Mrs. Hadassah Carlebach, 99, OBM

Mrs. Hadassah Carlebach, a Holocaust survivor who as a teenager worked alongside her father, Rabbi Schneour Zalman Schneersohn, in rescuing and caring for Jewish children in Nazi-occupied France, passed away on Sunday, 24 Elul, 5786.

Mrs. Hadassah Carlebach, a Holocaust survivor who as a teenager worked alongside her father, Rabbi Schneour Zalman Schneersohn, in rescuing and caring for Jewish children in Nazi-occupied France, passed away on Sunday, 24 Elul, 5786.

She was 99.

Born Hadassa Schneerson in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1927, Mrs. Carlebach lived through Soviet persecution, the Holocaust and the rebuilding of Jewish life after the war, carrying with her a remarkable firsthand account of Jewish courage and survival.

Her father, Rabbi Schneour Zalman Schneersohn, was a distant cousin of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who devoted much of his life to helping Jews in danger and ultimately played a role in saving more than 100 Jewish children during the Holocaust.

Hadassah was born to Rabbi Schneersohn and his wife, Sara, at a time when the family lacked legal status in the Soviet Union. As an unregistered Chassidic Jewish family, they lived under constant threat from Soviet authorities.

Her mother was initially unable to gain admission to a hospital to give birth because she lacked the required identity papers. A private doctor eventually agreed to secretly deliver Hadassah, bringing her mother in through a back entrance. Hadassah herself remained undocumented until approximately a year later, when a birth certificate was obtained for her.

The family later moved to Moscow, where her father was involved in channeling American philanthropic funds to impoverished Jews. Their small apartment also became a clandestine refuge for Jews who needed a place to hide.

Rabbi Schneersohn’s activities repeatedly placed him in danger. According to Hadassah’s recollections, her father was arrested 16 times. Soviet police could appear without warning, and the family learned to remain constantly aware of escape routes and hiding places.

Yet even amid the fear, those living underground found ways to maintain their spirit, sometimes singing and dancing together as a means of rising above the harsh reality surrounding them.

Hadassah later recalled that the fear of those years never entirely left her. Even decades later, when entering a home or business, she instinctively looked for an escape route or hiding place.

Following intensified interrogations of Jews in 1935, the family was able to leave the Soviet Union with the assistance of Joseph A. Rosen. Soviet authorities would not permit them to emigrate to the United States or Europe, but allowed them to travel to Palestine.

After a 12-day voyage, the family settled in Jaffa. For young Hadassah, life in Eretz Yisroel brought a welcome sense of security after years of fear in Russia. She later recalled feeling happy and safe there.

Her father, however, was uncomfortable with the strong socialist atmosphere he encountered in Tel Aviv. In 1936, the family moved to Paris, where Rabbi Schneersohn established the Association des Israélites Pratiquants, also known as Kehillat Haharedim.

There he established a kosher soup kitchen, a synagogue and a Hebrew school, providing both physical and spiritual assistance to the growing number of Jewish refugees arriving in France.

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, his rescue activities took on new urgency.

Rabbi Schneersohn was assigned by OSE, Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants, to a kosher children’s home at Chateau des Morelles in Brout-Vernet. The children lived according to a strict daily schedule while helping maintain the farm and continuing their Jewish education and observance.

Following the German invasion of France and the escalating deportation of Jews, Rabbi Schneersohn moved the children’s home south to Marseilles, where they were housed at La Maison de Beaupin.

Despite the extraordinary difficulties of wartime France, maintaining Jewish observance remained non-negotiable. Hadassah recalled that her father insisted on kosher food and continued providing the children with a Jewish education and opportunities to observe Shabbos and Yom Tov.

He also sought to prepare the young people for life by establishing a radio technology school for young men and a pattern-making school for young women.

Hadassah, still a teenager herself, became deeply involved in caring for the children, working as both a cook and teacher.

Food was frequently scarce. She recalled one period when the group survived for weeks on bread and green peppers. Each child received just one egg per month. Even under those circumstances, her father remained meticulous about kashrus. When margarine became available, he had a sample chemically analyzed before allowing it into the kitchen.

One Purim, French officials secretly warned Rabbi Schneersohn that a raid was expected the following day. He insisted that the children not be told and that their Purim celebration proceed as planned. While they celebrated, preparations were quietly made to flee. When the party ended, the children were placed on trucks and moved to another location.

In 1942, amid increasing danger, the group fled to Dému, France. Rabbi Schneersohn subsequently moved the children to Chateau du Manoir in Saint-Étienne-de-Crossey.

At one point, Italian authorities instructed Rabbi Schneersohn and his group to follow them to Nice. The move proved perilous, as German forces were waiting there and members of the group were captured.

Leon Poliakov, a member of the French Resistance, helped smuggle the children back to Voiron.

The danger touched Hadassah’s own family directly when her mother was captured and tortured. She was ultimately released.

Most of the children in their care were eventually smuggled across the border into Switzerland, escaping the Nazi deportations.

Not every child could be saved. Hadassah recalled that one group was betrayed and 16 children were deported to Auschwitz. She knew of only one from that group who survived.

Hadassah herself faced danger repeatedly. On one occasion, she was leading a group of children through snowy woods after their previous hiding place became unsafe when she heard dogs barking nearby.

Terrified of dogs, she froze. A little girl, approximately seven years old, urged her to think about G-d and keep going. Hadassah later said the child’s quiet courage gave her the strength to continue leading the group.

When France was liberated in 1945, the family’s mission did not immediately end.

They returned to Paris and began the painful process of trying to locate the children’s families. Thousands of letters were sent to city halls throughout France in an effort to find surviving parents and relatives. Some children were reunited with family. Others discovered that they had lost everyone.

For Hadassah, adjusting to ordinary life after years of hiding, fear and responsibility proved difficult.

She turned to teaching after the war, drawing on the years she had spent caring for children. She later recalled realizing that she was bringing the sadness of her wartime experiences into the classroom and decided to begin each morning by singing with her students. She believed the change helped her as much as it helped them.

In 1947, the family immigrated to the United States. Hadassah married R’ Eliyahu Chaim Carlebach in 1949. He served as a rabbi at the Hillside Jewish Center in New Jersey and co-led the “Carlebach Shul” on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Throughout her later life, Mrs. Carlebach spoke about her experiences and the complicated responsibility of being a Holocaust survivor and witness. Her father’s work, and her own role alongside him, remained central to the story she carried throughout her life: saving Jewish lives while refusing to surrender Jewish identity, even when maintaining kashrus, Jewish education or the observance of a Yom Tov could itself bring danger.

Mrs. Carlebach often stressed the importance of keeping the memories alive, preserving Jewish dignity and identity, and transmitting tradition to the next generation. “Never stop trusting that God is good, and we are here,” she said.

She is survived by her children, Sterna Citron – Los Angeles, CA, Sheina Berkowitz – Huntington Beach, CA, Yocheved Baila, Freida Laufer – Crown Heights and Esther Kugel – Crown Heights.

The Levaya will take place on Monday, passing by 770 at 9 AM.

Baruch Dayan Ha’emes.

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