(The RaDa”TZ, Rabbi of Chernigov, Ukraine. 1846-1925). Autograph Letter Signed in Hebrew, written to his nephew and niece in a shaky hand.

CHEIN, CHAIM DOVID TZVI.

Jerusalem

(1925)

Request to gather people to pray for “our brethren in the Diaspora.” Composed in the last year of his life, states that it is hard for him to write.

R. Dovid Tzvi Chein was deeply admired for his piety and saintliness, particularly within the circles of Chabad. The Frierdiker Rebbe, R. Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, wrote a touching description (reshima) devoted to Rabbi Chein’s noble character, thanking him “from the inner depths of my heart for all the goodness and benevolence he granted me and for his genuine closeness and deep affinity to my needs (Meorei Yisrael pp. 186-87). The last Rebbe, R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson also cited R. Dovid Tzvi Chein with admiration, as he was a link, via his father R. Peretz Chein, with the generation of the Tzemach Tzedek. R. Dovid Tzvi had two daughters both of whom emigrated to Eretz Israel. Musia married into the Dobruskin family and Rochel married R. Shalom Shlomo Schneerson, brother of R. Levi Yitzchak, father of R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Their daughter was the acclaimed Israeli poet, Zelda Schneerson-Mishkovsky (1914-84). See A. Chein, Bemalchuth HaYahaduth, Vol. II (1964) pp. 396-442 and B. Samuel, Meorei Yisrael (1994) pp. 168-200.