Historic Treasures אוצרות היסטוריים
Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro’s COLlive video series on rare recordings and documents from the archive of Rabbi Nissan Mindel, secretary of the Rebbe. Full transcripts of the original English, with search.
English · 329 episodes · 329 transcribed · Chabadpedia article (Hebrew)
List of episodes
- 127 Iyar 5779 · 11:52Opening the series in honor of 25 years since Gimmel Tammuz: the Frierdiker Rebbe’s departure from Poland via Riga and Sweden to the United States in 5700, with his manuscripts in hand, and Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s secret mission to the Soviet Union in 1962, at the Rebbe’s instruction, to retrieve manuscripts of the Frierdiker Rebbe.
- 2“Breaking the Ice” in America English12 Sivan 5779 · 12:24The Frierdiker Rebbe’s remarks during his voyage to the United States in 5700 about “breaking the ice” in America; the beginnings of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch and the selection of Rabbi Chadakov and Rabbi Nissan Mindel to work for it; the Rebbe’s instruction to print the Merkos staff page in Kehot books; and the Rebbe’s response from 5713, using the analogy of “a bee, not a spider,” about conveying Torah teachings and stories as they were told.
- 318 Sivan 5779 · 9:38The Frierdiker Rebbe’s voyage to the United States in the winter of 5700, his mother Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah’s prayers during the journey, and a Melaveh Malkah held in his honor shortly after his arrival, at which he refused to allow a Zionist song to be sung and most of those present left. Shown is a thank-you letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe, dated 5699, concerning an earlier Melaveh Malkah held for his benefit in New York.
- 44 Tammuz 5779 · 20:02Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s visit to the Rebbe about four months after the stroke; a letter from the Rebbe to a supporter on the meaning of a will as the passing of a mission to the next generation; and the Rebbe’s two wills from 5748: the legal will in English, signed after the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, and the will he gave in Sivan to Rabbi Chadakov, Rabbi Mindel and Rabbi Pikarsky concerning the continuation of the work of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, Machne Israel and Agudas Chassidei Chabad.
- 511 Tammuz 5779 · 25:02Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s reports to the Frierdiker Rebbe on a weekly class for professionals and intellectuals in Manhattan in 5704, organized by Alexander Koven, and the Rebbe’s answers to questions about Torah and science raised there. Shown is a story the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote in his own hand about being summoned to the Cheka in Rostov in Tammuz 5681 (“This toy frightens only someone who has one world”), which was translated into English to be read at the class.
- 615 Tammuz 5779 · 14:55Mania (Manya) Rosen, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah’s nurse, who met the Frierdiker Rebbe at a convalescent home in Riga and joined his family on their way to the United States; the wool coat made in Riga that she received from the Frierdiker Rebbe two weeks before his passing (shown in the episode), and what happened to it after the seforim case. Also recounted are her ties with Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and her role during the Rebbe’s heart attack on Shemini Atzeres 5738.
- 729 Tammuz 5779 · 16:06Two letters from the Rebbe: an English letter on the obligation to study Chassidus, citing chassidim who maintained their Jewish identity under Soviet rule and explaining that the six constant mitzvos listed in Sefer Hachinuch cannot be properly fulfilled without studying Chassidus; and a letter explaining the statement “and Torah study is equal to them all.”
- 820 Menachem Av 5779 · 14:24Stories told by the presenter’s grandfather, Reb Schneur Zalman Wilenkin, who taught the Rebbe and his brothers in Yekaterinoslav, in honor of Reb Levi Yitzchak’s yahrzeit on 20 Menachem Av: Rebbetzin Chana’s visit to the Frierdiker Rebbe about the shidduch and the “dowry” she requested, the celebration held in Yekaterinoslav for the Rebbe’s wedding, and the Rebbe’s childhood explanation, using gematria, of why the Torah begins with the letter beis.
- 921 Menachem Av 5779 · 13:55More stories about Reb Schneur Zalman Wilenkin: his arrival in the United States in 5713, the special regard the Rebbe showed his former teacher, his sending of a student from the Telz yeshiva to the Rebbe, the matzah the Rebbe gave for him during his illness, and the Rebbe’s attendance at his funeral.
- 1028 Menachem Av 5779 · 15:11Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s three areas of work: writing the Rebbe’s letters; his books and translations published by Kehot, including his English translation of Tanya (5722) and the Rebbe’s response to it; and his missions, including the delegation to Washington in 5704. Also, the Rebbe’s explanation of holding a farbrengen on a birthday, and a story the presenter heard from Reb Mendel Futerfas about a chossid in Soviet Russia who held a farbrengen alone on 19 Kislev when no one else came.
- 115 Elul 5779 · 11:41A letter from the Rebbe to educators, with his handwritten edits, about continually supervising students even outside school hours and during summer vacation; a letter to the Rebbe from a rabbi in Chicago asking when and how to deliver a sermon on Rosh Hashanah, and the Rebbe’s response that the main thing is for the sermon to “come from the heart”; and Rabbi Chadakov’s advice to the presenter when he was a teacher at a Talmud Torah in Queens: teach cleanliness, proper conduct and respect for parents first.
- 1212 Elul 5779 · 16:42The Frierdiker Rebbe’s wedding on 13 Elul 5657 in Lubavitch, the Rebbe Rashab’s wedding on 11 Elul, and the conditions the Rebbe Maharash set for his son’s wedding; and the wedding of the presenter’s daughter on 13 Elul 5749, when the Rebbe mentioned the Frierdiker Rebbe’s wedding anniversary in his sicha and chassidim flocked to the celebration.
- 1319 Elul 5779 · 9:43A note the Rebbe wrote about an appeal from shluchim in the early years, on preserving Jewish dress, language and identity even while spreading the wellsprings of Chassidus; a Torah thought by Rabbi Avraham Sender Nemtzov on dressing Yaakov in Eisav’s clothes so that the blessing would also reach Jews who do not observe mitzvos; and an account of three Satmar chassidim who attended a farbrengen with the Rebbe.
- 14Loving A Yid That You Don’t Know English27 Elul 5779 · 13:16The definition of “love” as deriving from “hav” (giving), and four levels of Ahavas Yisroel, including love for a Jew one does not know; and, ahead of Rosh Hashanah, preserving a chassidic appearance, including a letter in which the Rebbe reproved a chossid for shaving his beard, and the presenter’s father’s self-sacrifice to keep his beard in Soviet Russia.
- 15“Trink Schnapps un Byse Herring” English11 Tishrei 5780 · 14:56An English maamar by Rabbi Nissan Mindel on the meaning of chassidic dancing, with the Rebbe’s edits, ahead of Simchas Torah; a humorous interpretation of the letters of the word “teshuvah” from a farbrengen with Reb Yochanan Gordon, the gabbai of 770; and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words about shoes worn through by dancing at hakafos that were found in Gan Eden.
- 162 Cheshvan 5780 · 15:01The campaign to spread the Seven Noahide Laws, which the Rebbe launched at the farbrengen of 11 Nissan 5743: a sharply worded letter sent from the Vatican to the Rebbe opposing the campaign, the Rebbe’s letter in English explaining it, and his position that non-Jews should not be encouraged to convert; also, how Rabbi Nissan Mindel came to work for the Frierdiker Rebbe in Riga, and his work, at the Rebbe’s instruction, on a book of laws for Noahides.
- 179 Cheshvan 5780 · 13:58A short article by Rabbi Nissan Mindel, with the Rebbe’s edits, on why l’chaim is said specifically over wine; and stories from the archive and the presenter’s memories about bottles of wine the Rebbe gave as a segulah for healing, and the blessing “refuah shleimah” that the Rebbe gave a healthy person during the distribution of dollars.
- 18Who Really Wrote Talks & Tales English16 Cheshvan 5780 · 16:51An exchange of letters between a reader and Rabbi Nissan Mindel following his statement in “Talks and Tales” that the English names of the days of the week were named after idols, and Rabbi Mindel’s reply; also, how all of Rabbi Mindel’s writings, particularly “Talks and Tales,” were reviewed and approved by the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe and Rabbi Chadakov.
- 1923 Cheshvan 5780 · 16:40Words written by Rabbi Nissan Mindel, with the Rebbe’s edits, on the place of women, the verse “Grace is false and beauty is vain,” and the three mitzvos of women; a letter attributed to the Frierdiker Rebbe about the simple ring a groom gives his bride; an account involving Rebbetzin Rivkah and the Rebbe Maharash; and the questions the Rebbe asked a groom in yechidus about building his home.
- 20Response to a Chabad Critic English30 Cheshvan 5780 · 14:08A reply from Rabbi Nissan Mindel to a Jew who had relayed to him the claims of a critic of Chabad, addressing five claims: how people address the Rebbe, the acceptance of gifts and checks, miracles, ascribing a “divine title” to the Rebbe, and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s car.
- 217 Kislev 5780 · 13:16Ahead of 5 Teves: the delegation the Rebbe sent in 5748—Rabbi Nissan Mindel, Rabbi Sholom Dovber (Berel) Levin and Rabbi Sholom Kunin—to locate books from the Schneersohn Collection in Moscow, which were found in the Lenin Library, and Rabbi Mindel’s letter in Yiddish about the mission; also, Rabbi Mindel’s earlier trips to the Soviet Union as the Rebbe’s emissary.
- 2214 Kislev 5780 · 17:23An article in Yiddish by Rabbi Nissan Mindel on the Alter Rebbe’s early life: his birth on 18 Elul 5505, his talents as a child, his marriage and studies with the Maggid of Mezritch, and the opposition of the misnagdim after his return.
- 2318 Kislev 5780 · 11:46The continuation of Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s article on the Alter Rebbe: the passing of the Maggid of Mezritch in 5533, the attempts to meet with the Vilna Gaon, the ban on the chassidim, the writing of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch, his imprisonment in Petersburg and release on 19 Kislev 5559, and his letter “Katonti” to the chassidim after his release.
- 2421 Kislev 5780 · 11:23An account by Rabbi Nissan Mindel of a discussion between the Rebbe and the rosh yeshivah Rabbi Yisroel Yitzchak Piekarski, in the presence of a bride and groom, about whether a Rebbe can make a mistake. The discussion followed the story of a young man whom the Rebbe instructed to proceed with a shidduch, who married, divorced and then remarried his wife; also, the Tzemach Tzedek’s words on a similar matter.
- 2528 Kislev 5780 · 20:03The beginnings of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch and its first publications during the Frierdiker Rebbe’s time, including an English translation of the Tanya, “Talks and Tales,” and the Hayom Yom calendar for 5703, featuring the Rebbe’s handwritten introduction for children; and the story of the chossid Reb Elimelech Lasker, who proudly collected the dismissal letters he received for observing Shabbos.
- 265 Teves 5780 · 12:41The Rebbe's concern for the health of chassidim, his guidance to educators about kabbolas ol as the foundation of education, and the Rebbe Rashab's response to a request to remove an unruly student from Tomchei Temimim yeshiva.
- 2712 Teves 5780 · 14:22A letter from the Rebbe in the 1970s, dictated to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, to an activist who volunteered to work for the return from Russia of the books of the Schneersohn Collection and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s manuscripts, and its connection to the 5748 delegation; and a Torah thought from Parshas Vayechi on unity as a condition for the success of the shlichus.
- 2819 Teves 5780 · 14:07The presenter’s first teaching position, at a Litvish yeshivah in Brooklyn, which the Rebbe chose from seven offers; and a letter from a maggid shiur at that yeshivah who had doubts about faith, together with the Rebbe’s handwritten response, after which he began studying Tanya.
- 2926 Teves 5780 · 20:25Marking 70 years since Yud Shvat 5710: the Frierdiker Rebbe’s signature in his final year, letters he signed just days before his passing, an unpublished letter to Rabbi Nissan Mindel about limiting attendance at his U.S. citizenship ceremony (22 Adar 5709), and the suitcase of manuscripts he carried with him, containing the Baal Shem Tov’s siddur.
- 304 Shvat 5780 · 14:15Three weeks after Yud Shvat 5710: a letter signed by rabbis and chassidim about continuing the Frierdiker Rebbe’s path, and a letter to the Rebbe from Rabbi Avraham Sender Nemtzov, Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s father-in-law, urging him to accept the leadership; also, why the Rebbe hesitated to accept it.
- 319 Shvat 5780 · 20:28A 5710 letter from Chabad rabbis and chassidim about building the Ohel at the Frierdiker Rebbe’s resting place in Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, an English-language press release about the Rebbe’s acceptance of the leadership at the Yud Shvat 5711 farbrengen, and the video camera Rabbi Nissan Mindel used to film the farbrengen.
- 3218 Shvat 5780 · 21:31Ahead of the yahrtzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka on 22 Shvat: her modest way of life, her arrival in the United States in 5701 and her ties with Manya Rosen; and a letter the Rebbe wrote to a doctor regarding her health condition.
- 3325 Shvat 5780 · 14:05A letter written on the Rebbe’s behalf and signed by Rabbi Hodakov, responding to an inquiry about a Jewish soldier in Korea who was interested in Kabbalah and recommending Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s English-language books; and another letter from the Rebbe warning against studying Kabbalah in unsuitable places and settings.
- 342 Adar 5780 · 14:20The Rebbe’s words to teachers in the early years of his leadership: teaching the alef-beis with vowel markings, avoiding unsuitable reading books, how to handle problematic content in science books (“Tear out pages?”), educating through love rather than fear, and the need for women teachers for girls; and the Rebbe’s answer to students who asked whether every Jew can attain ruach hakodesh.
- 3510 Adar 5780 · 31:00Marking the Frierdiker Rebbe’s arrival in the United States on 9 Adar II 5700: the affidavit Julius Stulman sent to the American consulate in Riga in Teves 5700, the passenger list of the ship “Drottningholm,” the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words from 5690 about Jewish youth in America, a condolence letter from the Rebbe containing the parable of the two ships, and a rare recording of the Frierdiker Rebbe at a farbrengen, including a sicha and a niggun.
- 3616 Adar 5780 · 19:19Julius Stulman, a businessman and supporter of the Frierdiker Rebbe: a letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe dated March 1944 inviting him to a meeting, and Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s minutes of the meeting on 28 Adar 5704, recording the Frierdiker Rebbe’s proposal that Stulman take a central role in the activities of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch.
- 3723 Adar 5780 · 13:42Minutes of another meeting held in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s room in June 1944, attended by the Rebbe, Rabbi Nissan Mindel, Alexander Koven and Julius Stulman, concerning the mission in Jewish education that the Frierdiker Rebbe envisioned for Stulman; and a letter from Stulman to Rabbi Mindel from a later period.
- 381 Nissan 5780 · 14:58Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive, where every letter and newspaper clipping was preserved, and differences between original letters and the versions published in Igros Kodesh; and an article from the archive by a secular Jew who took a sabbatical to study various Chassidic communities—Klausenburg, Satmar, Bobov, Ger, Belz and Lakewood—and ultimately attended a farbrengen at 770.
- 398 Nissan 5780 · 11:54A story from the archive, originally written in Yiddish, about the chossid Reb Yitzchak Horowitz (Itche der Masmid), who refused to make Kiddush on Pesach over a drink that turned out to be chametz, and a similar story; also, his murder by the Nazis al kiddush Hashem.
- 4029 Nissan 5780 · 15:49During the closure of shuls and mikvaos amid the coronavirus pandemic (29 Nissan 5780): an excerpt from a letter by the Rebbe on the need to set priorities when resources are limited (“All the problems in the world are interconnected”), a letter on the same subject to a shliach, and the guidance the Rebbe gave during earlier crises, such as the tefillin campaign before the Six-Day War.
- 416 Iyar 5780 · 19:04In light of the coronavirus pandemic, excerpts were read from several as-yet-unpublished condolence letters the Rebbe wrote in English to people who had lost a spouse, parent or child. The excerpts discuss the purpose in every event, the soul’s eternity and the spiritual bond between loved ones, and the nachas the soul receives from mitzvos and joy. They warn against the yetzer hara cloaking itself in fear of Heaven to prolong mourning. The reading opens with King Shlomo’s ring, engraved with the words “This too shall pass,” and includes a story about a Torah scholar whose mother came to him in a dream and reproached him for not distributing mashke and cake on her yahrzeit. It concludes by mentioning the month of Iyar as a month of healing.
- 4213 Iyar 5780 · 13:02A letter from the Rebbe explaining that moral education not grounded in religion is insufficient, as the case of Germany demonstrates, and a letter to a mother explaining that Pirkei Avos is so named because it is directed at parents, who must be living examples for their children. Also included is a story about the principal of the “Hebrew Academy” under the supervision of Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland. In his home, each of his twelve children kept a packed suitcase under the bed, ready to greet Moshiach.
- 4320 Iyar 5780 · 13:08A letter from the Rebbe to a supporter of a Torah institution, declining a request for someone to be received for yechidus because yechidus had been discontinued years earlier on doctors’ orders, and because the Torah obligates us to treat every person with equal respect. Alongside it are stories about avoiding preferential treatment: the Rebbe’s refusal to officiate at the wedding of his secretary Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s daughter or to host a young woman who approached him for a Shabbos meal, and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s refusal of Rebbetzin Chana’s request for a dowry for her son upon his engagement to the Frierdiker Rebbe’s daughter, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, out of concern that his other children would feel jealous.
- 4427 Iyar 5780 · 23:15Two letters from the Rebbe to Julius Stulman: one from 1944, thanking him for funding the printing of the “Pocket Encyclopedia” and offering a parable comparing a person to a tree—the roots are faith, the trunk is the observance of mitzvos, and the fruits are good deeds; the second was written in Paris on 4 Sivan 5707 and translated into English by Rabbi Nissan Mindel. Also presented are a letter to a couple serving as shluchim who felt discouraged, explaining the difference between sowing vegetables (quantity) and planting a tree (quality), and a letter from Rabbi Chadakov on how shluchim are chosen.
- 4512 Sivan 5780 · 14:31A sharply worded letter from the Rebbe to an unidentified rabbi who condemned people on the basis of an unverified report. The letter opens with the address “Rabbi,” without “dear,” includes a passage in the Rebbe’s handwriting, and is signed by the secretary. It draws on the Mishnah’s instruction to “judge every person favorably.” Also discussed are a rabbi’s conduct in matters such as smoking, Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s question to the Frierdiker Rebbe about fasting on Yom Kippur, and a ruling on the kashrus of Rabbi Mendel Dubrawsky’s chicken.
- 4619 Sivan 5780 · 12:42A report and photographs from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive on the Rabbis’ March: a march of approximately 500 Orthodox rabbis, led by Rabbi Eliezer Silver, in Washington in Tishrei 5704, three days before Yom Kippur, calling for the rescue of European Jews during the Holocaust. Representatives of the Frierdiker Rebbe took part in the march, among them Rabbi Mindel, who photographed the event. The rabbis were received by Vice President Henry Wallace, while President Roosevelt left the White House through a back door on the advice of his Jewish advisers, including Stephen Wise.
- 4711 Tammuz 5780 · 26:30In honor of 12 Tammuz, the anniversary of Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s passing: a speech he delivered in the early 1960s on the secret of Chabad’s success, which was submitted to the Rebbe and bears his edits. The speech describes the Frierdiker Rebbe’s concern for Rabbi Mindel at the Greystone Hotel a few days after his arrival in the United States, and his facing a GPU interrogator’s gun during his imprisonment in 5687. It also includes a parable from a shliach in Chicago about correcting a Sefer Torah by engraving rather than writing in ink, as an expression of Ahavas Yisroel.
- 4817 Tammuz 5780 · –An anonymous English article titled “The Wonder Rabbi,” by an eyewitness to the Frierdiker Rebbe’s arrival in New York aboard the “Drottningholm” in 5700 and to his funeral after his passing on Yud Shvat 5710. The article, edited by the Rebbe (then known as the Ramash), is represented by a page bearing notes in his handwriting. It surveys the Frierdiker Rebbe’s life: his birth on 12 Tammuz 5640, his leadership of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva, his missions to Petersburg, and his struggle against the Yevsektsiya.
- 4924 Tammuz 5780 · –A handwritten letter from the Rebbe, dated 5711, to someone suffering from insomnia, advising him as a segulah to keep a kosher mezuzah near his bed. The Rebbe cites the custom of the Rebbeim, including the Rebbe Maharash, to place “I have set Hashem before me always” on their desks, and the words of the Mishnah and Tosafos Yom Tov concerning a mezuzah on a walking stick. Also, a story from the same year about an unconscious woman at Mount Sinai Hospital who recovered after the Rebbe instructed that a kosher mezuzah be placed beneath her pillow and that her name and her mother’s name be read into her ear.
- 502 Menachem Av 5780 · –A 1944 letter from Rabbi Nissan Mindel to the Frierdiker Rebbe describing the shortage of office space, a secretary, and staff at Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch. He proposes working there 30 hours a week alongside his work at the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva, renting an office near 770, and hiring a secretary. Also described is the Merkos office room on the first floor of 770, where the Rebbe initially lived and which later became his private room and the yechidus room, and where the Tanya was translated into English.
- 519 Menachem Av 5780 · –In honor of 15 Menachem Av: the Midrash about the matron who tried to match couples herself, and a letter explaining why the groom gives the bride a plain gold ring rather than a diamond ring. Also included are the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words on the sanctity of a shidduch, an insight connecting the prohibition against kindling a fire on Shabbos with refraining from anger between spouses, and the Rebbe’s advice to Rabbi Twerski on the importance of a home that serves as an example of marital harmony.
- 5216 Menachem Av 5780 · –Rabbi Sholom Ber Goldstein’s account of arriving in the United States as a young man from Eretz Yisroel in the late 1940s, and of the conditions the Rebbe set for officiating at his wedding: that the groom grow a beard and the bride wear a wig. He recounts the bride’s initial refusal and her eventual agreement. Also included are the Rebbe’s response in a letter explaining why a woman should cover her hair rather than shave it, and his instruction to study Pirkei Avos with his wife every Shabbos during their first year of marriage.
- 5323 Menachem Av 5780 · –A letter by Rabbi Nissan Mindel from 5748 about the yechidus in which the Rebbe charged him and Rabbi Hodakov with carrying out his call at the 15 Menachem Av farbrengen to increase activity; the establishment of an international committee (later called “the assisting committee”) on Union Street in Brooklyn; and a conference call with the shluchim. Also mentioned is the will the Rebbe dictated to Rabbi Hodakov and Rabbi Mindel on 14 Sivan 5748, after the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, and repeated in Elul in the presence of Rabbi Yisroel Yitzchok Piekarski.
- 54Who Answered the Rebbe’s Call English30 Menachem Av 5780 · –Continuation of the previous episode: internal memoranda from Rabbi Nissan Mindel to Rabbi Hodakov dated Menachem Av 5748. The memoranda discuss a report prepared at the Rebbe’s request after his visit to the Ohel, his directive that every institution appoint a three-member committee to oversee the increases throughout the year, and the Rebbe’s response conveyed through Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner. A list of the first communities to respond and the names of their committee members is then presented, including those in Crown Heights, Milwaukee, Manchester and Holland.
- 557 Elul 5780 · –A letter from Rabbi Hodakov to the Rebbe, written on 7 Elul, two years after the Rebbe charged him and Rabbi Nissan Mindel with organizing the “Increase in Activity” campaign in 5748. It reviews the work, acknowledges that it had stopped, and asks for guidance on resuming it. Following this, a letter from Rabbi Mindel was sent to Anash and the institutions. Also presented are reports sent to 770 by local committees in Brazil, Detroit and Montreal, as well as by a women’s committee in New York, and minutes of the committee’s meetings with the Rebbe on 9 Cheshvan, at which he expressed satisfaction and asked that the committee become permanent.
- 5614 Elul 5780 · –An English letter from the Rebbe to a married kollel student who boasted of his scholarship and lineage and complained that his wife did not respect him. The letter explains that, according to the Torah’s order of loves, love of Hashem is built upon the love between husband and wife, and that Torah study should lead to humility, which in turn will bring peace to the home. Also included is a letter from an eleven-year-old boy in California whose father could not pay tuition; the Rebbe instructed Rabbi Hodakov to arrange for his immediate admission to yeshivah.
- 5721 Elul 5780 · –Reb Avraham Sender Nemtzov’s explanation of the large letters at the beginning of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayers in the machzor, which spell the names Yitzchok and Rivkah: Rivkah dressed Yaakov in Eisav’s clothes so that Yitzchok’s blessings would extend even to distant Jews who come to shul once a year. The seriousness of hurting another person’s feelings is also discussed, along with the resulting decision not to publicize the Rebbe’s comments about the names of letter writers.
- 5827 Tishrei 5781 · –A Hebrew letter from Rabbi Nissan Mindel in Los Angeles to the Rebbe, then known as the Ramash, written in 1949. It asks about Sigmund Freud’s theories of the “death instinct” and the “life instinct,” their relationship to the animal soul in Tanya, and sources for psychology in Chabad teachings; the Rebbe’s reply is not presented. Also discussed are Rabbi Mindel’s translations of Tanya and Sefer Hazichronos into English, with the Rebbe’s edits, and a Torah thought for Shabbos Bereishis on the Torah’s opening with the letter beis.
- 5911 Cheshvan 5781 · –Highlights of a sicha the Rebbe delivered on his birthday, 11 Nissan 5741, translated by Rabbi Nissan Mindel and sent to President Ronald Reagan after the attempt on his life. The sicha condemns political violence and rejects explanations based on mental illness or poverty. It attributes moral decline to the absence of values-based education grounded in belief in the Creator in American schools, and concludes with a blessing that the president work to eradicate terrorism.
- 6018 Cheshvan 5781 · –Rabbi Hodakov’s response, with the Rebbe’s edits, concerning a young man whose father was Jewish and whose mother was descended from the Anusim, detailing the requirements for his conversion and that of his non-Jewish wife; a letter explaining that the Seven Noahide Laws do not diminish the standing of the nations of the world, and warning of the danger of morality that does not rest on Divine authority; and a story from the 1950s about a kohen who married a convert. The Rebbe referred him to rabbis, including Rabbi Zalman Shimon Dworkin, and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ruled that there was insufficient evidence of his status as a kohen.
- 6125 Cheshvan 5781 · –A speech by Rabbi Nissan Mindel at the UN on the Seven Noahide Laws, which the Rebbe reviewed, annotated extensively and instructed him to publish in The New York Times. The speech states that the world peace foretold by Yeshayahu (“They shall beat their swords into plowshares”) will be achieved only through Divine laws, not man-made laws, and details the seven laws in accordance with the Rebbe’s notes.
- 623 Kislev 5781 · –A letter from the Rebbe to a Torah student who questioned the prohibition against a mamzer entering the congregation, arguing that innocent children should not be punished for their parents’ sin. The Rebbe replies that this is not a punishment but an eternal law of the Torah, and compares it to children who suffer physically or emotionally because of their parents’ circumstances. The letter is included in the fifth volume of “The Letter and the Spirit”; this is followed by a story about a yeshivah student who discovered at his chuppah in the late 1960s that he was a mamzer.
- 6310 Kislev 5781 · –Ahead of 14 Kislev: the sanctity of Jewish marriage; Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s modest, gentle nature; her close friendship with Manya, a compassionate nurse from Riga and a relative; and Rabbi Shapiro’s personal meeting with her in her home in the 1950s. Also discussed are her remark that the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe belong to the chassidim, and the changes in the Rebbe’s conduct after her passing in 5748: the end of weekday farbrengens, a change in the writing of letters, the writing of a will, and more frequent visits to the Ohel.
- 6417 Kislev 5781 · –For 19 Kislev: the Rebbe’s letters on the halachic obligation to study Chassidus in order to fulfill the six constant mitzvos, its advantage over the study of mussar, and the fact that after Communist rule in the Soviet Union, only those who had studied Chassidus remained observant. Also, a letter from the Rebbe on the proper way to address people who talk during prayer—personally and pleasantly, following the example of Aharon HaKohen—against the backdrop of the call to refrain from talking during prayer during the coronavirus pandemic.
- 6525 Kislev 5781 · 16:06Following the Frierdiker Rebbe’s arrival in the United States in 5700 (1940) and his aspiration to “break the ice” of American Jewry: a November 1940 letter from the White House, signed by Stephen Early, President Roosevelt’s secretary, to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, thanking him for his visit and letter of greeting. Background: efforts to introduce “Released Time” for religious instruction in public schools, opposition to it from both secular and observant Jews, and a parallel between the Hellenists of the Chanukah era and the Reform movement.
- 665 Teves 5781 · 19:31Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s trips to Soviet Russia and Moscow in an effort to retrieve the books of the Schneerson Collection, and the yechidus that followed them. The difficulties of customs inspections of his suitcases are presented, along with a letter of appreciation for the effort to “bring home the holy books and manuscripts.” Also described is a later trip by a younger shliach for the same purpose, which was unsuccessful. The episode was published for 5 Teves.
- 679 Teves 5781 · 12:54In the Released Time program in Long Beach, Long Island, in the 1980s, a girl whose mother forbade her to light Shabbos candles lit a memorial candle in her room instead. Also: the Frierdiker Rebbe’s response to students who feared that their work in the program would take time away from Torah study; and a delegation of the Rebbe’s shluchim to the 1960 White House Conference on Children and Youth in Washington—including Rabbi Nissan Mindel, Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Hecht and Rabbi Yitzchak Zalman Posner—with the Rebbe’s instructions and the parable of the dwarf on the giant’s shoulders.
- 6816 Teves 5781 · 12:23A handwritten note by Rabbi Nissan Mindel documenting a conversation with Rabbi Hodakov, apparently around the time of the Kinus Hashluchim: anyone who does the Rebbe’s work is considered a shliach, and shluchim are not on a higher level; a shliach is a shliach at every hour of the day, and must distinguish between what is essential—mitzvos and Torah study—and what is secondary, such as a car or a Chabad House building; and the gathering is a time for an annual accounting of the soul, like Elul. The episode concludes with an explanation of the verse “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov.”
