5748 (February 10, 1988) the Rebbe‘s wife of 59 years, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, passed away after a brief illness.

She had felt ill the night before and was brought to the hospital, where she requested a glass of water. After reciting the blessing “Blessed are You, G‑d… by whose word all things come into being,” she returned her soul to her Maker.

In a farewell fit for a queen, a procession fifteen thousand strong led by an official police motorcade accompanied her to the Chabad cemetery in Queens, New York, Chabad.org writes.

Following her passing, the Rebbe spoke on the theme, “And the living shall take to heart” — how the passing of a person close to oneself should prompt one to positive action, in the form of lessons derived from that person’s life and deeds undertaken to perpetuate his or her memory.

In a conversation this week at 770 Eastern Parkway, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky recalled what the Rebbe has requested on the very same day of the Rebbetzin’s funeral in 1988.

The Rebbe instructed Rabbi Krinsky, his secretary and today the Chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch and the Machne Israel Development Fund, to coordinate 3 important missions.

The first was to write a will and the second was to restructure the central organizations of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Rabbi Krinsky recalled.

The third was to create Keren Chomesh, a charity fund that is an acronym of the initials of the Rebbetzin’s name. Its purpose was to provide funding for a variety of women’s social and educational purposes.

Rabbi Krinsky said the Rebbe gave specific examples to what would constitute the fund’s causes. These included supporting Mikvahs, education for women and girls and assisting kallahs who have financial pressures.

Recently, a donor who wished to remain anonymous came forward to provide new funds to Keren Chomesh with the purpose of fulfilling the Rebbe’s wishes.

The amount given was a large sum, COLlive.com was told. It will be directed to causes within the Chabad community in Crown Heights.

Rabbi Krinsky, who heads the fund, gave the first installment during a meeting with members of the Board of Directors of Beth Rivkah Schools of Crown Heights, Yerachmeal Jacobson and Moishe Pinson.

This grant was the participation of Keren Chomesh as one of the matching funders of the recent Charidy fundraiser for Beis Rivkah that succeeded in raising $1.3 million.

The funds will go directly to helping subsidize tuition for needy Crown Heights families, COLlive was told.