Is There a Basis to Writing Into the Igros

Episode 120: "Is There a Basis to Writing Into the Igros" (ט"ז באדר א' תשפ"ב)

Welcome to our weekly program, "The Inside Story of Chabad in America," through the Mindel archives. This is a special program. Many people listening to this program — and as I mentioned, I have talmidim who used to learn in yeshiva in Brooklyn, and now there are yeshivos, some of them in Eretz Yisroel, and they're listening to this program — and many of them emailed me. They emailed me a long time ago, but lately I got more emails, and they asked me — they want to know, they're confused, and they asked me: is there anything in Rabbi Mindel's archives, or anything from the Rebbe, or anything that Rabbi Mindel wrote, or Rabbi Hodakov, about putting a letter into the Igros Kodesh and getting an answer? Did the Rebbe ever hint or say something about it? And they were — they're confused, they want to know, and nobody addressed that, according to what they say. But maybe people spoke about it — but does it come from the Rebbe? That's what they want to know.

So since I got many emails, I began searching in my files. They wrote to me — some of them, we know that the Rebbe said — I said the Rebbe said, we heard, that when it comes to business, people don't know what to do, they should ask the yode'im, the experts. When it comes to health, they should discuss it with two doctors, or give a pidyon and tzedakah — that they know. But they want to know: did the Rebbe ever say anything about putting a letter into the Igros and getting an answer? People are confused — some people do, some people don't — but is that something the Rebbe ever said? That's what they want to know, what do I have to say.

So I just want to read to you — one person, I got many emails, but one person wrote, and he said to me he thinks yes. What does he write to me? There are three arguments, he writes to me — I'll read what he wrote: "I heard from [unclear] that there probably wasn't a [basis] for placing questions into any sefer of Igros — letters of the Rebbe — randomly and getting answers, and whatever page they opened, by divine providence, would be the answer from the Rebbe." That's what he writes. So he writes to me, A, B, C:

A) "We find in seforim that Gedolim would open a sefer — this volume says — [they would] open the sefer and receive answers." That's what this person writes to me.

B) He says the Rebbe writes in a letter — in Igros Kodesh, volume Aleph — that before Yud Shvat, meaning before the Rebbe became Rebbe, the month before Yud Shvat, the Rebbe said one should place a pan (a note) between the pages of a ma'amar of the Frierdiker Rebbe's sefer — and just place the pan. It doesn't say anything about answers, just place the pan.

C) "And we see that it works — people put in a pan, and they ask questions, and they get answers. It does work." This is what he writes to me.

So is there anything in my files about that episode? I tried to find something — what is the shitah of the Rebbe, whether we should put a question into the Igros Kodesh, place it upon a letter in Igros Kodesh, and get answers? It's an important question.

Now, before I tell you what I found from the Rebbe — and I did find an answer, and I'll tell you in a minute — I want to make a hakdama, an introduction. There are many [people who follow] segulos, many minhagim, and they definitely accomplish great things, good results, and perform miracles through different things — maybe putting in a paper, or other things. But we, as Chabadniks, follow our Rebbeim, our minhagim, and we seek advice and practice from our Rebbe.

It reminds me of a story — there were Chassidim sitting around the table, and each one was sharing a miracle of their Rebbe. It came to one's turn, and he said, "No, what do you mean? I don't have any mofsim, I have no miracles, I don't know, I don't know of any — but he's still my Rebbe." Meaning, this gives you the idea — sure, we see great miracles from great people who used to do it — is that our minhag? No.

To say whether it helps — it does help. For example, it says that when you say every day the precious Shirah, Az Yashir, Shiras HaYam, it's a segulah for parnassa. Is that a Chabad minhag? No. You can say it, no problem, but not to say that it's Chabad — because that's not our minhag — people say it as a segulah for parnassa, but it's not our minhag.

To wear a shtreimel — it's a holy beged [garment] — and as a matter of fact, that was said to somebody — I think I mentioned it once — "it's a holy beged" — is that our minhag, to wear a shtreimel? No.

V'shamru Bnei Yisroel on Friday night — it says when people say the V'shamru, it's a big inyan, a big emotion — is that our minhag? No.

And there's — one of the Rebbeim said, not every chazzan has to [do this] — it's not our minhag to wear a tallis Friday night. The Rebbe, I think, writes in a teshuva that we don't do it, and told people that they should not be a chazzan in a place where they have a minhag to wear a tallis, because we don't wear a tallis Friday night — but people who do, that's their minhag.

So there are many things that people do, and they're great things, but is it our minhag? It's not. I stated — I think it's in one of the sichos of Likkutei Sichos, he brings it there — I mean, big things, but they want to know what the Rebbe actually said about this, and this is what people are confused about — what the Rebbe said about putting in a question and getting an answer.

So I found this. Also, I want to read to you what this episode is — a small paragraph, and then another small paragraph. First of all, it was in a sicha [unclear] — you can always look it up, page 489. Now, in Hebrew:

There was a custom years ago that when a person needed to know what to do, and didn't know what to do, and there was no way to ask, they used to make a goral. The goral is an old minhag — they used to put a pitka somewhere, and pick a pitka — whatever it said, that's what they would do. Another thing they used to do — they used to take a sefer and open it at random, and the place that it opened, by hashgacha pratis, that's a siman to decide how they should proceed — whether they should move to a place, or whatever it is. And since the sefer opened to a certain place, that's a siman of what they wish [to know].

Now the Rebbe put a hearah here — it says here that it's a siman, a minhag — that's what they wish to know by opening a sefer. And this is the Rebbe — I'm just saying what the Rebbe said, the Rebbe said.

Now I'll translate it into English, to clarify: "Because of the great care one must take of holy books, it is advisable to avoid making use of holy books, and certainly not for mundane matters, to make a goral in different ways — though, to clarify, a goral is a minhag Yisrael."

So the Rebbe writes here — according to the Rebbe — it's not [his wish] to make a goral by putting a letter into Igros Kodesh — it could be you'll find answers, and probably you do — but to say that this is what the Rebbe wanted — this is not so, because this is what it says here.

I'm just telling you — a goral, people have a minhag, maybe there's another view — but this is not our way, as I just read what the Rebbe said. So if somebody wants to know the Rebbe's hashkafa on certain things — for example, certain medical things, or whatever — he could open up, or look in the Maftei'ach, the index, and see the answers about parnassa, or about health, or other things — but not to take from there a siman, from "I opened up to this, so this is it." You can make a goral — but not by opening a sefer for guidance from the Rebbe's writings. This is what I found.

So, for the people who are confused, who sent me so many emails — this is the answer that I found. I'm only answering the people — I hope that they won't have a question anymore about putting in the Igros. Now, if it's a hergesh — a feeling — I don't know, everybody has their own hergesh, it's a feeling, you can have different hergeshim, that's fine, I don't know — but not to say that this is what the Rebbe wants.

Next week we'll continue with something else that I found, what the Rebbe wrote. Next Thursday night we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you very much.