The name of the Lubavitcher Rebbetzin
This book containing the phtograph published below is not the subject of our post.
On the picture are Rebbe Rayatz's daughter Sheina (in the middle) with her groom Mendel Horenstein and his sister Sonya. The couple perished in Holocaust. The tragic circumstances are described in the book reviewed this week. Horensteins could not escape because Rayatz and Rachag�s family hand Latvian citizenship, while Horensteins were Polish citizens.
Deutsch also published a note in Russian from the back of the photograph. It is written to Moussia, Sheina�s sister and future Lubavitcher Rebbetzin. It reads: To dear and lovely Mousenka.Otvozk, Feb. 5, 29.
(BTW, Deutsch erroneously translated part of the note on page 275). It is obvious that Sheina called her sister "Moussia" not "Mushka". Also there is a scan of the Rebbetzin's death certificate on page 5. Written by the Rebbe, or with his knowledge. Again her legal name is Moussia. I know the story about Mazeivah and Rebbe's Sicha. I still think this all a grand confusion. In Litvisher Loshen Koidesh and Yiddish Shin is pronounced Samech or Sin. So Mushka with Shin is really Muska. Thousands of Lubavitcher girls are going around with a wrong name.
P.S. Muska is a diminutive of Musia. A more gentle diminutive of this name is "Musenka", this is what in fact is written on the photograph. Mushka was never used as a diminutive of this name, in Russian it means a bug.
UPDATE #1 via Protocols comments:
Shmarya: According to Shmuel Gorr's "Jewish Personal Names," published by Avotaynu, both Mushka and Muska come from the earlier Old French name Muskat or Muscade, which means Nutmeg.
Tzemach: Musia is a common (mostly Jewish) name in Russia. Mushka is unheard of name (as I mentioned it means a bug in Russian, hardly an incentive to use it). A lot of Yiddish names spelled in transliteration according to the sound. So if you ask any Litvak (this inlcludes Lubavitchers) to spell it, he will spell it with a Shin or Samech. The references to the Old French name Muskat or Muscade only proves that point.
Shmarya: Except that Mushka would be the legal Jewish name according to Professor Esterson, who researched these names extensively and put together the JewishGen database.
It's interesting that Shmuel Gorr (mentioned above) was a Lubavitcher, and, as far as I can see, does NOT show Musia or Mushka or Muska to be female versions of Moshe. He only notes the Old French Muscade or Muskat, meaning nutmeg. Gorr's ommission of this definition in his work, and the fact that he was a Lubavitcher, may point to the Muskat origin of the Rebbetzin's name. Indeed, if the Rebbe saw Gorr's work before it was published and I believe this to be the case it may, in fact, prove it.
By the way Gorr was Australian. He made aliya in the 1960's and passed away suddenly in 1988 at the age of 57. He received special permission from the Rebbe to devote his life to research, rather than shlikhut or the rabbinate.
Tzemach: Muskat will point to the proper �S� sound in the name. By the way Alfred Kolatch's dictionary lists �Moshit� as a female version of Moshe, no pun intended :-) To clear it all up we need some Mashke.
UPDATE #2, you froced me to write this now:
MUSKA is from MUSCAT
Let's see what's in the dictionary. MUSKAT from Old French, from Old Proven�al MUSCAT, from MUSC, from Late Latin MUSCUS.
Late Latin MUSCUS, from Greek MOSKHOS, from Persian MUSK, probably from Sanskrit MUSKA, testicle.
We made a full cricle now.
On the picture are Rebbe Rayatz's daughter Sheina (in the middle) with her groom Mendel Horenstein and his sister Sonya. The couple perished in Holocaust. The tragic circumstances are described in the book reviewed this week. Horensteins could not escape because Rayatz and Rachag�s family hand Latvian citizenship, while Horensteins were Polish citizens.
Deutsch also published a note in Russian from the back of the photograph. It is written to Moussia, Sheina�s sister and future Lubavitcher Rebbetzin. It reads: To dear and lovely Mousenka.Otvozk, Feb. 5, 29.
(BTW, Deutsch erroneously translated part of the note on page 275). It is obvious that Sheina called her sister "Moussia" not "Mushka". Also there is a scan of the Rebbetzin's death certificate on page 5. Written by the Rebbe, or with his knowledge. Again her legal name is Moussia. I know the story about Mazeivah and Rebbe's Sicha. I still think this all a grand confusion. In Litvisher Loshen Koidesh and Yiddish Shin is pronounced Samech or Sin. So Mushka with Shin is really Muska. Thousands of Lubavitcher girls are going around with a wrong name.
P.S. Muska is a diminutive of Musia. A more gentle diminutive of this name is "Musenka", this is what in fact is written on the photograph. Mushka was never used as a diminutive of this name, in Russian it means a bug.
UPDATE #1 via Protocols comments:
Shmarya: According to Shmuel Gorr's "Jewish Personal Names," published by Avotaynu, both Mushka and Muska come from the earlier Old French name Muskat or Muscade, which means Nutmeg.
Tzemach: Musia is a common (mostly Jewish) name in Russia. Mushka is unheard of name (as I mentioned it means a bug in Russian, hardly an incentive to use it). A lot of Yiddish names spelled in transliteration according to the sound. So if you ask any Litvak (this inlcludes Lubavitchers) to spell it, he will spell it with a Shin or Samech. The references to the Old French name Muskat or Muscade only proves that point.
Shmarya: Except that Mushka would be the legal Jewish name according to Professor Esterson, who researched these names extensively and put together the JewishGen database.
It's interesting that Shmuel Gorr (mentioned above) was a Lubavitcher, and, as far as I can see, does NOT show Musia or Mushka or Muska to be female versions of Moshe. He only notes the Old French Muscade or Muskat, meaning nutmeg. Gorr's ommission of this definition in his work, and the fact that he was a Lubavitcher, may point to the Muskat origin of the Rebbetzin's name. Indeed, if the Rebbe saw Gorr's work before it was published and I believe this to be the case it may, in fact, prove it.
By the way Gorr was Australian. He made aliya in the 1960's and passed away suddenly in 1988 at the age of 57. He received special permission from the Rebbe to devote his life to research, rather than shlikhut or the rabbinate.
Tzemach: Muskat will point to the proper �S� sound in the name. By the way Alfred Kolatch's dictionary lists �Moshit� as a female version of Moshe, no pun intended :-) To clear it all up we need some Mashke.
UPDATE #2, you froced me to write this now:
MUSKA is from MUSCAT
Let's see what's in the dictionary. MUSKAT from Old French, from Old Proven�al MUSCAT, from MUSC, from Late Latin MUSCUS.
Late Latin MUSCUS, from Greek MOSKHOS, from Persian MUSK, probably from Sanskrit MUSKA, testicle.
We made a full cricle now.
posted by Tzemach Atlas at 10:46 PM
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