“On Behalf of Mrs. Schneerson and Myself”

Historic Treasures — Episode 142: "On Behalf of Mrs. Schneerson and Myself"

Welcome to our weekly program, "The Inside Story of Chabad in America," through the Mindel Archives. Last week we read a letter from the Rebbe to someone who wrote about a person that needs a refuah, and the Rebbe was very much impressed that the person wrote about other people's problems — whether it's a refuah or a parnassa. So we read that letter about refuah. I want to take this letter now, and I just want to read three lines again, these three lines:

"Needless to say, I was quite impressed with your personal concern for the health of this person. In the present day and age, it is particularly heartwarming to see such concern of one Jew for another, to the extent of taking the trouble to write a letter about it."

So the Rebbe was very happy that people think about other people. We have many English letters, which I think I'm going to share with you, maybe in the future, about people asking about parnassa, people that don't have parnassa, or people that have problems from children. This shows ahavas Yisroel, and the Rebbe was very, very satisfied, and the Rebbe liked the idea that people asked and prayed for other people.

Now, speaking about health — Rabbi Mindel writes, because he took dictation, so he knows, that whenever the Rebbe wrote about health, he always combined health, livelihood, and offspring. These are three essential G-d-given gifts to enable a Jew to fulfill his or her mission in life.

Rabbi Mindel writes that originally, in the time of the Alter Rebbe, when a chossid would seek the Alter Rebbe's blessing, his guidance in general, it was all about ruchniyus, spiritual matters and growth. But before long, chassidim began to avail themselves to ask the Rebbe's advice about worldly problems also — health, livelihood, and the like. And this is how it has been with our Rebbe. Rabbi Mindel writes that during private audience, or through his personal correspondence, the Rebbe would give advice, brachos, in matters of health, sustenance, and children. And many times, when people asked about physical health, he always combined the physical and the spiritual — meaning the physical and spiritual health are connected: a healthy spirit benefits the body, and a healthy body, in turn, is necessary for our spiritual welfare, to fulfill our obligation in this world. He always combined ruchniyus and gashmiyus.

I'll give you an example. Let's say people had problems with children, or people couldn't have children — many times the Rebbe used to answer about taharas hamishpacha: are they careful in the hilchos niddah. These were answers to people that couldn't have children. And even the people that had children, when it came to that, they should be careful about taharas hamishpacha and learn the halachos of niddah. He used to say "kashrus" — this was a lot of his answers, about being careful in kashrus. Not all the time, but [often].

When it came to shalom bayis, where there were problems, many times the Rebbe answered: mezuzah — check the mezuzos. Now, in another place, the Rebbe said that "mezuzah" comes from — I mentioned the three words — the "mem" is forty, forty is Torah, because Moshe Rabbeinu, when he went to Har Sinai to get the Torah, was there for forty days. This goes on, Bnei Yisroel, where it says: when the wife sees that the husband has a share, the husband is interested in learning Torah, that brings shalom bayis. Also, sometimes the Rebbe said to the husband that he should learn with his wife on Shabbos — he has many letters like that — that this brings shalom bayis. Have oneg Shabbos, have guests, have a home like Avraham Avinu's. When you have that, then "Zeh Keili Ve'anveihu," then Hashem is a partner in your life. Many times he answered like that.

When it came to emunah — faith — people that had she'eilos, he answered many times "Challah." I have a lot of English letters: "Challah" — are you careful in Challah? To speed up a refuah, they wrote to the Rebbe that they wanted a refuah to come faster. The Rebbe says, did you pay the doctor, was the doctor paid? Meaning that the Rebbe always combined the gashmiyus and the ruchniyus.

Now I will read this very short letter about what the Rebbe wrote about the Rebbetzin's health. He writes like this — this is a letter to a doctor:

"On behalf of Mrs. Schneerson and myself, I wish to express to you, also in writing, our appreciation of your kind attention in connection with Mrs. Schneerson's mishap and her medical treatment. There is no need to emphasize to you how much the doctor's personal interest and attention means to the patient, and how important it is also in the healing process."