- 6923 Teves 5781 · 18:20Ahead of Yud Shvat, the seventieth year since the passing of the Frierdiker Rebbe: notes in Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s handwriting, written at the Frierdiker Rebbe’s request, recording his remarks upon arriving in the United States in 5700. The remarks address his mission to turn America into a “place of Torah”; what elder chassidim in Riga told him before his departure; care in wearing a beard and tzitzis and in preserving Jewish names, dress and language without shame; the difference between studying with a partner and listening to lectures; and the importance of making use of one’s time.
- 701 Shvat 5781 · 11:32Continuing from the previous episode, the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words on education in the Jewish home are discussed: the father in America, absorbed in his business and leaving for work while his children are still asleep, in contrast to the Jewish home in Europe. Also discussed are the importance of the Shabbos table in educating children, the parable of a candle illuminating the darkness, the parable of a person asleep in a burning building, and the call for good people not to remain silent.
- 718 Shvat 5781 · 13:06Further remarks by the Frierdiker Rebbe from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s handwritten notes, marking 70 years since his passing: thawing the “American ice” with chassidic warmth upon his arrival in the United States; his remark from 1943 that exile in Eretz Yisroel among Jews, under the influence of secular Zionism, is harder than exile among non-Jews; and what makes a chossid: connecting to the Rebbe through studying his Chassidus, not by looking at his pictures. Also, the Rebbe’s response to students from Stern College who wished to complete their studies in Eretz Yisroel.
- 7215 Shvat 5781 · 16:10Two letters from the Rebbe to two couples serving as shluchim who, after many years on shlichus, had seen no fruits from their work and asked to be replaced. The Rebbe replied with a parable about the difference between sowing vegetables and planting a tree: a tree takes longer to grow and requires faith, but its fruits endure for generations. Also included are a letter about the taste and fragrance of fruit as a parable for Torah and mitzvos; a gematria connecting giving a tithe ("te’aser") with "your fortune" ("mazalecha") in honor of 15 Shvat; and thoughts on the faith of Yosef Hatzaddik.
- 7322 Shvat 5781 · 17:34In honor of 22 Shvat, the yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka: the Rebbe’s response to a woman active in teaching family purity, on how to persuade couples not to space their children’s births, and a sharp response to a woman who questioned the reasons for the laws of family purity. Also included are the Rebbe’s letter to the wife of Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro, chair of a committee of N’shei Chabad, instructing her to add to a program for girls an explanation of modesty and adolescence given by a female lecturer, and a letter from Rabbi Chadakov on the subject.
- 746 Adar 5781 · 20:53The Rebbe’s response to the family of a woman who had spent many years in a vegetative state in the hospital: the world was created for a purpose, nothing is in vain, and one must not lose hope. Also included are thoughts on increasing charitable giving, particularly before Pesach; parenthood as a constant, twenty-four-hour-a-day responsibility; welcoming guests in the tent of Avraham Avinu; and the responsibility to care for elderly parents.
- 7520 Adar 5781 · 19:50Pages from Rabbi Mindel’s archive: the Rebbe’s handwritten notes on the Junior Code of Jewish Law, an abridged Shulchan Aruch for children in English prepared by Rabbi Mindel at the Rebbe’s request. The notes were written on the backs of handwritten question-and-answer pages by the secretary of Rabbi Avraham David Lavut, author of Kav Naki and the Rebbe’s maternal great-great-grandfather. Among the pages is an account of an agunah who recognized her husband, a Russian-language teacher who had disavowed his Jewish identity.
- 76Why Zoom Isn’t a Real Farbrengen English27 Adar 5781 · 11:49The Frierdiker Rebbe’s words to Rabbi Nissan Mindel that hiskashrus to the Rebbe comes through actual study, not merely watching; and a veteran chossid’s view that a farbrengen on "Zoom" during the coronavirus pandemic is not a true farbrengen, because its unity and warmth require sitting together. A parable about Moshiach testing Litvish scholars and chassidim; a story about the importance of saying "l’chaim" on a yahrzeit; and the Rebbe’s last farbrengen before his health incident, on Shabbos Parshas Vayakhel 5752, which focused on Ahavas Yisroel.
- 776 Nissan 5781 · 14:17Recollections by veteran chassidim, shared at an online farbrengen during the coronavirus pandemic, of the Rebbe’s acceptance of the nesius on Yud Shvat 5711. Alongside them, based on Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes, are the Rebbe’s activities in America during the decade before the nesius, on the Frierdiker Rebbe’s mission: addressing the difficulties of Shabbos observance, encouraging Holocaust refugees, publishing the Hayom Yom calendar, the Talks and Tales monthly and Tanya in English, the Released Time program, and his work at the Navy shipyard.
- 7826 Nissan 5781 · 14:40An explanation of why Pirkei Avos is studied on the Shabbosim after Pesach, alongside a discussion of medicine and a story about a doctor named Dr. Wallach who asked the Frierdiker Rebbe for forgiveness. Also discussed are the idea that every day of a person’s life in this world is a miracle, the renewal of creation at every moment, and parents’ role in their children’s learning during the summer and holidays.
- 793 Iyar 5781 · 18:47A letter from 5727 to Rabbi Nissan Mindel asking for the source in the Arizal’s writings for the custom of dipping bread in salt three times, based on the gematria of "lechem" and "melach" (78), corresponding to three Havayos of chesed and three Havayos of gevurah. On the letter is the Rebbe’s handwritten response, giving sources for the custom, explaining the Havayos of chesed and gevurah in creation and tzimtzum, and describing the sweetening of the gevuros through the dipping.
- 8010 Iyar 5781 · 13:36Advice from Rabbi Nissan Mindel and Rabbi Chadakov, formerly director of the "Torah im Derech Eretz" schools in Latvia, to Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro, a teacher at a Talmud Torah for secular children in Brooklyn whose parents opposed mitzvah observance: begin by teaching the mitzvos governing relations between people. Also included is a letter from the Rebbe about the desecration of Shabbos aboard the ships of the Jewish-owned Zim company, stating that rabbis who permitted the voyages had been misled by incomplete technical information. The letter appears alongside a letter from the Rebbe about smoking, in the context of the debate over vaccines during the coronavirus pandemic.
- 8118 Iyar 5781 · 13:51A letter from the Rebbe to the rabbi of a large Orthodox congregation in the United States who asked what topic to address on Shabbos. The Rebbe instructed that the main thing was for listeners to repeat the ideas at the Shabbos meal and live with them; a parable from the Mitteler Rebbe comparing a speaker to a bee rather than a spider; the obligation to attribute a statement to its source, and a letter from Rabbi Chadakov about copyright; and an English telegram from the Frierdiker Rebbe, drafted by Rabbi Nissan Mindel, to an editor who had censored his words, demanding that they be republished in full with an apology.
- 8224 Iyar 5781 · 13:24Continuing the subject of the mitzvah of rebuke: a letter from the Rebbe on the advantage of studying Chassidus over studying mussar, and on the six constant mitzvos. Two more letters from the Rebbe: one, from 5739, was written to someone who complained about talking during davening in shul, instructing him to speak to people individually and gently, in the spirit of Aharon Hakohen; the other was written to someone who had spoken lashon hara, suggesting that he have his tefillin and mezuzos checked.
- 832 Sivan 5781 · 14:47Ahead of Shavuos, a look at the ups and downs in a person’s life, materially and spiritually, and the idea that a person does not know what is truly good for him—Hashem decides that. Included are a vort from Rabbi Chadakov, the Rebbe’s words about the holiday, the analogy of a father teaching his son to walk step by step, and a story about a farmer and his horse.
- 849 Sivan 5781 · 15:01A telegram from the Rebbe from the early 1950s prohibiting travel on Rosh Hashanah to blow shofar, read from the Torah or lead communal davening; a letter from 5741 to someone who criticized a shliach, claiming that he had established only a Chabad House, detailing the shliach’s activities—educational institutions, Torah classes for adults and work among immigrants from the Soviet Union—and demanding that the critic substantiate his claims or retract them; and an excerpt from a letter to the National Council of Young Israel describing the shluchim as young people who give up comfortable positions to revive Jewish life in remote places.
- 85‘Who Was the Greatest Rebbe’ English16 Sivan 5781 · 19:23Ahead of Gimmel Tammuz, answers to questions from former students of Rabbi Shapiro who now head non-Chabad yeshivos. In the absence of notes on the subject by Rabbi Nissan Mindel and Rabbi Chadakov, Rabbi Shapiro offers his personal view of the meaning of “Yaakov Avinu did not die,” the heightened stature of a tzaddik after his passing, how each leader of a generation is suited to his generation, and a sicha in which the Rebbe responded to a question about whether he was Moshiach by emphasizing the words “the Jewish people.”
- 8623 Sivan 5781 · 16:16Ahead of Gimmel Tammuz: how the Rebbe’s letters were written, according to the notes of Rabbi Nissan Mindel, who entered the Rebbe’s room three times a week, took shorthand notes of the Rebbe’s answers given in Yiddish, and drafted them in Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian or English for the Rebbe’s review; the change in this process after the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka; and the Rebbe’s instruction to Rabbi Chadakov to admit immediately to a yeshiva a child who had been turned away because of tuition.
- 87In Preparation for Gimmel Tammuz English30 Sivan 5781 · 14:14The third in a series of episodes preparing for Gimmel Tammuz, focusing on the Rebbe’s teaching that every person was created to influence others: the story of Rabbi Kastenbaum, president of Young Israel in Long Beach, who asked for “a small blessing” in yechidus, and the Rebbe’s response to a son whose mother was hospitalized and unconscious—that the purpose of her life was for her descendants to honor their mother. Also discussed are the Zohar’s words that a tzaddik is more present after his passing than during his lifetime, the chassidim’s connection to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe’s self-sacrifice: he never took a vacation and continued his work at 770 even after the cardiac episode on Shemini Atzeres 5738.
- 887 Tammuz 5781 · 15:04The place of 12 Tammuz as a continuation of Purim, Chanukah and 19 Kislev, and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s question to his father, the Rebbe Rashab, on the day of his bar mitzvah: Why do we say before davening, “I hereby accept upon myself the positive mitzvah of ‘Love your fellow as yourself’”? His father answered: to please our Father in Heaven, who loves every Jew. In honor of Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s yahrzeit, the book “Gallery of the Great” was announced, a collection of his writings in Talks and Tales that the Rebbe had reviewed.
- 8914 Tammuz 5781 · 7:15Rabbi Chadakov and Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s proposal that Agudas Chassidei Chabad, Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch and Machne Israel use the passenger list to locate the descendants of the Jews who traveled with the Frierdiker Rebbe to the United States in 5700 as part of his rescue, as well as descendants of those who wrote to him and to the Rebbe, and record their memories. Also described are the manuscripts the Frierdiker Rebbe carried on the flight from Riga to Sweden, which were passed through the Rebbe to Rabbi Mindel for his English translation of Tanya.
- 9021 Tammuz 5781 · 16:19Original letters from the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe to Julius Stolman, who signed the affidavit of support for the Frierdiker Rebbe’s arrival in the United States. Among them is a letter from Adar 5704, marking four years of their connection, inviting him to a meeting with the Rebbe, Elchanan Cowen, Rabbi Chadakov and Rabbi Nissan Mindel. Also discussed are his donations toward a new building for Bais Rivkah, after he heard that the students were afraid to use the bathrooms in the dark basement of the old building.
- 9128 Tammuz 5781 · 20:22A report Rabbi Nissan Mindel sent to the Frierdiker Rebbe on 20 Cheshvan 5704 about the weekly Torah class for professionals in Manhattan, taught by attorney Alexander Cowen. The report describes the participants, their questions (whether the world was created through thought or speech, and why the wisdom of Torah is not widespread in the world) and his suggestions for improving the class. Also included is the Frierdiker Rebbe’s instruction to Rabbi Mindel to ask “a learned rabbi” about the Tisha B’Av fast.
- 926 Menachem Av 5781 · 16:54A letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe to Rabbi Nissan Mindel dated 27 Menachem Av 5704, in response to his report on the Torah class in Manhattan. In the letter, the Frierdiker Rebbe approves his suggestions for improving the class and proposes inspiring the participants with a story. For this purpose, he copied a chapter from his memoirs about his interrogation by the Cheka in Rostov in Tammuz 5681. It includes his reply to an interrogator who raised a pistol—that Jews have “one G-d and two worlds”—and a parable about coming to understand faith through observing mitzvos.
- 9313 Menachem Av 5781 · 15:54A handwritten note by the Rebbe, given to Rabbi Nissan Mindel for discussion at a class for professionals and scientists in Manhattan. It asks why, in the account of Creation, “that it was good” is said specifically of the light of the first day. In his answer, the Rebbe distinguishes between the active aspect of Creation (light) and its aspect of cessation (darkness), illustrating the distinction with the building of a palace, sleep, and a child learning arithmetic. He concludes that only light is good in itself, while darkness is merely a preparation for it.
- 9420 Menachem Av 5781 · 22:38A manuscript by the Rebbe containing three preliminary points for an answer to a question from the Manhattan study group with which the Frierdiker Rebbe was in contact: Why is “that it was good” said on the days of Creation? The points address the distinction between the inanimate, plant, and animal kingdoms and the human being, who is a partner with the Creator in perfecting the world; the fact that nothing in Creation is superfluous, just as no part of a machine is; and the meaning of “good” as complete perfection. Also mentioned are The Letter and the Spirit, an English translation of Igros Kodesh, and an English translation of Sefer Hazichronos, both by Rabbi Nissan Mindel.
- 9527 Menachem Av 5781 · 11:04The continuation of the Rebbe’s answer to a Manhattan study group about the verse “And G-d saw that it was good”: A person might mistakenly credit himself with perfecting the world, or think that Hakadosh Boruch Hu could not have created a complete world. But the world was created complete from the outset, and a person’s task is to reveal the potential hidden within it. These answers were included in Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s 1962 doctoral dissertation on Tanya, written with the Rebbe’s encouragement. The Rebbe assisted him with manuscripts as he translated Tanya at the Frierdiker Rebbe’s instruction.
- 964 Elul 5781 · 14:40A manuscript by the Rebbe from the period when he was known as the Ramash, answering a Manhattan study group’s question: What is meant by the statement that Hakadosh Boruch Hu “builds worlds and destroys them”? Rabbi Nissan Mindel relayed the question to the Frierdiker Rebbe, who referred it to the Rebbe. In his answer, the Rebbe explains that evil was created to allow for free choice and cites the Baal Shem Tov’s parable in Tanya of the king’s son and the woman sent to tempt him, which shows that evil has no independent existence.
- 9711 Elul 5781 · 18:08A story about the chossid Reb Avraham Sander Nemtzov in Long Beach, who worked to organize a minyan for Kabbalas Shabbos at its proper time rather than early, to reduce the Shabbos desecration of Jews traveling on Friday. Also included is his interpretation of the large letters in the “Hamelech” prayer in the Rosh Hashanah machzor, which spell the names “Yitzchak” and “Rivkah”: Rivkah dressed Yaakov in Eisav’s clothes so that the blessings would reach every Jew, including those who do not observe mitzvos. A message of Ahavas Yisroel in the lead-up to the Days of Awe.
- 9818 Elul 5781 · 16:23A letter from the Rebbe dated 18 Elul 5711 about preparing for the shemittah year of 5712, and notes by Rabbi Nissan Mindel from 5704 about a booklet of practical halachos drawn from the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, which he edited at the Rebbe’s instruction. Part of it was later included in Sefer Haminhagim. The notes contain guidance for parents on educating their children in the name of the Frierdiker Rebbe: taking care to answer “Amen, yehei shmei rabba,” davening with a minyan, avoiding idle talk and lashon hara, being especially careful about modesty, and telling children stories of tzaddikim before bedtime.
- 9925 Elul 5781 · 14:31A sicha on reading Parshas Nitzavim before Rosh Hashanah and on the unity between simple Jews and Torah scholars, as taught by the four species, Hoshana Rabba, and the kindness of Rivkah Imeinu. The sicha includes an explanation given to Rabbi Nissan Mindel and recorded by him, according to which those who perform acts of kindness are likened to the tefillin of the arm, and those who study Torah to the tefillin of the head. The sicha also explains “and Torah study is equal to them all” and the reason for dipping an apple in honey.
- 10023 Tishrei 5782 · 18:17An article on Parshas Bereishis written by Rabbi Nissan Mindel, with numerous edits by the Rebbe. Its central point: The Torah’s name is related to the word for “instruction”; it is not a history book. Thus, the first approximately two thousand years are described briefly, while the account becomes detailed from the birth of Avraham Avinu onward. The introduction gives reasons for the Torah beginning with the letter beis and for the number nine corresponding to “emes.” Among the edits is the Rebbe’s insistence on calling Chava by her Hebrew name in English, rather than “Eve.”
- 1011 Cheshvan 5782 · 18:21In honor of Parshas Noach: words in the Rebbe’s own handwriting stating that had the Seven Noahide Laws been observed, the Holocaust would not have occurred, and correspondence from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive about a book on the laws of the Noahides that was submitted to the Rebbe. The author met Rabbi Mindel in Long Beach in Kislev and planned to prepare a Shulchan Aruch for Noahides, while the Rebbe replied concerning the book’s publication that it was a great responsibility. A letter to the Rebbe from a Catholic priest in England is shown, containing a donation of ten pounds sterling for Jews who had arrived from Russia and birthday wishes for the Rebbe. Alongside it is the Rebbe’s reply, explaining that the Holocaust during World War II arose among a people distinguished in philosophy and ethics because morality based on reason alone can be distorted. The episode concludes with a story about a doctor who warned against smoking while smoking himself.
- 1028 Cheshvan 5782 · 17:57Opening a series of episodes on Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s My Prayer, a selection from his Talks and Tales columns with many of the Rebbe’s edits, the episode presents the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words to Rabbi Mindel and Rabbi Chadakov, who arrived with him in 5700, about the need to “break the ice” of America, a wilderness of “snakes and scorpions.” Alongside them is the Rebbe’s explanation of the Mishnah stating that a scorpion interrupts the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, while a snake does not: coldness and indifference are more serious than the heat of the yetzer hara. Also presented are the Rebbe’s words that the appearance of the English translation of Tanya (1962) deserved to cause a greater stir than Sputnik did, and his question as to why “Doctor” was not printed on the cover of My Prayer. Finally, the claim that Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka wrote Wonder of Nature is refuted. It originated in Rabbi Sholom Dovber Gordon of New Jersey mishearing Rabbi Mindel, who had told him that his wife, “my rebbetzin,” helped him.
- 10315 Cheshvan 5782 · 11:32The second volume of Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s My Prayer, which deals with Shabbos and on which the Rebbe wrote comments. It discusses light as a symbol of Shabbos, which enters with the lighting of the candles and departs with the Havdalah candle, as an analogy for the unchanging light of the Ein Sof; the “body” of Shabbos—the candles, meals, clothing, songs and sleep—and its “soul,” the intent in prayer; and the concept of “from it all the days are blessed,” reflected in the names of the days of the week. Also presented are the custom of eating fish with one’s hands to touch the “body” of Shabbos; a story about people attending a synagogue in upstate New York who drove to a kiddush because the food there tasted different and holy; and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words about a father reminding his son to check his pockets before leaving for shul, as an example of educating children.
- 104A Vort About Kinus Hashluchim English22 Cheshvan 5782 · 13:50Continuing the previous episode’s discussion of the body and soul of Shabbos: the wife opens Shabbos by lighting the candles, and the husband closes it with Havdalah, like Avraham and Sarah in the weekly parsha. A letter from the Rebbe is presented stating that an “eishes chayil” gives her husband advice and guidance, along with his question as to why it says “charm is false and beauty is vain” when the Torah praises the beauty of Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Esther. The answer connects the three mitzvos of women—lighting candles, separating challah and family purity—with the power of discernment given to a woman. In honor of the Kinus Hashluchim, the episode presents remarks Rabbi Chadakov made in a conversation with Rabbi Nissan Mindel about distinguishing between what is secondary, such as a Chabad House building and a vehicle, and what is essential: the number of people putting on tefillin, studying Torah and children who went to yeshiva.
- 10529 Cheshvan 5782 · 12:00A continuation of Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes from his conversation with Rabbi Chadakov ahead of the Kinus Hashluchim. In light of “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov, your dwelling places, Yisroel,” the temporary “tent”—such as a table, a Chabad House, a telephone and money—is secondary, while the essential thing is the “dwelling place”: how many Jews will put on tefillin each day, be sent to yeshiva, return to Torah observance and study Torah. It is also stated that every member of Anash is considered a shliach. The Rebbe’s answer is presented to someone who asked why Chabad does not engage in kashrus and visiting the sick like Satmar Chassidus: everyone has their own shlichus, and Chabad’s shlichus is to bring people closer to Torah observance. Finally, Rabbi Chadakov is quoted as saying that there is no need to seek new educational methods, since everything can be found in Chassidus and in books, and that even the Shaloh programs have teachers’ guides that Rabbi Mindel reviewed.
- 1067 Kislev 5782 · 13:45A continuation of Rabbi Chadakov’s remarks to Rabbi Nissan Mindel on education, drawing on his years as director of a Talmud Torah in Riga. His central point: the necessary qualifications are those of the teachers and parents, not the children—above all, being a living example. A teacher who talks during davening or arrives late to class, or a mother who asks her child to say on the phone that she is not home, loses the child’s respect. Pages from Shemos dating to the 1940s are shown; the Rebbe, then known as “the Ramash,” took them out and wrote notes on them in his own hand after studying them for about half a minute, then gave them to Rabbi Mindel. Also described are the Rebbe’s meetings with the bochurim on the upper floor of 770, his interest in their learning and material well-being, and his quick study of books in a side room.
- 10714 Kislev 5782 · 17:18In preparation for 19 Kislev: the introduction the Rebbe wrote to the first English translation of Tanya, by Rabbi Nissan Mindel. The translation fulfilled a wish of the Frierdiker Rebbe dating back to his time in Riga. Drawing on the Alter Rebbe’s words, the introduction states that any language used to spread Torah and mitzvos is elevated to holiness. It describes the translation as a contribution to spreading the wellsprings of Chassidus: it was the first since the book appeared 165 years earlier and followed previous unsuccessful attempts. The translator is called “Dr.” even though he had not yet received the degree. Also shown are the Rebbe’s handwritten notes on the meaning of the name “Likkutei Amarim,” on “a long and short way,” and on the verse “For the matter is very close to you,” as well as Rabbi Mindel’s notes on the beinoni.
- 10821 Kislev 5782 · 15:37In preparation for 12 Tammuz, an explanation from a farbrengen traces the decrees against the Jewish people from Pharaoh, who sought to destroy the body, to the Greeks’ decrees against the soul and the inner dimension of Torah, and finally to the Communist regime’s attempt to sway the leader himself through the imprisonment of the Frierdiker Rebbe. Letters from the Rebbe from various years, some unpublished, are shown, presenting the Frierdiker Rebbe as an example of steadfastness. Two stories are related: his reply to his armed interrogators (“Someone who has one world and two gods is afraid of this toy”), and his refusal in the early 1940s to allow a Zionist song to be sung at a fundraising dinner held for him in the United States, even though most of those present left. The episode concludes with a letter on hashgachah pratis as meticulous oversight, comparable to kashrus, which dispels doubts and insecurity, and on maintaining a visibly Jewish appearance as summer approaches.
- 10928 Kislev 5782 · 12:41For Chanukah: lessons from the Chanukah lights based on the words of the Rebbe and Chazal. Lighting the candles after sunset symbolizes illuminating the outside world with Torah and mitzvos; adding a light each night teaches constant growth; and placing the light to the left of the doorway, opposite the mezuzah on the right, symbolizes protecting the Jewish home from outside influences, including fashion, which the Frierdiker Rebbe addressed. An English letter from the Rebbe to a Conservative rabbi is shown, calling for things to be said as they are (“take off your kid gloves”) and stating that there are no three generations of Reform Judaism. The connection between the Hellenists, the Maskilim, and the Reform and Conservative movements is discussed, along with the distinction between a Jew and a movement. The episode concludes with the lesson from the Jewish people in Egypt, who did not change their names, language, or dress—one of the reasons they merited redemption.
- 110Unknown Details About Hei Teves English5 Teves 5782 · 10:40Details of the first 5 Teves, the day of victory in the seforim case in 5747. Around the time of the mass dancing outside 770, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner connected a phone call between the Rebbe and Rabbi Nissan Mindel, during which the verse “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls” was mentioned. The Rebbe came down for Minchah with a serious expression and did not encourage the singing. He wondered why Tachnun was not being said until he learned that a chosson was present. One of the mashpi’im offers an explanation reconciling that verse with “When the wicked perish, there is song”: rejoicing is improper when it stems from personal motives. Later, 5 Teves was established as a major Yom Tov in Chabad, personal to the Rebbe much like 19 Kislev.
- 11112 Teves 5782 · 11:29An episode in the series on Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s missions to the Soviet Union, based on a collection of his notes from the trips. It covers his first journey, in 1958 or 1959, when he traveled as a tourist on the Rebbe’s mission to retrieve the manuscripts the Frierdiker Rebbe had left in Russia. Rabbi Mindel was the first representative the Rebbe sent there, at a time when Anash held underground meetings under threat of arrest by the KGB. Four chassidim who learned that “the Rebbe’s man” was coming waited for him near the hotel. They blindfolded him at a bus stop and drove him to a basement. Once he was convinced they were not government agents, he described to them what was happening with the Rebbe and at 770. He also taught them a niggun the Rebbe had taught on Simchas Torah, and they wept as they learned it.
- 11219 Teves 5782 · 10:24This episode briefly reviews Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s missions on behalf of the Rebbe to Eretz Yisroel, Morocco, Europe and Argentina; to print the Tanya in Cairo; and to meet President Shazar and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who told him that he had never held a siddur. It also covers his accompanying the Frierdiker Rebbe on his trip to Chicago in 1942. The episode focuses on Rabbi Mindel’s second trip to the Soviet Union in 1961 to bring out manuscripts of the Frierdiker Rebbe. His family joined him to visit his sisters in Riga. During a luggage inspection at the train station, a guard was about to point to the suitcase containing the manuscripts, but at that moment another guard tapped him on the shoulder, and the suitcase was passed over. The Rebbe’s instruction to wear a beret instead of a yarmulke, so that the KGB would not identify him as a religious Jew, is also recounted.
- 11326 Teves 5782 · 11:25A Hebrew account written by Rabbi Nissan Mindel in 5748 of the mission of three shluchim sent by the Rebbe to the Soviet Union to locate the Lubavitch Library. The library had been moved from Lubavitch to Moscow in 1915, during World War I, and had fallen into the hands of the Communist authorities. The shluchim traveled as official guests of the Ministry of Culture through the mediation of Dr. Armand Hammer. Culture Minister Zakharov promised that any manuscripts found would be returned to Agudas Chassidei Chabad, but the ministry gave them no assistance. The shluchim discovered that the collection was preserved in its entirety in the Lenin Library under another name. Also shown is a memorandum dated January 13, 1988, concerning a list of twenty books submitted to the library and a plan to examine the “Schneerson” archive in the library in Leningrad and books transferred to the Institute of Jewish Culture in Kiev.
- 1144 Shvat 5782 · 12:51The conclusion of Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s account of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson’s library in Dnepropetrovsk: some 4,000–5,000 volumes, many bearing his notes, and hundreds of manuscripts, which remained in the city after his exile and have still not been returned. A list is shown of Rabbi Mindel’s secret trips to the Soviet Union on missions for the Rebbe between 1958 and 1967, including a trip after the Six-Day War to Eretz Yisroel for a meeting with President Shazar, and from there to Leningrad and Moscow. Also recounted are Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s request, the day after Yud Shvat and shortly before her passing, for a report from him on his latest trip, and Rabbi Shapiro’s meeting with her in her home. The episode concludes with three conditions for a shliach conveyed by Rabbi Chadakov: to ask what the Rebbe would do, unity, and the absence of personal interests.
- 11511 Shvat 5782 · 15:43In honor of Yud Shvat and 11 Shvat, the episode discusses the Frierdiker Rebbe’s self-sacrifice under Communist rule; Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s words about the Rebbe’s work to bring Jews back to Torah and mitzvos; a comparison between the Rebbe and the Baal Shem Tov; and the meaning of hiskashrus. Details from the Rebbe’s childhood are presented: the Rebbe Rashab’s request that the child born in 5662 be named after the Tzemach Tzedek, and the appointment of Rabbi Schneur Zalman Vilenkin, the presenter’s grandfather, as his teacher in Yekaterinoslav at the request of the Rebbe’s father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak. Also recounted are two stories in which Rabbi Levi Yitzchak pointed to his son’s greatness, and the Rebbe’s receiving semichah from the Rogatchover Gaon. The episode concludes with a review of the years 1923–1928, through the Rebbe’s marriage and move to Berlin.
- 11618 Shvat 5782 · 11:03An excerpt is presented from a letter by the Rebbe about the breakdown of the family unit, even among Torah-observant Jews: fathers are absorbed in the pursuit of material success, and mothers seek personal fulfillment at the family’s expense. The Rebbe suggests that family members eat together on Friday night. The main focus of the episode is a letter from the Rebbe to a woman who felt unfulfilled by her work at home and with her children. The letter states that a woman finds complete fulfillment as the homemaker, in keeping with “The entire glory of the king’s daughter is within,” and that the notion that she must work outside the home has led to a “reversal of values.” Also presented is a sharp response from the Rebbe to a shlucha who did not want to become pregnant: the child who might be born could be a leader of the generation and bring more people closer than she could. The episode also mentions Chana, who forwent the pilgrimage to the Beis Hamikdash to care for her children.
