The Rebbe’s Intriguing Letter to a Catholic Priest

The Inside Story of Chabad in America Through the Mindel Archives — Episode 101

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America Through the Mindel Archives. This week is Parshas Noach, and this reminds me how the Rebbe was very passionate about Sheva Mitzvos, the Seven Laws of Bnei Noach. As a matter of fact, I'm going to read you soon just a small paragraph that the Rebbe wrote, that if they would keep the Sheva Mitzvos we wouldn't have had a Holocaust. He wrote it in his own handwriting, because the Rebbe was — in other words — passionate about many, many things.

I mean, there was talk about a lot of things, but he spent time on Russian Jews, he spent time on Mihu Yehudi — Who Is a Jew — also Neshek after the Six Day War. He also spoke about the liberated lands — that's what it used to be called; you didn't call it Shtachim, you called it the Liberated Lands. Also praying in public school, moments of silence. And also the last thing he spoke about — the last farbrengen — was about [unclear]. So everything in this world had to be done before Gimmel Tammuz.

The Rebbe, as we know — not only as we once spoke about, in the past we already spoke about the Noahide laws, the courts of law — the Rebbe asked Rabbi Mindel, when he went to him, [to take on a project], and he asked him to make sure, but he had no time. He had no time: first of all, my mother-in-law, his wife, was very sick, and he had to take care of her. The Rebbe gave him then a lot of assignments. He went to different countries. You know, when he wrote books — he wrote Talks and Tales, he wrote the Igeres HaKodesh [commentary], he wrote in English — he had a lot of work, he was very busy, and he's only a human being, so he said, "I just don't have time, I can't." So, [the Rebbe] never said that you should push yourself beyond your limits.

So, yes — I mentioned yesterday that a couple wrote to me, and they started to do the sefer. They based it on the Shulchan Aruch. There was — they used — there was a Rav, a big Rav in Williamsburg; his name was [Oliver Sir?] — I think he started to write the sefer, so I think they based it on him. I'm not sure exactly how it went, but I have it right here — what he wrote and what they wrote.

So what happened: they gave it — the sefer author wrote it, and they gave it to the Rebbe. The Rebbe was holding it in his room for a long time, and then he gave it to Rabbi Mindel, and that's it. I didn't hear anything from Rabbi Mindel about that; I just found it in my archives from Rabbi Mindel. I had no instructions from Rabbi Mindel, and I don't know what we should do — whether we should give it out, whether we should print it, or whether we should not print it. I don't know. But the Rebbe — now, what is the doubt — the question is whether we should print this or we should not.

So I'll tell you — I'm going to read you some of what he wrote. He started to write a sefer, and he wrote to Rabbi Mindel, and Rabbi Mindel showed this letter to the Rebbe. I'll read you his letter, but first let me read what the Rebbe answered him. So the Rebbe answered them like this about printing the sefer: "I received your letter... it's a big responsibility to do it." So he got this answer.

I'll read you soon what he wrote. Before this — he wrote not only one letter but quite a few, and each time it was a little different answer. The Rebbe answered them: if we can find someone with enough experience who can do it in a way that it shouldn't antagonize, then maybe it's better not to give it out — a contrast, a shock, something like that. So that answer is not a positive answer. So I don't know.

Even though the one who started to write the sefer felt that the Rebbe gave him a more positive answer, it didn't seem so to me. I don't know what to do. Of course, if there would be somebody here who knew — I mean, I should have asked Rabbi Groner; Rabbi Groner would have probably answered me, told me exactly what it means — or Rabbi Mindel, of course — but I just don't know who to ask today. So with the material lying here, I didn't do anything with it.

So let me just read what this person wrote to Rabbi Mindel, since the Rebbe had answered this letter. This letter goes like this: "HaGaon Rav Nissan Mindel has instructed me to consult with Rabbonim, as I just read. [He] persists in reminding me that, as far as he's concerned, if this means single individuals who are both Rabbanim and Mumchim, he was referring above all to you." That means that the only one he ever meant was that Rabbi Mindel is the one you have to consult with. In any case, [the letter continues]: "insists that I should do nothing in this area without first consulting with you." That's how he writes to Rabbi Mindel: "After having met with you in Long Beach last Kislev, I am convinced that Rabbi Mindel's advice is, as usual, correct."

So he said the consultant would guide him, and according to everybody Rabbi Mindel was the one to turn to — if he would have answered something, Rabbi Mindel never told me anything like that, so I just found this.

That's all — then he writes a whole letter about what he plans to do, and then he finishes off: "I might mention here that it is hoped that at the conclusion of the Noahide legal project, it will be possible, with the Haskomo, to proceed with the preparation of a Shulchan Aruch, or a [Kuntres?], for Bnei Noach. However, both of these — the last mentioned projects — require a team of researchers, and consequently cannot get properly underway until more adequate financial resources are obtained." Then he writes more about it, but that's not negative.

So there is a question — I don't know whether, even though Rabbi Mindel said that you must discuss it with Rabbi Mindel — so that's number one I wanted to tell you this week. I thought I would mention that to you.

