How were the Rebbe’s personal and communal letters written?
This is a question which people often ask – who composed them? who prepared them ? – from the first draft until the final version which the Rebbe would personally sign before being mailed to the sender of the letter. How did the process go?
Rabbi Nissan Mindel – personal secretary entrusted with all the Rebbe’s correspondence in four languages, both communal and personal, describes this process in great and fascinating detail in his introduction to The Letter and The Spirit series, English letters of the Rebbe which he personally prepared for publication with the Rebbe’s blessing.
To recap, briefly.
Rabbi Mindel went in to the Rebbe’s yechidus room for dictation of the letters two or three times a week for close to forty years. The Rebbe would personally open and read the letter addressed to him (on occasion he asked R’ Mindel to read the letter as well).
He would then dictate in Yiddish only to the mazkir an answer to the letter – explaining a number of points to be included in the answer, points usually based on both nigleh and chassidus. These points the mazkir would write down in shorthand – filling many pages in his stenographer notebooks – hundreds of which are preserved in his archives.
At the end of each dictation the Rebbe would instruct the mazkir as to which of the four languages the letter was to be composed in: Hebrew, Yiddish, English or Russian. Rabbi Mindel would then compose all these letters in the designated language, type them up (either he or another secretary) and bring them to the Rebbe at the next session, during which time the Rebbe would read through these letters and make notations when necessary (corrections or additions).
When these notations were minor, the Rebbe signed the letter after which it was mailed. However, when the notations were more lengthy – the mazkir would retype the noted letter and bring it back to the Rebbe for his signature.
The communal letters – Michtav Kloli – written to Jews the world over on the occasion of Yomim Tovim, was done the same way.
These letters of blessings and Torah thoughts were composed by the mazkir in Yiddish – which the Rebbe checked over and made notations on, when necessary and then signed. The mazkir then translated this letter to English.
Communal letters written to organizations were dictated similarly and composed by the mazkir in any of the four languages appropriate to the occasion.
The Rebbe would check these over as well and then sign them.
We are presenting samples this week of two such letters, personal and communal:
(1. a personal letter with extensive notations of the Rebbe (Hebrew).
(2. a communal letter to students and staff of a yeshivah in connection with Pesach (Yiddish).
Alongside these rough drafts of the letters we are showing the final version with all the notations included, as they are printed in the Igros Kodesh.
This brief description will clarify for the reader the process of the Rebbe’s correspondence.
(Besides the Rebbe’s letters, the rich archives of Rabbi Mindel include varied and extensive material as well, some of which we hope to present in the future).