- 11725 Shvat 5782 · 9:08Ahead of the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary (the Rashag) on 6 Adar I, the Frierdiker Rebbe’s son-in-law and the Rebbe’s brother-in-law (part one of two): Letters from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive that the Rashag wrote to the Rebbe over the years, beginning in the early years. In them, he asked for advice and blessings for donors who approached him, as well as for himself, his wife and his son. Also discussed are his arrival in the United States by ship with the Frierdiker Rebbe, his role in purchasing 770 and a sicha in which the Rebbe praised him on his yahrzeit. A condolence letter the Rebbe wrote in the 1940s instead of making a shiva visit is also presented. The letter offers a parable of a new ship setting out on its first voyage amid crowds of well-wishers, compared with an old ship returning to port, greeted by only a few—paralleling the birth of a baby and the passing of an elderly person who has weathered life’s trials.
- 1182 Adar I 5782 · 15:23Continuing the previous episode, in honor of the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary (the Rashag): Letters he wrote are presented, along with his handwritten will, in which he bequeathed his property to his work, and a letter from the Rebbe to the annual dinner of the United Lubavitcher Yeshivos, held during the thirty days of mourning after his passing, which describes him as chairman of the executive committee. Also presented are the Rebbe’s letters in response to condolences, a letter to the people of Mexico about the Rashag’s leadership of Tomchei Temimim, founded by the Rebbe Rashab, and handwritten words of the Frierdiker Rebbe referring to “my son-in-law.” The episode concludes with an account of Rabbi Nissan Mindel arranging talleisim and tefillin left at Young Israel in Long Beach, of whom the Rebbe said that what a person does in this world, he also does in the World to Come; and the Rebbe’s condolence visit to the Satmar Rebbe in 1953 or 1954, during which he explained why Hakadosh Boruch Hu is called “Makom.”
- 1199 Adar I 5782 · 17:49Ahead of Purim Katan in a leap year: The special significance of Purim Katan, which occurs only seven times in a 19-year cycle, and changes in the Rebbe’s conduct in 5752 that preceded his stroke on 27 Adar I. On the first day of Sukkos, the Rebbe stood from morning until afternoon facing those who came in to make the blessing over the Four Species, and in the final month he did not recite Kiddush Levanah. The last kuntres the Rebbe distributed, on Purim Katan 5752, together with two dollars and a slice of cake, is presented; it contains a maamar delivered on Purim. At the last farbrengen, on Shabbos Parshas Vayakhel, the Rebbe spoke about Ahavas Yisroel and tzedakah. Also recounted is Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s visit to the Rebbe about five months after the stroke, when he blessed the Rebbe with recovery “as a guest,” and the Rebbe’s face lit up.
- 12016 Adar I 5782 · 15:06In response to inquiries from viewers and students, the episode examines whether there is a source in the words of the Rebbe, Rabbi Nissan Mindel or Rabbi Chadakov for the practice of placing a note in a volume of Igros Kodesh and opening it at random to receive an answer. Arguments in favor of the practice from one correspondent are presented, including a letter in the first volume of Igros Kodesh, written before Yud Shvat, about placing a pan between the pages of a maamar of the Frierdiker Rebbe. The distinction between segulos and customs of other communities, such as reciting Shirat Hayam for livelihood, and Chabad customs is discussed. A note by the Rebbe is presented stating that, although casting lots is a Jewish custom, the care required in handling sacred books means they should not be used for this purpose, particularly in mundane matters. Finally, the episode recommends using the indexes to find the Rebbe’s answers on subjects such as health and livelihood.
- 12123 Adar I 5782 · 16:20Continuing the previous episode about placing letters in Igros Kodesh, the episode discusses whether a declaration after davening identifying the Rebbe as Moshiach reflects his wishes, in light of an argument at a farbrengen in which a chossid who did not say it was embarrassed. Accounts of the Rebbe’s humility are presented, including the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words upon the Rebbe’s arrival in the United States in 5701 and Rabbi Chadakov’s statement that it was not the Rebbe’s way to say such a thing about himself. The Rebbe’s hand movement during the singing at his minyan was prompted by the tune, not the words. A handwritten response from the Rebbe is presented: There is no obligation to seek out Moshiach’s identity, but there is an obligation to love every Jew and avoid all discord. The episode concludes with a story from the Seder night at the Frierdiker Rebbe’s table in 770: A guest dipped matzah in borscht, contrary to the custom of not eating gebrokts, and the Frierdiker Rebbe told the bochurim who objected: “Better to redden the matzah than to make someone’s face turn red.”
- 12230 Adar I 5782 · 20:09Marking 82 years since the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived in the United States on 9 Adar II 5700, following his persecution and imprisonment in the Soviet Union. His journey from Riga to Sweden and from there by ship to New York is described. From Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes comes his statement that “America” was “an empty people” and that they had come “to break the ice,” against the backdrop of widespread disregard for Shabbos observance. Also presented are his explanation of “and he struck at your rear”—that Amalek weakened the Jewish people’s commitment to tefillin—and the connection between the tefillin of the Jewish people and Hashem’s “tefillin,” as well as the Rebbe’s instruction to state in Shabbos bulletins that driving on Shabbos is forbidden. The episode opens with a gematria involving “wine” in honor of Purim.
- 1237 Adar II 5782 · 17:16Notes by Rabbi Nissan Mindel on things the Frierdiker Rebbe said to him and Rabbi Chadakov after arriving in the United States in 5700. He expressed his pain over Shabbos desecration and the state of education compared with what he had seen during his visit in 1929. He called on parents to send their children to proper Talmud Torah schools to save them from “apostasy,” and to observe family purity, modesty and kashrus. Also included are words of guidance he gave students about studying Chassidus and conveying it with sincerity, for the sake of serving Hashem and not out of self-importance. The episode concludes with the story of a Melaveh Malkah held for the Frierdiker Rebbe, where he refused to allow a Zionist song to be sung, even though most participants left as a result. Some of those who remained later established 770.
- 12421 Adar II 5782 · 13:26Ahead of 11 Nissan 5782, the Rebbe’s 120th birthday: letters from the Frierdiker Rebbe to speakers, criticizing those who spoke at length about theories and philosophy but said little about practical matters. With scientists and university graduates, there is room for discussion that strengthens faith; with women and the broader public, practical guidance should be given: educating children, lighting Shabbos candles, the father’s conduct on Friday night, care in observing kashrus and Shabbos, and respect for every Jew. Also discussed is the custom of reciting the chapter of Tehillim corresponding to one’s year of life on one’s birthday, a practice that continues for our Rebbeim even after 120 years. An explanation is given of Psalm 121, “A Song of Ascents”: help comes “from ayin,” beyond comprehension, alluding to an everlasting Geulah after which there will be no exile.
- 12528 Adar II 5782 · 14:17Ahead of 11 Nissan, the Rebbe’s 120th birthday, the English translation of the Rebbe’s will was read aloud. The Rebbe dictated the will on Tuesday, 17 Elul 5748, in the presence of Rabbi Chadakov, Rabbi Nissan Mindel and Rabbi Yisroel Yitzchok Piekarski, head of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva, following an earlier meeting in Sivan. Rabbi Mindel wrote it down in Hebrew and translated it into English at the Rebbe’s instruction. The will provides that Chabad institutions should continue operating as usual, and that Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, Machne Israel and the reestablished Agudas Chassidei Chabad are the movement’s three pillars. The maamad funds are to be divided among them, as was the Frierdiker Rebbe’s practice. The three rabbis were appointed executors of the will, which is distinct from an earlier English will intended for the authorities and dealing with material assets.
- 126When Problems Should Be Expected English6 Nissan 5782 · 11:55An English letter from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive, described as the first letter the Rebbe wrote after becoming Rebbe, in 1950, with handwritten notes in English and Hebrew. The letter states that anyone who aspires to advance in life faces difficulties, and recalls the recipient’s last yechidus with the Frierdiker Rebbe shortly before his passing. The Rebbe was also present at that yechidus, which is regarded as a kind of will, and the Frierdiker Rebbe told the recipient of his soul’s mission. Commenting on a speech the recipient had sent, the Rebbe notes that intellect alone is not enough to reach the truth, and that thought, speech and action must be directed through mitzvos, such as tefillin and Shabbos. The Rebbe also points out that Hashem’s name was not explicitly mentioned in the speech. Alongside the letter is a story about a doctor who warned against smoking while smoking himself.
- 1274 Iyar 5782 · 21:05An explanation of the Rebbe’s words on 28 Nissan, “I have done everything,” concerning bringing Moshiach, based on Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s account. The purpose of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s and the Rebbe’s arrival in the United States was to spread Judaism and bring the Geulah. The Rebbe devoted himself to this throughout his life: taking no vacations, distributing lekach and dollars for hours, and reviewing numerous publications. Children’s publications reviewed by the Rebbe are shown, including Talks and Tales, “Shmuessen,” The Commandments, a guide for Shaloh teachers, and Who, What, When and Where. Also told is Rabbi Shmuel Levitin’s account of finding the Frierdiker Rebbe crying on 5 Iyar 5708, the day the State of Israel was established, because “Moshiach was born, but was stillborn.”
- 12811 Iyar 5782 · 17:06Marking 70 years since his passing: an overview of the life of Reb Yisroel Aryeh Leib (Leibel) Schneerson, the third son of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and Rebbetzin Chana and the Rebbe’s younger brother. He was born in Nikolayev and grew up in Yekaterinoslav. Stories are told of his talents and his immersion in study, his closeness to the Frierdiker Rebbe in Leningrad, and a yechidus with the Rebbe Rashab. The episode covers his flight to Berlin in 1930; Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s trip from Paris to Nazi Berlin in 1933 to arrange the documents for his immigration to Eretz Yisroel; his life in Tel Aviv; the publications the Rebbe sent him, including Hayom Yom; and his move to England in 1950, where he passed away on 13 Iyar 5712 after a heart attack. At the Rebbe’s instruction, he was brought to Tzfas for burial.
- 12919 Iyar 5782 · 13:16A two-page letter in Russian from Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka to a female friend whose name is not given. The letter offers condolences and encourages her to look after her health for her son’s sake. It includes news of a mutual acquaintance who broke her left hand and mentions purchases for the daughter of the Rebbe’s brother, Reb Leibel, in England. Also shown is Rebbetzin Chana’s final letter, written on the Friday before her passing on 6 Tishrei and sent to Mrs. Nemtzov, Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s mother-in-law, alongside handwriting samples from other rebbetzins. Ahead of Mrs. Nemtzov’s yahrzeit—she passed away at about 115 and was buried near Rebbetzin Chana, by the Ohel—a story illustrates her sharp mind at around age 106: before Pesach in Boro Park, she noticed a jar of fish that was not marked kosher for Pesach.
- 13025 Iyar 5782 · 19:15A story is told about the Rebbe’s regard for his childhood teacher, Rabbi Schneur Zalman Wilenkin, who knew all six orders of the Mishnah by heart. When he suffered a stroke on a Friday, the Rebbe gave his grandson matzah on Motzaei Shabbos—“the food of healing”—and instructed him to place some in his mouth. At his funeral, the Rebbe stood outside the cemetery gate because he had not prepared to enter the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Ohel, and asked to pay for a headstone noting that he had studied under him. After Rabbi Wilenkin’s wife passed away, the Rebbe inquired whether she had been buried opposite his grave. The episode then presents the Rebbe’s explanation of the month of Iyar as an acronym for “I am Hashem, your healer.” Alongside it is a story about Dr. Wallach, who treated the Frierdiker Rebbe aboard a ship after the riots of 5689 and asked his forgiveness for what had happened aboard it.
- 1313 Sivan 5782 · 16:34Ahead of Shavuos: a telegram the Rebbe sent to President Zalman Shazar after the Six-Day War, and another telegram from that period to the chief rabbi of Antwerp, in which the Rebbe ruled that a gathering of Jews—particularly rabbis and leaders—must not be held in Rome. Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes are presented about a child with a heart condition who tried to tie the Frierdiker Rebbe’s shoelace at a Shavuos meal in 770 and received a blessing for long life, and about the Rebbe’s efforts to arrange the burial of a chossid who passed away on Erev Shavuos 5709. Also shown are a letter the Rebbe wrote in Paris to Julius Stulman before Shavuos, translated by Rabbi Mindel, drawing a lesson from Megillas Rus—“from a convert to Moshiach”—and a letter the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote to a young woman in 5703, declining to bless her match because the groom desecrated Shabbos.
- 13210 Sivan 5782 · 17:33“From Day to Day,” a daily calendar for children in English published in 5703 and 5704, was later combined into the book From Day to Day, with a Hebrew translation added. The Rebbe personally selected its contents and dictated them to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, unlike Hayom Yom, for which the Rebbe collected sayings of the Frierdiker Rebbe. A response in the Rebbe’s Igros Kodesh to a correspondent is presented, explaining that his letter had gone unanswered because of work on the calendar. Entries on Pirkei Avos from both years are shown with Rabbi Mindel’s handwritten notes: on Shammai’s words—Torah study as essential as breathing, giving beyond one’s obligation like Avraham Avinu and unlike Efron, and greeting everyone with a pleasant expression; and on Shimon Hatzaddik’s words—the three pillars corresponding to the mind, heart and liver, and the superiority of acts of kindness over tzedakah.
- 13317 Sivan 5782 · 11:35An invitation to Rabbi Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz)’s wedding in Jerusalem, sent to Rabbi Nissan Mindel at the Rebbe’s instruction. Rabbi Mindel had been his teacher, and the two corresponded extensively about Tanya. The structure of the Chabad wedding invitation is discussed: its four paragraphs begin with the letters of the word “ahavah” (“love”). Also shown is a printed page filed with it, containing a question for the Rebbe about a blessing for shalom bayis, the four types of love, and sources on honoring one’s wife. The episode includes a story about a Young Israel president who asked the Rebbe for “a piece of a blessing,” and remarks attributed to the Gerrer Rebbe about helping one’s wife wash dishes on Motzaei Shabbos as a segulah for shalom bayis. Finally, a letter from the Rebbe is shown concerning practices during pregnancy, including not publicizing it until the fifth month and giving tzedakah on Mondays and Thursdays and on Erev Shabbos before candle lighting.
- 13424 Sivan 5782 · 15:20Ahead of Gimmel Tammuz: Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes describe how the Rebbe’s letters in English and Hebrew were drafted. The Rebbe conveyed the main point to him; Rabbi Mindel took it down in shorthand, drafted the letter and brought it to the Rebbe for review before it was signed. The importance of citing the source of a quoted letter, such as Igros Kodesh or "The Letter and the Spirit," is emphasized, as is the need to distinguish the Rebbe’s words from personal interpretation. Rabbi Mindel’s notes also recount the story of a young man who was told three times to "continue" seeing a young woman. He married her, divorced her three months later and complained to the Rebbe. In his reply, the Rebbe wrote that there had been a misunderstanding because things that needed to be said had not been said. A year to a year and a half later, the couple remarried.
- 1351 Tammuz 5782 · 12:42Ahead of Gimmel Tammuz: An English letter from the Rebbe on the obligation to study Chassidus. The letter cites the Jews of the Soviet Union as evidence that Chassidus "works": only those who studied Chassidus and grew up in chassidic homes maintained their Jewish identity under Communist rule. It also explains that, of the 613 mitzvos, most do not apply to everyone at all times (such as Shemitah and pidyon haben), but six are constant: belief in Hashem, rejection of any other deity, belief in Hashem’s oneness, love of Hashem, fear of Hashem, and not straying after the heart and eyes. Only Chassidus teaches how to fulfill them. Also discussed is why studying the Zohar and the writings of the Arizal on one’s own is not enough in place of the Alter Rebbe’s Tanya. Parables and stories illustrate the change Chassidus brings about in one’s view of the physical world.
- 1368 Tammuz 5782 · 23:40An unsigned Hebrew document from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive, apparently a record of a conversation Rabbi Mindel and Rabbi Chodakov had with the Rebbe. The document presents a plan proposed by Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch at the Rebbe’s suggestion to address the problem of the long summer vacation for students in the United States. Its eight points include explaining the purpose of the summer to students; appointing a staff member to stay in touch with them; gatherings of teachers and students; cooperation among schools; a fifteen-minute Torah lesson for children before Maariv, taught by volunteers; maintaining standards of modesty for boys as well; involving parents; and choosing kosher summer camps. Also discussed are the omission of a page of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch guidelines from new printings of the Siddur Tehillat Hashem, and the reprinting of the monthly Talks and Tales using Rabbi Mindel’s spelling rather than the Rebbe’s.
- 13715 Tammuz 5782 · 13:40Ahead of 17 Tammuz and the Three Weeks: An English letter from the Rebbe to a former student of the Lubavitch yeshiva. The student had become confused after listening for a year and a half to a missionary radio program about the coming of Moshiach. The Rebbe refers him to the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Melachim, chapters 11–12, and explains that to end the exile, its cause—"because of our sins"—must be removed by strengthening Torah study and mitzvah observance. He also recommends that the student have his tefillin checked if they have not been checked in the past year, and say several chapters of Tehillim each day. Also recounted is the story of a rosh yeshiva who regarded studying Chassidus as neglect of Torah study. His brother asked the Rebbe how to respond, and the Rebbe instructed him to have the rosh yeshiva’s tefillin checked. When a sofer examined them, the tefillin boxes were found empty.
- 13822 Tammuz 5782 · 13:55A continuation of the previous episode: A letter and sichos from the early years of the Rebbe’s leadership answering the question of why the exile continues, based on chapters 1 and 7 of the Alter Rebbe’s Igeres Hateshuvah. Alongside baseless hatred, expressed in jealousy and the pursuit of honor, another cause is identified that is not often discussed: a lapse in guarding the covenant and the need to guard one’s eyes. Examples cited are a sage who was blind and the Chozeh of Lublin. The order of rectification is discussed: immersion, guarding one’s speech, and then guarding one’s thoughts, words and actions—all with joy, not sadness. Also discussed is how Yosef the Righteous withstood the test with Potiphar’s wife through the image of his father Yaakov that appeared before him. It is emphasized that this rectification is incumbent on every individual in order to bring the Geulah closer.
- 13929 Tammuz 5782 · 13:30A letter from the Rebbe to a man who had spent several years reaching out to Jewish university students, saving them from assimilation and intermarriage, and who asked whether he should join a kollel. The letter states that although Torah study is of the highest importance, the situation of young people today is a matter of saving lives. Since the recipient had already succeeded in this time-sensitive work, Divine Providence had made the decision, and he should continue his activities. He could devote his free time to Torah study or appoint someone to take over some of his responsibilities part-time. The episode concludes with the first discourse in the Alter Rebbe’s Likkutei Torah, on tzedakah elevating a person a thousandfold. This discourse applies to spiritual tzedakah as well, and, as the Tzemach Tzedek explains, this is meant literally.
- 1407 Menachem Av 5782 · 12:38In the second episode of the series reading the Rebbe’s letters in full through the period after Tisha B’Av, a short letter is presented first. It explains that his confidence in his advice stems from the many years he spent in the company of his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe. In the second letter, addressed to someone who argued that a college education was essential for earning a living and that marriage should be postponed until one was financially independent, the Rebbe rejects these claims even on secular grounds: most college graduates work in other fields; the rule in the Shulchan Aruch—first a livelihood, then a home, and then a wife—applies only when it is practical; and delaying marriage harms morality. Starting a family at a young age is presented as a blow to Hitler’s heirs after the Holocaust. The third letter cites the Rambam’s ruling in the Mishneh Torah on the obligation to live in a religious environment. It concludes by explaining that shluchim go to distant places with the Rebbe’s strength.
- 14114 Menachem Av 5782 · 16:05In honor of Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Hecht’s yahrtzeit on 15 Menachem Av, the episode discusses his leadership of the Released Time program, a weekly hour of religious instruction for public-school students. The Frierdiker Rebbe promoted it from the time of his arrival in the United States in 5700, despite opposition from rabbis who considered it a diversion from Torah study for yeshiva students. Rabbi Hecht worked on its behalf in Washington and Albany to secure legislation. The episode describes a program opened in Long Beach in the late 1970s or early 1980s at Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s request. It also tells of a student who, following the Rebbe’s directive that girls light Shabbos candles, secretly lit a yahrtzeit candle and was subsequently sent to a Jewish school. Finally, a letter from the Rebbe to someone who expressed concern for Rabbi Hecht’s health is presented. In it, the Rebbe praises his dedication to education and the work of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education.
- 14221 Menachem Av 5782 · 14:53A letter from the Rebbe praises its recipient for his concern for another Jew’s health as an expression of Ahavas Yisroel. Notes by Rabbi Nissan Mindel describe how the Rebbe would combine practical and spiritual advice in his responses about health, livelihood and children—for example, observing family purity and kashrus, and checking the mezuzos to foster peace in the home. Also presented are a letter from the Rebbe to a doctor, “in the name of Mrs. Schneerson and myself,” thanking him for treating Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and enclosing a check for his fee; and a letter about the writer’s husband’s insomnia, instructing her to place a covered mezuzah beside his bed and mentioning the practice of the Rebbe Maharash and the Frierdiker Rebbe. The episode concludes with a story from the 1980s: Rabbi Mindel’s daughter, Rabbi Shapiro’s wife, drank a great deal of blood during the birth of twins. The Rebbe gave Rabbi Mindel coins for her and instructed him to check whether the hospital had a kosher kitchen.
- 14328 Menachem Av 5782 · 16:21Stories from a farbrengen held on the Shabbos between Gimmel Tammuz and 12 Tammuz, Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s yahrtzeit, with chassidim of Klausenburg, Belz, Vizhnitz and Tosh. They include the Sanzer-Klausenburger Rebbe’s refusal to accept government funds from David Ben-Gurion, and his rejection of ten yeshiva heads’ request that he lead a boycott of the tefillin campaign after the Six-Day War, on the grounds that their objection was not to the beach but to tefillin. Also recounted is the story of a heart patient who could not enter yechidus with the Rebbe and received a blessing from the Vizhnitzer Rebbe. The episode concludes with the story of a secular Jew who had been childless for 16 years. After meeting him at a bris in Long Beach, he visited the Satmar and Bobov Rebbes and the Rebbe. The Rebbe instructed him regarding family purity and gave him tefillin; afterward, a daughter was born to him.
- 1445 Elul 5782 · 17:06Continuing the farbrengen, the episode tells of a Mir Yeshiva graduate who had doubts about faith and sent the Rebbe an eight-page letter through Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner. In a handwritten reply of just a few words, the Rebbe instructed him to be careful to consume only Cholov Yisroel. After finding a source connecting the two, he began studying Tanya, and peace in his home improved. The Rebbe’s relationships with other Rebbes are discussed: a visit by the Gerer Rebbe; a condolence visit by the Satmar Rebbe after the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, and their exchange about “the sinners of Israel are full of mitzvos like a pomegranate” and “May the Omnipresent comfort you”; and the Rebbe’s refusal to hear President Shazar speak disparagingly of Satmar. The episode concludes with a condolence letter from the Rebbe describing death as a passage from one place to another, and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s reply to his interrogators during his imprisonment: “One G-d and two worlds.”
- 14512 Elul 5782 · 15:48The discussion of the Belzer Rebbes continues: the Rebbe visited the Belzer Rebbe after his wedding, and the Belzer Rebbe asked who he was because of his “warm hand.” Also discussed are Rabbi Sholom of Belz’s ties with the Rebbe Maharash, and the Rebbe’s greatness as a Torah genius who also engaged with ordinary people, like Avraham Avinu as described by the Frierdiker Rebbe. A Klausenburger chossid’s report at a Rabbinical Council convention in the 1980s recounts the Rebbe’s encouragement of efforts on behalf of Laniado Hospital in Netanya, founded by the Sanzer-Klausenburger Rebbe. The report also describes a donation check from the Rebbe that bore no date, because the Gregorian date is not a Jewish date. Rabbi Nissan Mindel also relates the parable of the bee and the spider that the Rebbe told someone who was struggling to raise funds, instructing him to give talks and share Torah he had learned from others.
- 14619 Elul 5782 · 15:54The account of a delegation of Sanzer-Klausenburger chassidim’s yechidus with the Rebbe continues, based on Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive. Following the Frierdiker Rebbe’s custom, the Rebbe began by asking about the Sanzer-Klausenburger Rebbe’s physical health. When the delegation asked about his own health, he replied: “When the surroundings are good, I feel good.” The Rebbe was pleased that the Sanzer-Klausenburger Rebbe also taught publicly on the level of pshat, and explained his reasons: innovations in impurity must be countered with innovations in holiness, and pshat, the lowest level of Pardes, elevates the world of Asiyah. Also included are the Rebbe’s question as to why the Sanzer-Klausenburger Rebbe recites the parsha before the Torah reading, and the delegation’s answer, delivered later, that this was his grandfather’s practice.
- 14726 Elul 5782 · 16:17A letter from the Rebbe to the Jewish Braille Institute of America, sent by express mail before Rosh Hashanah, following his proposal, conveyed through the writer Herman Wouk, to make the chapters of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch dealing with Tishrei and the preparations for it at the end of Elul accessible to blind people. The Rebbe instructs that a notice be added to the audio recordings in Hebrew and English stating that they are intended for weekdays only, not Shabbos or Yom Tov—unlike materials in Braille and large print. In another letter, two weeks later, he gives the same instruction regarding recordings of the Chumash. The episode then suggests that Jewish programs online should warn against watching on Shabbos, and cites a rabbinic ruling that guests should be invited for Shabbos only when there are beds for everyone, a telegram from the Rebbe opposing travel by car to an event, and an account of a rabbi in Toronto who pledged before Kol Nidrei to pay the fines of anyone who left their car behind and walked home.
- 1484 Tishrei 5783 · 16:29Details from the Rebbe’s first years at 770 after he arrived in the United States with Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka: the room later used for yechidus was a bedroom at night and an office of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch by day. There, the Rebbe and Rabbi Nissan Mindel worked on the English translation of Tanya and on Talks and Tales, whose distribution was managed by Rabbi Hodakov. Also mentioned are the Rebbe’s work at the Navy shipyard, his help for refugees at a doctor’s clinic in Manhattan, and his discreet practice of putting on Rabbeinu Tam tefillin. A 1944 letter from Rabbi Mindel to the Frierdiker Rebbe describes what Merkos lacked: an office, a secretary, storage space and a fundraiser. In the letter, he proposes renting an office near 770 for ten dollars a week and hiring a secretary, and expresses his willingness to work for Merkos 30 hours a week.
- 14911 Tishrei 5783 · 16:19A letter the Rebbe wrote on his own initiative to a rabbi after a yechidus, correcting an opinion he had expressed there about women dancing with a Torah scroll during the hakafos of Simchas Torah. The letter cites the Shulchan Aruch (section 88) and the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, in the laws of Shema, regarding the custom that women do not enter the synagogue during menstruation. An exception was made on the High Holidays because of the great distress of having to remain outside. The Rebbe therefore concludes that a custom with no precedent should not be introduced, unlike girls’ schools and candle-lighting by girls, which had been practiced in earlier generations. The Rebbe asked Rabbi Nissan Mindel to make sure the letter had been received, and wanted it published.
- 15025 Tishrei 5783 · 16:18Ahead of Parshas Bereishis: reasons why the Torah begins with the letter beis rather than alef. Among them are that proper conduct precedes Torah, a point the Frierdiker Rebbe emphasized in educating children, and the significance of the number nine: the digits of the gematria of “emes” (441) add up to nine, while those of “sheker” (600) add up to six. A sicha on Parshas Bereishis recorded by Rabbi Nissan Mindel with the Rebbe’s corrections is presented. It describes the Torah as a guide that teaches in three ways: stories, mitzvos and in-depth study. It also explains why the first two thousand years are described briefly, while events are detailed from the beginning of Avraham Avinu’s activities in the year 2000 from Creation, 52 years after his birth in 1948. At the end is a note corrected by the Rebbe stating that Chava should not be called “Eve” in English.
- 151A Shulchan Aruch For Non Jews? English2 Cheshvan 5783 · 18:21In honor of Parshas Noach: Documents from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive concerning the writing of a Shulchan Aruch for the Seven Noahide Laws. The Rebbe initially asked Rabbi Mindel to write it, but he declined for lack of time. The Rebbe’s responses to those who began working on it later are presented, including reservations about publishing it because of the responsibility involved and concern that it might provoke opposition. Also presented is a letter from one of them to Rabbi Mindel after they met in Long Beach, stating that the Rebbe had instructed him to consult Rabbi Mindel at every step. The episode also includes a letter to the Rebbe from a Catholic priest in England, enclosing a donation for Jews from Russia and birthday greetings, along with the Rebbe’s letters on the subject, including his statement that had the Seven Laws been observed, the Holocaust would not have been possible.
- 1529 Cheshvan 5783 · 13:55A handwritten response from the Rebbe, then known as “the Ramash,” to a question raised at a weekly Torah class for twenty-five young professionals in Manhattan in the 1940s. The class was taught by attorney Alexander Cowen, and Rabbi Nissan Mindel attended at the encouragement of the Frierdiker Rebbe and reported to him about it. The Frierdiker Rebbe asked the Rebbe to record the participants’ questions and answer them, and the answers were discussed in class. The question was why, in the account of Creation, the first day says, “And G-d saw the light, that it was good,” while on the other days it says only, “And G-d saw that it was good.” The response divides creation into action and the cessation of action, which is necessary for any progress—like demolishing a farmer’s house before building a king’s palace, sleeping in order to work, or a child moving from arithmetic to algebra. Light is good in itself, while darkness is only a preparation for light.
- 15316 Cheshvan 5783 · 17:33Further handwritten responses from the Rebbe to questions from a study group in Manhattan, in which the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe took an interest and to which they sent Rabbi Nissan Mindel every week. The response addresses the verse “And G-d saw that it was good” in the account of Creation and opens with three introductory points: Inanimate objects, plants and animals (such as the ant, silkworm and bee) act only according to their nature, while human beings, who have free choice, are partners with the Creator in perfecting the world; the Creator makes nothing superfluous, so perfecting the world is humanity’s duty; and true “good” is complete perfection. The answer is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu saw from the beginning of creation the perfection latent within it, which human beings merely bring to light in practice. This rules out two mistaken ideas: that human beings perfect the world on their own, or that Hakadosh Boruch Hu could not have created a perfect world. At the end, another question from the group is mentioned, apparently about the Flood.
