The Rebbe’s View on Putting Stones in Kotel

Episode 177: "The Rebbe's View on Putting Stones in the Kotel"

Welcome to our weekly program, the inside story of Chabad in America through the Mindel archives. This week I want to mention that I got some emails, and since we have the Rebbe's English letters — I would say most of the Rebbe's English letters, thousands of letters — there are answers for everything. So they asked me a few questions.

One question was: is there any letter of the Rebbe addressing this — they have adult education classes, and anybody that calls, should they ask, "Are you Jewish or not Jewish?" Or maybe they shouldn't ask — maybe they're missionaries. Can anybody just come to the class, anybody that calls, without asking anything? Is there anything from the Rebbe, an answer for that? That was question number one.

Another person asked: when we work with people and bring them closer, and they become frum, and they live in a goyish neighborhood area — should we tell them to move to a more Jewish area, like Crown Heights or Boro Park, or in Chicago, or Cleveland, a Jewish area — or should they continue living where they are? The shliach writes that they have [unclear], but the people just became frum — should we tell them to move, or start a community with them? This was a question they asked.

Another question was: when we have the group, should we serve wine there? Because we know there's a problem with wine, [unclear].

One person asked me: they have a couple going to Rome for vacation — can they visit the Vatican? Can they visit the Pope? So they want to know — does the Rebbe, you know, answer everything — is there a letter about visiting the Pope?

Then there is the question about putting a stone into the Kotel — when a person goes to the Kotel, the Western Wall, can you put a stone into the Kotel?

These are a few questions I had, so I'm going to touch on them — I found the letters — and I'm going to read some of the answers. I'll start with the last one: can you put a carved stone into the Western Wall?

The letter says: "In reply to your writing about your desire to place a small carved stone into the Western Wall, my view is as follows: No doubt you know that each and every word and letter in the Torah is significant. Even in an ordinary book written by a human author, no word is insignificant — one would not expect repetition even in a book. How much more so in the Divine Torah. Yet, although words are used in the Torah sparingly, we find certain matters repeated, which obviously indicate their special importance."

The Rebbe says we do find in the Torah, even though every word is important, that the Torah repeats when Avraham Avinu sent Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzchak; the Torah repeats when the brothers returned; it repeats regarding the Mishkan, the garments of the Kohen Gadol — these matters are repeated. And the Rebbe says there is another thing that the Torah repeats, and from here we learn something out.

The Torah says that not one letter — even the smallest letter — is extra, or should be lost, or should be erased, no matter what letter it is in the Torah, whether it's a yud of Hashem — it doesn't matter. Now, there's an episode like this: one such matter is the injunction neither to add nor to detract from the words and commandments of the Torah. This is repeated twice — the Torah says twice, "do not add" — lo tosifu — and "do not detract" — lo tigra'u. Both are repeated twice.

Also significant is the order: namely, "do not add" comes first, and "do not detract" comes second. Why is that? It should have been the opposite. I mean, when the Torah is concerned that a person is not going to detract, maybe he'll want to add — lo tosifu — for sure not. Nevertheless the Torah mentions lo tosifu first and then lo tigra'u. At first glance, the transgression would seem much more serious if it involved detraction rather than addition, and logically the order in the said admonition should have been reversed.

Consequently, our commentaries explain this as follows: there is a smaller chance for anyone who knows and appreciates holiness to detract from anything holy — the smaller chance, he's not going to detract. On the other hand, because of a strong feeling for holiness, a person may wish to add something to it.

So the question is being asked: what is wrong with adding? We understand what's wrong with detracting, but what's wrong with adding to the Torah? The same commentaries explain that the Torah represents something of divine origin, and every aspect of it must not be tampered with — not only in a way that would diminish it, but also in a way that would add to it — since that would take away from its specific divine dimension.

To use a simple illustration: it would be like gilding the lily. You take a beautiful flower — it's beautiful by itself — and then you put gold around the flower. Does that make sense? Is it going to make it nicer? It's beautiful by itself; you can't make it nicer.

