Photo Credit:
Mrs. Hanna Tennenhaus

Rebbetzin Hanna Tennenhaus, a”h, passed away on Simchas Torah, 23 Tishrei, 5774/Sept. 27, 2013. She was 89. A shloshim was held in her honor at Chabad of South Broward Headquarters,1295 East Hallendale Beach Blvd, on October 29.

The ceremony included a siyum Mishnayos and a dinner farbregen in Chabad’s new social hall. Master of ceremonies for the evening was grandson Rabbi Mendy Tennenhaus.

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Young Hanna was sent on the final kindertransport to London where she survived World War II. Her parents were killed in the concentration camp in Riga, Latvia. This woman who lost family and barely escaped the Shoah herself left the world with 80 descendants.

In 1949, Hanna married Reb Dovid Tennenhaus, whose family had escaped to Canada before the war. The couple devoted their lives to spreading Yiddishkeit and chassidus in Bathurst and its surroundings. Their home was an open house for Jewish travelers and fundraisers who needed a kosher place to stay. Mrs. Tennenhaus also served as the attendant for the mikveh that was built by her husband at the home of his uncle and aunt, Meyer and Bertha Sand.

Mrs. Tennenhaus was a highly accomplished novelist, writer and poet. She penned a novel, Eva, in 1959, with the encouragement and blessings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Books about the Holocaust were not common at the time, but her novel became a bestseller.

Hanna Tennenhaus left an extraordinary mark on all she came in contact with. Her son Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus said, “My mother left a legacy of tremendous faith in G-d, uncompromising modesty and a genuine joy of life.”

Contributions in her memory can be made out to: The David and Hanna Tennenhaus Library, c/o Chabad of South Broward, 1295 East Hallandale Beach Blvd., Hallandale Beach, Florida 33309.

To contact Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus please e-mail: [email protected]. Canadian receipts are available.

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Shelley Benveniste is South Florida editor of The Jewish Press.