- 15423 Cheshvan 5783 · 13:50A continuation of the previous episode on the “body” and “soul” of Shabbos: the woman, the mainstay of the home, ushers in Shabbos by lighting candles, and her husband concludes it with Havdalah. The Rebbe’s explanation of Eishes Chayil, recited before Kiddush, is presented, including his response in an English letter to the question of why “grace is false and beauty is vain” when the Torah praises the beauty of Sarah, Rivkah and Rachel, and the miracle of Purim came about through Esther’s beauty. Beauty is vain only when the three mitzvos of women—lighting candles, separating challah and family purity—whose theme is distinction and separation, are performed without inner meaning. In connection with the Kinus Hashluchim, the episode presents Rabbi Chadakov’s words to Rabbi Nissan Mindel about distinguishing between what is essential—putting on tefillin and engaging in the mitzvah campaigns—and what is secondary, such as a vehicle or a Chabad House building.
- 15530 Cheshvan 5783 · 12:00A continuation of the notes from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive documenting a conversation with Rabbi Chadakov ahead of the Kinus Hashluchim: Based on the verse “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov, your dwelling places, Yisroel,” a shliach’s home, telephone and money are like a temporary “tent,” while what is essential and enduring is the inner work—putting on tefillin, sending people to a yeshiva, bringing baalei teshuvah closer and studying Tanya. The Rebbe’s response to a question about why Chabad is less involved in kashrus than in visiting the sick is presented: its mission is to make the people themselves “kosher.” The superiority of a baal teshuvah over a tzaddik is also discussed. The episode concludes with Rabbi Chadakov’s view, as a former teacher and principal, that there is no need to seek new educational methods, since our Rebbeim have already written the guidance.
- 1567 Kislev 5783 · 13:45A continuation of the previous episode: Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes from his conversations with Rabbi Chadakov about educating children. According to the notes, what is needed is not new teaching methods, but for teachers, principals and parents to show that they care about the child and to serve as living examples. Examples include a father scolding his son in shul for not responding during davening; a teacher who demands respect and davening with a minyan but does not practice this himself; and a mother instructing her child to say on the telephone that she is not home. The Rebbe’s interpretation of the mitzvah to honor one’s father and mother as “Honor the father and mother within you” is also presented. In addition, a book taken from the sheimos in the 1940s is shown. The Rebbe, then known as the Ramash, wrote notes in it while sitting with the young men at 770, and it was given as a gift to Rabbi Mindel.
- 15721 Kislev 5783 · 10:34P.S. From a letter by the Rebbe to an unnamed person, in response to his question about contending with the yetzer hara and intrusive thoughts: One should not argue with the thought, but immediately turn one’s attention to something else, preferably a mitzvah. Since the Torah is called light, and “a little light dispels much darkness,” the blessing and inner intention when lighting Chanukah candles help in this struggle. At the beginning of the letter, the Rebbe instructed the recipient to leave his former circle “completely”; that word is underlined. Continuing the theme of intention, three stories are told: the parable of the wagon, used to explain why one of the Rebbes of Belz prayed so quickly; a poor chossid in Russia who prepared a 19 Kislev festive meal even though no one came at first; and two rabbis who came to make the blessing over a wealthy man’s beautiful esrog in Australia, each with a different intention.
- 15828 Kislev 5783 · 10:24A handwritten Chanukah letter by the Rebbe from the early years, found in Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive, with deletions made by the Rebbe. The Rebbe generally dictated his letters to Rabbi Mindel. The letter discusses spreading the light of Torah to one’s surroundings in a manner of “continually increasing,” following Beis Hillel’s approach to the Chanukah candles, as exemplified by the Frierdiker Rebbe, who kindled the souls of the Jewish people “at the entrance to his home, facing outward,” to illuminate the public domain. It concludes with a blessing that the light continue to increase until the coming of Moshiach. In a letter to a Conservative rabbi, the Rebbe compared the Conservative and Reform movements to the Hellenizers and to the maskilim’s slogan of being a Jew at home and a “gentile” outside. In that letter, he also noted that the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt because they did not change their clothing, customs or names.
- 1595 Teves 5783 · 7:42Memories of the first 5 Teves celebration after the victory in the court case over the sefarim, when thousands danced in 770. In the midst of it, a telephone conversation took place between the Rebbe, Rabbi Chodakov and another rabbi, during which the verse “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls” was mentioned. The Rebbe came down for Minchah with a serious demeanor and did not encourage the singing. After Shemoneh Esrei, he wondered why Tachanun was not being said, and Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner replied that a groom was present. A prominent chossid reconciled the apparent contradiction between that verse and “When the wicked perish, there is rejoicing”: If the joy is personal, as in the case of the splitting of the Sea, one should not rejoice; if it is over the fact that the one who fell is wicked, one should rejoice. It concludes with the hope that Chabad’s sefarim will be returned from Russia, bringing the true Geulah.
- 16012 Teves 5783 · 9:48An examination of Parshas Vayechi: Rashi’s words on Yaakov Avinu’s request that Yosef bury him in the Land of Israel as “true kindness,” and on why the Torah does not explicitly say that Yaakov died. A tzaddik’s life consists of love, awe and faith, and therefore continues even after his body passes away; he gives life to those who bind themselves to him. A story is told of a chossid who was interrogated by the KGB at gunpoint because he refused to speak Russian and continued speaking Yiddish, and who was not afraid of death. Also included is an explanation attributed to the Rebbe, given while comforting a man in South America who had lost his daughter, of why one says to a mourner, “May the Omnipresent comfort you.” Finally, a reason is given for Rabbeinu Hakadosh’s weeping before his passing: he would no longer be able to perform mitzvos.
- 161The Life of a Tzadik After Death English19 Teves 5783 · 11:43A continuation of the previous episode: a letter from the Rebbe dated 5 Teves, from the 1980s, responding to a letter written on 3 Teves. The letter explains that the soul’s departure frees it from the body’s limitations and brings it to a higher world. The mourning prescribed by the Torah gives expression to natural grief, whereas grief beyond its limits causes the soul distress. The mitzvos the soul can no longer perform can be made up for by those who remain performing additional mitzvos. Also mentioned are the teaching that tzaddikim are called living after their passing and that their bodies do not decay, and the story of the opening of the Rebbe Rashab’s grave in 1940 because of a plan to build a road there; his body was found intact. The episode concludes by mentioning 20 Teves, the Rambam’s yahrzeit, and the Rebbe’s initiative to study the Rambam.
- 16226 Teves 5783 · 13:06Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes for a speech introducing Rabbi Meir Greenberg in the early 1950s. They include the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words after his first visit to America in 5689–5690. Contrary to the image of American Jewry as a “valley of dry bones” (the word “dead” was deleted by the Rebbe), the Frierdiker Rebbe expressed optimism because of the Jewish youth’s “sincerity,” and when he arrived as a refugee in 5700, he worked to revive American Jewry. Also included are the story of the ship’s doctor who asked his forgiveness when he fell ill on his way from the Land of Israel after the 5689 riots; an account of the suitcase of manuscripts that he would not let out of his grasp, even on the flight from Riga to Sweden; and a story about a chossid who organized the line at the distribution of dollars, was hospitalized shortly after receiving a dollar from the Rebbe, and recovered.
- 1634 Shvat 5783 · 14:49Continuation of a letter from the Rebbe answering questions from Russia about outreach without compromising halachah. It is preferable to serve guests who do not observe mitzvos other drinks instead of wine, and at a Shabbos meal the host should make Kiddush on his own. Because of the circumstances in the country, women were permitted to join the men's classes, provided that only subjects obligatory for women as well were taught—such as faith, love of Hashem, fear of Heaven, and prayer as discussed in Chassidus—that seating was separate, and that this would not serve as a precedent. Ahead of Yud Shvat, handwritten notes from the Frierdiker Rebbe, who had difficulty speaking, to Rabbi Nissan Mindel from 1949 are shown. The notes contain instructions for the ceremony at which he received American citizenship at 770, including whom to invite and whom not to invite, as well as instructions concerning the distribution of matzah to Jews in Russia, Chicago, and wearing a shtreimel.
- 16411 Shvat 5783 · 13:56In honor of Yud Shvat and 11 Shvat: recollections from the Rebbe's childhood teacher in Yekaterinoslav, a shochet who moved to the city at Rabbi Levi Yitzchak's repeated request and taught the Rebbe from age five or six until approximately age eleven. The Rebbe later said of him, “He set me on my feet.” Instructions from the Rebbe Rashab to parents on caring for an infant are presented, along with the Rebbe's talents in his youth and the semichah he received from the Rogatchover. Two stories are told: one about the Rebbe as a child understanding his father's Kabbalistic sermon on Shabbos Hagadol, and another about a Jew who spent twenty years in prison in Russia. The Rebbe's father showed that Jew his son while the boy was studying, and years later the Rebbe asked him in yechidus: “Am I helping you?”
- 16518 Shvat 5783 · 11:12Ahead of the yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka on 22 Shvat: recollections of meetings with the Rebbetzin, including a visit to her home after the Yud Shvat farbrengen to pick up Manya, who had served as a nurse to the Frierdiker Rebbe and was one of the Rebbetzin's close friends. A photograph of the two is shown. A letter from the Rebbe is shown, thanking the recipient for the gift of a “Luach Yerushalayim” for the year 5627 with annotations by Rabbi Avraham David Lavut, the recipient's grandfather and the Rebbe's great-grandfather, and requesting additional writings for his library. Also shown is a 1968 letter from an engineer with a doctorate about a pregnancy that the doctor called a miracle, after the couple observed family purity on the Rebbe's advice. The Rebbe noted on the letter that it should be sent to the library. The episode concludes with the Rebbetzin's words to the engineer's wife, in which she compared the Rebbe's miracles and Ahavas Yisroel to those of her father.
- 1662 Adar 5783 · 16:15A story in Yiddish, handwritten by the Frierdiker Rebbe and given to Rabbi Nissan Mindel in 1941 or 1942 for publication in the children's magazine Sichos Lanoar (Shmuesen and Talks and Tales). In the story, a woman is blessed with a son through the Baal Shem Tov's blessing, but the child dies at age two, immediately after being brought to the Baal Shem Tov for a blessing. The Baal Shem Tov explains to the parents that their son was a holy soul who had come into the world as the son of a king who decreed against the Jews that if he did not have a son within a year, they would suffer. The prince studied under the pope, discovered that the pope was secretly a Jew who wore a tallis and tefillin, and converted to Judaism. To rectify the two years in which he was raised by non-Jews, his soul needed to spend two years in an observant Jewish home. The cover of the third volume of Sefer Hazichronos, bearing the Frierdiker Rebbe's signature, is also shown, and the reliability of stories about tzaddikim is discussed.
- 1679 Adar 5783 · 16:23In honor of 9 Adar, the day the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived to settle in the United States in 5700, his journey by plane to Sweden and then by ship for 13 days is described. He traveled with a group of eleven people, including Rabbi Chodakov. The difficulties of observing Shabbos in America at the time are also discussed. A 1939 letter of thanks for a Melaveh Malkah held in his honor by Julius Stulman is shown, and a story is told about another Melaveh Malkah at which the Frierdiker Rebbe refused to permit a Zionist song to be sung, whereupon most of those present left. Also presented are the glass factory parable with which the Rebbe explained the value of a yeshivah to donors visiting 770; the Frierdiker Rebbe's final letter to Stulman, written two days before his passing; and his guidance to Rabbi Nissan Mindel on raising children: Kiddush, kissing the mezuzah, wearing a kippah from birth, and washing hands in the morning.
- 16816 Adar 5783 · 22:20From a stack of greetings for 11 Nissan that the Rebbe gave Rabbi Nissan Mindel to answer—including wishes for a recovery after the heart attack and the stroke—letters from Eretz Yisroel are presented: from chief rabbis, Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner and heads of yeshivos, El Al and various organizations, as well as public figures including Elie Wiesel, Yaakov Herzog, Ariel Sharon, President Shazar, Yitzchak Shamir, David Levy and David Ben-Gurion. On one of Ben-Gurion’s letters, the Rebbe wrote, “Not published.” The Rebbe’s instruction, conveyed through Rabbi Klein, that Rabbi Mindel reply to the writers is presented, and a 1986 New York State proclamation marking Education Day in honor of the Rebbe’s birthday is read aloud. It mentions the Sefer Torah campaign and the daily study of Rambam. Also discussed is the Rebbe’s insistence on saying “Eretz Yisroel” rather than “the State of Israel.”
- 16923 Adar 5783 · 11:16Further birthday greetings for the Rebbe from public figures are presented, along with photographs and Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes on the Rabbis’ March in Washington in Tishrei 5704, three days before Yom Kippur. The Frierdiker Rebbe sent a delegation to the march that included Rabbi Mindel and Rabbi Schneur Zalman Gurary. The notes describe the march from Union Station to the Capitol, the reception by Vice President Henry Wallace, Rabbi Eliezer Silver’s reading of a petition calling for an agency to rescue the Jews of Europe during the Holocaust, and President Roosevelt’s avoidance of a meeting on the advice of his Jewish advisers, even though his schedule was free. The episode concludes with President Reagan’s proclamation of Education Day, USA, on 11 Nissan 5747, in honor of the Rebbe’s 85th birthday.
- 1701 Nissan 5783 · 25:32The third program in the series honoring the Rebbe’s birthday on 11 Nissan presents official documents. Among them are Washington State Governor Dixy Lee Ray’s proclamation of March 30, 1977 (5737), as “Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson Day,” and a congressional scroll for the Rebbe’s 80th birthday, signed by President Reagan on the eve of 11 Nissan 5743. Proclamations from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and New York are also shown, as is the invitation to the 1994 Congressional Gold Medal ceremony. Alongside them are a 1940 White House letter to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, letters from the Rebbe to author Herman Wouk and U.S. President Richard Nixon in 5730, and a report on a Chabad delegation to the White House Conference on Children and Youth, attended by Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Hecht and Rabbi Yitzchak Zalman Posner. The episode concludes with the Rebbe’s letters to President Carter after the Rebbe’s heart attack and on the occasion of Carter’s 50th wedding anniversary, and presidential greetings to Rabbi Mindel’s mother-in-law on her 100th birthday.
- 1718 Nissan 5783 · 20:52A letter Rabbi Nissan Mindel sent at the Rebbe’s instruction in Tishrei 5731 to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Burlington, Vermont. The letter expressed appreciation for its concern for the workplace rights of Chabad chassidim under the Civil Rights Act and enclosed a statement of their religious requirements. The statement was written in Hebrew by Rabbi Zalman Shimon Dworkin at the Rebbe’s request, translated into English by Rabbi Mindel and signed by Rabbi Dworkin. It discusses shatnez in work clothes, beards and peyos, head coverings and modest dress, Shabbos and Yom Tov, breaks for washing hands and Mincha, and the laws of mourning and shiva. Also presented is a collection of 11 Nissan birthday greetings for the Rebbe from governors, mayors and dignitaries around the world, including a letter from Florida Governor Bob Graham for the Rebbe’s 82nd birthday.
- 17229 Nissan 5783 · 16:46In honor of the month of Iyar, whose name forms the initials of “I am Hashem, your Healer”: English letters from the Rebbe on depression and anxiety, including a response to someone whose overeating had led to depression and harmed his shalom bayis. They discuss awareness that a person always stands before Hashem, beginning with the recitation of “Modeh Ani”; strengthening trust in divine providence; consulting a doctor and a rabbi; and helping others. Additional letters on shalom bayis emphasize observing the laws of family purity and the woman’s role as the “mainstay of the home,” including welcoming guests on Shabbos. The episode concludes with the Rebbe’s explanation, from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes, of why a plain ring rather than a diamond ring is given under the chuppah: a plain ring that breaks can be repaired without leaving a trace, and so the couple can always return to the joy of their wedding day.
- 1736 Iyar 5783 · 20:27In connection with the study of Pirkei Avos, a story is told about the Frierdiker Rebbe, who, at a Pesach meal in 770, spared a guest embarrassment after the guest dipped matzah in borscht: “Better to redden the matzah than to redden someone’s face.” A letter from the Rebbe dated 6 Iyar is presented, addressed to someone who complained about people talking in shul during davening. In it, the Rebbe instructs him to speak to them gently and privately, following the example of Aharon HaKohen, during the days of preparation for Matan Torah. Excerpts from letters about concentrating during davening—by davening with a minyan and from a siddur—and about having a fixed place to daven are also presented. Finally, a letter in Yiddish from the contractor Klein to the Rebbe, written during the expansion of the shul at 770, is presented. It contains suggestions concerning acoustics, lighting, the cleanliness of the mikvah, the scheduling of minyanim, and separating the place of davening from the place of study. The Rebbe marked the sentence “Health is more important than money.”
- 17413 Iyar 5783 · 18:56In connection with the month of Iyar, whose letters form the initials of “Ani Hashem Rofecha” (“I am Hashem, your Healer”), an explanation by the Rebbe is presented: Iyar is an auspicious time for healing because it follows the miracles of Nissan, in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu acted Himself, rather than through a messenger. The clarity of the Rebbe’s letters in English is also discussed in connection with the Frierdiker Rebbe’s request to Rabbi Nissan Mindel in 1939 to translate the Tanya into English. The main focus of the episode is a letter from the Rebbe to a woman who had fallen into sadness over the suffering in the world. The letter states that Moshe Rabbeinu had already asked this question, that human understanding is limited (“For My thoughts are not your thoughts”), and that the soul is eternal. It also says that good is hidden within every instance of suffering, as expressed in the haftorah of Acharon Shel Pesach, “I thank You, Hashem, for You were angry with me,” and illustrated by the parable of a mother leading her child to the chuppah.
- 17520 Iyar 5783 · 22:24In connection with the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Schneur Zalman Wilenkin, who taught the Rebbe as a child in Yekaterinoslav and was Rabbi Shapiro’s maternal grandfather, a parable is presented from a letter of condolence by the Frierdiker Rebbe: an old ship returns from a long voyage, and few people are there to greet it. Also shared are memories of Rabbi Wilenkin’s humility and his care to avoid lashon hara. The episode describes the stroke he suffered in 5723, the matzah the Rebbe sent him on Motzaei Shabbos as “michla d’asvasa” (“food of healing”), the Rebbe’s inquiries about his condition until his passing a week later, on 23 Iyar, and the Rebbe’s standing outside the cemetery gate during the burial. It also describes the Rebbe standing in the presence of his teacher during yechidus and farbrengens, and his interest in the burial place of Rabbi Wilenkin’s second wife, Zelda.
- 1765 Sivan 5783 · 18:14A letter from the Rebbe to someone who had asked about criticism of Chabad’s approach to bringing distant Jews closer, as opposed to studying in a yeshiva or kollel, is presented in response to questions raised at a farbrengen Rabbi Shapiro held with his students. The letter cites Hillel the Elder’s teaching, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow,” and states that in earlier generations the primary concern was increasing Torah study, whereas today, in the face of assimilation and intermarriage, saving Jews as Jews takes precedence over everything. As an example, it points to the self-sacrifice devoted to helping others from the Alter Rebbe through the Frierdiker Rebbe, who stood alone in sustaining Torah in the Soviet Union, and proposes a test of the critics’ sincerity. Also presented are a letter stating that “Torah study is equal to them all” only when it is preceded by honoring one’s father and mother, acts of kindness, hospitality, and peace in the home, and a story about a rosh yeshiva who praised a student for continuing to study when his friend was injured in an accident.
- 17712 Sivan 5783 · 17:37Letters from the Rebbe in English, from the archive of Rabbi Nissan Mindel, in response to questions sent to the program. In the first letter, the Rebbe replies to someone who wanted to set a small carved stone into the Western Wall. The commands “Do not add” and “Do not subtract” appear twice in the Torah, with the prohibition against adding stated first, because even adding to something holy detracts from its Divine dimension. Therefore, one must neither diminish the sanctity of the Wall nor add to it. The Chabad custom not to decorate the sukkah is mentioned in this context. In the second letter, concerning a relative who lives in a non-Jewish environment where efforts are made to convert Jews, the Rebbe criticizes the pope, who refused to intervene on behalf of the Jews of Rome during the German occupation, after which thousands of Italian Jews were deported to the death camps. The conclusion is that one should not visit the pope at the Vatican. Also mentioned is a sharply worded letter from the Rebbe to a chossid who visited the pope and sang with him; afterward, the Rebbe did not reply to him again.
- 17819 Sivan 5783 · 19:48Ahead of Gimmel Tammuz: Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s shorthand notebooks, in which he recorded for some fifty years the replies the Rebbe dictated to him in the Rebbe’s room; and the story of a man who was told three times to proceed with a shidduch about which he had hesitated. He married, divorced three months later, and blamed Rabbi Mindel for not offering his opinion. When the Rebbe showed Rabbi Mindel the man’s letter and asked what he thought, Rabbi Mindel refrained from answering. A fourteen-line letter that the Rebbe wrote to the man is presented, encouraging him to remarry his former wife and relating an incident concerning a special blessing for healthy children, founded on living according to Torah and mitzvos. Also included are accounts of a rosh yeshiva in London who did not answer the Rebbe’s question during the distribution of dollars, “Can a commoner make a king?”, and of a father who traveled contrary to the Rebbe’s advice.
- 17926 Sivan 5783 · 19:26Ahead of Gimmel Tammuz: A letter from the Rebbe in response to a draft will sent to him, with guidance on writing a Jewish will: allocating a fifth of the net estate to tzedakah and distributing it immediately; arranging in advance for funeral and headstone expenses; giving the children of a deceased heir his full share, in accordance with Torah law; and distinguishing between sons and daughters, with daughters receiving their shares as gifts rather than as an inheritance. Also presented is a note by Rabbi Nissan Mindel recording what the Rebbe said orally in Sivan to him, Rabbi Chodakov, and Rabbi Yisroel Yitzchok Piekarski regarding his will: that Chabad institutions should continue in their existing form, that his household belongings should go to the daughter of his brother Yisroel Aryeh Leib and to her children, and that Rabbi Mindel and Rabbi Chodakov should resolve any uncertainties.
- 1803 Tammuz 5783 · 16:14A draft of the Rebbe’s spiritual will in Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s handwriting, in Hebrew and in English translation, dated Tuesday, 17 Elul 5748, when the Rebbe summoned Rabbi Chodakov, Rabbi Mindel, and Rabbi Yisroel Yitzchok Piekarski, rosh yeshiva of the central Tomchei Temimim yeshiva. The will designated Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, Machne Israel, and the reestablished Agudas Chassidei Chabad as the three pillars of the Chabad movement. It named the institutions’ directors, including Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Krinsky, stipulated that funds given to the Rebbe be divided into three parts, and gave Rabbi Chodakov and Rabbi Mindel authority to resolve any uncertainties. An accompanying note explains that the will was not signed because its clause revoking previous wills would have revoked the legal will in English, drawn up after the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka following the seforim affair.
- 18110 Tammuz 5783 · 17:10A Hebrew letter written and signed by the Frierdiker Rebbe in 1944 for Rabbi Nissan Mindel, who translated it into English. The letter was intended to be read to a weekly study group of scientists in a dentist’s office in Manhattan, delivered by Rabbi Elchonon Kaven. Rabbi Mindel reported on the group each week, and the participants’ questions were also passed on to the Ramash, who answered them. The letter describes the Frierdiker Rebbe’s interrogation by the Cheka in Tammuz 5681: three Cheka agents, two of them members of the Yevsektsiya, came to take him away in the middle of davening, and a committee sought to discuss questions of Kabbalah and Chassidus with him. It also recounts his refusal to speak any language other than Yiddish, his response to a threat with a pistol, and his analogies of the telescope and the digestion of food, illustrating that observing mitzvos comes before understanding them.
- 1822 Menachem Av 5783 · 21:47A letter in English from the Rebbe to a person living in America, answering his questions about outreach to Jews in the Soviet Union. Jews who had converted to another religion and wished to join a Torah study group were to be considered individually, distinguishing between a missionary and someone who converted for an external reason or is considered a tinok shenishba. At farbrengens with Jews who did not observe mitzvos, other beverages should be served instead of wine. Joint classes for men and women were permitted there because of the special circumstances, provided that they covered only subjects incumbent on women as well, that seating was separate, and that the classes did not serve as a precedent for other countries. The episode opens with stories about a “wise rabbi” (“kluger rav”). One concerns the Frierdiker Rebbe’s instruction to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, who needed to eat every three hours, to consult a wise rabbi about fasting on Yom Kippur. Also included is a ruling by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Dubravsky concerning the kashrus of a chicken.
- 18323 Menachem Av 5783 · 19:42The changes in the Rebbe’s conduct following the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka in 5748 are described: farbrengens only on Shabbos, the end of dictating general letters to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and frequent visits to the Ohel. A memo by Rabbi Mindel, signed by Rabbi Chodakov and dated 18 Menachem Av 5748, is presented. It records the Rebbe’s instruction, conveyed after Minchah, to appoint three people in charge in every community and institution. They would hold gatherings several times a year, in the spirit of 15 Av, when the nights begin to grow longer, and send a report every three months on increased activity in Torah and mitzvos to the committee headed by the two men—not to the Rebbe or the secretariat. The episode also includes an account of an international conference call organized by Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Krinsky to convey the instructions, including to Chabad activists in California.
- 18430 Menachem Av 5783 · 14:27The series on the establishment of Vaad HaMosifin continues. A memo from Rabbi Nissan Mindel to Rabbi Chodakov is presented concerning the Rebbe’s request, relayed by telephone through Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, to receive a progress report on the campaign even before Minchah. The memo details the Rebbe’s instruction that the leadership of each institution appoint a new three-member committee to oversee the increases from 15 Av onward and report to the international committee. Rabbi Mindel proposes sending a general letter to all the institutions through guests returning to their communities, so that replies would arrive by Yom Kippur Katan of Elul. Also presented is the first list of names submitted, some with the Rebbe’s comments, from communities in the United States, England, France, Italy, Morocco, Canada and Eretz Yisroel. They include Rabbi Moshe Feller of Minnesota and Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin of Milwaukee.
- 1857 Elul 5783 · 13:48The third installment in the series on the campaign to “increase activity,” which the Rebbe announced at a farbrengen. Presented are a message conveyed by Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, expressing the Rebbe’s thanks for an activity report, and Rabbi Mindel’s reply. In his reply, he noted that he had only a partial list of the national committee members who had responded and suggested that Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Krinsky coordinate the reports. The episode then presents a letter from Rabbi Chodakov to the Rebbe, written two years after the campaign began. In it, he acknowledged that the work had stopped because of other demands, “and perhaps excuses as well,” and asked for guidance on resuming it. Following the Rebbe’s response, a letter was sent to Anash and the institutions, with a sicha of the Rebbe on the subject enclosed.
- 18614 Elul 5783 · 20:53Impressions from a stay of about six weeks in the summer of 5783 in Jerusalem’s Geulah neighborhood, including davening in the shtieblach, and a letter from the Rebbe to a young man whose mother forbade him to return to a grave after he encountered two Arabs there, unless the Rebbe permitted it. The main part of the episode addresses questions raised by worshippers there at a joint farbrengen. On the subject of Moshiach, it recounts how a Chassidic Rebbe answered a misnaged in the presence of the Frierdiker Rebbe, and presents the Rebbe’s “three crowns” from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes. Also discussed are the Rebbe’s standing for long hours during the distribution of dollars; his avoidance of the word “state,” alongside his insistence on the holiness of Eretz Yisroel and the importance of every part of it; and why he did not wear a shtreimel, with a story about young men who removed their shtreimels at a Shabbos farbrengen and the Rebbe’s remark to them about it.
- 18721 Elul 5783 · 18:10A letter from Rabbi Nissan Mindel to the Frierdiker Rebbe, dated Erev Shabbos Parshas Shoftim 5704, details what Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch lacked—a proper office, a secretary, storage space for printed material and a fundraiser—and proposes renting an office near 770 and hiring a secretary. Following the letter, Merkos began operating as an organization, and Julius Stulman was among its first donors. The background describes the Rebbe’s early years in the United States, beginning in 5701: his living and working in the yechidus room at 770; his work with Rabbi Mindel on Talks and Tales and an English Tanya; his work at a naval shipyard; his visits to sick refugees at a clinic in Manhattan; his putting on four pairs of tefillin privately; and his dancing barefoot on Simchas Torah. Also included is the design of the Kehot logo by the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe, Rabbi Chodakov and Rabbi Mindel.
- 18829 Elul 5783 · 24:45Remarks on teshuvah delivered by Rabbi Nissan Mindel to a group of students at Yeshiva University, according to notes taken by his son-in-law: The forgiveness associated with the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, proclaimed after the sin of the Golden Calf, depends on following Hashem’s ways, not merely reciting them. The mountains, the heavens and earth, and the sun, moon and stars that refused to plead for mercy on behalf of Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya symbolize placing responsibility on one’s parents, surroundings and fortune, until he realized that it depended on him alone. Also presented is a vort Rabbi Mindel heard from his father-in-law: Rivkah dressed Yaakov in Esav’s clothes so that even a Jew who looks like Esav could receive a blessing. The proof is the declaration “We permit prayer with transgressors” in the machzor before Kol Nidrei. In closing, the reason for reading the passage on forbidden relationships at Minchah on Yom Kippur is explained: to bring the day’s holiness out into the world.
