The Letter, Press Release and Camera From Yud Shvat

Transcript

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel Archives. The last two weeks we spoke about some of the interesting events of the Frierdiker Rebbe. Last week we spoke about Chicago, what he was doing in Chicago, about the manuscripts that he was holding — we always spoke about them — but [Rav ?] of Nemtsov [?] wrote to the Frierdiker Rebbe that he should accept the nesius. I think it would be a good idea before this program to listen to the other two programs.

But today I want to speak about, and read to you about, the Ohel. So many are familiar with the Rebbe's Ohel — people come there, people ask for brochos — and I want to share with you the beginning, how the Ohel started.

So I want to read over here a letter that was written by Harav Shmuel Levitin [?], Harav Mordechai [?], Harav Meir Ashkenazi [?], Harav [?] Binyaminson [?], Harav Yisrael Jacobson [?], Harav Avraham [?] Kosnovski [?], and others [?] — this was written, and I'm sure some people probably saw it, and [unclear], and they wrote this letter. This letter is written in Hebrew.

[The speaker reads from the Hebrew letter — much of this is unclear in the recording] ... that the time had come now to build an Ohel. So they started to speak about building the Ohel. This was about six or seven months after Yud Shevat [1950]. And then they write over here that — it wasn't accomplished, it was destroyed [?] — but it's [said in the letter] that it's a mitzvah to build an Ohel at the kever of a tzaddik, and that the resting place of tzaddikim is a makom kadosh, a holy and pure place. [Unclear passage] — and therefore the tefillos said there are accepted more, and [people] go to the kever to daven there faster, and they request that it should be good, and not only the people who knew the tzaddik when he was alive in this world, but also people who did not know him but believe in him, have a connection to him — that, as is known, a tzaddik [after his passing continues to] intercede for us. So this was the beginning — this was the Ohel, this is what was written then, and so the Ohel began.

I have here, after this — they didn't finish it, it was much later, which we'll see probably soon.

Excuse me — now I want to read a letter that the committee of Anash was to deliver to the Rebbe, but they gave it to the newspaper, in 1951. This was three weeks before Yud Shevat, the hilula.

This is what they gave to the paper: "A committee of Lubavitcher Chassidim visited our newsroom yesterday to impart the news that the Chabad organization of America and the world has appointed Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, son-in-law of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as the successor to the Lubavitcher Rebbe in the capacity of Nasi and leader of Chabad, continuing the chain of the Chabad dynasty dating back to [the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman] of Liadi. The committee included" — who was the committee? Harav Meir Ashkenazi, he was the former chief rabbi of Shanghai and now in New York; Rabbi Aharon Kalinosky [?], the rabbi at B'nai [?] of Maplewood Park [?]; and [Rav Shalom Ferrari ?], the [shamash?] — these three people took care of the committee's declaration of devoted connection. This is the committee.

Now, we mentioned the Kapishnitzer Rav there, so that reminds me of something. I know that there was an episode — I think the Rebbe mentioned it himself, but he didn't give names, but that's what I heard — that the Rebbe was sitting with [someone], the Kapishnitzer Rav was also there, and there was a chossid, and the chossid said the phrase that "the Rebbe is Moshiach" — and I'm sorry, the chossid himself said that the Rebbe is Moshiach — so [the other person] got very upset, and he objected, saying, "How can we speak like this, others will hear it being said." So the Kapishnitzer Rav, who was a holy man, very calm, accepted it. He said, "Sit down, relax — are you Moshiach? This is for sure — that you're not Moshiach, we all know. I know I'm not Moshiach — what do you care if he's Moshiach?"

This is the Kapishnitzer Rav. I remember the Kapishnitzer Rav — I saw him once, at a simcha — Dr. Sternberg's wife is a granddaughter [?] of the Kapishnitzer Rav. I was at that simcha — I was a bochur then. And I remember a Shabbos — maybe two Shabbosim after the Rebbe had spoken about the issur of drinking mashke before [age] forty — and the Rebbe had said that if you drink vodka you can [harm yourself], that it causes suffering and could be mazik, and this was the Rebbe's position, that if you drink mashke you shouldn't — something like that. [The Kapishnitzer Rav] was very upset about this — this was after the farbrengen — and that's when I saw the Kapishnitzer Rav.

In any case, by the way, we're speaking of mashke — I don't know... I know that everything we do and everything we see, there's a hora'ah we should learn from, and we should follow it. And when it comes to mashke, the Rebbe was very strongly against mashke [before forty], and a lot of people, I see, drink mashke under forty and they're not listening. I don't know why this didn't develop, I don't know what happened. But anyway, this is what I [saw], and I won't mention [more about] mashke now.

The committee, which represented Chabad Chassidim of the land, reported that last Tuesday evening, the 24th of Teves, at the Ohel of [the Alter Rebbe], Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chassidus, the committee's declaration of devoted connection, signed by the Chassidim, was presented to the new Rebbe. Three weeks before the official inauguration day, which will take place on the first yahrzeit of the late Rebbe, on Wednesday the 10th of Shevat, the Chassidim of the United States and Canada will gather at a huge farbrengen, joining delegations coming from the Holy Land, England, France, and other places. A gathering of Chabad Chassidim took place a number of months back, at which time they accepted the leadership of the new Rebbe and composed this declaration of devoted connection, which was sent to New York. The newly inaugurated Rebbe comes from the Chabad dynasty, the Rebbe of Rebbes, and is considered one of the great leaders of our time, known for his outstanding scholarship in both nigleh and in Kabbalah.

