The Last Letters of the Rebbe Rayatz

The Last Letters of the Rebbe Rayatz

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel archives. Since this year is the 70th year since the histalkus of the Frierdiker Rebbe, we are also entering the 70th year of the nesius, the leadership, of our Rebbe. B'poel, officially, the Rebbe became Rebbe a year later, but the truth of the matter is that [unclear] the Rebbe became Rebbe right away — [unclear] — but right away, so to speak, the sun started to shine.

Next week, in our weekly Thursday night program, we will explain why the Rebbe took the nesius a year later — why did he hesitate? He hesitated a whole year until he took it on. But the fact remains that the Rebbe's nesius is now 70 years. So today I want to mention a few interesting events about the Frierdiker Rebbe from the year 1949–1950, which I found in Rabbi Mindel's archives. Some people probably know, some people probably don't know, but even if they do, it won't hurt to listen again.

I found out — and he explains — that all the letters that the Frierdiker Rebbe signed all these years are more or less the same signature: his name, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn. This is how he always signed, the regular way that we always find. For example, I have over here samples of the Frierdiker Rebbe's signature — this is original. Yosef Yitzchok — sometimes he signed it a little bit bigger, sometimes smaller, and all this is signed over here. These are the Frierdiker Rebbe's letters that Rabbi Mindel also has. This is about the memoirs that the Frierdiker Rebbe asked him to write, and he signed all these letters. So all these are samples of the way the Frierdiker Rebbe signed.

The last year before his histalkus, the Frierdiker Rebbe signed his name a little differently, and this is very interesting: he put a lot of ink into the yud of Yitzchok Yosef — [unclear], he even put it under the yud. But mostly he emphasized it on the Yitzchok — he emphasized the yud. This was the case the entire year, every letter that was signed up until the histalkus, was with the yud, with a lot of ink.

Now I would say — maybe there's a reason for this. If we look at these letters, he emphasized the yud in every single letter. I found more letters like that, where every one he signed with that same emphasis on the yud. Now I would say that's because maybe it's a hint — since his name is Yosef Yitzchok, and he was [unclear], and it also says that the tenth is holy — so maybe this is the reason. I don't know, but these are the letters that I found, where he emphasized the yud.

I also have a letter over here — the Frierdiker Rebbe passed away, his histalkus was, at a quarter to eight in the morning. This letter — but two days before the histalkus he signed a letter, and this is the letter signed two days before. I think this probably is the last letter, or maybe there is another one — I think Rabbi Dubov got married around then, and I think it was the last letter he ever signed, but I'm not sure. But this one — you can see the yud again — is also with a lot of ink. This is the way the Frierdiker Rebbe signed in the last year, from one Yud Shvat until the next Yud Shvat, when he passed away.

Another thing which I want to share with you is the citizenship papers, the citizenship ceremony. I know that [someone] showed a video of the Frierdiker Rebbe's citizenship ceremony, and that's written up — I have over here, from the newspaper, the dispatch — this was Tuesday, March 22nd, 1949. The way the citizenship ceremony was filmed — they came to the Frierdiker Rebbe. There was Judge Leo Rayfiel, and there was Philip Kleinfeld — it was all written up. And the video was already shown, but the video is superficial — it's a beautiful video, but what's behind the citizenship — this was a very, very [unclear] occasion.

The Frierdiker Rebbe wrote to Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and here is the letter — all these pages. This is not a regular page, it's a little bit heavier paper. This is the Frierdiker Rebbe's own writing — he wrote all these pages, to Rabbi Mindel. This was dated the 3rd of [unclear], seven months before [the histalkus].

What did he write here? Certain things he wrote that we cannot say, but I will tell you things that it does say over here — I don't think anybody knows this, because this was given to Rabbi Mindel. He writes that the Frierdiker Rebbe wants only a few people to be at the ceremony for the US citizenship. He names them: he wanted the mashpia Rabbi Kazarnovsky [?], Rabbi Mentlik [?], and Rabbi Mindel — that's all, nobody else is allowed to be inside. Of course the judge — maybe there were other people outside, but inside, nobody he didn't want.

Then he writes names that should definitely not be there at the ceremony. The Frierdiker Rebbe writes — this is in Yiddish — that if you had already made an appointment for the citizenship ceremony and you had invited those other people whom the Frierdiker Rebbe didn't want there, you have to change the date and make a different appointment. That's how particular it was. This is [unclear] regarding the whole citizenship matter, and why he came to America in 1940 and waited until seven months before his histalkus to become a citizen — there is a reason for that also. So this is the letter I have about this US citizenship.

Now I want to share with you something else. The Frierdiker Rebbe always had a suitcase with him, wherever he traveled, except when he traveled to Otwock in the [1920s/1930s] — then [that was like their home]. The suitcase held manuscripts — he always kept the manuscripts with him.

I mentioned already a few months ago in my program — maybe I'll mention it again — that when the Frierdiker Rebbe left illegally and took a plane, there was a plane that went from Riga to Sweden, and he took with him eleven people on that plane — a very small plane. The plane had probably seventeen or eighteen seats, and he had eleven people with him. It was the Frierdiker Rebbe and his personal family — [unclear names], his mother Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, Manya, [Chaim] Lieberman [?], Rabbi Mindel — he was there, eleven. The Frierdiker Rebbe held this suitcase with the manuscripts on his lap — he did not leave it, he didn't let go of those manuscripts. And he said, "We cannot leave until we fill up the plane" — the plane had another six or seven seats empty. This was the last plane before the war — he didn't want to leave anybody behind. If there was room — no other plane came out after that — they had to fill up the plane, and then they went to Sweden, and from there to America. The manuscripts were always with him.

