Chabad plot – Zion of Rebbetzin Menucha Rachel Slonim
The other section of the cemetery is the Chabad section, used by the Lubavicher hasidic community who established a presence in Hebron in the mid 1800s. Menucha Rochel Slonim (1798 – 1888) was a grand-daughter of Chabad’s founder, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. She and her husband moved to hebron in 1845 where she was a matriarch to the community for over 40 years. She was famed for her wisdom, piety and erudition, honored and esteemed by famous rabbis of her time a well as the non-Jewish population of Hebron who sought her advice. The Slonim family went on to revitalize the city.
Menucha Rochel Slonim’s grave was rediscovered by Prof. Ben-Zion Tavger who in the 1970s and early 1980s was instrumental in excavating historic areas such as the Avraham Avinu synagogue which had been used as a sheep pen. In 1982, with the encouragement of the contemporary Lubavitcher Rebbe, a memorial ceremony was initiated and continues every year with hundreds of participants at her grave-site in Hebron.