The Letter Sent to the Rebbe 2 Weeks After Yud Shvat 5710

Welcome to our weekly Historic Treasures program. Today we are discussing the year [5710] – this year it falls out next week, Yud Shevat. On that holy Shabbos, at 8:00 in the morning, the Frierdiker Rebbe returned his soul to the Creator, and the entire Chabad world was suddenly thrown into darkness and confusion.

So immediately after Shabbos – this is from Rabbi Mindel's notes – a telegram was sent out all over the world, and telegrams poured in from the world after people heard the news. He writes that they came from Europe, South Africa, Australia, and so on; everyone offered condolences.

There was a Rav [name unclear] who was the father-in-law of Sholom [?], an elderly man who had learned in [Lodz – unclear]. He also sent a telegram to the whole world; he was very close to the Rebbe. But his telegram was slightly different than the regular condolence telegrams, because he ended it with "Hashem should comfort us with…" and then the Rebbe's name – meaning he had already, at that point, hinted his opinion that the Rebbe should step in and fill the gap left by the Frierdiker Rebbe.

Now, Sholom, his son-in-law, worked together with the Rashag and knew the Rebbe very, very well. So he, together with his father-in-law, wanted – even before the sheloshim – that it should be announced that the Rebbe is the Rebbe. But for other reasons it didn't happen at that time. Still, they felt very strongly about it.

Two weeks later, after the passing of the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rav wrote a letter to the Rebbe. I will show you the original, handwritten letter – a beautiful handwriting – and he sent a copy to Rabbi Mindel, who was in England. He had wanted to write this letter right after the passing, as I just said, but a Rav in Manchester told him to wait for Rabbi Dubov – that's a separate matter.

So now I'm going to read it to you and show you, first of all, the letter that he wrote to the Rebbe. This was written two to three weeks after Yud Shevat. He had wanted to write it right away, and you'll see why he didn't. I'm going to read this in English – I translated it – and you can see the Hebrew as well.

**The Letter**

Thursday, Parshas Mishpatim – "Hinei anochi sholeach malach lefanecha lishmorcha baderech" ("Behold, I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way") – the 29th of Shevat, may it be a year of salvation, 5710.

To the Honorable Rebbe, the tremendous gaon, a link in the great chain of our Rebbeim's family, his honor Rabbeinu [?] Shlita:

Behold, our spirit has been broken and has fallen tremendously ever since the passing of [the Frierdiker Rebbe]. His holiness was equivalent to that of a [tzaddik] from the time of the Alter Rebbe until the passing of our Rebbe, upon whom it can justly be said, "the foundation of the world was he" – for he was the sixth Rebbe of Chabad, corresponding to the sixth attribute, Yesod. He truly built up the house of Israel worldwide, spreading and strengthening proper Jewish education, and supporting the war refugees spiritually and physically. Who can describe the great and holy work that he accomplished – this is aside from his wisdom and advice, through which he guided those of all walks of life who consulted him.

Now that that tzaddik has passed on, and he has departed from the earth, there is the possibility, G-d forbid, of the destruction of the entire Chabad movement. There is no comforter for it, to comfort it, by ensuring that the chain of Chabad Rebbeim and the chain of the holy Schneersohn name is not broken, thus not desecrating G-d's name.

We find in the Medrash that the Holy One Blessed Be He traveled a distance of five hundred years in order to make Himself a name, and we are destroying the name that we already have. We are too distressed to watch this happen.

It is written, "the comforter to restore my soul is far from me" – implying that we have a comforter, but he is removed from us, in the sense that he refuses to continue these two chains, to ensure that they do not break, because he is too humble – he claims he is unworthy of this position. Moreover, he claims he has no empowerment from the Rebbe to do so.

This is what he said. Therefore we proclaim: according to our understanding, you are worthy, and it is incumbent upon you to shoulder this position. As to your claim that you were not empowered by the Rebbe to do so, we answer the following: I, whose name implies the attribute of severity and strength, and who have reached the age of eighty, have gathered the strength to be the first in the Chabad movement to give you the power and strength – which you can consider equivalent to the Rebbe's own empowerment – to place upon your head the royal crown, the title Admor, enabling you, with G-d's help, to draw down the seventh attribute, Malchus – the crown of royalty of the Chabad Rebbeim – until the coming of Moshiach, may it be speedily in our days.

There is nothing which is not hinted at in the Torah. We can find reference to all of the above – just like the revelation of Moshiach, whose [lineage] descends from Lot [?], Moshiach being his descendant – so too the revelation of our Moshiach, G-d's anointed, is hinted at in the verse where we read the word "vayitmahmah" – "and he delayed" – and the subsequent words, "and the man took hold of his hand," implying that you are delaying the continuation of the chain of the Rebbeim, claiming that you are unworthy and that you do not have the empowerment to do so. Therefore it is stated, "and the man took hold of his hand" – we are hereby empowering you, and you can now accept the mantle of being called Rebbe, thus continuing the chain.

This is also hinted at by another allusion, in the words, "And he said, 'Oh Lord, the G-d…'" – for when you become Rebbe, you will say words of the Living G-d, and you will be a source of living waters for the entire world, and for all of the Jewish people, physically and spiritually, for scholars and laymen alike, with G-d's help.

**Postscript to his son-in-law**

To my son-in-law, Sholom: I wanted to write the above to the Rebbe immediately after the passing of the Frierdiker Rebbe. However, the Rav in England told me I must wait for the return of Rabbi Dubov from the USA. When Rabbi Dubov arrived, I planned on sending the letter straight to the Rashag; however, Rabbi Dubov traveled to London, and your mother did not allow me to travel – the Rav again withheld me from sending this letter until the return of Rabbi Dubov. With the conclusion of the sheloshim, therefore, for now I am sending you this letter, and I will send one to the Rashag after Shabbos, please G-d.

Due to lack of time I am writing briefly, and I do not have time to reply to your precious letter that I have just received. I have also just received a public letter from the Rebbetzin – that's the Rebbetzin – and [the Rebbe's/Rav's] son [?]. Please G-d, I will reply to the letter after Shabbos.

**Closing Remarks**

So here we see – this is a letter that he sent to the Rashag – how much he wanted this, because at that time they didn't know yet, but he was very strong [in his conviction] that the Rebbe is the Rebbe. He wanted even to announce it to everybody, even before the sheloshim, but it didn't happen. Next week I will continue, with more from Rabbi Mindel's notes, what happened after that. Thank you.