So this was the letter that was sent to the newspaper — I think it was the Morgen Journal.

Now I want to read [about] the inauguration — this was the Yud Shevat, the huge farbrengen, and this was written up. It says "the committee," but I think Rabbi Mindel wrote this in English, and I will read it. This was written after the farbrengen.

Before we read the letter, I just want to mention — I have over here a camera, a video camera, that Rabbi Mindel took of the first farbrengen, the first year. Now, in those years, in the fifties and in the sixties, the Rebbe did not want people to take pictures of him, and as a matter of fact, there were times he even said to take away the cameras. But Rabbi Mindel was standing in the back at that farbrengen, and the Rebbe didn't mind him taking pictures. So here I want to show you — this is the camera, this is the video camera, from that farbrengen of Yud Shevat.

Now, the letter that was written about the inauguration — the inauguration of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to succeed his father-in-law, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn — took place at a solemn and impressive assembly on Wednesday, January 17th, 1951, the tenth of Shevat, the first yahrzeit of the deceased Lubavitcher Rebbe. The occasion was attended by hundreds of rabbinical and lay delegates from all parts of the States and Canada, and from overseas, who came to 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York, the world headquarters of the Lubavitcher movement, for the historic event. Numerous telegrams, cables, and letters were received from rabbanim and leaders in all parts of the world, and from followers and well-wishers everywhere. Earlier in the day a moving memorial service took place at the holy resting place of the deceased Rebbe, where the Ohel is in the course of construction — so, as we read before, apparently they still hadn't finished making the Ohel the first year.

In his address — a discourse which lasted for three hours and frequently moved the audience to tears — the newly acclaimed Lubavitcher Rebbe eulogized the self-sacrificing and inspiring leadership of his saintly father-in-law, his great predecessor. He stressed that Chabad was dedicated to our entire people, and manifested itself everywhere in action, in deeds, and in far-reaching accomplishments, always impartial and above party politics. The Lubavitcher movement was dedicated to the strengthening of traditional Judaism, the dissemination of learning, the building of culture and education, and the improvement of the material and spiritual welfare of our people. The three loves — love of God, love of Torah, love of Israel — form the cornerstone of their ramified worldwide activities, which are carried out with determination, fearlessness, and self-sacrifice. World Jewry gratefully recognized the dynamic and creative forces of the Chabad movement, which enjoys universal confidence and influence, stressing the grave responsibility resting upon every Jew, irrespective of affiliation. Rabbi Menachem Schneerson pointed out that the Chabad movement offers an opportunity for all to share in its service to our people.

The inauguration culminated in a brilliant Chassidic ma'amar by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, followed by the traditional Chassidic niggun of the founder of the Lubavitcher dynasty, [the Alter Rebbe] of Liadi, of whom the Rebbe is the seventh generation. And right before the ma'amar, a rabbi got up before [the Rebbe began], and in such a way, and then we see a moment that [the Rebbe] told him to sit down — and that's when the Rebbe began to say the ma'amar, Basi L'Gani.

Now I wanted to tell a story — I was speaking about the first farbrengen, so I want to tell a story from the sixties about a different farbrengen. This story [took place] in 1962 — I think '62 or maybe '63 — a chossid came from Stolin [?], [name heard as] Sheral Brook Oliver Shoulder [?], he was a [Stoliner ?] chossid. It was his first time coming to the Rebbe, and he came to 770. Now, you know that every Rebbe has his own hanhagah of farbrenging — remember, everybody has a different way of farbrenging. The [Stoliner] Rebbe's farbrengen was by a table, people sitting around, but ours was completely different — there's singing, and it represents something different. So he was sitting in the back during the farbrengen, and he said to himself, "This is not the way I'm used to farbrenging — I'm used to the way the [Stoliner Rebbe] farbrengs" — so he wanted to walk out. But he couldn't walk out while the Rebbe was talking — the Rebbe spoke for an hour — so he was waiting until the Rebbe finished, and then he would walk out. As soon as the Rebbe finished that sicha, the Rebbe turned around toward him and said [something], and he thought, "You don't like — you don't like what I said?" He [the chossid] responded [in effect], "If he knows my thoughts, I have to stay." This is a lesson for myself, derived from when he farbrenged with us.

Since today is my [birthday? — unclear], and it's a [bar mitzvah/young occasion? — unclear], I want to take the opportunity to wish all the older listeners — they should get a brocha, we should all have a long life, it should be with health and nachas. And I know that some of my talmidim, whom I used to teach in yeshiva in Brooklyn — some of my talmidim, in [Monsey? — unclear], as I'm sure they're listening to my program — I want to give them also a brocha, that they should continue learning Nigleh and that they should also learn Seder [?]. And actually I want to give a bigger brocha.

I once heard — I think I mentioned it once — from [Rav Nachum ? "Nash customer"], he used to be the president of the Young Israel of the United States, he lived in Long Beach. He once told me that he walked in to the Rebbe for yechidus, and he said to the Rebbe, "Rebbe, please give me a short brocha — I don't want — I know you're such a busy man, I don't want a whole brocha, give me a short brocha." So the Rebbe smiled and said, "I have a meshugas — when I give a brocha, I don't give a short one, I give a full brocha."

So, since it's my [birthday? — unclear], I'm giving everybody a big brocha — that everybody, whatever they need, Hashem should fulfill it, and it should be [with continued growth]. And besides that, I want to establish that [the camera / footage from the Ohel — unclear] should come to be made available for a new generation [?].