Holy Letters
No matter how near, how far, or how dangerous, a Chassid always communicates with his Rebbe for guidance in life. No one exemplified this powerful bond more than Rabbi Menachem Shmuel Dovid Raichik, of blessed memory, who fled Nazi and Communist Europe and became one of the first Chabad emissaries in the U.S. The Avner Institute presents, courtesy of son Rabbi Shimon Raichik, an intimate and purposeful correspondence between his father and the Previous (Sixth) Lubavitcher Rebbe—whose birthday and release from Soviet prison is celebrated Yud Beis (12) Tammuz—as well as a coded telegram from a yeshiva student trapped in a hostile land yet determined to receive the Rebbe’s blessing and advice.
In loving memory of Hadassah bas Shneur Zalman
“How I should proceed further”
Rabbi Shimon Raichik relates:
After my father came to New York, he wrote the following letter to the Previous Rebbe (Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, also known as the Rebbe Rayatz or the Friediker Rebbe):
Boruch Hashem who saved me and now I have the z’chus [merit] to come to the Rebbe.
I learned in Tomchei T’mimim in 5696 [1936]; and in the summer I learned in the Zal [study hall]. In Shanghai I did not have the ability to learn niglah [revealed Torah] and Chassidus properly because the bochurim [students] gave me the responsibility of running the yeshiva.
I am 28 years old. I am asking the Rebbe how I should proceed further. I am asking that the Abishter [One Above] should help me to get established in life . . . physically and spiritually and to fulfill the purpose for which I was brought here.
That year my father was appointed emissary of the Rebbe.
“Detail of your accomplishments”
The following series of responses to the above shows how the Previous Rebbe guided my father in establishing his shlichus [missionary work]. This correpondence was a highly effective way to establish the relationship between the Rebbe and his Chassidim and their children.
12 MarChesvhan 5707
In answer to your question, I know and value your dedicated work to inspire interest about learning in yeshiva and to explain publicly the [importance of] support or those who learn Torah, and especially to speak and encourage in an organized fashion how this is important to the life of a child that the teacher should be a G-d-fearing Jew. The Abishter should help you become established with a good shidduch and parnossa in abundance, physically and spiritually.
2 Kislev 5707
In answer to your question (what your work should be): write what type of work you did, where exactly (in which place and when), and then I will answer you.
6 Kislev 5707
In answer to what you wrote [asking] the way you should settle down. Indeed, you should be in the Yeshiva Tomchei T’mimim, but your main involvement should be in maamad [collection of funds from Chassidim for the support of the Rebbe’s household] in Chabad shuls here and in the outlying areas, and to inspire others to set aside time to learn Chassidus in subjects that they can understand, according to the guidance of the Vaad Ha’Maamad. The Abishter should bring you success, physically and spiritually. [R. Shmuel Levitin was the head of the Vaad Ha’Maamad.]
8 Teves 5707
In answer to what you wrote: Thank you and a blessing for your traveling to meet anash [community members] and encouraging them to organize farbrengens in the ways of Chassidim and to set aside time for learning. The Abishter should grant you success that you should settle down in a way of life that is in the tent of Torah and avodah [service], with good parnossa [livelihood] in abundance, physically and spiritually.
24 Teves 5707
In answer to your letter about your traveling: surely you will write down the spiritual level of anash and that of the youth and the takanos [guidelines] that they established, and the Abishter will give them success, spiritually and physically.
4 Adar 5707
Write me in detail of your accomplishments in the places that you visited and inform me concerning how the anash and their married children are educated, their yiras shomayim [fear of Heaven], and the courses they study. Be one with the kiruv [outreach] and his inner awakening. In the expression of the Mittler Rebbe [second Lubavitcher Rebbe], when a person thinks of his bitter spiritual situation, he will cry from the bitterness of his soul to change his ways.
The Rebbe Maharash [fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe] said in the name of the Tzemach Tzedek [third Lubavitcher Rebbe], “Any place and any time in any country, when any one of the children or children’s children in later generations will awake to keep Torah and mitzvoth, he will succeed physically and spiritually.
“Ways of communicating”
During much of its 70-year existence, the communist government issued harsh decrees to uproot Jewish faith in Soviet Russia. The KGB, the secret police, closely monitored the Chassidim’s every move and paid special attention to their correspondence. Consequently, no one dared address a letter openly to the Rebbe; many a Chassid was sent to Siberia and never seen again.
Nevertheless, nothing could sever a Chassid’s inexorable bond to the Rebbe. Even in the light of such danger, Chassidim found ways of communicating. Likewise, the Rebbe wrote back to them under the name “Zeida” (“grandfather” in Yiddish). Indeed, every Chassid regards the Rebbe as a father; the first Lubavitcher Rebbe (Alter Rebbe, also known as the Ba’al HaTanya) often referred to the Ba’al Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement, with the patriarchal title Zeida.
In the following copy of a unique telegram, a yeshiva student from Russia sends a carefully worded message to the Rebbe via Rabbi Leibel Groner, z”l, secretary of the Rebbe. The young man informs the Rebbe of a recent marriage proposal, and he requests the Rebbe’s approval and blessing.
The Rebbe responds in the telegram by underlining the words “CWY LVOV ULICA LVA 9/12,” which is the young man’s address. He then writes: ‘NAILUTSHIE POSHELANIA WASHEMU PREDLOZHENIU,” and signs, “Zeida.”
Translation: “Best wishes for the proposal,” (signed), “Grandfather.”
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What a beautiful informative article. I appreciated the long lost authenticities of the previous generation. How every small act needed to be precise and with ultimate caution. Thank you for sharing. As a Yid as an observant yid. It is customary to voice one’s opinions and criticism, of course respectfully. Some of your translations of the Rebbes words have been ill translated. Just 1 example would be,,,,, ‘Shlichus’ translated as ‘missionary work’. We should be more sensitive about these things especially these days. Would of been more appropriate to translate Shlichis as ‘outreach’ rather then ‘missionary work’ Thanks again for… Read more »