Now, I saw in the archives, and I heard once from Rabbi Weinberg [?], olov hasholom, that in Warsaw the Frierdiker Rebbe went somewhere — he was holding the suitcase in one hand and the Tallis and Tefillin in the other hand, and it was, I guess, too hard for him, so he asked somebody, "Can you please hold my Tallis and Tefillin?" So he gave the Tallis and Tefillin to somebody to hold, but the manuscripts he held himself in his hand. It so happened, I heard it from Rabbi Weinberg [?], that the Tallis and Tefillin got lost somewhere — I don't know if it was found later or not, but it was lost. But the manuscripts he kept with him.

Years later, the Rebbe — this was after [the histalkus] — called over Rabbi Avraham Lieberman [?] and his wife Chaya Lieberman [?], that the Rebbe was worried, the Rebbe wanted to know where the Baal Shem Tov's siddur was, and he should try to see what he could do. It took him a while, and he found the Baal Shem Tov's siddur in that suitcase that was in the apartment upstairs. He found the siddur, and he told this to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe was very relieved.

Now, when the Frierdiker Rebbe went to Chicago, at the time of Tosh'ba [unclear], he also carried that suitcase. When he went to Chicago, he asked Rabbi Mindel to come with him — he traveled with him, not [others]. So some things — there's more detail about Chicago, some things are written about Chicago, some things are not even written there, which are in Rabbi Mindel's archives. Because Rabbi Mindel went with him, Rabbi Mindel got a telegram that his [unclear relation] passed away, so he had to tell the Frierdiker Rebbe this news while they were in Chicago. So the Frierdiker Rebbe then went back, they took a train back, and there — he was holding the manuscripts with him.

Now here is a picture of Rabbi Lieberman [?] and his wife [?] — Rabbi Lieberman [?] passed away [unclear year], and Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah passed away [unclear date]. And this is — Manya gave me this picture. Manya was the nurse of — she was the nurse of the Frierdiker Rebbe's mother. In 1939, she left illegally. She was not married then, and the Frierdiker Rebbe asked her to come with him to America, so she came to America with him, to be the nurse of Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, the Frierdiker Rebbe's mother. And when she became the nurse of his mother, she took care of things — she was like a house person, in other words, she lived upstairs. Any time that the Frierdiker Rebbe bought presents for his daughters, for Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and Chana, the Frierdiker Rebbe also brought a present for Manya — Manya was more like part of the family.

And we want to speak about Manya — she was the one; a week before the histalkus, the Frierdiker Rebbe told her, "I have a coat and I don't need the coat anymore, and I want to give it to you as a present." So the coat — I think we showed it once on this program — the coat that she gave as a present, and then I had to give it to the Rebbe because I didn't want to hold onto it — hopefully we already spoke about that. So this is Manya. Now, that coat that she gave — I think the coat that the Frierdiker Rebbe is wearing here in this picture is the coat that was later given to her.

Now I want to read something over here that was written — I don't know exactly when this was written, this was written about the Frierdiker Rebbe, maybe it was right after the histalkus:

"The Frierdiker Rebbe's activities and leadership spanned the first fifty years of the twentieth century, first in Europe, Soviet Union and Poland, and then for the last ten years in the USA. During his early years he served Jewish causes under the direction of his father, the Rebbe of Chabad. He headed the newly founded Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim while yet in his teens, and was sent on numerous missions for Jewish causes by and on behalf of his father, often at great personal risk.

When he took over the leadership of Chabad, his activities on behalf of Jews and Judaism, in addition to the dissemination of Chassidus, took on momentum and urgency, in order to counteract the ever-growing, brutal hand of the Communists. All this he did with tremendous self-sacrifice, which in turn inspired countless Jews during these very trying times, and infused them with strength and devotion to Torah, mitzvos, Jews and Judaism. Jews and Judaism survived under Communist rule, in great measure, due to the Frierdiker Rebbe's unwavering and uncompromising efforts.

Upon his arrival to the shores of America at the beginning of World War II, the Frierdiker Rebbe, with his holy vision, laid the foundation of Chabad activities in this land of the free — activities that would soon spread, with blessed results, to the north, south, east and west, and would permeate the world with the knowledge of G-d through the light of Chassidus."

And this is what's written, I guess, right after [the histalkus], which I found in the archives.

Here is a telegram — this is the original telegram — from after the histalkus, [unclear content], about the first Yud Shvat. First he wrote — he gave it to my father-in-law [Rabbi Mindel]. The original paper, he wrote on this paper, and then he made it into a telegram, and then [the new Rebbe] wrote on the telegram [unclear content about the histalkus of the Tzadik and brachos], and the Rebbe signed, "Menachem Schneerson" — that there was, there was, there was [unclear].

So these are a few of the things that I saw in Rabbi Mindel's archives. There is so much to speak about regarding the Frierdiker Rebbe, there are many, many things, but since there is no time for that — so at least we have something before the 70th year of Yud Shvat. And I just want to give a bracha — certainly — that we should merit together the geula ha'amitis through Moshiach, immediately. Next week we will continue about the inauguration of our Rebbe.