By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives
By the time Rabbi Binyomin Klein joined the Rebbe’s secretariat, dozens of letters were being delivered to the Rebbe daily. In addition, many would write short questions for the Rebbe or requests for blessings.
The Rebbe would respond with brief, direct notes recorded on paper scraps. These short notes were given to one of the Rebbe’s aides, who would verbally inform the person by phone or in person. Sometimes, the secretary would write a letter with the Rebbe’s response included within.
At times, Rabbi Klein would watch the Rebbe sit at his desk, and respond to a person on a paper scrap. These scraps were torn-off, blank pieces of the notes that people sent to the Rebbe, or even an old envelope, that he placed in a small basket at the side of his desk.
When he first saw this, Rabbi Klein was taken aback that the Rebbe would use scrap paper. He went to a local store and purchased a variety of notepads. He placed them on the Rebbe’s desk the next time he was in the Rebbe’s office. The Rebbe would now have the paper size of his choice.
The Rebbe gave Rabbi Klein a pile of responses, and other work requiring attention, and then pointed to the pads, asking, “What are these for?”
Rabbi Klein answered that if the Rebbe needed to write something, he could use them.
“I don’t need these,” the Rebbe said. Pointing to the loose papers, he continued, “I am good continuing as I always have. Take the new notepads into the secretariat’s office, and when people need to write a note, they should have what to use.”
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I remember getting answers from the rebbe on paper scraps too!
Waste not. Want not. Besides avoiding Baal tashchis, he would use the scraps harvested from other letters, creating a connection between yidden and using one person’s letter/note of pain to write an answer on it that will help uplift another person.
An insightful perspective!
Thank you for sharing that. We had heard about this hanhogo of the Rebbe when we we’re still young bochrim. When writing to the Rebbe, we got into the habit of tearing off the extra paper, so as not to trouble the Rebbe to then remove that part himself.