Now I want to read you another letter — there are quite a few letters, but I chose one to read that the Rebbe got from a Catholic priest from England:

"Dear Rabbi Schneerson, it was indeed an honor and pleasure to receive your letter of the 17th. [That] in the midst of your intensely busy life, it was most gracious of you to reply to me. In your letter you mentioned the promotion amongst the Catholic students of the Seven Laws divinely given to Noah. Although in Catholic moral teaching these laws are not mentioned by name, their content and implications certainly form part of the corpus of our moral teaching. More explicit emphasis is given to the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses. Obedience to these laws and their implications forms the basis of our ethical teaching and preaching. I thank you for your concern in mentioning this matter. I enclose a small gift of 10 sterling, and respectfully request that this be used to help relieve the poverty of Jews who have come from Russia. This gift comes to you with my best wishes for your birthday."

This was before the Rebbe answered. So this is a letter that he wrote, and the Rebbe answered. Now, before I read that answer, I just want to read a paragraph I mentioned before — from among the many, many letters that the Rebbe wrote to people — this is just one paragraph, before I read the letter that the Rebbe sent in answer to this Catholic priest:

"There is of course no need to emphasize to you the importance of promoting the Seven Noahide Commandments among gentiles in our day and age. It does not require much imagination to realize that, by way of example, had these divine commandments been observed and adhered to by all the children of Noah — namely the nations of the world, individually and collectively — there would not have been any possibility, in the natural order of things, for such a thing as the Holocaust."

And then it goes into the whole thing, and we have no time to read it all — the Rebbe writes more — but I want to read you what the Rebbe's answer was over here:

"This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter, in which you introduce yourself as a Catholic Christian and outline the high points of your life and public services, noting that you have a strong desire to continue to utilize your capacities to make an important contribution in certain areas of public endeavor. To a person of your background, there is no need to emphasize at length the importance for every person to realize his or her potential, especially one who has been endowed with special talent and capacities and has used them successfully. There is an ancient Talmudic saying which is both timeless and universal: nothing stands in the way of the will. Coupled with the assurance — make the proper effort and you will succeed — in view of your experience in the past and your determination for the future, I am confident that you will find the proper ways and means to achieve your goals, all the more so since in such a case one receives aid from on High.

At the same time, I deliberate — I would like to call attention to a point which is really self-evident, but because of its importance cannot be overemphasized. I refer to the divinely ordained seven categories of moral laws and principles which have been given to Noah and his descendants by the Creator and Master of the World, for all humanity. These include such fundamental precepts as the prohibition of idolatry, robbery, the laws of justice, and more. Although common sense dictates that these laws are indispensable as the basis of any human society, experience has shown that human nature being what it is, common sense has not been a reliable factor in the implementation of the said basic laws, if they are based only on the dictate of common sense. Suffice it to mention that the Holocaust of the Second World War sprouted and burst forth in a country and people that had been most prominent in the area of human thought, philosophy, and ethics — but because it was all based on the human mind and not on the recognition of a Supreme Being, it could be twisted to devise and justify the most horrid inhumanity and cruelty in human history.

It is therefore everyone's obligation, especially in this day and age, to promote the said moral laws ordained by the Supreme Being. Certainly, those who have a prominent position in society have a greater responsibility to strengthen the moral fabric of society by example and precept, especially among the young generation, for a better and brighter future for all."

And then he gives him a brachah. So this is the answer that the Rebbe answered him. So anyway, this is the Sheva Mitzvos business. I wanted to read this to you, and I don't know whether we should go on and print it or we should not print it. If anybody has a special suggestion — and when the Rebbe said "Rabbonim," I don't know if he means about whether we should print it or not, if that's what he's asking.

According to this letter that we see here, we see that if a person uses only sechel, that's what happens — everything has to be based on [recognition of] the Eibeshter.

This reminds me — it has nothing to do with this, but I might as well tell you — when my father-in-law [Rabbi Mindel] was sick, was in Mount Sinai, I went to visit him. So a doctor called me over and he said, "I want to show you something." So he took me into a room and showed me two X-rays — one X-ray was of a person who smoked cigarettes, and the other X-ray was of a person who never smoked. And he says, "Look" — he says to me — "look, this person smoked, look how black the lungs are." He, mamish, he said, he said that's a terrible thing to smoke, because look what smoking does. So he tells me — good, I hear, and he explains it to me according to sechel. An hour later I go downstairs, I go outside, and I see that same doctor standing and smoking. I said to him, "I'm shocked — you explained it to me, and I was convinced — I'm not a smoker, but I was convinced by what you were saying, it's horrible." He says, "Yeah, so that's — that's because I can't hold myself back."

And this goes for everything, like that — if we use only sechel, then it's a different story. So this is what I wanted to bring out this week. Hashem willing, next week we will continue our weekly program — maybe we'll still continue with more letters that the Rebbe answered to many people about Sheva Mitzvos B'nei Noach. Thank you.