The Time Rabbi Hodakov Apologized to the Rebbe

Welcome to our weekly program, "The Inside Story of Chabad in America," through the Mindel Archives. This is the third program, a continuation of the previous two programs. As we spoke about, there was a farbrengen, and a new campaign was introduced [the campaign of increased activities]. You have to listen to the other two programs [for background].

Rabbi Hodakov called Rabbi Mindel, and he told me: on Tuesday he wrote a report to the Rebbe; on Wednesday, Rabbi Mindel writes a letter, and they got a message from Rabbi Groner; and the Rebbe wants to know what has been done. On Thursday the report continued to come in — as I read to you last week, some names, and there were comments there from the Rebbe that he liked it very much.

And then, on Tuesday, Rabbi Groner calls Rabbi Mindel with an answer from the Rebbe, acknowledging and thanking him for the report.

Now I'm going to start here with the letter that he wrote. Rabbi Groner called me and related to me the Rebbe's answer: it was received by us with thanks, and thank you in advance for the continuation of the report. On Thursday afternoon he was happy [with what was received].

Then Rabbi Mindel writes to give the answer also to Rabbi Groner and Rabbi Hodakov: "I don't have any additional material to add to the partial report, because I did not receive anything from Rabbi Krinsky yesterday. He didn't have anything; he only had what we had said. Since I don't have the entire list, I cannot fulfill the Rebbe's will." And he answers regarding the National Committee: Rabbi Mindel has only the list of some people who wrote an answer right away. "When I get the entire list," he writes, "I will make a system by which the reports will be sent to the Rebbe. Since Rabbi Krinsky is present, it would be preferable that he undertake this task, either on his own or with an assistant if he is able to do so, and he will send us the report. This project, with its technical points, needs manpower — it is time-consuming and needs to be established." This is what Rabbi Mindel writes.

Now there is something — two years later, Rabbi Hodakov is asking the Rebbe [for guidance]. This is all — I guess this is the letter I had to read right away. It starts — this is a letter [written at] noon — Rabbi Hodakov wrote it to the Rebbe. This is what Rabbi Hodakov wrote, and this is a translation — I'll try to translate as much as I can, with my limitations. This is what it means:

"Exactly two years ago, on Yud Shevat [?], the Yahrzeit, you entrusted us with the holy work to organize, among all the Anash, the project of increasing activities. Enclosed here, sent to the Rebbe, is the report of the Rebbe's talk with us on that day; together with it is a copy of the Rebbe's talk about this topic during the farbrengen of Elul, 1988 [?].

"Baruch Hashem, we promptly undertook to fulfill this mission with enthusiasm. [A colleague, heard as "Sholom Mistroil" — unclear] volunteered to take charge of most of the technical matters, and, Baruch Hashem, he succeeded in this to the utmost. And thus our introduction of this project of increased activities was well received everywhere, with great joy, among the community leaders as well as the individuals.

"As is known, we submit to the Rebbe, from time to time, the reports which we received from the administration and from the institutions — everything that came in. Already two years [have passed]; the thousands of reports which were received from individuals are still with us. This is how our work proceeded during the first year.

"From the beginning, at that point, we should have clarified our obligation to continue as above into the future, and in what manner. But, for various unusual reasons and distractions — and who knows if some mere excuses somehow snuck in — our work came to a stop, even in thought, and certainly in action.

"As we stand today, again on this special day, exactly two years later — the day when the project began — I feel that the difficulties, at any rate, have somehow eased. It appears there is enough [reason] for us to resume our work, if necessary. I therefore am requesting guidance from the Rebbe as to whether to do this, and if yes, what and how."

This is what he writes. So the Rebbe answers in his letter — I'll read this in Hebrew [reads Hebrew aloud — unclear in the recording].

A few days later, he writes to the people, to the institutions, after the answer of the Rebbe arrived. Until now:

"Greeting and blessing. The Rebbe has lately been inspiring us, during the past few farbrengens, to continue our obligation to increase and widen our work in the increased-activities campaign. We, who were appointed by the Rebbe to lead this campaign, have merited a special directive and inspiration from him to infuse our actions with additional vigor, insofar as the activities of our institutions and of individuals. We therefore turn to all of you, and to each and every one of you, to act with strengthened resolve in this most important and holy campaign, instituted by the Rebbe — a campaign which, Baruch Hashem, has spread the world over, and was received with great enthusiasm and dedication, in a concrete way and with many practical results. So as to expedite these, we attach a copy of the Rebbe's talk with us concerning the matter of the increased activities, and the reports to be submitted. And with blessing" — Rabbi Mindel signs this, and [Rabbi Hodakov also].

So he sent this to the people. And then he writes, in a little note — a little note he wrote to the Rebbe — the way he wrote this, in Hebrew: "The Rebbe has started to encourage us very much lately" — that's right, he wrote another copy to the people: "very much, in many farbrengens, about the obligation to carry it out with great [diligence — unclear] in this project of increased activities. Those who merited to be appointed by the Rebbe a couple of years ago to conduct the committee [heard as "Merkos" — unclear] are now especially encouraged and motivated to strengthen this campaign with increased vitality and strength, to all institutions and individuals. Therefore we are appealing to all of you to speed up and strengthen your efforts, to participate and continue this campaign, which has already spread, Baruch Hashem, throughout the world, and we have to continue doing this."

And then he writes — but later on, [Rabbi Hodakov] apparently gave it over to [someone] — this is attached, and I don't know what [happened] — [unclear].

Now, what I do want to say here is that in these three programs, the Rebbe wanted something here, and people don't know about it. I don't know what happened with this — it was needed right away. And he was telling Rabbi Groner they should give more and more, and they never went all the way with it. So we see that they really wanted this to happen — maybe it's [unclear] — but he did give it over to someone; I don't know who that is today, and there's more to it. The Rebbe said if anybody wants to know, they can always call me, and I will explain to them what the Rebbe had in mind. But I didn't hear anything, and this is how it remained, and that's all I heard. So this is what I wanted to report.

Now it's already the beginning of Elul, so I wanted to mention these three programs. Whatever he wanted — if I wouldn't mention it, I don't think people would ever even know about it in connection with this. Next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.