One of the things that I heard once is why Chabad does not decorate the sukkah. We have a sukkah, but we don't decorate it, because the sukkah itself is beautiful. You don't have to put beautiful things inside it in an effort to make it look even more beautiful than G-d created it.

And because a person may be moved by his natural desire to add, the injunction not to do so comes first.

So from the above — my position on the specific question which you raised will become obvious: the Wall has a sanctity of its own, which has been preserved for thousands of years, serving as the most sacred place for Jews to pray there. Consequently, it is quite understandable that it must not be diminished in any way. By the same token, however, and out of the same sense of piety and appreciation of the holy, nothing should be added to it. And I am sure the recipient, who is usually particularly sensitive, will easily appreciate the above; there is no need to elaborate further."

So now we know the answer, whether you can put a carved stone or not.

Now, I want to say another thing. There is a word I heard, and I saw it in one of the notes of Rabbi Mindel, that when Yitzchak blessed — after Eisav came back with the food, after Yaakov had already gotten the blessing — Eisav wanted a blessing too. So Yitzchak blessed him and said [Hebrew phrase, unclear] — "you added to his 613 [mitzvot], making it 614." When a person wants to advertise, when you start adding, then [unclear] — for the other, and the other answers I'll do another time.

But one thing I will do now is about the Pope — can a person visit the Pope? The Rebbe's answer is as follows: "With reference to your cousin, about whom you write in your letter — it is clear that her being in a place where there are few Jews, while on the other hand there are gentiles who are busy exercising their influence to gain converts, is a most undesirable situation for every one of us. Even tzaddikim say every morning in prayer, 'lead us not into temptation' — meaning, according to this, that a person should live..."

We had a question before about whether a person should live in a Jewish area in the first place — I think the Rambam says that a person should live in a Jewish area in the first place. So especially here, she's asking about living in a place where there are gentiles and they're trying to convert — that's not a place to live.

Now let's go to the Pope. "I must say I was greatly surprised that she writes to you about the benevolence of the gentiles in her environment. Does she not know of the terrible tragedy of the millions of Jews who were savagely put to death by the Germans and the courts, while the rest of the world, the gentiles, looked on with complete indifference? Even the last Pope, who could have saved many Jews by his oral intervention, refused to do so.

It is a well-known fact that when the Germans occupied Rome and the Jews were interned in concentration camps, the German commander hesitated to harm them, having been told that it would arouse the displeasure of the Vatican. They didn't harm them because they thought that the Vatican, the Pope, wouldn't like it. However, they checked personally with the Vatican — was this so? The Pope refused to confirm it, knowing full well what the denial would mean for those thousands of unfortunate Jews. Although he had been pleaded with to say just one good word on their behalf, as a direct result, thousands of Italian Jews were deported to the extermination camps.

This is all the more noteworthy, since the Pope knew well that his attitude would not remain a secret, and yet he could not find it in his heart to say a good word about the Jews. Despite efforts to misrepresent the facts, the evidence is irrefutable, as it was given by the very person who attempted to obtain the Pope's intervention on behalf of the Jews.

That a Jewish girl should be oblivious of this, and fall under the influence of this gentile environment, is beyond comprehension."

This is the Rebbe's answer as far as the Pope. So the people who wanted to know the answer — this is the answer. We shouldn't go.

Before I finish, I wanted to say one thing. There is another letter — the Rebbe was very, very, very emotional and upset — that a chossid, years ago, went to the Pope, and he sat next to the Pope, and they sang together. I don't know if he ate — it probably wasn't kosher — but this person wrote that there was nothing wrong with it, and the Rebbe answered a very, very sharp letter, and never wanted to answer this person again after he wrote that.

So we see how important this is — when you go visiting Rome, you should not go to the Pope. And also we see from here that a person should live in a Jewish environment.

In summation, next week we will continue our weekly program. Thank you.