- 18911 Cheshvan 5784 · 21:39Against the backdrop of the events of recent weeks, the Rebbe’s emphasis on children’s power to defeat the enemy is recalled, as in the days of the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. A letter in Hebrew, sent to the Rebbe through Rabbi Nissan Mindel by a chossid from Milan, is presented. It contains stories told by the chossid’s brother, who served at the Alter Rebbe’s Ohel in Haditch until the end of World War II, built a secret mikveh in his home and organized a minyan in his father’s home. Among the stories are the origin of the custom of knocking three times on the Ohel’s door, after an attendant who heard strange sounds there went deaf; a dog that barked for weeks at a nearby grave; a minyan on 24 Teves in which the Alter Rebbe was counted as the tenth; and the austere way of life of a fundraising emissary named Reb Nissan. The letter was preserved because the Rebbe returned it to Rabbi Mindel for publication in periodicals such as Talks and Tales.
- 19018 Cheshvan 5784 · 24:41Against the backdrop of the war that broke out after the massacre on Simchas Torah 5784, the Frierdiker Rebbe’s campaigns during World War II are reviewed, based on Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive. The campaigns included a call for teshuvah and the weekly Hakriah Vehakedushah (1941–1945), in which articles by Rabbi Mindel appeared under pseudonyms; memorizing Mishnayos, including a passage from Hayom Yom; observing Shabbos; Shabbos gatherings run by Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch with the Rebbe’s participation; daily recitation of Tehillim; and education. Presented are a letter from the Gerrer Rebbe to the Frierdiker Rebbe about an Orthodox committee to safeguard Judaism in Warsaw, a page in the handwriting of the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe on education (a letter on this subject was also sent to Rabbi Herzog), and photographs of the rabbis’ march. Also recounted is the story of a shopkeeper in Brownsville who began observing Shabbos.
- 19126 Cheshvan 5784 · 16:02A Kitzur Shulchan Aruch prepared for public-school children attending religious instruction classes, at the initiative of the yeshiva students who taught them and with Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s participation. The Rebbe wrote corrections and source references on the backs of draft pages and on separate notes. The chapter “Upon Waking in the Morning” discusses the six constant mitzvos, including faith in Hashem, fear of Hashem and “Do not stray.” Also discussed is the teaching “Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer and strong as a lion,” which the Rebbe explained in terms of the four elements—fire, air, water and earth—also mentioned in Tanya. The Rebbe’s corrections to the children’s monthly Talks and Tales and to a speech at a college are also mentioned, along with a story about the Rebbe’s humility upon his arrival in the United States in 5701.
- 1923 Kislev 5784 · 9:23A continuation of the previous episode: From Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s writings comes an analogy the Rebbe explained based on a ruling in the Mishnah concerning a house and its upper story, owned by two people, that collapsed. The owner of the upper story asks the owner of the house to rebuild it. If he refuses, the owner of the upper story builds the house and lives in it until the owner of the house reimburses his expenses. In the analogy, Hakadosh Boruch Hu owns the upper story and the Jewish people own the house. With the house destroyed, the Shechinah has no place, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu asks the Jewish people to rebuild it through the fulfillment of mitzvos. Even when they do not build, the Shechinah remains with them in exile and shares their suffering until they do teshuvah. The ultimate purpose is to bring the Geulah and make a dwelling for Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the lower realms.
- 193The Meaning of Being a Chossid English10 Kislev 5784 · 11:26A continuation of the previous two episodes, which presented the Rebbe’s handwritten words on what it means to be a chossid. Discussed are the difference between Torah study in general and a chossid’s study, which is for the sake of Heaven and without ego, and educating children by personal example: a father who davens with concentration and a mother who weeps while lighting Shabbos candles. Also discussed are the wording of the Rebbe’s bar mitzvah letters, blessing the boy to grow up to be a chossid, the reason the word “chossid” precedes putting on tefillin, and the distinction of baalei teshuvah who became chassidim. In closing, the Alter Rebbe’s words that a chossid is recognizable in all his actions, even in eating and sleeping, are presented, along with the custom of sleeping in a yarmulke.
- 19417 Kislev 5784 · 14:27The third part of the series on the character of a chossid according to the Rebbe’s words: A chossid who teaches others or recites a maamar brings merit to his ancestors and blessing to his children and grandchildren. One should also look to those who are on a higher level, be thankful that one is not like someone immersed in material concerns, like an animal with its head bowed, and be careful with how one uses one’s time. A story is told about the Rebbe as a child, when he explained through gematria why the Torah begins with the letter beis: The sum of each set of three consecutive letters beginning with beis reduces to nine when its digits are added, as does the numerical value of “emes” (truth), whereas beginning with alef it reduces to six, as does the numerical value of “sheker” (falsehood). The episode concludes with a discussion of opposition to Chassidus and a parable about a chossid and a misnaged in Gan Eden and Gehinnom. It also mentions the Alter Rebbe’s stay in the home of a misnaged after his release from prison, which was harder for him than the imprisonment itself.
- 19525 Kislev 5784 · 10:09A letter in Yiddish sent to Rabbi Nissan Mindel by a Jew who moved from Poland to Russia in 1924 and lived in Yekaterinoslav for about thirteen years. The letter describes a G-d-fearing Jew named Schneerson who headed the local authority’s finance department in the 1920s, and asks whether he was related to the Rebbe. It recounts an incident from Chanukah around 1925: A Jew tearfully asked Schneerson for a blessing for deliverance without explaining his plight. Schneerson invited him to his home, gave him candles to light, and alluded to the problem he had not been told about. Rabbi Mindel showed the letter to the Rebbe, who invited the writer to a meal at his home and gave him a picture of the Frierdiker Rebbe and a picture of his father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson. This identified the Schneerson of Yekaterinoslav as the Rebbe’s father.
- 1962 Teves 5784 · 9:00Following the previous episode about the pictures of the Rebbe’s father and the Frierdiker Rebbe that the Rebbe gave to a man who had experienced a miracle, this episode discusses the value of carrying a picture of a tzaddik or a dollar from the Rebbe as a segulah and a safeguard against sin. This is drawn from the Rebbe’s words that Yosef Hatzaddik withstood his test because he saw an image of his father. The Rebbe’s letters about placing a picture in a child’s bedroom to ward off bad dreams are also mentioned. The Rebbe’s reply to Rabbi Shapiro, who was afraid of flying, is presented: He should carry a dollar with him and be careful that his tzitzis are kosher. The episode also tells of approximately 775 dollars from the Rebbe’s dollar distributions that were stolen from his home, most of which were returned eight months later through a shop owner. One of them, apparently among the stolen dollars, passed through a tollbooth in Pennsylvania, was described in the Jewish Press, and was eventually returned to its owner.
- 1979 Teves 5784 · 11:07A story from a bris in Long Beach, Long Island, about a Jew who did not observe mitzvos and had not had children for eleven or twelve years. On a friend’s advice, he approached the Satmar Rebbe, who gave him an amulet to carry in his pocket, and the Bobover Rebbe, who instructed him to wear a yarmulke. The Rebbe took an interest in his life, gave him a pair of tefillin, instructed him to put them on every day, and blessed him. About nineteen months later, a daughter was born to him, and he has put on tefillin every day since. In advance of 10 Teves 5784, a short letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe to Rabbi Nissan Mindel is presented. For health reasons, Rabbi Mindel needed to eat every three hours. The letter emphatically instructs him not to fast at all, even on a major fast day, and to give tzedakah instead of fasting. The Frierdiker Rebbe’s instruction to consult a “learned rabbi” about fasting on Tisha B’Av is also presented.
- 19816 Teves 5784 · 11:40A story about a “Shanah tovah” greeting that Rabbi Nissan Mindel heard from the Rebbe on January 1, and a story attributed to the Baal Shem Tov (though some attribute it to the Maggid of Mezritch) about chassidim who saw non-Jews carrying a cross carved from the ice of a frozen river, and the lesson it teaches about the danger of coldness and indifference in spiritual matters. The main focus of the episode is a letter in Italian sent to the Rebbe by a Jew from Italy following the pope’s visit to the synagogue in Rome. It presented halachic arguments against the visit, citing the synagogue’s status as a mikdash me’at, 17 Tammuz, and sources from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. The writer asked whether to publish the letter in Italy’s Jewish newspaper or give it to the rabbis. The Rebbe replied that the rabbis should be informed but that it should not be published in the newspaper, and expressed reservations about Jews visiting the pope and the Vatican.
- 19923 Teves 5784 · 17:01Principles that emerge from the Rebbe’s letters in English in Igros Kodesh: avoiding sweeping statements, offering advice rather than commands, writing in the third person, referring halachic questions to a rabbi and a mashpia, and introducing few innovations. Thus, the lighting of Shabbos candles by girls from age three was presented as a revival of an ancient custom, while the daily study of Rambam is one of the few innovations. A letter from the Rebbe to a childless woman who feared that her situation was a punishment is presented. It states that the concept of “punishment” does not apply to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and that calamity is a consequence of human actions. In this context, the attack of October 7, 5784, is discussed in light of a letter the Rebbe dictated following a war in Eretz Yisroel. The letter describes the land as the King’s palace, where living requires a high standard of mitzvah observance; otherwise, the land will expel its inhabitants.
- 2001 Shvat 5784 · 9:55A continuation of the previous episode: a lengthy letter from the Rebbe about the Covenant Between the Parts, demonstrating that exile is not a punishment but a means of reaching the Geulah. The proof is that Hashem told Avraham Avinu of his descendants’ enslavement precisely at a moment of the greatest love between them. The letter cites the Midrash’s account of the four exiles shown to him, along with parables of a mother bathing her baby in hot water and a teacher turning his face away from his student to think more deeply about an idea that occurred to him. At the end is a story about the Frierdiker Rebbe, who became gravely ill aboard a ship on his way from Eretz Yisroel after hearing of attacks on Jews, apparently the riots of 5689. A religious doctor from Eretz Yisroel who was on the ship wept and asked his forgiveness: Hashem does not bring an illness without providing a cure for it, and had the doctor not been there, the Frierdiker Rebbe would not have become ill.
- 2018 Shvat 5784 · 9:35A letter in English from the Rebbe to a woman who asked why Hashem had brought illness upon her after receiving a grave prognosis from her doctor. The response makes three points: even the greatest doctors make mistakes in diagnosis; new medicines and treatments are discovered every day; and a patient’s condition depends to a great extent on the nervous system and the body’s resilience. The stronger the patient’s faith in recovery and desire to get well, the greater the strength to recover. In the lead-up to Yud Shvat, a letter is presented on the importance of a birthday as an annual opportunity to bless each person, along with a story about a man who asked the Rebbe for “a bit of a blessing” and was told that the Rebbe gives only a complete blessing, and a letter about placing “children” before “life and sustenance.” The episode concludes with a discussion of the importance of peace and unity among the Jewish people as the key to peace throughout the world.
- 20215 Shvat 5784 · 9:40A letter in English from the Rebbe to a man who wrote that he suffered from depression following bad dreams, overeating and excess weight, and asked about the difference between sadness and bitterness. In the response, based on King David’s verse “I have set Hashem before me always,” the Rebbe states that a person always stands before the King of kings of kings, Who has entrusted him with important tasks. The Rebbe further explains that sadness stems from a sense of insignificance, whereas every individual is important and can influence others as a living example. A postscript (P.S.) addresses his dreams about chibut hakever and kaf hakela, mentioned in Tanya, with an instruction to reject these thoughts and turn his mind to other matters. In explaining the letter, a distinction is drawn between paralyzing sadness and motivating bitterness, and the saying is cited that although sadness is not a sin, it leads to what no sin can lead to, just as a mikveh brings about what no mitzvah can bring about.
- 20322 Shvat 5784 · 13:08A letter from the Rebbe to an observant Jew who wrote that he was ashamed of his actions and wished to do teshuvah: at times he went to sleep without reciting the bedtime Shema, prayed alone even when he had time to pray with a minyan, was drawn into speaking lashon hara, wasted time and forgot to recite a concluding blessing. The Rebbe instructed him to study Chassidus and wrote that a person’s life depends on the air around him. The air is purified by the letters of Torah—by speaking words of Torah in a store, on the street and on the subway—and in this way one can escape the sadness toward which the yetzer hara draws a person. Also presented is the Rebbe’s response, conveyed through Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, to a teacher at a yeshiva in Brooklyn who was distressed over having spoken lashon hara: the Rebbe asked whether he drank mashke and instructed him to constantly review words of Torah by heart. As a result, he underwent a marked change.
- 20429 Shvat 5784 · 12:14The Rebbe’s responses from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive on several matters: the custom that when a younger daughter becomes engaged before her older sister, she should contribute from her own money toward her sister’s wedding expenses, and her parents should do likewise; and the limit on drinking mashke for those under forty—up to three cups for l’chaim, except on Yom Tov and for wine at Kiddush and Havdalah. In a letter about the use of Bénédictine liqueur, produced by monks, the Rebbe noted that the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe Rashab had used it and had visited its place of production several times, and that its kosher status had been confirmed through further inquiry. In this connection, there is a story about a guest who dipped matzah in borscht on Pesach, and the remark that it is better to redden the matzah than a person’s face. In another response, the Rebbe objects to calling Lubavitch a “court,” preferring “the House of Lubavitch,” which is open to all.
- 2056 Adar I 5784 · 16:09Against the backdrop of war, the Rebbe’s instruction during the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War for Jews in the Diaspora to strengthen their observance of mitzvos, particularly the mitzvah of tefillin, is discussed. A letter the Rebbe wrote in 1942–1943 on behalf of the Frierdiker Rebbe to Jewish soldiers is presented, calling on them to put on tefillin every weekday as a merit for their safe return. The emphasis on tefillin thus preceded the Tefillin Campaign. Also presented is a letter from the Rebbe concerning a Jew who made his putting on tefillin conditional on receiving something in return. According to the letter, observance of mitzvos—not political independence, territory or language—is what preserved the Jewish people, and tefillin have remained unchanged, as the tefillin found at Masada also attest. Finally, the Rebbe’s response not to fund the travel of students from the Telz yeshiva to study in Cleveland is presented, along with a story about distributing matzos free of charge.
- 20613 Adar I 5784 · 12:47A letter from the Rebbe to parents who sought guidance on how to deal with their eldest daughter sets out three principles of child-rearing. The first is that parents should serve as living examples and set a standard for themselves at least twice as high as the minimum they expect of their children. The second is to be familiar with the influences surrounding their children and with their friends, and to instill pride in their ancestral heritage. The third is to strengthen shalom bayis between the spouses. Also presented are the Rebbe’s words in another letter about placing “children” before “life,” and his explanation of why a groom gives his bride a plain ring, rather than a diamond ring, under the chuppah: a break in a plain ring can be repaired without leaving a mark, and disagreements between spouses should be repaired in the same way. Finally, the custom of affixing the mezuzah at an angle is presented as a symbol of compromise between spouses.
- 20720 Adar I 5784 · 12:01A class in preparation for Parshas Ki Sisa on the half-shekel as atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf, a sin of the generation as a whole that affected its collective soul. It discusses the avoidance of counting people directly because of the evil eye, as cited by Rashi, and the resulting custom of counting a minyan using a ten-word verse. It also discusses why prayer with a minyan is not scrutinized as an individual’s prayer is. The discussion then turns to the connection with the previous parsha, Parshas Tetzaveh, in which Moshe Rabbeinu’s name is not mentioned, and to the subject of hiskashrus to a tzaddik. In the Rebbe’s response to those who ask why hiskashrus to a tzaddik is necessary when a person studies and prays, he explains that the faith present in every Jew is external, and only through the tzaddik of each generation, a “faithful shepherd” like Moshe, does it become internal.
- 20827 Adar I 5784 · 26:09A packet of approximately 200 pages of documents that the Rebbe gave Rabbi Nissan Mindel, concerning the activities of a shliach on his behalf in Spain in 1985–1986. The activities centered on celebrations in Córdoba marking the 850th anniversary of the Rambam’s birth, and the packet includes correspondence with Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, the King of Spain and President Reagan. Presented are a brochure for the celebrations, the shliach’s letter to the king requesting an interview, and his report to the Rebbe on his meeting with the king and queen in Madrid on an Erev Shabbos in Elul. At the meeting, he conveyed a four-point message from the Rebbe, including the analogy of “the king in the field” and Rosh Hashanah as the coronation of the King. The king was given a Tanya in Spanish, gifts were presented, and photographs of the meeting were attached to the report. Also presented are a letter from the Rambam describing his daily routine as the sultan’s physician in Cairo and parallels between the Rambam and the Rebbe, on the occasion of forty years since the institution of daily Rambam study.
- 2094 Adar II 5784 · 14:29The question of whether a tzaddik and a Rebbe can make a mistake or forget, and whether the Rebbe knows the future in advance when giving advice or a blessing, is discussed. A letter from the Rebbe to a man whose engagement was called off is presented. In it, the Rebbe explains that because of free choice, a blessing or advice is not a guarantee, and that his practice is to offer advice, not commands. Stories are recounted about the shlichus of Rabbi Nissan Pinson and his wife to Morocco, and about an Israeli prime minister who changed the date of his flight following a question from the Rebbe; that same plane was hijacked. Also presented is a conversation between the Rebbe and Rabbi Nissan Mindel about a man who married and separated after the Rebbe had agreed to his meetings with the woman, drawing a comparison to Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s request of Vespasian.
- 21011 Adar II 5784 · 16:41On Taanis Esther, close to the anniversary of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein’s passing on 13 Adar II, a letter he wrote in 5738 is presented against the backdrop of the Rebbe’s health. In it, he calls on rabbis to encourage their congregations in shul to help with the mitzvah campaigns, such as mezuzah and Shabbos candles, through which thousands of Jews had been brought closer to mitzvah observance. He states that every effort in this direction would strengthen the Rebbe’s health. Before the letter, examples of the Rebbe’s ties with leading Torah sages are presented: a delegation headed by Rabbi Williger on behalf of the Sanz-Klausenburger Rebbe, who wished to clarify the Rebbe’s practice in reciting Tehillim; a shiva visit to Shazar and a discussion of the name “Makom”; and the Rebbe’s blessing that Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner have children, after which his daughter Bruria was born. The episode concludes with the story of a man who consulted Rabbi Feinstein about doubts concerning faith and reported this to the Rebbe.
- 21118 Adar II 5784 · 12:57A lengthy English postscript to a letter from the Rebbe to Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, Chief Rabbi of Britain, from their correspondence file in Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive. The postscript states that halachah forbids returning territories in Judea and Samaria and the oil wells in Sinai, and describes the Camp David Accords as promises of peace “on paper.” Examples of the policy of “many departments in the government” (a correction in the Rebbe’s handwriting replacing “the government”) include ending the search for Josef Mengele and halting excavation of the tunnel beneath the Temple Mount, contrasted with the response to protests against excavations in the City of David. The Rebbe’s position during the Yom Kippur War—that Damascus should be captured to neutralize the threat—is also reiterated, and the accusation that Chabad was behind a demonstration against the Chief Rabbi is rejected.
- 21225 Adar II 5784 · 11:03A letter the Rebbe wrote on his own initiative to a Jewish chess player, following a March 18, 1984 (5744) New York Times report that he had tied for first place in an international tournament. He had insisted on his right not to play on Shabbos despite an attempt by a Jewish competitor from the Soviet Union to trip him up. The Rebbe connects this kiddush Hashem to Purim and to “Mordechai would not kneel or bow,” interprets “The Jews had light” as “light refers to Torah,” and encourages him to establish regular times for Torah study. In an addition to the letter, the Rebbe asks him to try to bring Bobby Fischer, who had grown distant because he lacked a Jewish education, closer to Judaism. Also presented is a story from the 1940s in which the Rebbe greeted a Jew with only a smile and a nod but spoke with a non-Jew, explaining that he does not bow to a Jew.
- 2133 Nissan 5784 · 11:01Letters from the Rebbe in Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive to people asking questions about faith. In a letter to someone who had found no answers to his questions in lectures he attended, the Rebbe writes that even senior scholars do not know how to answer everything, and that this should not weaken mitzvah observance. He also writes that most questioners seek to justify themselves, that one should not expose oneself to a nonreligious environment to prove one’s steadfastness, and that someone who is not a rabbi should avoid debates except when necessary. Also presented are the distinction between the Rambam’s generation and the Alter Rebbe’s, and the Rebbe’s response to someone who requested a driver’s license in order to distribute matzos and help people put on tefillin. In response to a July 18 letter about a prediction that the world would be united under one religion in 1999, the Rebbe referred to the Torah, the Rambam, and the principle “I await him every day.” The Rebbe instructed someone who asked whether Moshiach could be a woman to study Torah instead of dwelling on the question.
- 2141 Iyar 5784 · 18:30The Chabad custom of studying Pirkei Avos on the summer Shabbosos between Pesach and Rosh Hashanah, to strengthen conduct between people, and its similarity to the themes of Parshas Kedoshim, including Ahavas Yisroel. Mentioned are a letter from the Rebbe about maintaining modesty even in personal interactions, such as refraining from shaking hands, and a letter from the early years after his arrival in the United States to a lecturer, insisting that he speak to bring his listeners closer to halachic observance rather than to show off. An explanation of the name “Avos” is presented: this is a chapter for parents and educators, who must serve as living examples at all times. The episode concludes with a story about Rabbi Nissan Mindel, the principal of a yeshivah in Brooklyn, who did not interrupt his examination of a student in his office when a donor came to visit. Impressed, the donor doubled or tripled his contribution.
- 2158 Iyar 5784 · 9:19Answers to viewers’ questions about the Rebbe’s attitude toward Independence Day on 5 Iyar: the distinction between the holiness of Eretz Yisroel and a secular state like any other, the Rebbe’s avoidance of the term “State of Israel,” and the assistance given to Jews living in the land and prayers for the safety of the hostages, stemming from the land’s holiness and from their being our brothers. In the 1950s, the Rebbe sent Rabbi Nissan Mindel to meet Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Ben-Gurion was impressed by his Hebrew, drawn from the Tanach, showed him his library, which had no siddur, and said that if this was the secretary, one could imagine who the Rebbe was. When Ben-Gurion asked why Hallel is not recited on Independence Day, the answer was, “When you say Hallel, I’ll say Hallel too.” Also recounted is a story from 5708, according to which, on the day the state was declared, “Moshiach was born, but it was a miscarriage.”
- 216Stories of the Rebbe and Health English15 Iyar 5784 · 11:10In honor of the month of Iyar, whose Hebrew letters stand for “I am Hashem, your healer”: the difference between healing through a doctor, after which a trace of the illness remains, and healing from Hashem Himself, Who provides the cure before the affliction. The miracle of the Exodus from Egypt in Nissan, performed by Hashem Himself and not by an angel, continues into Iyar. A story is told about the Frierdiker Rebbe, who became ill aboard ship while returning from Eretz Yisroel in 5689 upon learning of the Hebron massacre, and about a G-d-fearing doctor from Jerusalem who apologized, saying that the illness had come about because he was on the ship. Also told is the story of a Jew from Flatbush who received a dollar for healing from the Rebbe during a dollar distribution, although he was not ill. A few days later, he suffered internal bleeding and recovered. The episode concludes with Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s visit to the Rebbe, arranged through Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, four months after the Rebbe’s heart attack.
- 21722 Iyar 5784 · 14:40Stories about Reb Zalman Vilenkin, the Rebbe’s childhood teacher. Reb Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, who had accepted the position of rabbi in Yekaterinoslav, invited him by telegram to teach his sons: the Rebbe, Berel and Leibel. The Rebbe’s respect for him in the United States is described. During his first visit to the Rebbe’s room, the two stood for about an hour and a half, and in the middle of a farbrengen the Rebbe rose in his honor. After he suffered a stroke, the Rebbe took a piece of matzah from his drawer on Motzaei Shabbos and sent it to him with his grandson, Rabbi Shapiro, as “food of healing.” The Rebbe continued to inquire after him until his passing on Friday. The Rebbe’s interest in the burial place of his second wife, Zelda, is also described.
- 21829 Iyar 5784 · 10:31Stories about the chossid Reb Avraham Sender Nemtzov. While he was in France, when the Frierdiker Rebbe was not receiving anyone because of his health, he asked that Reb Avraham Sender come in and told him that he had sought the truth, found it and lived by it. In England, he suggested that a man seeking a livelihood open a grocery store near his wife’s shop. He was also the first to call out “Yechi” at a farbrengen. Most of the episode concerns the period after he moved to Long Beach on Long Island in the late 1940s: every week in the summer, he took pains to organize a minyan to welcome Shabbos at its regular time, so that Shabbos would not begin early for the entire city and Jews who did not observe Shabbos would not violate it. When the Rebbe heard about this, he expressed great satisfaction. The episode concludes with the Rebbe’s explanation of the name “Hamakom” in the words of consolation offered to mourners, ahead of Reb Avraham Sender’s yahrzeit.
- 21914 Sivan 5784 · 14:14Background to a letter from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive that will be presented in the next episode: the summer trips made by bochurim on behalf of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch in the 1950s and 1960s. On these trips, pairs of bochurim went to cities in the United States, such as Cleveland and Columbus, with Rabbi Hodakov’s approval and under his guidance, and sold tefillin, Talks and Tales, and Rabbi Mindel’s books. The Rebbe’s words are quoted on the effect that the sight of a bearded bochur has on Jews and their children: he reminds them of their parents. Also recounted is a story the Rebbe heard from one of the Temimim about a Conservative rabbi, teacher or school principal who described the customs of Chabad chassidim to his students and brought a bearded bochur to the school to prove that such chassidim lived in America.
- 220“My Dear Rabbi Schneerson” English21 Sivan 5784 · 12:51A continuation of the previous episode, about the beginnings of the Chabad House in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1982, Rabbi Hodakov instructed a young couple, who were weighing Honolulu against other possibilities, to see first to the construction of a mikveh there. In 1987, the Rebbe’s blessing for the move was received, and the funds for it were raised in Brazil. Presented is a letter from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive, written to the Rebbe by a Jewish doctor from Hawaii. In it, he expresses thanks for sending two bochurim to Hawaii and describes the state of the community: a Reform synagogue with an organ, Conservative services in a rented room in a Unitarian church, and Orthodox services at a distant naval base. In his reply, the Rebbe instructed him to strengthen his own observance of Torah and mitzvos, since all Jews are one body.
- 22128 Sivan 5784 · 15:29After explaining the significance of Gimmel Tammuz as preparation for the Geulah, on the eve of the Three Weeks, the episode presents letters from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive that the Rebbe wrote on Gimmel Tammuz over the years, most of them concerning shalom bayis. Among them is an unpublished handwritten letter from the Rebbe, dated Gimmel Tammuz 5751, apparently the last he wrote before the medical event. It was sent to a woman who refused to observe family purity. The Rebbe wrote that just as she relies on a dentist regarding a tooth, she should rely on those who study Torah regarding a matter that affects her marriage and health. Also shown are a letter on the woman’s role as the “mainstay of the home,” and an English letter to a teacher who felt that teaching young children was beneath his dignity. The Rebbe stated that, if so, he should not be a teacher. This is accompanied by a story about a teacher who skipped Rashi’s commentary on Eisav after he lost the blessings.
- 22212 Tammuz 5784 · 26:18Ahead of 12 Tammuz: a two-page chapter of recollections in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s handwriting, written in 1944 for Rabbi Nissan Mindel after he reported that participants in Alexander Cowen’s weekly Tanach class in Manhattan needed inspiration. Rabbi Mindel translated the chapter into English and read it aloud at the class. It describes the Frierdiker Rebbe’s interrogation by the Cheka in Rostov in Tammuz 5681, while he was mourning his father, the Rebbe Rashab. It recounts his insistence on speaking only Yiddish, his answer to an interrogator who displayed a gun (“Jews have one G-d and two worlds”), and the parables of the planetarium and digestion, which teach that observing the mitzvos comes before understanding them. Also included is a story about a man whose letters had gone unanswered and who received a reply the day after Rabbi Mindel mentioned the matter.
- 22319 Tammuz 5784 · 18:34In honor of 19 Tammuz, the day of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s bris: an unusual bar mitzvah letter from the Rebbe, in Hebrew and English, explaining why Tachanun is said on the day of a bar mitzvah even though the Zohar compares it to the Giving of the Torah: to assure the boy that nothing stands in the way of teshuvah, knowledge that will also help him bring Jews closer to Judaism. Also discussed are the change to the standard wording of bar mitzvah letters, which initially followed the Frierdiker Rebbe’s wording, and Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s testimony that, after the stroke, the secretary who typed most of the form letters signed them in the Rebbe’s name—not because of an instruction that only he should sign. The episode concludes with a story about a Rebbe’s son who asked a question about davening on his bar mitzvah, and the Maggid of Mezritch’s words about the Baal Shem Tov’s love for children, as an example of Ahavas Yisroel.
- 22426 Tammuz 5784 · 20:33A discussion for the Three Weeks between 17 Tammuz and Tisha B’Av about the destruction of both Batei Mikdash and the teshuvah required today. Drawing on the Rebbe’s words, it addresses idolatry—pursuing money and honor, to which the presenter adds the use of the internet and smartphones; forbidden relations—guarding one’s eyes, family purity and immersion in a mikveh; and bloodshed—humiliating another person. It includes a saying attributed to the Tzemach Tzedek that “gelt” (money) is “manure”: harmful when piled up, but beneficial when spread for the good of others; and a story about a chossid who immersed 310 times in a frozen river in Russia. Also discussed are the difficulty of repenting for baseless hatred born of jealousy, Yaakov Avinu’s wish to reveal the time of the end to his sons, the vision of the almond branch in the Book of Yirmiyahu in relation to the 21 days, and why the period is called the “Three Weeks” rather than “21 days.”
- 2254 Menachem Av 5784 · 17:06Ahead of Tisha B’Av, the episode discusses exile during the Three Weeks as a necessary stage on the path to the Geulah, rather than a punishment. The discussion draws on the Midrash about the Covenant Between the Parts, in which Avraham Avinu was shown the three Batei Mikdash, and is accompanied by parables of a teacher who distances himself from his student for a time and a mother bathing her son. It includes a story about Rabbi Nissan Mindel, who was beaten in yeshiva as a young man and consequently needed to eat every four hours, and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s instruction to consult a “wise rabbi” about fasting on Yom Kippur. Also shown is a letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe to him instructing him not to fast even for a single hour on a public fast day. Also discussed are Esther’s exemption from fasting and two rabbinic rulings: permission for the presenter to attend his daughter’s wedding on the anniversary of his mother’s passing, and the kashering of a chicken in Russia.