The Rebbe many times answered, "A friend in need is a friend indeed" — it is reassuring to know that should she require further attention, you will respond just as kindly as in the past.

Now, the Rebbe says: "I do not know what your professional fee is in this case, so I am taking the liberty of enclosing my check, in the expectation that if it is inadequate, you will have your secretary call my office so I can rectify it."

And then the Rebbe — he wanted to make sure that the doctor gets paid, meaning to speed the refuah you have to make sure the doctor gets paid. This is how the Rebbe, more or less, always combined [the physical and the spiritual] — and I'll tell you soon a personal story about that, an amazing story.

Now, another letter here — he writes to somebody, and this is the Rebbe's answer, through [the woman's] husband — she wrote to the Rebbe that her husband cannot sleep at night. They went to doctors, and he can't fall asleep; sometimes he's up all night, sometimes he wakes up after a couple of hours, he doesn't sleep, and the whole day, she says, he's not himself.

So the Rebbe answered like this: also, you should check the mezuzos. He should have a mezuzah next to his bed, besides the mezuzah on the door that we know. Besides that, there should be a mezuzah, and on the mezuzah you should put a kli [case] — which I don't want to go into, you have to cover the mezuzah — but there should be a mezuzah. That's what the Rebbe answered, meaning the sleeping has to do with that.

And the Rebbe writes here, with his own handwriting, a whole explanation, that he heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe, that by the Nesi'im they used to have a note — especially by the Rebbe Maharash — where it says "Shivisi Hashem L'negdi Tamid" ["I have set Hashem before me always"], that it should be near the bed. And the Rebbe is almost sure that the Frierdiker Rebbe had the mezuzah by his bed. And then the Rebbe goes into why there's supposed to be a kli [covering it] — which I don't want to go into. So this shows how much the Rebbe connected that to physical health.

Now, I would say that nowadays, since we can't ask the Rebbe, we don't know exactly what to do, so we have to try to think what the Rebbe would do in such cases. If you read the English letters, or also the Igros Kodesh, the Hebrew letters, there are answers for everything — people have certain issues — you can always go and see what the Rebbe would have answered.

Now I want to share with you also a personal story, how the Rebbe connected spiritual with physical. In the '80s, my wife gave birth to twins. She lost a lot of blood, she was hemorrhaging, and they couldn't stop the blood. The doctor — this was a lady doctor — had to sit on her to stop the bleeding, to save her. The nurses were all around the bed, and my wife was almost in a coma. She heard the nurses talking, that she will not make it. It was a terrible time — she was in sakanah [danger].

My father-in-law, Rabbi Mindel, happened to walk into the hospital then, and he saw the doctor sitting on her, nurses all around, and the nurses saying she might not make it. He ran to the Rebbe. Now, usually, whoever knew Rabbi Mindel knew that he would never go in to see the Rebbe personally — he would have to ask for a yechidus. He also used to write things down, like everybody else, when he took dictation — that was his work, that he worked with — but he never bothered the Rebbe with personal things, he was like that. But here, he saw what was happening, he ran to the Rebbe, he knocked on the door, the Rebbe opened up the door, he came in, and he told the Rebbe what he saw.

So the Rebbe opened up his drawer, and with his hand he grabbed a lot of nickels, he took the nickels, and he said, "Give it to her." And then the Rebbe said — since she was one of the few ladies that started the Chabad cookbook years ago, before the Chabad cookbook [was published] — she should see, first of all, if the hospital has a kosher kitchen. That's what he said. [Unclear] — he comes in, and right away the Rebbe looks into the ruchniyus, and this is what Hashem has shown us.

So we see over here how the gashmiyus and the ruchniyus are always [combined]. Sometimes things happen which are not the way it's supposed to be — always look into [the Rebbe's] opinion, look at what you can do. But you can look in the Igros and the English letters — the Rebbe's letters have a lot of answers for many questions that people have, so we have to try to see how the Rebbe would answer on certain things.

Now, it's getting closer to the month of Elul, and Elul is the time to check mezuzos and check tefillin — that's a thing that everybody should do. This should help for everything, and Hashem [should help]. Next week we will continue our weekly program. Thank you.