The Displeased Letter From a Jew in Italy

Welcome to our weekly program, "Inside Story of Chabad in America Through the Mindel Archives." Since we are around January 1st, I want to mention: Rabbi Mindel [?] told me that he once came to the Rebbe, and it was January 1st, New Year's. The Rebbe walked in and the Rebbe told him, "Happy New Year." He was taken aback. I heard that also — Rabbi Mindel told me this, and he said the Rebbe saw that he was surprised. So the Rebbe said to him that it says, regarding the counting of years, "according to the calculation of the nations" — and that's probably why we can write a check with, let's say, the year 2003, which is not the "real" year, but since now it's around January 1st...

There is a story told about the Baal Shem Tov — some people say it was the Maggid, I've heard it said both ways; let's say it doesn't make a difference — and this happened on New Year's, January 1st, I think, or maybe it was December 25th, I'm not sure, I think it was New Year's. The chassidim were together with the Baal Shem Tov by the river, and he told them: whatever you see and whatever you hear, you should learn from it how to serve God. Nothing happens by chance — whenever a Jew sees or hears something, there's a reason for it, and there's a lesson to be learned from it.

So they walked out, and the first thing they saw — this was in Poland or Russia, and it was very cold, freezing — the river had frozen over. The gentiles there had cut a cross out of the ice on the frozen river, picked it up, and were walking around all night carrying this cross and singing. This was their custom at that time of year in Russia and Poland.

So the chassidim heard what the Baal Shem Tov had told them — that whatever you hear and see, you should learn from it — so they asked: what can we learn from a cross? Especially since this was the very first thing we saw, what lesson is there in this? So they went back to the Baal Shem Tov and asked him. He told them: from this you learn that the way a person becomes "cold" — the end result is that he becomes cut off. This is clear. In America they say someone is "cool" — a "cool guy." "Cool" is the opposite of holiness, the opposite of warmth. This is the way it is in America, because it's a spiritually empty land, so they say "he's cool" — a "cool guy." Cool is the opposite [of holiness].

As a matter of fact, it says in the Mishnah that when a person is standing [in prayer] and a snake comes around his feet, he should continue davening — he shouldn't stop. But if a scorpion comes around his feet, he has to stop. What's the difference between a snake and a scorpion? They're both poisonous. The nature of a snake is that if it bites you, the body becomes hot, and the person dies. A scorpion bites you, and the body becomes cold, and the person dies.

If, in the middle of davening, a bad thought falls into your head, don't worry — by continuing to daven you can change it, turn it around. But when coldness falls upon a person, he just doesn't care — this not caring is the worst thing. Many people argue with me about matters of faith — if a person argues, that's good, as long as he's arguing. But if a person is cold, that's a problem. This is what coldness is. So this is what the Baal Shem Tov told them — that if a person becomes "cold," that is the worst thing.

Since we are around this time of year, I want to mention — a few months ago I spoke about someone who wrote to the Rebbe that they were going on vacation and asking whether they could visit the Vatican and see the Pope — what would be wrong with that? I'm not going to repeat that story again, because I already related how shocked the Rebbe was — very shocked — even to hear such a question, to see that someone would ask about going to see the Pope. I don't want to go into that again.

But a person wrote to the Rebbe, this time from Italy, and I'll tell you what he wrote, and afterward I'll tell you how the Rebbe answered. It's short.

He writes like this: After the Pope was invited to the synagogue in Rome — there was a synagogue event in Rome to which the Pope was invited — "I wrote a letter," this person writes, "to the Jewish newspaper in Italy. The letter was not published, because they did not want to reveal the rabbi's name, so it did not appear in the newspaper. Now I have revised the letter, and I have certain sources — from the Rebbe, even from [a rabbi] — showing that one is not supposed to invite a pope, that one is not supposed to go to a pope. So I want to ask the Rebbe," he writes, "whether I should send this letter — and I'm going to read just a paragraph of it for you — to the newspaper in Italy, or whether I should give it to the Rabbonim. Please look it over and answer me."

So here is what he wrote, asking the Rebbe to look it over. I'm going to read it — it was written in Italian, and I had someone translate it for me. He writes:

"Newspapers and magazines from around the world gave extensive coverage to the Pope's visit to the synagogue. This is not surprising at all — a pope hugging a rabbi is an event that makes the news. The Vatican's visit to the synagogue served a purpose, and was probably planned to improve the image of the Pope after his embrace with the head of the Arab terrorists. The meeting in the synagogue was more than a mistake — it was a transgression.

"The meeting took place in a synagogue, and since the Beit Hamikdash of Jerusalem was destroyed, a synagogue is called a 'Mikdash Me'at' — a small sanctuary — and has rules similar to those that regulated behavior in the sanctuary in Jerusalem when the Beit Hamikdash stood. A non-Jew could offer sacrifices there in his personal capacity, but he was not permitted to come as a representative of another religion, much less with idols in his possession. The introduction of idols into the Sanctuary was considered such a serious matter that when the [Roman] emperor gave the order to introduce a statue of himself into the Temple in Jerusalem, our ancestors took to the streets by the thousands to demonstrate, risking their own lives and the lives of their wives and children.

"Second: the fast of the 17th of Tammuz was established, among other reasons, because on that day a certain Roman [figure, name unclear] introduced an idol into the Temple.

"Third: the Pope was nevertheless allowed to come and speak from the pulpit of the synagogue in Rome as a representative of his religion, and with an image hanging around his neck."

And he brings down sources — he cites Rav Moshe Feinstein, he cites the Rebbe, among others — I'm not going to read the whole letter. But the last three lines he writes are: "The Pope's visit was organized in an inappropriate way and in the wrong place, and the rabbis who participated, by behaving contrary to Jewish law, erred, and caused the leaders of the Jewish community, and many other Jews in Italy and abroad, to err as well."

This is what he writes, and he wants the Rebbe to look it over. There's more in the letter that I don't have time to read now — other things he wrote about the Pope — things that aren't important to repeat.

So I want to tell you how the Rebbe answered him. The Rebbe answered that the Rabbonim should be notified about what happened, but he wrote that it should not be made into a public article in the newspaper. And then the Rebbe wrote — it's a shame what happened. We know the history of the Pope and what happened during the Holocaust — and the Rebbe wrote certain things there that I don't want to mention now, and it was a significant matter. And I know of someone, who had nothing to do with this particular letter, where there were people who went to see the Pope, and the Rebbe said certain things [about it] that I can't mention.

So we see that people who want to go visit, who want to go on vacation, should not go to the Vatican. And since it's around January 1st, I thought I would share this with you. Thank you.