- 22611 Menachem Av 5784 · 16:35This episode is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Shmuel Butman as his shloshim approaches, and discusses his practice of verifying stories about the Rebbe before repeating them. A letter from the Rebbe to the grandson of a tzaddik buried on Har Hazeisim in Jerusalem is presented: after two Arabs armed with knives stood behind him near the grave, his mother forbade him to visit it without the Rebbe’s permission. The Rebbe instructed him to ask the person in charge of the grave, who permitted him to come only with someone else and only in the morning, and also instructed him to have his mezuzos and tefillin checked. The tefillin were found to be invalid, and he subsequently became a chossid. Also presented is a letter from the Rebbe in English, mentioning the news Rabbi Butman had conveyed about the results of a medical examination of the recipient’s daughter, and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s declaration upon arriving in the United States that he held no “copyright” on his efforts to spread Judaism.
- 22718 Menachem Av 5784 · 15:07Continuing from the previous episode: a letter from the Rebbe to the same person, written shortly before Tisha B’Av, about Kiddush Levanah on Motzaei Shabbos as a sign of the renewal of the Jewish people, making good resolutions at Torah gatherings on Shabbos Mevorchim Elul, and transforming fast days into days of joy and celebration. In an addition to the letter, the Rebbe mentions the yahrzeit of his father, Reb Levi Yitzchak, who was arrested and exiled for spreading Judaism behind the Iron Curtain. Marking eighty years since his passing on 20 Menachem Av 5704, two stories are told. In the first, Reb Levi Yitzchak showed a young man who came to his home a person studying by the light of a dim bulb and said, “This will help you.” Years later, when the young man mentioned this to the Rebbe, the Rebbe asked him with a smile, “Am I helping you?” In the second, Reb Levi Yitzchak remarked in the middle of a maamar that the boy standing by the door—the Rebbe, then between nine and eleven years old—understood what he was saying.
- 22825 Menachem Av 5784 · 12:29Against the backdrop of the war that broke out on Simchas Torah 5784: an article Rabbi Nissan Mindel wrote for the press at the Rebbe’s instruction about the April 1956 (5716) attack in Kfar Chabad, in which students and their instructor were murdered during Maariv prayers at the agricultural school. The article describes protests in the United States, including a delegation received at the State Department, as well as the Rebbe’s telegram to the village residents the following day, calling on them to respond by expanding the village and its institutions. The article concludes with the words of a 13-year-old boy from among the immigrants from Morocco who was wounded in the attack. Also shown are a photograph of the student delegation sent to Eretz Yisroel, which included Rabbi Krinsky and spoke in European countries along the way, and a photograph of Rabbi Chadakov and Rabbi Mindel, whom the Rebbe asked to accompany the students as they set out.
- 2292 Elul 5784 · 12:54Continuing from the previous episode, which dealt with the 5716 attack in Kfar Chabad and the Rebbe’s instruction to expand construction in its wake, a letter from the Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter, author of the Imrei Emes, to the Frierdiker Rebbe is presented. The letter describes the damage the war had done to Jewish observance in Warsaw and other cities in Poland, the founding of Agudas Yisroel, its goals, and his joining it. It suggests that he wanted the Frierdiker Rebbe to join as well, but the Frierdiker Rebbe did not do so. Also presented is a letter sent to the Frierdiker Rebbe from Jerusalem, describing the city’s place in the history of the Jewish people and the need for unity through the parable of a bundle of reeds. In his reply, the Frierdiker Rebbe called for strengthening the practice of putting on tefillin, checking tefillin and mezuzos, and observing Shabbos.
- 2309 Elul 5784 · 9:58Memories of the wedding of Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro’s daughter, whose chuppah was held at 770. After the chuppah, the Rebbe came out in the presence of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, spoke, distributed dollars to the bride and groom, their parents, their grandparents, and everyone present, and called on the public to join the celebration. As a result, thousands came to the wedding, for which 450 meals had been ordered. Also included are the Rebbe’s words about marriage as an everlasting edifice, and how unfortunate it is that it is entrusted to young people. A story is also told about Rabbi Chaim Lieberman, the Frierdiker Rebbe’s secretary, whose mother came to propose a match between him and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s daughter. The Frierdiker Rebbe replied that he had no money for a dowry and that his older daughter would be jealous if he married off her sister before her.
- 23118 Elul 5784 · 29:28In honor of 18 Elul, the yahrzeit of the Maharal of Prague: testimony given to Rabbi Nissan Mindel in 1969 by the shamash of Prague’s Altneuschul synagogue and reviewed by the Rebbe. The testimony concerns the attic where the golem lies, covered with sheimos, and an attempt by two Nazi generals to uncover it the day after the occupation of Prague, during which a soldier who thrust a bayonet into the pile of sheimos died. The shamash, who survived a concentration camp during World War II, discovered this upon his return. Also included are the Rebbe’s account of a visit by the Rebbe Rashab and the Frierdiker Rebbe to the synagogue, and a letter from the Rebbe stating that the Frierdiker Rebbe saw the remains of the golem in the attic, and that doubts about the book Niflaos Maharal do not affect the matter itself. The origin of the name “Altneu” and Torah sources concerning the creation of a golem are also discussed.
- 23223 Elul 5784 · 14:24Ahead of Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s explanation is presented for why Rivkah dressed Yaakov in Eisav’s clothes to receive Yitzchak’s blessings: so that the blessing would extend to every Jew, even one who “wears Eisav’s clothes.” This is alluded to at the opening of the Yom Kippur machzor, on the day when even those who do not come during the year come to shul. A telegram from the Rebbe is shown forbidding travel on Yom Tov to blow the shofar, read the Torah or hold communal prayers. In another letter, responding to a question about inappropriate conversation and behavior in shul during prayers, the Rebbe instructs that people be approached personally and pleasantly, not in public, like Aharon Hakohen, who “loved peace and pursued peace,” and mentions the unity of the Jewish people at Har Sinai.
- 23324 Tishrei 5785 · 20:11A piece by Rabbi Nissan Mindel on the reasons for saying “L’chaim” specifically over wine. Among the reasons: the distinction between the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, which brought death; Noach’s drunkenness; the cup of wine given to someone being led to execution; and the wine given to a mourner. The Rebbe’s response is also brought to someone who asked why he says L’chaim in the middle of a farbrengen: a farbrengen is a time for blessings, and Yitzchak Avinu drank wine before blessing Yaakov. Also shown is a document by Rabbi Chadakov detailing the secretaries’ duties and noting the devotion of Rabbis Simpson, Groner, Klein and Krinsky. Also presented are the “guest” blessing (linked to the Hebrew word for light) that Rabbi Mindel gave the Rebbe when he visited him after his illness, and the Rebbe’s explanation of the reading of Parshas Ha’arayos at Minchah on Yom Kippur.
- 2341 Cheshvan 5785 · 16:16The opening discusses the special power of stories about the Baal Shem Tov and tzaddikim. A letter is shown from a rabbi in Chicago who asked the Rebbe for guidance on topics for his Shabbos sermons, and the Rebbe’s response that he should be a “collector” of stories and teachings of Chassidus that listeners would repeat at their Shabbos meal. A story the Rebbe dictated to Rabbi Nissan Mindel in response to a fundraiser is brought: a wagon driver whom a tzaddik instructed to be a maggid “like a bee and not a spider”—to gather material rather than create his own ideas. In this connection, the Alter Rebbe’s Tanya and Hayom Yom, which the Rebbe compiled from teachings of the Frierdiker Rebbe, are described as products of gathering material, and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s instruction to speakers to cite sources is brought. At the end, a letter from the Rebbe is shown to a stamp collector who requested a signature on a first-day cover, urging him to become a collector of mitzvos and good deeds.
- 235Can a Rebbe Ever Make a Mistake English8 Cheshvan 5785 · 15:49For Motzaei Shabbos, stories are brought, some told by Rabbi Nissan Mindel, addressing the question of whether a tzaddik can make a mistake. The Rebbe personally signed every letter and did not use a stamp, for “in a world of falsehood, the signature should not be false as well.” A young man whom the Rebbe instructed to proceed with a shidduch married, but later wrote that he intended to divorce. A rabbi whose grandson divorced three months after a wedding for which the Rebbe had given a blessing asked the Rebbe at the dollar distribution at 770, “Can a king make a mistake?” He received an explanation of why Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai did not ask for the Beis Hamikdash to be saved. About two years later, the couple remarried. At the end, a story is brought about Rabbi Shapiro’s father, who was sent to Cleveland. When the Rebbe gave him a bottle of wine, he seemingly “forgot” where he lived, hinting that he should expand his activities in the city.
- 23615 Cheshvan 5785 · 13:41Notes from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive on the Rebbe’s position regarding shalom bayis: a letter on which the Rebbe wrote “Yes” in his own hand in response to someone asking whether to try to keep his family together, and a note by Rabbi Mindel stating that shalom bayis should be preserved at all costs, divorce and even separation should be avoided as far as possible, and friends, a rabbi or a psychiatrist should be consulted. The Rebbe’s advice to affix the mezuzah at an angle, as a symbol of compromise between spouses, is also brought. In response to a couple who disagreed about where to live, the story from Pirkei Avos about a sage who refused to leave a place of Torah for wealth is brought, along with guidance to take the wife’s feelings into account and live in the place best suited to the children’s education. Also discussed are the Rebbe’s blessing to shluchim in distant places, which does not exempt parents from making an effort, and the connection between a lack of shalom bayis and sadness.
- 237Full Time or Part Time Shlichus? English22 Cheshvan 5785 · 17:26The question of whether a shliach may take on additional work is discussed. A rabbi’s response to a question on the matter is brought: a shliach is a shliach at all hours of the day, and someone who takes on additional work is not called a shliach in the full sense of the word. A passage from a letter of the Rebbe is also shown: a shliach must be free of any suspicion of material gain, so shlichus activities should not be linked to business, even to fund the spiritual work. Also shown is a note by Rabbi Chadakov given to Rabbi Nissan Mindel. It distinguishes between shluchim whom the Rebbe chose himself, such as Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Groner in Australia, and shluchim who initiated their own departure and received the Rebbe’s blessing. Finally, the responsibility of those who send shluchim after Gimmel Tammuz, such as Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, to act with pure intentions is discussed.
- 23829 Cheshvan 5785 · 14:39Remarks made to Rabbi Nissan Mindel by a rabbi who headed one of the organizations, about the organization’s early years. They included the distinction between what is primary and what is secondary, as reflected in the name Yaakov (“heel”): home and business are secondary, while the main thing is the mitzvah campaigns, such as putting on tefillin and lighting Shabbos candles. Questions a Satmar chossid asked the Rebbe are presented. The first was why Chabad does not focus on kashrus; the answer was that each person was created for a particular purpose. The second was what purpose there was to the life of his mother, who was in a vegetative state; the answer was that visitors would learn from her descendants about honoring one’s father and mother. Also presented is a response to a rabbi who asked why the mitzvah campaigns are emphasized more than Torah study: study reaches its highest level when one properly observes the mitzvah of honoring parents, prayer, and peace in the home. The episode concludes with a short letter to which the Rebbe responded by emphasizing mitzvos between one person and another.
- 2396 Kislev 5785 · 15:32A handwritten letter in Yiddish from the Frierdiker Rebbe, which he gave Rabbi Nissan Mindel to include in Talks and Tales. The letter tells a story about the Baal Shem Tov that the Frierdiker Rebbe recommended reading to children before bedtime. In the story, a boy born through the Baal Shem Tov’s blessing dies at the age of two. The Baal Shem Tov revealed to his parents that his soul had previously descended into the world as a prince in order to avert a decree expelling the Jews. That prince studied under the pope, who was secretly Jewish, converted to Judaism, and lived as a Jew. Because he had grown up for two years among non-Jews, his soul needed to return to the world for two years and grow up in a kosher Jewish home. Also included is the Rebbe’s remark that reading “The Wonder of Nature” in Talks and Tales gave him chills. A cover prepared for the story—the third of the stories the Frierdiker Rebbe gave Rabbi Mindel, which has not yet been published—is also shown in anticipation of its publication.
- 24013 Kislev 5785 · 16:50Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s notes on the Rebbe’s response to a person who wrote about doubts, difficulty making decisions, and a feeling of loneliness. That feeling stems from a superficial faith that does not permeate daily life, and the advice is to internalize hashgachah pratis through mindful observance of mitzvos: lighting Shabbos candles, putting on tefillin, wearing tzitzis, and praying. This is accompanied by a parable from the Frierdiker Rebbe about the sun turning red in the morning. In the same letter, the Rebbe was asked about life on other planets and replied that it made no difference to one’s service of Hashem, though he mentioned an opinion that one planet is inhabited. Asked about differences among the approaches of the Chassidic movements, he responded by comparing them to disagreements among the Amoraim and referring to the introduction to Tanya. The episode concludes with a story about chassidim who removed their shtreimels out of respect for the Rebbe when they came to his farbrengen, and the Rebbe told them to put them on.
- 24120 Kislev 5785 · 17:50A letter sent to the Rebbe tells of a bottle of wine the writer received from the Rebbe for healing and shared with others. Among them was a laundry owner who agreed to close his business on Shabbos; afterward, he recovered and was blessed with a livelihood. The Rebbe’s answer is shown to a question about the kashrus of Benedictine liqueur, produced by monks, which had been used by the Rebbe Rashab and the Frierdiker Rebbe: the liqueur is kosher, but for a reason he did not explain, the Rebbe did not resume the custom. Stories are told about being careful with gebrokts on Pesach, including a guest who dipped matzah into borscht at the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Seder (“Better to redden the matzah than someone’s face”). Also shown is a letter in which the Rebbe objects to the expression “the Lubavitch court,” coined by the Maskilim, since Chabad is a home, not a court, as well as his correction concerning the use of the name Eve. Similar reservations are suggested about the words funeral and “goy.”
- 24226 Kislev 5785 · 14:16In this episode, recorded on Motzaei Shabbos Chanukah, the placement of the Chanukah candles to the left of the doorway and the mezuzah to the right is discussed as symbolizing the duty to illuminate both the inside of the home and the world outside. A story is told about students of a tzaddik who, on the night of December 25, saw non-Jews in Russia and Poland carrying a cross carved from ice. Their teacher learned from this that coldness in observing mitzvos is worst of all, drawing on the Mishnah’s distinction between a snake and a scorpion during prayer. The main subject of the episode is a 1949 letter in Hebrew from Rabbi Nissan Mindel to Ramash about Sigmund Freud’s theory of the “death drive” and the “life drive,” compared with Tanya’s approach to the animal soul, which derives from kelipas nogah, and the souls of the nations of the world. The letter asks for sources in Chabad teachings on matters of psychology. The Rebbe’s response to the letter was lost and has not been found.
- 2434 Teves 5785 · 15:22In honor of 5 Teves, the episode discusses the Rebbe’s restrained response to the victory in the seforim court case, which involved family members, and his frequent visits to the Ohel in the period that followed. It presents a 1948 letter sent by a cantor in Italy to Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner to be shown to the Rebbe and published in the magazine Sichos LaNoar. The letter contains stories relayed by the cantor’s brother, who guarded the Alter Rebbe’s Ohel in Haditch until the end of World War II and secretly maintained a mikveh and minyan under Communist rule: the origin of the custom of knocking three times on the Ohel door, a dog that barked near the Ohel for weeks, and a minyan on 24 Teves at which the Alter Rebbe was counted as the tenth. The episode concludes with a story about a chossid who was a shochet in Russia and whose blessing cured a man of stones.
- 24411 Teves 5785 · 15:59In honor of Parshas Vayechi, the episode explains the teaching of our Sages, “Yaakov our father did not die,” and draws from it the lesson that a person’s passing is a transition, not a tragedy. It presents a handwritten letter by the Frierdiker Rebbe about his interrogation by Soviet investigators during his imprisonment. The letter says that one who has one world and two gods fears the “toy” (the gun), while one who has two worlds and one G-d does not fear it. Also included are the Rebbe’s explanation of the designation “Hamakom” in the traditional words of consolation, given during a condolence visit to the Satmar Rebbe in the 1950s, and the reason more parshiyos concern Yaakov than Avraham. The episode concludes with a story about a childless couple who approached the Rebbes of Satmar, Bobov and Chabad. The Rebbe gave the husband a pair of tefillin and instructed him to put them on every day; a year later, they had a daughter.
- 24518 Teves 5785 · 20:34A response to former students, now rabbis in Lakewood, Baltimore and Cleveland, who asked why the Rebbe’s ties with leading Torah sages are not seen. The episode recounts Rabbi Moshe Feinstein’s visit to the Rebbe and the gift of a pair of tefillin, and Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner’s request for a blessing for a child. It tells of the head of the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland, who instructed one of the yeshiva’s rabbis, after he had spoken disrespectfully of the Rebbe, to travel to the Rebbe and ask his forgiveness, and of the Rebbe’s response on hearing what had happened. Also discussed are the relationship with Rabbi Eliezer Silver surrounding the Rabbis’ March and the consultation of the Gerer Rebbe, the Beis Yisroel, with the Rebbe on the eve of the Six-Day War. The episode also presents a letter of blessing from the Frierdiker Rebbe, dated 29 Teves 5708, to the Sanz-Klausenburg Rebbe on the occasion of his second marriage.
- 24625 Teves 5785 · 18:04The continuation of the account of a delegation that visited the Rebbe in 1980 on behalf of a Rebbe who made a practice of studying Torah in public, based on the testimony of the delegation leader’s grandson. The Rebbe first asked about that Rebbe’s physical well-being, in keeping with the Frierdiker Rebbe’s instruction. When asked when he himself felt well, the Rebbe replied: “When my surroundings are good.” Regarding public Torah study, the Rebbe explained, drawing on the prohibition of new grain before the Omer offering is brought, that the world’s innovations must be met with innovations in holiness and that the sparks in the world of Asiyah must be refined in preparation for Moshiach’s coming. He also asked whether the class was held before or after davening; when he received no answer, he sent someone to find out two days later. Also recounted are the Rebbe’s donation to a hospital, given without a date, and the Chabad practice of buttoning a garment right over left.
- 2473 Shvat 5785 · 14:14A handwritten letter sent to the Rebbe by an elderly rabbi of about eighty on Thursday of Parshas Mishpatim, 29 Shvat 5710, about three weeks after the Frierdiker Rebbe’s passing on Yud Shvat. In the letter, he urged the Rebbe to accept the leadership and the title of Rebbe, granting him his own “strength and power” for that purpose. This was in response to the Rebbe’s refusal out of humility and his assertion that he had not been authorized to do so. The letter cites allusions from the sefiros: the Frierdiker Rebbe, the sixth leader, corresponding to the sefirah of Yesod, and the Rebbe continuing with the sefirah of Malchus. It also finds allusions in the verses “And he lingered” and “The men took hold of his hand.” Also presented are the writer’s telegram of condolence, in which he had already alluded to the Rebbe’s leadership, and an addendum addressed to his son-in-law, who worked with the Rashag. The addendum explains the delay in sending the letter: on the advice of a rabbi in England, the writer waited for Rabbi Dubov to return from the United States.
- 24810 Shvat 5785 · 13:39A seven-page tribute written by Rabbi Nissan Mindel at the request of the Rebbe (then the Ramash) a week after the Frierdiker Rebbe’s passing on Yud Shvat 5710, recounting his life in Poland, Russia and his ten years in the United States. The episode discusses the two challenges he faced in America: ignorance of Torah and the immigrants’ belief that “America is different.” This outlook reached spiritual leaders as well and led to compromises, including in kashrus supervision, such as a bearded mashgiach who certified worm-infested fish as kosher. Also included is an account of the Rebbe’s acceptance of the leadership at 770 on the first anniversary of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s passing in 5711: at 22:40, after one of the chassidim called out, the Rebbe began to deliver a maamar for the first time since the passing. The episode concludes with remarks on hiskashrus and the connection between the half-shekel and the shape of the letter alef.
- 24917 Shvat 5785 · 13:08Memories of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka around Yud Shvat: After arriving in the United States in 5701, she and the Rebbe lived in a room at 770 that also served as an office, where Rabbi Nissan Mindel worked with the Rebbe on publications for ten years. Also discussed are her close ties with Manya, her nurse from Russia, who was also close to the Mindel family, and the Rebbetzin’s request to hear Rabbi Mindel’s report on Russia when he returned from there. A photograph is shown of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s coat, which he gave Manya about a week before his passing. Manya gave it to Rabbi Shapiro, who asked Rabbi Mindel to return it to the Rebbe during yechidus; the Rebbe instructed him to return it to Rabbi Shapiro. Also discussed are her modesty, her refusal to be photographed, her loneliness at home while the Rebbe was at 770, and the mother’s role in the home.
- 25024 Shvat 5785 · 17:16A question raised by chassidim from other circles: Why do Chabad chassidim speak English rather than Yiddish among themselves, when the Rebbe and the Chabad Rebbeim spoke Yiddish even before the wider public? In this connection, the three things in whose merit the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt are cited—they did not change their names, their language or their dress—as is the Frierdiker Rebbe’s call to American Jews after his arrival in 5700. Also recounted is the Rebbe’s question during a yechidus attended by Rabbi Shapiro, his wife and their firstborn child: What language would they speak with the child? The Frierdiker Rebbe’s account of his interrogation during his imprisonment in the Soviet Union is also told: He answered his interrogators in Yiddish, though they demanded that he answer in Russian, which he spoke fluently.
- 2511 Adar 5785 · 26:40Ahead of the month of Adar, when the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived in the United States from Riga via Sweden with eleven companions, a weekly class he initiated for professionals in Manhattan is discussed. The class was taught by attorney Elchanan (Alexander) Kaven, with Rabbi Nissan Mindel participating. Presented is a Hebrew introduction by the Frierdiker Rebbe to Aaron Levitt’s book “Bible Unauthorized,” which was used as a textbook in the class. The introduction states that the Rebbe reviewed the book at the Frierdiker Rebbe’s request after his arrival in 5701, and that the Frierdiker Rebbe borrowed $2,000 to print it. Also shown is a signed letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe to Rabbi Mindel, translated into English, intended to be read aloud at the class. The letter describes his arrest by Cheka agents, two of them from the Yevsektsiya, his interrogation in Rostov in Tammuz 5681, and his answers to the interrogators about faith and observance of the mitzvos.
- 2528 Adar 5785 · 27:55The story of a melaveh malkah hosted by donors for the Frierdiker Rebbe in Manhattan a few weeks after his arrival in the United States in 5700: He refused to allow a Zionist song scheduled on the program to be sung, and most of those present left. This event marked the beginning of the fundraising to purchase 770. Also recounted is a visit by two donors to the building, during which they complained about the bochurim’s dress and manner of eating. The Rebbe, then known as the Ramash, answered them with a parable about a crystal factory. Finally, handwritten notes by the Rebbe are presented for a class in Manhattan on Creation: Why was “that it was good” said only of the light, and the distinction between an action and its cessation as stages of progress.
- 25315 Adar 5785 · 18:07The Rebbe’s answers to women’s questions about family purity, from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive. The women complained about their husbands’ anger during the days of niddah, or asked about the need for immersion and the required separations. In a handwritten response, the Rebbe compared the matter to consulting a dentist rather than a lawyer, and stated that family purity is essential to peace in the home and to the health of the wife, husband and children. In other letters, he wrote that the separations lead to closeness, addressed the adjustment between spouses from different families, and recommended that couples study a passage from Tanya several times a year to overcome anger. In responses concerning pregnancy, he called for trust in Hashem; in one, he added a handwritten request to check whether there had been any negligence in observing family purity. At the end, a letter is mentioned from a woman whose husband asked her to shave her hair.
- 25422 Adar 5785 · 16:43An episode dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro’s father during the week of his yahrzeit: a handwritten letter from the Rebbe to a class of children in Manhattan studying Parshas Bereishis, answering their question about why “And G-d saw that it was good” is said after each day of Creation. The answer rests on three introductory points. The first is the division of creation into the inanimate, plants, animals and human beings, and the ability of human beings, through free choice, to improve the world and become partners in creation. The second is a parable of an engineer whose machine has no unnecessary or missing parts. The third defines “good” as complete perfection. Thus, the world was created complete from the outset, and the human task is to bring out the good latent in creation and within oneself.
- 2557 Nissan 5785 · 13:01Ahead of Pesach: the Rebbe’s words on the qualities needed by someone leading a farbrengen: speak little, think more, and do still more; be a living example in learning, davening, and working on oneself; avoid embarrassing others and promote peace. From Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s writings comes a story about the chossid Reb Yitzchak Horowitz (“Itche der Masmid”), who served as rabbi in one of the towns. On the first day of Pesach, he spent a long time saying Tehillim in tears and delayed Kiddush, until a messenger arrived from a friend who had prepared a plum drink for him and reported that a mistake had been made: it was chametz. Also recounted is an incident involving Rabbi Shapiro’s wife’s grandmother, who lived with the Mindel family in Long Beach and passed away at 115. At about 103, she sensed that a jar of fish on the table was not kosher for Pesach.
- 25628 Nissan 5785 · 19:46After Pesach, as the study of Pirkei Avos begins: In the 1970s, the presenter taught public-school children at an afternoon Hebrew school, and a Reform mother asked to withdraw her children. Rabbi Chodakov instructed him to begin with Pirkei Avos and its teachings on how people should treat one another, explaining that the tractate is called “Avos” (“Fathers”) because parents must be living examples for their children. Also included are the Rebbe’s words that parents should know who their children’s friends are, and a letter of his stating that the choice of a yeshiva depends on the friends there; a sicha in Likkutei Sichos on the importance of speaking Yiddish among chassidim; and a mashpia’s words on reciting the maamar for a chassan by heart and in Yiddish. The episode ends with a story about a Cleveland family who kept a suitcase ready for each child in anticipation of Moshiach’s arrival, inspired by the Chofetz Chaim.
- 2575 Iyar 5785 · 18:29A letter sent by a chossid to Rabbi Nissan Mindel asking about the custom of dipping bread in salt three times. The writer cited the Arizal’s writings, according to which the numerical value of “melach” (“salt,” 78) equals three times the name Havayah, and asked where this is written and what is meant by “sweetening the three Havayah names of gevurah through the three Havayah names of chesed.” The Rebbe wrote his answer on the letter, and Rabbi Mindel typed it up and sent it to the questioner. The answer notes that some of the Arizal’s writings mention dipping three times, while others simply mention dipping. It also explains two aspects of the name Havayah in creation—bestowal and limitation—and three forms each of chesed and gevurah, whose sweetening is accomplished through the dipping. Also presented are reasons for having salt on the table, which is likened to the altar. Rabbi Mindel’s shorthand notebooks are shown as well, containing drafts of letters in English and Igros Kodesh.
- 25812 Iyar 5785 · 21:32The first program in a series honoring Rabbi Schneur Zalman Wilenkin, Rabbi Shapiro’s grandfather and the Rebbe’s childhood teacher in Yekaterinoslav. It describes Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s repeated requests that he come teach his son, and the first lesson, which opened with “I have set Hashem before me always.” It also portrays the Rebbe as a diligent, reserved child; his brothers Leibel and Berel, who sat in the cheder; and the study of Chumash with Rashi, Mishnayos, Tanya, and Tosafos over approximately nine terms, until his bar mitzvah. Details are also given of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s rabbinate beginning in 1909 and the hospitality in his home. The episode closes with the Rebbe’s words about his teacher at the bris of Rabbi Shapiro’s son: “He put me on my feet.”
- 25919 Iyar 5785 · 16:09More stories of the Rebbe’s youth, told by his teacher, Rabbi Schneur Zalman Wilenkin: the relocation of rabbis’ graves from the Jewish cemetery in Yekaterinoslav, where the city council had decided to build a park, under Reb Levi Yitzchak’s supervision. The face of the city’s previous rabbi looked as it had on the day of his burial, twenty years after his passing. Reb Levi Yitzchak’s answer is given as to why it is better not to keep *mayim shelanu* for matzah in an iron vessel: in the acronym for *barzel* (“iron”)—Bilhah, Rachel, Zilpah, Leah—the handmaids precede the matriarchs, alluding to pride, the opposite of the humility symbolized by matzah. Also included is an account by Rabbi Chaim Lieberman, secretary to the Frierdiker Rebbe, of a conversation with the Rebbe’s mother about the dowry. The episode also describes the 101-word telegram Reb Levi Yitzchak sent for the Rebbe’s wedding, and the celebration at his parents’ home, where the teacher climbed onto the table and proclaimed his privilege.
- 26026 Iyar 5785 · 18:05Further recollections about the Rebbe’s teacher, Rabbi Schneur Zalman Wilenkin. The episode opens with the Rebbe’s explanation of the special power of the month of Iyar for healing: a doctor cures a person, but sometimes a trace of the illness remains, whereas healing from Hashem is complete and prevents the illness from arising in the first place, continuing the miracles of Nissan. Also told is the story of a man who organized the line at the dollar distribution and received an extra dollar from the Rebbe “for healing,” along with Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s interpretation of this; a few days later, the man was hospitalized with internal bleeding. The episode then discusses the teacher’s emigration after a stroke, through Russia, Germany, and France to Cleveland and from there to New York; his yechidus in 1953, during which the Rebbe stood before him for at least an hour and a half; and a farbrengen at which the Rebbe stopped speaking when he entered and when he left, as a lesson in hiskashrus.
