By COLlive reporter
The going rate for a single penny that was given as a blessing by the Rebbe Rayatz to support the building of a Mikvah in S. Loius, Missouri, is $6,750.
The well-traveled Lincoln penny was the subject of frenzied bidding at the Genazym Auction House rare artifacts auction in Tel Aviv on July 16, Bill Motchan reports in the Jewish Light.
The penny was given by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe during his historic first visit to the United States after being released in 1927 from imprisonment and a death sentence for supporting Jewish religious life in the Soviet Union.
“The Rebbe was revered and celebrated as a great hero of the Jewish people,” said Rabbi Yosef Landa, regional director of Chabad of Greater St. Louis. “Several thousand people came out to greet him in St. Louis. He was also the last major leader of Soviet Jewry.
Some 2,000 people came to the B’nai Amoona Synagogue in S. Louis to hear an address of the Rebbe Rayatz in 1930 as part of his national tour of U.S. cities with a large Jewish presence.
Since arriving in S. Louis in the early 1980s, Rabbi Landa has assembled a great deal of information and materials related to the 1930 visit and is working on a book about it.
“These were very dark times for Soviet Jews. People were being arrested and executed,” said Rabbi Landa. “It happened on a daily basis. Or they would be banished to Siberia. The Rebbe himself was arrested several times. He defied the Soviets. He declared ‘No power can tell us that we can’t practice our religion.’
“During those horrible times in the Soviet Union, a parent could be taken away for giving their child a bris, and the mohel could be shot. The Rebbe and his followers disregarded the risks. They had the spirit of self-sacrifice.”
Anyone who contributed to the local mikvah would receive a special penny, which would bear the Rebbe’s blessing: “I give you this coin in the hope that in the merit of my holy ancestors, whoever will receive this coin will be protected from pain, and will be blessed with offspring, life and prosperity.”
Chaim Stefansky, a Genazym partner, says the auction house received the penny from a rabbi who received it from Rabbi Abraham Halperin who served in S. Louis. “It comes with the validation of a Lubavitcher Rebbe, so I don’t think it can be any more credible than this. The provenance and authenticity are above reproach.”
I also have a 1930 penny? Any takers?
Is your penny from The Rebbe Rayatz? It’s not just the year of the above mentioned penny that makes it a valuable possession, but most notably the fact that it was held by the Holy Rebbe and given by him for those who contributed to the local mikvah at that time.