Chaim Tzvi Schneerson (, sometimes anglicized as Haym Zevee Sneersohn, Haym Zvi Sneersohn, or Hayyim Zvi Sneersohn) (1834–1882) was a Jewish-Belarusian Zionist of the Old Yishuv, a doctor, and a Chabad Chasid.
Schneerson spent many of his formative years in Israel, but most of his working years in Australia, Europe, and the United States to raise money for Jewish communities in Israel and to educate foreigners about the plight of Jews abroad.
Early life Schneerson was born in 1834 in Lubavitch to Rabbi Nachum Yosef and Sarah Rivka, herself the daughter of Rabbi Moshe Shniori, son of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. In 1840, he immigrated with his parents and his brothers Shneur Zalman and Pinchas Eliyahu to the land of Israel and settled in Hebron, which was the center of Chabad Hasidism in Israel at the time. After a few years had passed, they moved to Jerusalem, and later received a British sponsorship where he learned English. During his years in the United States later on, he received American citizenship. Schneerson heavily studied both the Talmud and Torah to such an extent that the local rabbis ordained him at his Bar Mitzvah.
When he was 18 years old, he began going on missions as a doctor to communities in different countries to visit their Jewish communities, such as Syria, Egypt, Iran, Romania, England, and France.
Career Schneerson published articles in Hebrew presses in Israel and abroad. One of his articles was quoted in Moshe Hess' book, Rome and Jerusalem. He would often travel and speak at Zionist events and was an advocate for Jewish settlement in Israel. He worked for a long time with Romanian Jewry and wrote the book The Land of Israel and Roumania – Description of the Holy Land and the situation of Roumania and Romanian Jews in the Past and Present. In his book, he developed his idea for the foundation of an independent Jewish state in the Land of Israel.
Berl Katznelson wrote about Schneerson, saying:Rabbi Haim Zvi Schneerson, a Jew of good stature, good manners, and a good communicator, "who will stand before kings" and he traded his language to speak English. He would go to the countries of Europe and America and the ends of Asia and Australia and announce the return of Israel, and published letters and pamphlets in English about the knowledge of the land and the State of Israel in different countries, out of a broad political outlook. One could say: radical in the spirit of the 1860s, in a clear trend of land settlement and a staunch "Zionist-political", in our language today out of a passionate belief that the day is near. This "Shadr" was a lecturer in front of Christian audiences, and he would gain admirers and respect everywhere... and even [Ulysses S.] Grant, the president of the United States, came and lectured before him orally and in writing about the situation of the Jews of Romania and about the establishment of Israel, and on the need to appoint consuls to be Israel's ambassador. And with that, he would publish letters to the Jewish Chronicle and present the hardships of the Yishuv and continuously support what is called nowadays "productivization" of the Yishuv and putting the people on the ground floor.In 1852, Rabbi Schneerson left on his first mission on behalf of the communities of Hebron and Jerusalem and traveled to Damascus, Aleppo and Egypt. He made his way back to Israel through the desert. 5 years later, on behalf of the Hebron and Jerusalem communities, he went to Persia, India, China and Australia. In India, he mainly visited Mumbai and Calcutta. During his visit to China, he also spent several days with Baghdadi businessman of the Sassoon family, Reuven David Sassoon.
Trip to Australia After his return to Israel, Schneerson prepared to go to Ethiopia to speak with the Beta Israel community, but the funding was pulled to allocate money for the building of the Batei Mahse, a complex in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem to house the poor, funded by Kollel Hod. Schneerson went to Australia instead for the purpose of raising funds, and his international talks gained prominent coverage in Jewish newspapers around the world. He traveled to Australia that time in 1861 with funding from both Kollel Hod and the Council of the Sephardi Committee, headed by Rabbi Chaim David Hazan, a rare time of both communities working together to help the poor. The trip was deemed a success, but was delayed due to a ship he boarded sinking on the coast of India on route to his destination.
Schneerson landed in Australia in 1861. He first worked in Melbourne, where he held a Hebrew-language meeting on 1 December 1861 with leaders of the Jewish community there (supported by Melbourne Rabbi Isaac Lyons), and they decided to establish a committee for the purpose of organizing interfaith meetings with both Jews and Christians. Both rabbis such as Schneerson, and Christian clerics in the city, such as Dean of Melbourne Hussey Macartney spoke at these events. Following the joint assembly, an association was established in the city to support Jews in the Land of Israel called Honani Ofer Zion. The collection of funds was successful, and city's papers published detailed reports of the joint assembly, and the Jewish newspaper Hamagid also talked about the success extensively. Schneerson, during his time in Israel, published a pamphlet called "The Salvation of Israel", in which he delivered his first speech before the joint assembly with an English translation of the pamphlet by the community's rabbi. He also shared the publication that appeared in the local newspaper, The Argus, and a summary of the proposals received at that meeting.