- 2614 Sivan 5785 · 22:25More stories about the Rebbe and his teacher, Rabbi Schneur Zalman Vilenkin. Two things the Rebbe quoted from his teacher at farbrengens are presented: remarks about the 36 hidden tzaddikim, apparently mentioned in 1981, and a story the teacher would tell each year while teaching Parshas Haazinu, about a student who strayed from the path of Torah and whose name is alluded to in the parsha. The account then turns to Rabbi Vilenkin’s final days. After he suffered a stroke, the Rebbe gave his grandson matzah for him after Shabbos, before Havdalah, and asked to pay for a private nurse at the hospital. Rabbi Vilenkin passed away on Friday, and the Rebbe watched the funeral from outside the cemetery gate. Also recounted are a yechidus on the day his wife Zelda passed away, in which the Rebbe asked where she was buried and instructed that a minyan be held and a memorial candle lit, and an incident involving an uncle who arrived from the Soviet Union and was afraid to enter the Rebbe’s presence without a beard.
- 26211 Sivan 5785 · 18:05The Rebbe’s responses, drawn from letters and notes that Rabbi Nissan Mindel wrote each day after working with the Rebbe. Asked whether one must love everything Hashem created, the Rebbe answered that everything is good, but must be used with common sense—for example, poison in medicine, and the sun, water and fire. In this connection, stories about Nachum Ish Gamzu and Rabbi Akiva are presented. Also included are the Rebbe’s surprise that someone asking about shirayim did not know that it is not a Chabad custom; an explanation that dreams usually reflect one’s thoughts during the day, and that only a refined person merits a dream with an element of prophecy; and a response to someone working to save children from intermarriage who asked to return to kollel: there was no justification for leaving his work, but he could devote a few hours to study. The episode ends with a story about the Rebbe, who, upon arriving in the United States, asked to sit and study, was told, “There’s a fire,” and became involved in Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch and publishing.
- 26318 Sivan 5785 · 22:17A shorthand notebook belonging to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, headed “Ramash” and dated 1948, attests that he was taking down letters dictated by the Rebbe even before the Rebbe assumed the leadership. Also presented is a letter in Yiddish from the Rebbe, dated 5709 (Igros Kodesh, vol. 3, p. 114), to Reb Avraham Kalisker, urging him to stop postponing and join in his work. The recipient’s life is recounted: born in Kalisk in 1890, he studied in Lubavitch but stopped observing mitzvos in America. During the Frierdiker Rebbe’s visit to the United States in 1929, he volunteered as his driver. The Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe drew him close, until the Rebbe returned the keys to his store to him “for six days a week,” and he began observing Shabbos. The recipient is also distinguished from Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk, a student of the Maggid of Mezritch.
- 264Rebbetzin Chana’s Last Letters English25 Sivan 5785 · 23:44Ahead of the anniversary of her arrival in the United States: an overview of the life of Rebbetzin Chana, the Rebbe’s mother and the daughter of Rabbi Meir Shlomo Yanovsky, rabbi of Nikolayev. The Rebbe Rashab arranged her match with Rabbi Levi Yitzchak. After her husband’s passing, she traveled from Alma-Ata through Moscow and Krakow to Paris, where she met the Rebbe in Tammuz 5707. Presented are her American citizenship documents from 16 Adar 5713, witnessed by Rabbi Nissan Mindel and Rabbi J. J. Hecht, and letters she wrote a few days before her passing on 6 Tishrei 5725. Also presented are a letter she wrote to Mrs. Ashkenazi about the importance of Torah study for girls, and Rabbi Mindel’s address at a 1981 education dinner in her memory, which the Rebbe edited. In the address, she was compared to the mother of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya, of whom it was said, “Fortunate is she who gave birth to him.”
- 2652 Tammuz 5785 · 11:51An episode for Gimmel Tammuz, the day of the Rebbe’s passing, a day devoted to studying Mishnayos, holding a farbrengen, praying at the Ohel and making good resolutions. It discusses the life of a tzaddik, which, as explained in Tanya, is not physical life but faith, awe and love; therefore, after his passing, one can receive more from him than during his lifetime. In this connection, an explanation is offered of why Hashem is called “Makom” in the words of comfort said to mourners. Mention is made of Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s introduction to “Letter and Spirit,” a translation of the Rebbe’s letters into English, on the Rebbe’s “three crowns.” A short letter ahead of Gimmel Tammuz is presented, calling for people to gather in shuls and study halls and ask for blessings for children, life and sustenance. The episode concludes with a parallel between the Baal Shem Tov, who awakened faith after the pogroms, and the Rebbe, who comforted the people after the Holocaust, and discusses the Rebbe’s anticipation of Moshiach.
- 2669 Tammuz 5785 · 22:23Ahead of 12 Tammuz, the yahrzeit of Rabbi Nissan Mindel, who was born on 2 Nissan, the day of the Rebbe Rashab’s passing: the Rebbe’s words in the introduction to the English translation of Tanya about Rabbi Mindel’s translation work, and a note Rabbi Mindel wrote about someone whose letters had gone unanswered. When Rabbi Mindel asked about it, the Rebbe replied that, as his secretary, he should have reminded him. The Rebbe’s instruction to “be like a bee and not a spider” is discussed—meaning to speak from sources rather than personal views—and a letter from the Rebbe is presented in response to someone who asked why the Shulchan Aruch was not enough and why one must study Chassidus: the six constant mitzvos, including belief in Hashem, love of Hashem and fear of Hashem, can be properly fulfilled only through study, and the Jews in the Soviet Union who observed mitzvos were those who had studied. Also discussed is a child’s conception of G-dliness compared with an adult’s, and a story is told about a visitor from Russia who saw the buildings of Manhattan as the work of angels.
- 26716 Tammuz 5785 · 13:22Ahead of 17 Tammuz and the beginning of the Three Weeks: an explanation of why this period is called “the Three Weeks” rather than “twenty-one days.” The number 21, viewed as negative, is associated with the almond tree, whose branch blossoms in twenty-one days. The number three is associated with positive things, such as the giving of the Torah in the third month; in the future, with the coming of Moshiach, these days will become days of rejoicing. The discussion then turns to 12 Tammuz, with the Frierdiker Rebbe’s response to an interrogator who threatened him with a gun during his imprisonment. Letters from the Rebbe convey messages about not being intimidated by mockers or antisemitism, rejecting the “two-state solution,” preserving Jewish language and dress, and supervising children at summer camps and ensuring that they daven with a minyan. Also presented is a letter from Rabbi Chadakov on school administrators’ duty to be personally involved in their students’ summers.
- 26823 Tammuz 5785 · 12:30During the Three Weeks, the Rebbe’s instruction to a mourner not to be overly stringent in mourning is presented: being stringent here means being stringent with the deceased in the World Above. Also presented is a condolence letter from the Rebbe with a parable of a new ship setting out on a long voyage, celebrated by hundreds, as opposed to an old ship returning laden with goods and greeted by only a few—paralleling birth and the end of a full life. To a man who asked what purpose his mother’s life served while she was hospitalized in a vegetative state, the Rebbe replied that the respect shown by her children and grandchildren served as an example to visitors to the hospital. Also discussed is the gematria “gelt” = “blote” (112): money, like manure, is useful only when spread through tzedakah. The episode concludes with a story about Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s father-in-law in Long Beach, who took the trouble to assemble a minyan for a late Kabbalas Shabbos so as to shorten the city’s Shabbos desecration by an hour.
- 2691 Menachem Av 5785 · 16:50Ahead of Tisha B’Av and during the Three Weeks: letters from the Rebbe concerning the term “state.” Throughout the years of his leadership, the Rebbe avoided using the word “state” so as not to confer significance on it, and emphasized the holiness of Eretz Yisroel and the duty to protect the Jews living there. Mentioned are letters in Hebrew that the Rebbe dictated to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, addressed to David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin and military personnel, as well as a letter to a Reform rabbi. The Frierdiker Rebbe’s weeping on the day the state was established is also recounted. The discussion then turns to the importance of common sense in halachic rulings: the Rebbe’s instruction to Rabbi Mindel, who needed to eat every three hours, to ask a “wise rabbi” about fasting; the question of Rabbi Shapiro’s attendance at his daughter’s wedding on the day his mother passed away, during shiva; and Rabbi Dvorkin’s ruling that a chicken Rabbi Shapiro’s father had declared unkosher was kosher.
- 27015 Menachem Av 5785 · 15:52The Rebbe’s position on admitting students to Torah educational institutions ahead of the school year, based on a letter of his concerning admission to a yeshiva. From the Talmud’s story of Hillel the Elder and the study hall’s doorkeeper, the Rebbe draws a twofold lesson. Those responsible for admissions (the “gatekeepers”) must exhaust every avenue to ensure that every boy and girl receives a Torah education, even when there is concern that parents are avoiding payment, and must not embarrass anyone. Applicants are asked to show Hillel’s dedication and pay as much as they can, but this is not a condition for admission. Also presented are the Alter Rebbe’s words to his son’s teacher about a father’s obligation to teach his son, and examples of people at institutions who raised funds themselves, including the Rashag, who went door to door in Cleveland.
- 27122 Menachem Av 5785 · 23:23A continuation of the previous episode on tuition: Rabbi Nissan Mindel relates the story of an 11-year-old boy who wrote to the Rebbe. The boy had been sent home from yeshiva because his father could not pay tuition. In response to his letter, the Rebbe instructed Rabbi Chadakov to call the institution, and the boy was back in yeshiva within an hour. The duties of an educational institution’s financial administration are discussed: its sole responsibility is fundraising, with teachers’ salaries taking precedence over every other expense, and it has no involvement in admitting students, setting tuition or hiring teachers. The establishment of a separate tuition committee that consults a committee of rabbis is also proposed. At the end, a letter from the Rebbe about the financial administration’s responsibility and the funds available in New York is read in Yiddish, and the need to split overcrowded classes and hire additional teachers is emphasized.
- 27229 Menachem Av 5785 · 28:23Documents from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive concerning the campaign to increase Torah and mitzvah observance that the Rebbe initiated in 5748 following the farbrengens of 15 Menachem Av and Shabbos Nachamu. On 18 Menachem Av, the Rebbe summoned Rabbi Chadakov and Rabbi Mindel and instructed every Chabad institution and every Anash community to appoint a three-member committee that would send a report every three months directly to Rabbi Chadakov’s home on Union Street, rather than to 770. Presented are a list of the instructions; Rabbi Mindel’s report to the Rebbe on a worldwide telephone conference organized by Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky and on contacting Rabbi Shlomo Cunin in California; and memoranda to Rabbi Chadakov about organizing the reports. The episode opens with a discussion of the changes in the Rebbe’s leadership after the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and the parallel with the Tzemach Tzedek.
- 2736 Elul 5785 · 31:51Continuing the previous episode on the “Education Campaign” that the Rebbe assigned to Rabbi Chadakov and Rabbi Nissan Mindel in 5748, this episode presents a memorandum from Rabbi Chadakov to Rabbi Mindel about the reports received by the committee and a publication by Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, as well as a letter from Rabbi Chadakov to the Rebbe in 5750. In the letter, he acknowledges that the activity ceased in the summer of 5749 and asks whether and how to resume it. In his handwritten reply, the Rebbe stated that “every effort to spread Judaism is necessary” and instructed them to continue with increased activity, since Elul was approaching and “the King is in the field.” Following this, an open letter to the public was issued with both their signatures. Also shown is a packet of reports sent to the Rebbe and returned to Rabbi Mindel. It contains reports from Kfar Chabad, Detroit, Worcester, Montreal, Boston and Miami on family purity classes, a free day camp for nonobservant children and reciting the bedtime Shema, along with the Rebbe’s comments on them.
- 27420 Elul 5785 · 24:16Ahead of Rosh Hashanah and Sukkos: the importance of joy and of keeping sadness at bay during Elul, and the proper way to hold a farbrengen. A story from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s dictation notes tells of a fundraiser who was a wagon driver by trade and had little success collecting money. He was instructed to become a “maggid” and to be like a bee rather than a spider—that is, to collect Torah teachings and stories of tzaddikim and pass them on without adding his own ideas. Also presented are the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words that a person leading a farbrengen must be a living example. At the end, a letter from the Rebbe to a stamp collector who had asked for his autograph is shown. The Rebbe declined the request and, in his letter, urged him to become a “collector” of mitzvos and good deeds and to influence others through Ahavas Yisroel.
- 27527 Elul 5785 · 17:43An essay by Rabbi Nissan Mindel with numerous handwritten edits by the Rebbe, on the significance of the number forty and the forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur. It discusses the three periods of forty days that Moshe Rabbeinu spent on Mount Sinai, culminating in his descent with the second Tablets and forgiveness for the sin of the Golden Calf; the significance of the number ten (the Ten Utterances, the Ten Commandments and a minyan) and the number four (the name Havayah), whose product is forty; and appearances of the number in the Torah: the Flood, forty years in the wilderness, forty lashes and the forty se’ah of a mikvah. Also discussed are age forty as the age of understanding and the 120 years of a human life, which are three times forty. The episode opens with an explanation of the verse in Yeshayahu, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts,” concerning humility and setting aside one’s own opinions, and concludes with the reason for dipping an apple in honey on Rosh Hashanah.
- 2765 Tishrei 5786 · 26:01A private letter from Rabbi Nissan Mindel to a man in England who had criticized Lubavitch, answering his claims one by one. It discusses ways of showing respect during yechidus, such as addressing the Rebbe in the third person, standing and walking backward, and the Rebbe’s refusal to accept personal gifts other than books for his library. It also discusses miracles, including the Rebbe’s answer to a group of students that every Jew who fulfills a mitzvah can work miracles; the rejection of the claim that he was being deified; and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s Cadillac, which Rabbi Mindel accompanied her to purchase. As background, it describes the opposition to the Alter Rebbe, the youngest of the Maggid of Mezritch’s students, and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s support for Shelah classes in New York public schools, which one of the leading Torah scholars opposed.
- 27712 Tishrei 5786 · 21:28An English article by Rabbi Nissan Mindel, “What is the Significance of Dancing,” to which the Rebbe added many notes, including a passage in English on the importance of the feet. The article opens by saying that the face reflects the heart, and states that dancing is the highest expression of inner joy. It discusses the difference between dancing in a circle, as at Simchas Beis Hashoeva, and dancing in place when space is crowded, as at the Rebbe’s farbrengens. It explains the analogy of the head and feet in the body, in the soul (intellect and simple faith), among the Jewish people (scholars and ordinary people), and in G-dliness (beyond nature and within nature), all united in a circle with no beginning or end. It also discusses dancing during prayer in the days of the Baal Shem Tov, the Tanya’s words on the connection between the physical and the spiritual, and the Alter Rebbe’s words on elevating the physical through mitzvos such as tzitzis, tefillin and esrog.
- 27826 Tishrei 5786 · 18:45A sicha for Parshas Bereishis: The Torah is not a history book but a book of instructions for life, and its opening account of the creation of the world teaches the fundamental belief that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world and watches over it. It discusses reasons why the Torah begins with the letter beis rather than alef: the Midrash about alef’s complaint and the promise that the Ten Commandments would begin with it; faith preceding Torah study and the tractates of the Gemara beginning on page 2; and a gematria calculation for “truth” (9) and “falsehood” (6). It also cites Rashi’s words on the Jewish people’s right to Eretz Yisroel and the Rebbe’s words on the need to make them heard in our time, and discusses why the Torah gives far more detail about Yaakov Avinu than about Avraham Avinu and Yitzchak Avinu. It concludes with the transition from Tishrei to Marcheshvan and bringing the influence of the month of festivals into everyday life.
- 2793 Cheshvan 5786 · 14:23Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s answer, with the Rebbe’s notes, to the question of why “l’chaim” is said specifically over wine and spirits: Wine brought a curse in Noach’s time, was given at a mourner’s first meal and to a person condemned to death, as described in the Gemara, and has the power to be used for good or ill. It recounts stories about the discontinuation of Benedictine liqueur at the Rebbe’s farbrengens, apparently after someone told the Rebbe that there was a small cross on the bottle, and about soup that the Rebbe pushed away on Pesach following a waiter’s passing remark. It also presents the Rebbe’s answer to a question about whether Benedictine was kosher, raised after Shneur Zalman Shazar, who was elected president of Israel in 5723, brought a bottle of spirits from the Rebbe to a 19 Kislev farbrengen. The answer stated that this had been the custom of the Frierdiker Rebbe and his father, and that the spirits’ kosher status had been checked again and confirmed.
- 28010 Cheshvan 5786 · 21:11An English letter dictated by the Rebbe to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, to which the Rebbe added notes, on the territorial integrity of Eretz Yisroel. The letter was sent to a media figure about a year and a half after the Camp David Accords, with instructions to publicize it among Jews and the nations of the world. The letter, reproduced in full, states that Eretz Yisroel belongs to the Jewish people by virtue of the covenant with Avraham Avinu, which is also recognized by Christians and Muslims. It lists Egypt’s violations of the agreement, including its failure to demilitarize areas of Sinai, its construction of tunnels, and its disclosure of information about the negotiations to the PLO. It also notes the United States’ tendency to favor the Arab position, and argues that an agreement is not binding when the other party violates it, and that no government representative has the authority to compromise the people’s security. It also recounts a story about David Ben-Gurion, who presented the Bible to the British as the title deed to the land.
- 28117 Cheshvan 5786 · 26:04In honor of Parshas Chayei Sarah: the Chabad custom not to deliver eulogies, and why Sarah our Matriarch was eulogized, though her years were “all equally good.” Letters from the Rebbe on tznius and shidduchim are presented: as a general minimum, a dress must cover the knees even when seated, and local rabbis may set a stricter standard that may, in fact, be required by halachah. A religious young woman should not marry a young man who is “drawing closer” to Judaism. The Rebbe declines to bless a shidduch with a young man who desecrates Shabbos, even if unwillingly, but opposes rejecting a daughter as a marriage prospect because of her mother’s nonreligious past. Finally, against the backdrop of Rivkah our Matriarch entering the tent, the three mitzvos of a woman—lighting candles, separating challah, and family purity—are discussed, along with observing them as an expression of the “woman who fears Hashem” in the verse “Charm is false and beauty is vain.”
- 28224 Cheshvan 5786 · 14:18Ahead of the Kinus Hashluchim: a letter from the Rebbe on the purpose of the gathering, the exchange of advice and blessings to strengthen the shluchim and overcome difficulties, and the soul’s descent into the body to make a dwelling for Hashem in the lower realms. Also featured is the Rebbe’s written response to a question about what distinguishes a shliach from someone who carries out similar activities while also working for a living. It states that a shliach is a shliach twenty-four hours a day, drawing a parallel to a teaching about honoring one’s father and mother. Rabbi Chadakov’s remarks distinguish between secondary matters, such as a car and a home, and what is essential: putting on tefillin, bar mitzvahs, and lighting candles. Also presented is an instruction he wrote in the Rebbe’s name, found in Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive, calling on shluchim to put their speeches in writing and publish an annual book from them—an initiative begun by a shliach from Chicago.
- 2832 Kislev 5786 · 19:54An article by a man who spent a year visiting yeshivos and chassidic courts around the world, ending his journey at 770. Referred by Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, he interviewed Rabbi Nissan Mindel in Long Beach. The article describes the Rebbe’s humility, his sitting at a farbrengen for seven hours without leaning back, and his saying l’chaim to each participant individually. It also recounts the Rebbe’s words following complaints from mothers and wives about their sons’ and husbands’ drinking mashke: a limit of three small cups totaling less than a revi’is, apart from the wine for Kiddush, particularly for those under forty and those who are unmarried; the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words that mashke is “repugnant” and strengthens the animal soul; a story of a chossid who danced with mashke upon hearing the news of the Alter Rebbe’s liberation on 19 Kislev but did not drink it; and the exemption of Purim from these restrictions.
- 2849 Kislev 5786 · 21:13In honor of 9 Kislev, the yahrzeit of the Mitteler Rebbe, and ahead of 19 Kislev: the story of a student from London, a graduate of the Mir Yeshiva, who studied at the Litvish “Yeshiva of Brooklyn,” where the Rebbe sent Rabbi Shapiro to teach instead of going on shlichus. Troubled by doubts about faith, the student wrote the Rebbe a four-and-a-half-page letter, delivered through Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, and received a six- or seven-word reply: “I will mention it at the Ohel,” and a question about whether he drank. Afterward, he found a rare Midrash dealing with doubts about faith and began studying Chassidus with Rabbi Shapiro for years. At a 19 Kislev farbrengen at 770, the Rebbe signaled to him to say l’chaim. Also included is Rabbi Chadakov’s explanation that Divine Providence chooses from among a person’s own wishes.
- 28516 Kislev 5786 · 17:37Ahead of 19 Kislev, its unique status as a Yom Tov for all of the Jewish people, marking the beginning of the dissemination of Chassidus, is discussed. The six constant mitzvos are reviewed: knowing Hashem, rejecting any other deity, loving Hashem, fearing Hashem, affirming Hashem’s oneness, and “Do not stray.” Fulfilling them deeply depends on studying Chassidus. A letter from the Rebbe is presented in response to someone who asked why Chassidus should be studied separately from mussar and why one should not investigate these matters independently; the Alter Rebbe had already done so in Tanya. Also included is a story from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s book “Philosophy of Chabad” about a tzaddik who studied in Vilna and Mezritch: in Vilna, he mastered the Gemara; in Mezritch, the Gemara mastered him. Finally, the end of the first part of Tanya is discussed regarding the need to avoid speaking during prayer, along with a letter from the Rebbe on a pleasant way to address it.
- 28623 Kislev 5786 · 14:19In preparation for Chanukah: an explanation of lighting the candles on the left side of the doorway, so that the home is surrounded by a mezuzah and candles—an instruction to illuminate the world outside while protecting the home from outside influences and fashions. Also discussed are Beis Hillel’s approach of “increasing as we go,” as an instruction to add to our mitzvos every day, and placing the mezuzah at an angle as a symbol of peace in the home. The main part of the episode concerns a letter from the Rebbe to a Reform (or Conservative) rabbi, in which the Rebbe traces the movement’s roots to the Hellenists, who studied Torah as culture, and to the Maskilim, who advocated being a Jew at home and a non-Jew outside. In the letter, the Rebbe notes that there are no Reform families spanning three generations and refrains from calling the recipient “Rabbi.” The distinction between the movement and the Jews who belong to it is emphasized, and the example is given of the Children of Israel in Egypt, who did not change their names, language or dress.
- 28730 Kislev 5786 · 15:51In preparation for 5 Teves: documents from the archive of Rabbi Nissan Mindel concerning his mission, together with two other shluchim, to the Soviet Union in Teves 5748, at the Rebbe’s instruction, to locate the Lubavitch library. The library was moved from Lubavitch to Moscow in 1915 because of World War I and fell into the hands of the Communist government. A letter in Yiddish to a friend describes their official trip as guests of the Ministry of Culture, arranged through Dr. Hammer; Culture Minister Zakharov’s promise to return the collection to Agudas Chassidei Chabad if it was found; the discovery of the intact collection of some 12,000 volumes in the Lenin Library under another name; and the Torah reading in Leningrad on Yud Shvat. Also presented is a memorandum concerning the library and writings of the Rebbe’s father in Dnepropetrovsk, which remained in the city after his exile in 5699.
- 2887 Teves 5786 · 13:04The first of five missions undertaken by Rabbi Nissan Mindel on the Rebbe’s behalf to the Soviet Union, around 1958, during Communist rule, to retrieve manuscripts of the Frierdiker Rebbe that had remained there. Rabbi Mindel later used these manuscripts in his translation of Tanya. The Rebbe’s instructions for concealing his identity are discussed, including wearing a beret without a yarmulke underneath. The episode describes how local Chabad chassidim learned of his arrival through a woman working at the tourist office. They abducted him blindfolded and brought him to a basement. After he identified them by their parents’ names, they asked him to sing a niggun the Rebbe had taught. Also recounted is a story about Reb Mendel Futerfas, to whom the authorities gave a false report that the Frierdiker Rebbe had passed away.
- 28914 Teves 5786 · 13:19The story of Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s second trip to the Soviet Union, apparently in 1961, on a mission from the Rebbe to locate manuscripts of the Frierdiker Rebbe left behind when he departed Riga in 5700. Eleven passengers accompanied the Frierdiker Rebbe on that flight, among them the Rashag, his mother, Rabbi Chadakov and Rabbi Mindel. Rabbi Mindel traveled with his wife as a tourist to visit his sisters in Riga and acquired a suitcase of manuscripts there. During a random inspection at a train station on the way to the airport, the guard’s finger was diverted from the suitcase at the last moment, and the Rebbe called it “a miracle from my father-in-law.” Also included are Rabbi Mindel’s meetings with Shazar and David Ben-Gurion, who said he had never touched a siddur, and an update on the publication of the volumes of letters in English.
- 29021 Teves 5786 · 16:31An examination of whether there is a source from the Rebbe for the widespread practice of placing a pan in volumes of Igros Kodesh and receiving an answer from them. No source for this was found in Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive. The Rebbe’s known instructions, by contrast, are to ask about business matters, consult two doctors about health matters, and place a pan at the Ohel. Customs of tzaddikim from other courts are discussed, such as distributing shirayim, eating fish with one’s hands and wearing a tallis on Friday night—none of which are Chabad customs. Also cited is the Rebbe’s comment in Toras Menachem (p. 489) about taking care not to use sacred books for material matters or to cast lots. The episode concludes with an incident in which a lot fell twice on Rabbi Shapiro’s wife to travel to a particular city for a Chabad winter gathering outside New York.
- 29128 Teves 5786 · 26:41A letter sent to the Rebbe by Rabbi Avraham Sender Nemtzov, Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s father-in-law, together with Rabbi Yitzchak Dubov of England, about three weeks after the passing of the Frierdiker Rebbe on Yud Shvat 5710. In the letter, they asked the Rebbe to accept the leadership, despite his humility and his contention that he had not received authorization from the Frierdiker Rebbe. The letter associates the Frierdiker Rebbe, the sixth leader, with the attribute of Yesod and cites allusions from the weekly parsha. Drawing on Rabbi Dubov’s name and Rabbi Nemtzov’s age of eighty, the signatories give the Rebbe “the strength of Gevurah” to carry on the attribute of Malchus until the coming of Moshiach. Also included are details about Rabbi Nemtzov’s handwriting, thanks to which he was assigned to an office rather than the front during his service in the Russian army, and an accompanying letter to Rabbi Mindel explaining the delay in sending the letter.
- 2926 Shvat 5786 · 21:12Ahead of Yud Shvat: documents from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive on the establishment of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Ohel. They include a list of rabbis who signed a call to build it as a place of prayer, and the press release announcing the Frierdiker Rebbe’s son-in-law as the successor to the Chabad dynasty. The documents also identify the committee that handled the declaration of hiskashrus to the Rebbe, including Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, formerly the rabbi of Shanghai. Also discussed are Shvat as the month in which Rebbetzin Rivkah, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka passed away; a comparison between the Rebbe and the Baal Shem Tov after the Holocaust; and the Rebbe’s “three crowns.” The episode concludes with a story about the Kopishnitzer Rebbe and a discussion of the Rebbe’s warnings against excessive drinking of mashke.
- 29313 Shvat 5786 · 26:21A story is told about a Melaveh Malkah held in 5700 at Rabbi Young’s synagogue in Manhattan to support the Frierdiker Rebbe, shortly after he settled in the United States. The Frierdiker Rebbe forbade the singing of a Zionist song at the opening of the event, and most of the attendees left. Those who remained, including Stolman and the Kramer brothers, became 770’s earliest supporters. Also presented is the text of introductory remarks Rabbi Nissan Mindel wrote in 1952 or 1953 in honor of Rabbi Meir Greenberg, with the Rebbe’s edits. The Rebbe deleted the word “dead” from a description of American Jewry as a “valley of dry bones.” The remarks describe the Frierdiker Rebbe’s visit to America in 5689, his impression of the Jewish youth there as “innocent,” and his efforts to revive Judaism after settling there. Also mentioned are his illness aboard the ship following the events of 5689, and the explanation for his perspiration after receiving visitors: he would enter into the circumstances of each person who came in.
- 29420 Shvat 5786 · 20:10Ahead of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s yahrzeit on 22 Shvat, the woman’s role as the “mainstay of the home” is discussed in connection with the command to speak to the women first at the Giving of the Torah in Parshas Yisro. An explanation is given for placing a mezuzah at an angle as a symbol of compromise between spouses. Mention is made of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s nurse, who arrived by ship with his family, was regarded by him as a daughter, and was close to the Rebbetzin. Letters from the Rebbe are presented on family unity, including praying in the same synagogue and sharing a Friday-night meal, and on a woman’s primary role as a wife and mother as opposed to working outside the home, in the spirit of “The entire glory of the king’s daughter is within.” Also presented is his sharp response to a woman who did not want to become pregnant because of her work: “Who are you to play with G-d?” The example of Chana, who refrained from going up to the Beis Hamikdash in order to care for her son, is also given.
- 29527 Shvat 5786 · 20:08Excerpts from the Rebbe’s English letters collected in Letter and Spirit are presented in the wake of the massacre in Sydney, Australia. They state that a calamity is not a punishment but a natural consequence of human actions: Eretz Yisroel, as a spiritual land, “vomits out” sinners; someone who speaks lashon hara suffers harm; and the birth of a mamzer results from the mother’s actions. Also discussed are the Rebbe’s instruction to check tefillin and mezuzos during illness and the subject of reincarnation. The riots of 5689 and the 5716 attack in Kfar Chabad are mentioned. The episode concludes with a story about a farbrengen in the 1940s at which the Frierdiker Rebbe said that parents’ love for a child with special needs is greater than their love for their other children, and so too is Hashem’s love for a Jew who does not observe the mitzvos. He also explained that even exile is not a punishment, but a path toward the coming of Moshiach.
