View source for Shmuel Schneersohn

{{short description|Fourth Chabad Rebbe}}
{{Distinguish|Shmuel Schneurson}}
{{redirect|Maharash|the 17th-century Polish rabbi|Meir Wahl}}
{{Infobox rebbe
|title= Lubavitcher Rebbe
|image = Stamp of Rabbi Shmuel Schneerson.jpg
|caption = Stamp of Shmuel Schneerson
| began = 17 March 1866 
| ended =  14 September 1882 [[Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe|OS]]
|birth_name= Shmuel Schneersohn
|main_work= Likutei Torah - Toras Shmuel
|predecessor= [[Menachem Mendel Schneersohn]]
|successor= [[Sholom Dovber Schneersohn]]
| spouse = Sterna (daughter of his brother Chaim Shneur Zalman), Rivkah (granddaughter of [[Dovber Schneuri]])

|dynasty= [[Chabad Lubavitch]]
|father= [[Menachem Mendel Schneersohn]]
|mother= Chaya Mushka (daughter of [[Dovber Schneuri]])
|birth_date= 29 April 1834 OS
|birth_place= [[Lyubavichi, Rudnyansky District, Smolensk Oblast|Lyubavichi]], [[Russian Empire]]
|death_date= 14 September 1882 OS
|death_place= [[Lyubavichi, Rudnyansky District, Smolensk Oblast|Lyubavichi]], Russian Empire
|burial_place= [[Lyubavichi, Rudnyansky District, Smolensk Oblast|Lyubavichi]]
}}
[[File:Shmuel Schneersohn.png|thumb|Death of Shmuel Schneersohn. Ha-Melits. 1882-10-10. P8.]]

'''Shmuel Schneersohn''' (29 April 1834 – 14 September 1882 [[Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe|OS]]), otherwise known as '''Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch''' or '''''Maharash''''',<ref name="AJS Review"/> was an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] [[rabbi]] and the fourth [[Rebbe]] (spiritual leader) of the [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic movement]] of [[Chabad Lubavitch]].<ref name="AJS Review">{{cite journal |last=Rubin |first=Eli |date=November 2021 |title=Rabbi Shmuel Schneersohn of Lubavitch (“Maharash”, 1834–1882) and the False Twilight of Chabad Hasidism |journal=[[AJS Review]] |location=[[Cambridge]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] on behalf of the [[Association for Jewish Studies]] |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=348–381 |doi=10.1017/S0364009421000106 |issn=1475-4541}}</ref>

==Biography==
{{Chabad sidebar}}
Shmuel Schneersohn was born in [[Lyubavichi, Rudnyansky District, Smolensk Oblast|Lyubavichi]], on 2 Iyar 5594 (1834),<!--Hebcal website says that this date equals 11 May 1834; not 29 April--> the seventh son of [[Menachem Mendel Schneersohn]]. He faced competition from three of his brothers, primarily from [[Yehuda Leib Schneersohn]] who established a dynasty in [[Kopys|Kapust]] upon their father's death. Other brothers also established dynasties in [[Lyady, Vitebsk Region|Lyady]], [[Nizhyn]], and [[Ovruch]].<ref>''Sefer HaToldot Rav Shmuel, Admor Maharash'', Glitzenstein, A. H.</ref>

In 1848, Schneersohn was married to the daughter of his brother, Chaim Shneur Zalman Schneersohn. After several months she died, and he then married Rivkah, a granddaughter of his own grandfather [[Dovber Schneuri]]. He had three sons, Zalman Aharon, [[Sholom Dovber Schneersohn|Shalom Dovber]], and Menachem Mendel, as well as one daughter, Devorah Leah.{{fact|date=March 2021}}

Schneersohn was said to have had chariots on call for the evacuation of books in time of fire.<ref>''The Messiah of Brooklyn: Understanding Lubavitch Hasidim Past and Present'', M. Avrum Ehrlich, ch.16 note.12, KTAV Publishing, {{ISBN|0-88125-836-9}}</ref>

Besides his communal activism, he had wide intellectual interests. He spoke several languages, including [[Latin]].<ref name="ilo">''Encyclopedia of Hasidism, entry: Schneersohn, Shmuel''. Naftali Lowenthal. Aronson, London 1996. {{ISBN|1-56821-123-6}}</ref> He wrote widely on a range of religious and secular topics, and much of his writing has never been published and remains in manuscript form alone.<ref name="ilo"/> His discourses began to be published for the first time under the title ''Likkutei Torat Shmuel'' in 1945 by [[Kehot]], and 12 volumes have so far been printed.<ref name="ilo"/>

