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A Secret Mission From My Neighbor, the Rebbe

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A Secret Mission From My Neighbor, the Rebbe

A fatal car accident, infidelity, and a kind rebbetzin catapulted Hensha from Ohio to Chasidic Brooklyn, where she married a widower with five children and settled across the street from the Rebbe.
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Dina August 19, 2026

Thank you for this inspiring interview with Hensha Gansbourg! Reply

Kori Nadel Palm Beach Gardens August 18, 2026

What an amazing story. This is Kori Nadel from Cleveland and I know Hensha since I was a teenager and I babysat for her kids. Boruch Hashem she and her father brought Chabad to Cleveland. Changed my life as well. Reply

Mr S Erner Leeds August 18, 2026

We live in Leeds England.

In 1977, my wife and I met Chabad Rabbi Angyalfi and his wife. They helped us develop our love of yiddishkeit.

In 1991, I went to Crown Heights with Rabbi Angyalfi for the first time to spend Shabbos by the Rebbe.

We stayed with Rabbi and Mrs Gansburg. They were wonderful hosts. She was so full of energy, wore what I thought was a punky sheitel, had such a modern outlook on life and was inspiring.

It was beshert to see this interview. I wish her long and happy and healthy years.

Saul Erner Reply

Susan Dworin August 17, 2026

Thank you for this. What a beautiful message! What a story. What an incredible life, so real, so inspiring! Reply

Genendl Wallingford, CT August 17, 2026

This is the woman interviewed in Lis Harris’ Holy Days in the ‘80s. I loved that book. Reply

Susan Weintrob Charleston, SC August 17, 2026

Dear Chana, I was so pleasantly surprised to hear your interview with Hensha Gansbourg. I had spent a week with her and her husband Hersh in Crown Heights as I was making my journey to observance. She and Hersh were so welcoming, so understanding and so supportive. When I returned to Indiana, where I was then living with my husband and children, I wrote 3 articles for Jewish newspapers, where I wrote a weekly column. I then told my husband that I was ready to join an orthodox synagogue, go to the mikveh and think about moving to a more Jewish area. In fact when I was interviewed for an administrative role in a Brooklyn yeshiva, I stayed with the Gansbourgs. My husband had also returned from a trip. At an airline stop, he encountered a Chabad rabbi, put on tefillin for the first time since his Bar Mizvah, and had separately come to the conclusion that he was ready to move ahead on our religious journey. You interview brought back all these wonderful memories. Thank you Chana Reply

Chaya New CAULFIELD NORTH August 18, 2026
in response to Susan Weintrob:

it is very true Reply