- 2964 Adar 5786 · 22:21For the month of Adar and Purim, a gematria insight by Rabbi Nissan Mindel is presented: Esther and Mordechai have equal values, 13 each, and together they total 26, like the name Havayah, while Haman and Zeresh have unequal values of 14 and 12. Also presented are the Rebbe’s response about four types of love in the order they appear in the Torah, and a debate with a Reform rabbi in Long Beach about Yaakov Avinu’s kiss and his weeping. The main part of the episode concerns the Rebbe Rashab’s wedding in Avrutch, which the Rebbe Maharash did not attend because of illness, and the three conditions he set for his son: that he not wear a shtreimel, that he return to Lubavitch immediately after the chuppah, and that he not distribute shirayim. His father-in-law’s attempt to put a shtreimel on him led to the wedding being postponed from Friday to motzaei Shabbos. The episode concludes with Rabbi Mindel’s explanation of the Rebbe Maharash’s dance, in which the feet that carry the entire body are a metaphor for faith.
- 29711 Adar 5786 · 25:08In honor of 9 Adar, the day the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived to settle in the United States, a note by Rabbi Nissan Mindel is presented concerning the search for a siddur whose whereabouts concerned the Rebbe. With the help of the librarian Rabbi Lieberman, the siddur was found in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s suitcase, together with other manuscripts. The main focus of the episode is a page of notes the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote in pencil for Rabbi Mindel on 17 Adar 5709, as the wording for a letter to attorney Kramer about the meeting with the judge concerning his citizenship. In it, he expresses surprise at the report that people unconnected to the matter would be included and would publicize it in the press, and assumes there has been a mistake. He instructs that only a few people, including Judge Kleinfeld and Rabbi Kazanovsky, be present, and emphasizes that the arrangements for his citizenship are the work of his son-in-law, Rabbi Schneerson, alone. Finally, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s naturalization documents from 16 Adar 5713 are shown, bearing Rabbi Mindel’s signature as a witness.
- 29818 Adar 5786 · 19:11An episode in memory of Rabbi Shapiro’s parents, Rabbi Lipman Shapiro (whose yahrzeit is on 28 Adar) and his wife Chana. It covers the clandestine “Tiferes Bachurim” yeshiva he ran in the Soviet Union, his journey through Pocking and France to the United States in 1953 and from there to Cleveland at the Rebbe’s instruction, and his decision not to buy a bakery that burned down weeks later. Also presented are the Rebbe’s response on Hoshana Rabbah that one does not leave the Simchas Torah farbrengen, even though staying put his livelihood as a shochet at risk—after which the shochtim’s meeting was postponed—and the Rebbe’s response concerning a secret Tanya class for students of the Telshe Yeshiva: Chassidus should not be demeaned by paying for them to come study it. Finally, the Rebbe’s words to Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Hecht are presented: matzos should be sold, not given away for free.
- 29925 Adar 5786 · 16:58Memories from the father of Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro, the shliach in Cleveland. Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, head of the Telshe Yeshiva, asked him to tell the Rebbe that he had removed a student who had spoken disrespectfully about the Rebbe from the yeshiva until the student asked the Rebbe’s forgiveness. The Rebbe responded: “When one has a kinyan in Chassidus, the concealment of Chassidus falls away.” Also presented are the Rebbe’s words to Rabbi Shapiro’s father in yechidus after Simchas Torah: a chossid might live in a city without the city knowing it. This prompted him to begin giving classes in the synagogues. There is also a story about a chossid in the Soviet Union who held a farbrengen on 19 Kislev even though no one came. The episode also describes the emotion of Rabbi Shapiro’s uncle, who arrived from Russia in 1970 without a beard. Finally, it recounts Rabbi Shapiro’s bar mitzvah yechidus, at which the Rebbe arranged an aliyah to the Torah for him and instructed him to button his jacket from right to left.
- 3003 Nissan 5786 · 13:51In Nissan, ahead of Pesach: the distinction of the Jewish woman, in whose merit the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt. An account is presented of a woman who told the Rebbe in yechidus that the Alter Rebbe made chassidim out of misnagdim, each of the Rebbeim after him made chassidim from a different group, and the Rebbe—from women. Two letters from the Rebbe are presented in response to questions about why girls’ Torah study differs from boys’ and why men recite the blessing “Who has not made me a woman”: women were entrusted with the elevated role of being the mainstay of the home and educating the next generation, and were therefore exempted chiefly from time-bound positive mitzvos. Men were given additional mitzvos as compensation, and it is for these that they recite the blessing. Also discussed are Moshe Rabbeinu’s addressing the women first (“Thus shall you say to the house of Yaakov”) and the distinction of women in the future—“A woman shall encompass a man.”
- 30110 Nissan 5786 · 9:26In a shortened program ahead of 11 Nissan and Pesach, two stories about the Frierdiker Rebbe from the period after his arrival in the United States in 5700 are presented. In the first, recounted by Rabbi Nissan Mindel, a childless chossid took the afikoman from beneath the Frierdiker Rebbe’s pillow on Seder night and made its return conditional on a promise of a blessing. About a year and a half to two years later, he had a daughter who did not bring him nachas. Rabbi Shmuel Levitin, who was present at the Seder, concluded from this that one must not force a blessing from the Rebbe. In the second story, at a Chol Hamoed meal, some young men made a commotion over a Jew who was not a Chabad chossid dipping matzah into borscht, contrary to the custom of avoiding gebrokts. The Frierdiker Rebbe remarked that it was better to make the matzah red than to make the man’s face red. Finally, an explanation of the verse “And it shall be when you grow restless” is presented as an allusion to adding unnecessary stringencies: “614” mitzvos.
- 3021 Iyar 5786 · 22:36Ahead of the month of Iyar, whose Hebrew initials spell “I am Hashem, your healer,” the episode recounts Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s visit to the Rebbe in Iyar, after a period when the Rebbe had not been feeling well and Rabbi Mindel had refrained from entering his room. With Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner’s help, he went in and introduced himself as an “oreiach” (“guest”)—“or ches” (“light of eight”), an allusion to “Refa’einu,” the eighth blessing of Shemoneh Esrei. A smile appeared on the Rebbe’s face unlike any Rabbi Mindel had seen in their fifty years of working together. The reasons for studying Pirkei Avos in the summer, and for its name, are discussed: it contains “mili dechassidusa,” teachings that go beyond the letter of the law, and is a tractate for parents and educators, who must serve as living examples. A letter from the Rebbe to a rabbi in Chicago who asked what to speak about in his Shabbos sermon is presented. The Rebbe wrote that any Torah subject was appropriate, provided the words came from the heart. The episode concludes with a story about a child who was wrongly accused of theft and pushed away from the right path.
- 3038 Iyar 5786 · 22:05A recording from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive of the Rebbe dictating a general letter, including an explanation of why “All Israel have a share in the World to Come” is recited before Pirkei Avos: the effect of the study depends on recognizing that every Jew is holy. Following a conversation with chassidim of Satmar, Belz, Ger and Bobov, the episode discusses calling “Zionist” Jews in Eretz Yisroel “sinners of Israel,” and argues that most fall into the category of a tinok shenishba. It recounts the Frierdiker Rebbe’s response to a Jew who ate on Yom Kippur outside 770; the Rebbe’s condolence visit to the Satmar Rebbe after the passing of his daughter and their discussion of “Even the sinners of Israel are full of mitzvos like a pomegranate”; the Rebbe’s response to a remark by Shazar against the Satmar Rebbe; and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words to Rabbi Shmuel Levitin on the day the State of Israel was declared in 5708.
- 30415 Iyar 5786 · 14:30Introductory remarks written by Rabbi Nissan Mindel for the Lag BaOmer parade of 5733 and reviewed by the Rebbe. Rabbi Mindel wrote them after the Rebbe instructed Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Hecht to approach him; Rabbi Hecht would read the introduction before the Rebbe appeared at the parades. That year, the Rebbe did not come out to the parade, and it is not known whether the introduction was read. It describes the leaders of the generations as the “fathers of the nation” and the “eyes of Israel,” and the leader of the generation as the “Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation,” who awakens the spark within every Jew. It includes a parable about a man who can see in the dark and leads those who have lost their way through a tunnel to the exit, as well as a call to bring others closer to Torah and mitzvos. It ends by announcing the Rebbe’s sicha in Yiddish, transmitted to Jews around the world, including those in Meron, the resting place of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
- 30522 Iyar 5786 · 20:37On the yahrzeit of Rabbi Schneur Zalman Wilenkin, Rabbi Shapiro’s grandfather and the Rebbe’s childhood teacher in Yekaterinoslav, the Rebbe’s remark about him is recalled: “He put me on my feet.” Also described is a yechidus in 1953 during which the two stood for about two hours. His memories of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson are recounted: his class on Hemshech 5666 and his conversation about it with the Rebbe Rashab; his interpretation of Rashi according to Kabbalah; the relocation of the city’s cemetery; his Shabbos Hagadol sermon; and the 101-word telegram he sent to the Rebbe’s wedding in Warsaw. The episode concludes by describing the matzah the Rebbe gave Rabbi Wilenkin on Motzaei Shabbos while he was in a coma after a stroke. It also describes the Rebbe standing outside the gate of the Ohel during the burial and paying for the headstone, which stated that Rabbi Wilenkin had taught the Rebbe.
- 30629 Iyar 5786 · 17:36A letter from the Rebbe to Yisroel Leib Lavut thanking him for the gift of a “Luach Yerushalayim” bearing handwritten notes by his maternal great-great-grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Dovid Lavut, and asking him to give the Rebbe’s library more of his writings, either as a gift or on loan. In this connection, the episode discusses a sicha of the Rebbe in 5745, during the books controversy, in which he said that keeping objects and manuscripts of the Frierdiker Rebbe at home was like keeping a “bomb.” It also tells the story of a coat the Frierdiker Rebbe gave, a week before his passing, to Manya, his nurse and someone close to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, who gave it to Rabbi Shapiro. After the sicha, Rabbi Shapiro asked to return it through Rabbi Mindel, but the Rebbe instructed that it be returned to him and gave him a blessing. Also recounted are Manya’s being summoned to the Rebbe during his heart attack, when he refused to be hospitalized, and Rabbi Shapiro’s meeting with the Rebbetzin at her home.
- 3077 Sivan 5786 · 30:00A note from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive on the Midrash’s teaching that giving maaser is a segulah for wealth. It includes a gematria: one-tenth of the numerical values of the letters in “תעשר” forms the word “מזלך” (“your fortune”). The main part of the episode features a rare recording of a farbrengen of the Frierdiker Rebbe, made about six months before his passing. The recording includes someone repeating the parable of a mashpia as a funnel, and the Frierdiker Rebbe speaking about the question “What do you remember?” passed down through the generations of our Rebbeim, about prayer as an effort, and about Ahavas Yisroel. It ends with a niggun sung at the farbrengen, which the Rebbe, Rabbi Chodakov, and Rabbi Mindel also attended. The episode concludes with accounts of the Frierdiker Rebbe asking many people whether they had eaten a hot meal, and of the perspiration that covered him after receiving people because he had “entered into” each one’s situation.
- 30814 Sivan 5786 · 13:46Ahead of 20 Sivan, a day on which many calamities befell the Jewish people and which Rabbeinu Tam designated a fast day, a report from Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive is presented on the Rabbis’ March in Washington in Tishrei 5704, three days before Yom Kippur, on behalf of European Jews during the Holocaust. The Frierdiker Rebbe sent four representatives to the march, among them Rabbi Schneur Zalman Gurary and Rabbi Mindel. The petition Rabbi Eliezer Silver read outside the White House is presented; it called for the establishment of a special agency to rescue the surviving Jews of Europe. President Roosevelt declined to meet the rabbis on the advice of his Jewish advisers, Samuel Rosenman and Stephen Wise. The episode concludes with Rabbi Silver’s letter to the Frierdiker Rebbe, stating that the protest helped save many Jews, and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s reply that what happened to European Jewry must never be forgotten and that the protest should be publicized.
- 30921 Sivan 5786 · 16:13A letter to the Rebbe from an 11-year-old boy who had been sent home from yeshiva because his tuition had not been paid. In response, the Rebbe instructed Rabbi Chodakov to ensure that the boy was back in yeshiva within an hour, and did not answer the principal’s letters for the rest of that year. Rabbi Chodakov explained to the boy’s father that a child must not be kept from his studies over tuition, and that the matter was solely between the parents and the administration. Also presented is a letter from a mother complaining that yeshivos made her son’s admission depend on grades rather than derech eretz, leading to a discussion of the principle that “derech eretz precedes Torah.” The episode concludes with a story about Rabbi Manis Mandel, principal of a Brooklyn yeshiva, who refused to interrupt a child’s test on Rashi to meet a donor. The donor consequently doubled his contribution. After the incident was reported to the Rebbe, a check was sent to the yeshiva at his instruction.
- 31028 Sivan 5786 · 15:54Ahead of Gimmel Tammuz, marking 32 years since the Rebbe’s passing in 5754: a look at the teaching in Tanya’s Igeres Hakodesh that a tzaddik “is present in all the worlds more than during his lifetime,” and at the Rebbe’s reply to the program’s host about fear of flying: wear a kosher tallis katan and carry tefillin and a tzedakah box on the flight. Stories are presented about checking tefillin following heart problems; an Israeli statesman whom the Rebbe advised to postpone a flight that was subsequently hijacked; a rabbi to whom the Rebbe remarked on Shabbos on Eastern Parkway about a shalom bayis problem affecting a couple whose wedding he had officiated; and a wedding held with the Rebbe’s blessing during the Six-Day War. Also discussed are the writing of the Rebbe’s letters in many languages, his approach to work in kashrus, and his interpretation of the phrase “May the Omnipresent comfort you.”
- 3115 Tammuz 5786 · 18:06Why do chassidim call Tammuz, one of the months of mourning, the “month of Geulah,” and what is distinctive about the Frierdiker Rebbe’s release from imprisonment on 12 Tammuz? A comparison is presented between Purim (a decree against the body), Chanukah (against the soul), 19 Kislev (against the innermost dimension of the soul), and 12 Tammuz (against the Nasi himself), showing that this Geulah was a Geulah for the entire Jewish people. Ahavas Yisroel is discussed as the remedy for baseless hatred, including a question the Frierdiker Rebbe asked the Rebbe Rashab on the day of his bar mitzvah, and an English letter from the Rebbe explaining the word “ahavah” (“love”) as deriving from “hav” (“give”). Finally, ahead of Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s yahrzeit on 12 Tammuz, an overview of his translation of Tanya into English at the Frierdiker Rebbe’s request, his doctoral dissertation on Tanya, and the Rebbe’s response to the publication of the translation in 1962.
- 31212 Tammuz 5786 · 22:37An announcement that the first of six volumes of “The Early Years of Chabad in America,” based on Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive, has gone to press. Its cover shows Rabbi Mindel’s desk, telephone, typewriter, and the camera with which he photographed the first farbrengen on 11 Shvat 5711. The process of writing the Rebbe’s letters is described: Rabbi Mindel took down the Rebbe’s words spoken in Yiddish and drafted the letters in English and other languages; the Rebbe edited and signed them. Thus, the wording of the English letters is Rabbi Mindel’s. Presented are a letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe praising his integrity and manuscripts the Rebbe gave him for the English translation of Tanya. The division of responsibilities in the secretariat and the system for keeping copies of letters are also discussed.
- 31319 Tammuz 5786 · 16:00During the Three Weeks: A letter from a Jew to the Rebbe asking why the exile continues and whether Moshiach will indeed come, as the Frierdiker Rebbe had promised. Because of these questions, he had listened to a missionary radio program for a year and a half. In his reply, the Rebbe wrote that it would be better to devote that time to Torah study, have his tefillin checked, daven with a minyan and say Tehillim. A note in Rabbi Nissan Mindel’s archive tells of a Jew who began studying Tanya, to the objection of his brother, a Litvish rosh yeshivah and an opponent of Chassidus. The Rebbe instructed that the brother have his tefillin checked, even though it was not Elul. At Rabbi Mindel’s suggestion, they were sent for inspection along with his brother’s tefillin and were found to contain no parchments. Afterward, his attitude toward Chassidus changed. The episode concludes with a story about a man who set out on a journey against the Rebbe Rashab’s instruction and, according to rumor, sailed on the Titanic.
- 31426 Tammuz 5786 · 21:22A sicha of the Rebbe from the eve of Shavuos 5736 and an English letter from his early years distinguish between the cause of the exile—baseless hatred, jealousy, covetousness, lashon hara and arrogance—and its prolongation, which stems from failing to guard one’s eyes and from youthful sin. The remedy for this sin is immersion in a mikveh and guarding one’s speech, with joy rather than sadness. Examples are brought from Yitzchak Avinu, the Chozeh of Lublin and a chossid in Russia, a friend of Rabbi Mendel Futerfas, who immersed 300 times in a frozen river. Also discussed are Yosef Hatzaddik and Mordechai, who were called “tzaddik” because they withstood a test “day after day,” and the Frierdiker Rebbe as the Yosef of his generation. The episode closes with two letters about honoring one’s father and mother. The first presents a parable of a new ship setting out compared with an old one returning to port. The second is a response to a man whose mother lay unconscious in a nursing home: the purpose of her life was fulfilled through the honor her family showed her in the presence of visitors.
- 3154 Menachem Av 5786 · 17:09A document written in Hebrew by Rabbi Hodakov, “Solving the Vacation Problem in Students’ Lives,” summarizes a conversation between him and Rabbi Nissan Mindel that was brought to the Rebbe’s attention. The document discusses the summer vacation, which lasts ten to twelve weeks in the United States, and its harms: wasted time, casting off discipline and forgetting what was learned. At the Rebbe’s suggestion, Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch established a program for the summer: explaining the purpose of vacation to students, appointing staff members to keep in touch with them, gathering teachers and students on 15 Menachem Av, coordinating among institutions and encouraging Torah study as the nights grow longer. Also shown is the page at the end of the siddur listing the leadership of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, with the Frierdiker Rebbe as president and Rabbi Hodakov as director—a page omitted from siddurim printed after Gimmel Tammuz.
- 31611 Menachem Av 5786 · 17:45Ahead of 15 Menachem Av: Notes by Rabbi Nissan Mindel from his conversations with Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski about shalom bayis and marriage, some of which were discussed with the Rebbe. The notes propose that baalei teshuvah, especially young women, spend Shabbos in the same religious home for about a year before marriage, so that it can serve as a living example for them. They also explain the custom of giving a bride a plain ring: if it breaks and is repaired, the break leaves no visible mark, and in times of disagreement, the couple should remember their wedding night. Shown is a letter from the Rebbe to a married kollel student who complained that his wife did not appreciate his learning. It explains four kinds of love, according to which love of Hashem comes after the love between husband and wife. Also discussed are the clarity of the Rebbe’s English letters, avoiding titles when assigning honors so as not to embarrass anyone, and the Rebbe’s care regarding the order of aliyos during the Torah reading.
- 31718 Menachem Av 5786 · 15:51Notes by Rabbi Nissan Mindel on matters of education that he heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe: Children learn to honor their parents from the respect shown by parents and teachers, who must serve as living examples at all hours of the day. The Rebbe Rashab prevented the expulsion of a student at the yeshivah in Lubavitch who had put a cat in the Aron Kodesh; the student later became a prominent chossid. He remarked to the educators that had they set a better example, it would not have happened. In Europe, children saw their father put on tefillin and prepare for Sukkos, Chanukah and Pesach, whereas in the United States, the demands of earning a living leave education to the teachers. The episode concludes with the Rebbe’s explanation of “snake, fiery serpent and scorpion” in Parshas Eikev: the snake symbolizes the heat of desire and the scorpion, coldness. This is the condition of America, whose ice the Frierdiker Rebbe came to break.
- 31825 Menachem Av 5786 · 16:44Hebrew notes by Rabbi Nissan Mindel recording things he heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe about his arrival in the United States in 5700. The notes discuss his concern about settling in a “treif country” and the difficult decision to leave Russia and its Jews. They also record the words of elder chassidim before his departure from Riga, who said that Hashem was leading him to America “in iron chains.” The flight in a small plane from Riga to Sweden is described, with his mother, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah; his daughter, Rebbetzin Chana; the Rashag; Rabbi Chadakov; Reb Chaim Lieberman; and others. Six empty seats on the plane were filled by additional Jews. A story is told about Rabbi Chadakov, who persuaded a Jewish shopkeeper to close his store on Shabbos. Also included are the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words against being ashamed of outward signs of Jewish identity, such as a beard, and his words on tznius and making good use of time, presented ahead of the month of Elul.
- 3192 Elul 5786 · 23:44The process of writing the Rebbe’s letters is described based on notes by Rabbi Chadakov and Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and Rabbi Mindel’s shorthand notebooks are shown. Most of the Igros Kodesh and the letters in English were recorded in these notebooks. Before dictating, the Rebbe put on a sirtuk and hat, opened each letter himself and determined the language of the reply. Rabbi Mindel typed one copy for the Rebbe to review; after the corrections, he typed the final version on the Rebbe’s letterhead, with one copy for himself and another for Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch. This refutes the claim that the English letters in his archive are drafts. The Rebbe charged him with compiling them in the book Letter and Spirit and knew of his work on it long before Gimmel Tammuz. The special standing of Rabbi Chadakov and Rabbi Mindel compared with the other secretaries is also discussed, and a letter from Rabbi Sholom Dovber Lipskar requesting that Rabbi Mindel’s introduction to the book be published as a separate booklet is shown.
- 3209 Elul 5786 · 22:20Ahead of 13 Elul, the anniversary of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s wedding in 5657, details are presented about the Rebbe Rashab’s wedding in Elul, which was held in the bride’s city; she was his cousin. The Rebbe Maharash did not attend, but held a farbrengen during the week of the wedding. He set three conditions for the groom: that he not wear a shtreimel, that he return immediately to Lubavitch and that he not distribute shirayim. Putting a shtreimel on the groom at the reception caused an uproar, as a result of which the chuppah was postponed from Friday. The Rebbe Maharash’s words, conveyed by the Raza, about the chassidim dancing as though in Gan Eden and at the coming of Moshiach are presented, and the connection between joy and teshuvah in Elul is discussed. The episode closes with mention of the presenter’s daughter’s wedding on 13 Elul at 770, which the Rebbe called on people to attend in a sicha, and shows congratulatory telegrams from the Rebbe, Zalman Shazar and Prime Minister Levi Eshkol for another wedding in the family.
- 32116 Elul 5786 · 18:23Ahead of Rosh Hashanah: a letter from the Rebbe about resolving in the month of Elul to distance oneself from materialism and worldly habits, and the original manuscript of a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch for children, written by Rabbi Nissan Mindel in Elul 5704 at the Rebbe’s request. The manuscript contains many notes and references from the Rebbe, who instructed him to focus on practical halachah rather than philosophy. Rabbi Mindel’s notes from the period when they worked together include guidance for parents, some of it in the name of the Frierdiker Rebbe: answering “Amen, yehei shmei rabba” and davening with a minyan in front of the children, avoiding lashon hara, being meticulous about kashrus, observing tznius, and singing a niggun or telling stories of tzaddikim to children before bedtime. Also mentioned are the daily calendar for children that preceded Hayom Yom, writing down good resolutions for the new year, and King Shlomo’s ring, engraved with the words “This too shall pass.”
- 32223 Elul 5786 · 18:28A sicha ahead of Rosh Hashanah, on Shabbos Parshas Nitzavim-Vayeilech, about Jewish unity. The idea is illustrated through the four species (and the fact that Hoshana Rabbah does not fall on Shabbos, because the aravah is muktzeh on Shabbos), the tefillin of the arm and head, and our matriarch Rivkah drawing water. A story is told that the Rebbe, before assuming the leadership, heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe and recounted with emotion by the elevator at 770: the Frierdiker Rebbe drew close a mixed gathering of observant and nonobservant Jews and compared Hashem’s love for a Jew who does not observe the mitzvos to the especially deep love a father has for a child with special needs. Also presented are a letter from the Rebbe stating that “the study of Torah is equal to them all” only when the other mitzvos are properly fulfilled, and an explanation of why “children” precedes “life,” connected to educating through a living example.
- 3238 Tishrei 5787 · 19:46A program ahead of Yom Kippur, including an apology to listeners and an explanation of why we dip the apple in honey. The customs of Erev Yom Kippur are reviewed: kapparos (in Chabad, one chicken for each person and three for a pregnant woman), the distribution of lekach by the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe, immersion in a mikveh, symbolic lashes, tzedakah, saying Tehillim, blessing the children, and two meals. It is related that Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, the Rebbe’s father, who usually ate with one hand, ate on Erev Yom Kippur with both hands on the table. The program also includes an explanation from Parshas Haazinu of the need to set a living example before offering rebuke, the reason for reading the passage about forbidden relationships at Minchah before Neilah, and the first volume of the book series “Chabad in America.”
- 32423 Tishrei 5787 · 17:36An episode filmed after Simchas Torah: why, on Sukkos, the last of the Tishrei festivals, we say “the season of our rejoicing” three times; the custom of singing the “Kozak” niggun sung by the Frierdiker Rebbe; and parting from a friend with a point of halachah. A story is told of two chassidim who parted ways, one traveling from Germany to France, and agreed to follow the same daily schedule, from waking and going to the mikveh to studying Mishnah. The main part of the episode is a story from the Rebbe’s childhood about why the Torah begins with the letter beis: a gematria calculation in which “emes” equals nine and “sheker” equals six, and counting the letters of the alef-beis in groups of three starting from beis, always arriving at nine. The episode concludes with a discussion of the connection between the beis of Bereishis and “bayis” (home), and of carrying the festivals into the new year.
- 32529 Tishrei 5787 · 24:33A story about a yechidus in 1985 for a delegation of Klausenburg chassidim who came to ask the Rebbe for a blessing for the recovery of the Sanzer-Klausenburger Rebbe. The Rebbe first asked about his physical health, as was the Frierdiker Rebbe’s practice, expressed pleasure that he taught Rashi publicly, and mentioned the complaints directed at the Rebbe because his own classes seemed like a “cheder.” The Rebbe explained the reason for teaching Rashi publicly in light of “The new is forbidden by the Torah”: innovations in the world must be met with innovations in holiness, and studying the plain meaning, the lowest level, brings the Geulah into the world of action. The Rebbe also asked whether the Sanzer-Klausenburger Rebbe spoke before or after the Torah reading. The episode also mentions a sharply worded letter from the Rebbe to a teacher who wanted to leave teaching to serve as a rabbi.
- 3266 Cheshvan 5787 · 16:28Ahead of Parshas Lech Lecha: the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words that Parshas Noach is a “kalemutne” (gloomy) parsha, like Mar Cheshvan after the Tishrei festivals, while Parshas Lech Lecha opens with Avraham Avinu’s mission at age 75. Drawing on Likkutei Sichos, the episode discusses the idea that the Torah is a source of instruction, not a history book, and that every Jew is a shliach of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It includes the Rebbe’s reply to a Satmar chossid about kashrus and his response concerning the purpose of the life of a woman in a vegetative state, and explains why someone leaving yechidus becomes a shliach even though there is a Shulchan Aruch. It concludes with an excerpt from the Rebbe’s letter to Julius Stulman about his last meeting with the Frierdiker Rebbe, from the first volume of the book series Chabad in America.
- 32713 Cheshvan 5787 · 16:22A letter to the Rebbe from a young teacher, from the late 1970s or early 1980s, asking to leave teaching and open a Chabad House. The Rebbe replied in his own handwriting: “Who said a teacher isn’t a shliach?” He noted that he himself was a shliach of the Frierdiker Rebbe and taught Chumash and Rashi. The episode includes Rabbi Hodakov’s remarks on distinguishing the essential from the secondary in shlichus, based on the verse “How good are your tents, Yaakov, your dwellings, Yisroel,” and on the Kinus Hashluchim as a time for soul-searching, like Elul. It also includes remarks by Rabbi Avraham Korf, the head shliach in Florida, that a shliach must be a shliach at all hours of the day, based on the distinction between the roles of Yissachar and Zevulun.
- 32820 Cheshvan 5787 · 20:20For 20 Cheshvan, the birthday of the Rebbe Rashab: a two-page story handwritten by the Frierdiker Rebbe in 1944 for Rabbi Nissan Mindel, who also signed the printed copy. The story was written for Rabbi Mindel to tell at a weekly Tanach class for professionals given by Rabbi Elchonon Cowen, after the class had lost its vitality. It describes the Frierdiker Rebbe’s interrogation by the Cheka in Rostov in Tammuz 5681, during the year of mourning for his father. Three Cheka agents, two of them from the Yevsektsiya, came to take him away in the middle of davening. During the interrogation, he refused to speak any language other than Yiddish and told a story about the Rebbe Maharash recognizing a Jew in Kyiv. He answered the interrogators with analogies about a telescope and eating, illustrating that observing the mitzvos—tefillin, kashrus and Shabbos—comes before understanding. From this comes the lesson of “We will do and we will listen.”
- 32927 Cheshvan 5787 · 17:43Ahead of Parshas Chayei Sarah: A letter from a woman who asked the Rebbe to explain the blessing “Who has not made me a woman” in the morning blessings. She wrote that women feel like “second-class” people, watching from the sidelines as men make Kiddush and dance with the Torah scroll. No reply to her was found in the archive. Instead, a reply written by Rabbi Nissan Mindel in the Rebbe’s name to another woman is presented: Running a home and raising children require many skills, so the Torah exempted women from time-bound positive mitzvos, while a man recites the blessing for the opportunity to fulfill additional mitzvos. The episode also discusses the virtues of Chava and Sarah Imeinu and the three mitzvos of women, and presents a letter to the Rebbe suggesting that each Chabad nasi brought a different group closer: the Mitteler Rebbe brought householders closer; the Tzemach Tzedek, rabbis; the Rebbe Maharash, merchants; the Rebbe Rashab, students of Tomchei Temimim; the Frierdiker Rebbe, children; and the Rebbe—women.