He died in Lyubavichi, on 13 Tishrei 5643 (1882), <!--Hebcal gives 26 September for 13 Tishrei--> leaving three sons and two daughters, and was succeeded by his son Sholom Dovber.<ref name="ilo"/>

Schneersohn urged the study of [[Kabbalah]] as a prerequisite for one's humanity:
<blockquote>A person who is capable of comprehending the ''[[seder hishtalshelus]]'' (kabbalistic secrets concerning the coming-into-being of all existence every moment) - and fails to do so - cannot be considered a human being. At every moment and time one must know where his soul stands. It is a [[mitzvah]] (commandment) and an obligation to know the ''seder hishtalshelus''.<ref>[http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sefer-hatoldos-admur-maharash/09.htm ''Sefer HaToldos Admur Maharash''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070514105202/http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sefer-hatoldos-admur-maharash/09.htm |date=2007-05-14 }}</ref></blockquote>

==Works==
*"Likkutei Torah L'Sholosh Parshiyos" - Discourses based on the first three [[Parsha|parshiyos]] in Torah Ohr of the [[Alter Rebbe]]
*"[[Torat Shmuel|Likkutei Torah - Toras Shmuel]] 5626-5642" 35 volumes - discourses in order of the parshiyos and festivals
*"Sefer hasichos Toras Shmuel"
*"Igros Kodesh" A collection of over 70 surviving letters and Halachik responsa

==Aphorisms==
<blockquote>"The world says, 'If you can't crawl under, climb over.' But I say, ''Lechatchilah Ariber''--'At the outset, one should climb over.'"<ref>See footnote number "[58]", of {{cite web
 |url         = http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sichos-in-english/50/08.htm
 |title       = The Blessings Of The Lubavitcher Rebbe Shlita / After Minchah Erev Yom Kippur, 5752
 |quote       = [As the Rebbe Maharash himself explained, this approach runs contrary to the approach of the world at large. "The world says, 'If you can't crawl under, climb over.' But I say, LeChatchilah Ariber, 'At the outset, one should climb over.' "]
 |publisher   = [[Chabad.org]]
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20020327024023/http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sichos-in-english/50/08.htm
 |archive-date = March 27, 2002
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>"You cannot fool God; ultimately, you cannot fool others either. The only one you can fool is yourself. And to fool a fool is no great achievement."<ref>[http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/through-the-eyes-of-a-woman/59.htm The Nechama Greisman Anthology] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031104075554/http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/through-the-eyes-of-a-woman/59.htm |date=2003-11-04 }}</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>"because better is better, is good not good? rather good is good, and better is better!"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=31629&st=&pgnum=205|title = אגרות קודש אדמו"ר מוהריי"צ ד - שניאורסון, יוסף יצחק, 1880-1950 (Page 205 of 623)}}</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Why are you demanding of me?<ref>To rid you of evil thoughts</ref> Demand of yourself! If you toil and fill your mind with Torah there won't be any space for foreign thoughts! break your desires and you will feel great pleasure in prayer!"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=31629&st=&pgnum=111&hilite=|title=אגרות קודש אדמו"ר מוהריי"צ ד - שניאורסון, יוסף יצחק, 1880-1950 (Page 111 of 623)}}</ref></blockquote>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070509231823/http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sefer-hatoldos-admur-maharash/index.html A biography of The Rebbe Maharash - Rabbi Shmuel Schneersohn]
* [http://www.loebtree.com/tsemah.html#5 Family Tree]
* [http://chabadlibrary.org/books/maharash/index.htm ''Sefer Toras Shmuel'' by Rabbi Shmuel Schneersohn]

{{Rabbinical eras timeline|1830|1880|Shmuel_Schneersohn}}
{{S-start}}
{{succession box | before = [[Menachem Mendel Schneersohn]] | title = [[Rebbe]] of [[Chabad Lubavitch|Lubavitch]] | years = 1866—1882 | after = [[Sholom Dovber Schneersohn]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Chabad}}
{{Schneersohn family tree}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneersohn, Shmuel}}
[[Category:1834 births]]
[[Category:1882 deaths]]
[[Category:Chabad philosophy]]
[[Category:Hasidic rabbis in Europe]]
[[Category:Kabbalists]]
[[Category:People from Orshansky Uyezd]]
[[Category:People from Rudnyansky District, Smolensk Oblast]]
[[Category:Philosophers of Judaism]]
[[Category:Rebbes of Lubavitch]]
[[Category:Russian Hasidic rabbis]]
[[Category:Schneersohn family]]