Ethnographer Jacob Saphir spread doubt on the credibility of Scneerson's mission, saying that the plan was fruitless and that Schneerson had pocketed much of the money raised, but upon confirmation by the organization and Schneerson's popularity among the dignitaries, Saphir ended up leaving the country the week of his "expose"'s publication, and was ridiculed by critics for his attacks on the Rabbi in the following weeks. Prior to his leaving, he sought the aid of the Melbourne synagogue, but was turned away because the congregation was in support of Schneerson.
Following his successes in Melbourne, Schneerson continued his journey through Victoria and New South Wales, where religious figures helped raise funds for housing in Israel during joint assemblies similar to the one that took place in Melbourne. He even went as far as Hobart, where he gave another speech to the Jewish community, this time off of the mainland. During his time in Hobart, Schneerson granted two kiddush cups to the congregation there, one of which is now in the Jewish Museum of Australia. Rabbi M. Myers of Melbourne estimated that 75% of the funds collected in Australia came from Christian donors.
Publications in Jewish newspapers Schneerson's activities in Australia, including excerpts from his speeches and the speeches of the other speakers at the events he organized, reached the Jewish press in Europe through the Australian press. This is in addition to the Jewish Chronicle in London, which employed its own reporter in Australia who authored the articles about the events, which circulated throughout the British Empire, leading to Schneerson's ideas on Israeli reestablishment being widely publicized in Europe. Many of these papers noted similarities in his ideas to the words of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer.
At the same time of Schneerson's activities in Australia, the Society for the Settlement of Eretz Yisrael was established in Frankfurt am Main by David Luria. The Hamagid, which was aware of both activities, supported the publication of Schneerson's work to support Luria's organization in Frankfurt. One example of Schneerson's writing was a speech about Jerusalem's destruction by the Romans and its subsequent history, given at talks in Australia to raise money for Jerusalem. Moshe Hess mentioned the Melbourne meeting in an appendix to his book Rome and Jerusalem. A notable Australian politicians, John Young, Governor of New South Wales, attended one of his talks in Sydney among a "large number" of citizens. Even in 1863, news about Schneerson's actions and speeches continued to be published in Europe, such as in Der Israelit.
Schneerson departed to return to Israel in April 1863 and was praised for his successful mission, and even received a letter of appreciation from Rabbi Hazan. While in Israel, he came across Rabbi Kalischer's book, , in which he found ideas similar to his own. He was also impressed by the article, "Return and Rejoicing", published in the Hamagid. In light of these words, he began to devote more of his time to the idea of the renewal of the Jewish state. He began to publish writings in the Jewish Chronicle, writing in Hebrew and later having it translated into English. His second article, "Jerusalem – The Plan for Settlement", was one in which he writes that it is not true that the residents of Israel wanted to rely on funding forever, and most residents wanted an independent economy to "work by the sweat of their brow". Another prominent one was published in 1863 the Havatzelet advocating for the establishment of agricultural colonies in Israel. Schneerson would write many more articles advocating for the Jewish purchase of land in Ottoman Palestine for settlement and agricultural growth. Schneerson also wrote for the paper, The Observer in a New Land, which began to be published in the United States in 1871. He is also notable for his descriptions of the 1834 Hebron massacre, which he recorded during his time in the city in 1872.
Activity in Israel In 1863, a large assembly was held in Jerusalem at Schneerson's initiative to commemorate Chaim David Hazan and dignitaries from other denominations. The purpose of the assembly was to examine if it was feasible to switch Jewish settlement regions in Israel to agricultural colonies. The assembly decided, among other things, that a license should be obtained from the government to purchase land to cultivate it, and that a three-year support infrastructure should be established to start the project. Following the assembly, about a hundred families announced their desire to move to agricultural work and the committee was headed by Schneerson and Rabbi Moshe Benvanishti. The initiative did not come to fruition due to the decline of the "Society for the Settlement of the Land of Israel" in Frankfurt, on which the initiative was based, as well as due to the deterioration of the Turkish government's attitude towards Jews, which was also reflected in their order in 1864 to close the two Hebrew newspapers that were in Israel at that time.
Travel attempt to Ethiopia, Yemen, and China In 1864, Romanian-Jewish traveler J. J. Benjamin wanted to go on a journey to visit the Jews of Ethiopia, Yemen, and China to learn about the situation of Jews in faraway lands, as he had heard about the persecution of Jews in those regions and the overall curiosity of visiting China. He sought support of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and in London, a committee considered his travel there, but Benjamin passed away while preparing for the trip. Hearing about the cancelled plans in the Jewish Chronicle, Schneerson contacted the committee with a request that they send him in Benjamin's place, as he had experience with faraway travel before. He also saw the trip as an opportunity to spread ideas of Zionism to the isolated Jewish communities. He believed that the fact that these isolated communities had stayed Jewish despite a lack of support from the outside was a testament to their firm faith. However, his offer for the mission was not accepted, and a mission to the community of Ethiopia was carried out by the AIU in 1867.
Reporting