Rebbetzin Shterna Sara Schneersohn’s Miraculous Pregnancy
A few years passed after their wedding, and the 5th Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rebbe Rashab and Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah had not yet been blessed with children.
Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah was very upset by this…
Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah later wrote:
“After the kiddush one Simchas Torah, I went into my room. I thought about the fact that I had not yet conceived, about my loneliness…Awash in these bitter thoughts, I burst into tears and fell asleep.
“In my dream I saw a Jew who approached me and said, ‘Why are you crying, my daughter?’
“I poured out everything that was weighing on my heart.
“He answered me, ‘Don’t cry. I promise that within the year you will have a child, but on two conditions. One, right after the holiday you must give 18 rubles to charity from your own money. Two, you must not mention it to anyone.’
“After he finished speaking he disappeared, but immediately returned with two additional people. He repeated before them his promise and the two conditions, and they agreed.
“Then the three blessed me and left.
“When I told my husband about the dream, he told his father, the Rebbe Maharash, about it. The Rebbe Maharash called me in and asked me to tell him the dream with all the details. Afterwards he asked me to describe the three people I had seen.
“When I finished, the Rebbe Maharash said, ‘The first person you saw was my father, the Tzemach Tzedek. The other two were my grandfather, the Mitteler Rebbe, and my great-grandfather, the Alter Rebbe.
“After the holiday I had to fulfill the 2 conditions…
“And that year (about 10 months later), on the 12 of Tammuz [1880], our [only child], Yosef Yitzchak (the Frierdiker Rebbe) was born.”
This story was originally printed in the N’shei Chabad Newsletter.
It was excerpted and translated by Chaya Shuchat from the book Ateres Malchus, a compilation of the stories of the Lubavitch Rebbetzins, compiled by Mrs. Chedva Segal and edited by Rabbi Alter Eliyahu Friedman.
Thank you, Chana Jenny.
One small correction, if I may.
This was printed in the N’shei Chabad Newsletter, a print magazine of 100 pages that comes out five times per year.
It wasn’t posted on our website.
Our website is mainly for people who want to subscribe to the print magazine (although you can find some articles there, if you click on Archives).
thanks for the correction, rishe