מכתבי הרבנית

00:00 This is Igris. Today we're looking at letters in honor of Chaf Beis Shvat. It's the Rebbetzin Ziare Zeit, the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the Rebbe's wife, and also the Friediker Rebbe's daughter. And I wanted to do something very interesting and very different today. There is a volume of Igris from the Friediker Rebbe. It's Friediker Rebbe, uh, Igris Volume fifteen. And Volume fifteen is almost entirely letters to the Rebbetzin. There's a couple letters to, uh, to other people. There's a couple letters to the Rebbe's-- to the Re-- to the Friediker Rebbe's other daughters. But Volume fifteen of the Friediker Rebbe's Igris, you literally have something like fifty to a hundred letters to the Rebbetzin who are discussing the Rebbetzin. You really get an idea of how the Friediker Rebbe views the Rebbetzin, things he says about her. So I thought we could learn a bit about the Rebbetzin today through the lens of Igris, specifically through the lens of the Friediker Rebbe's letters. And the first letter I wanna show you breaks that rule entirely because the first letter is not in the Friediker Rebbe's letters. This one you have to go to the Igris of the Rebbe Rashab. We have the letter that the Rebbe Rashab wrote to the Friediker Rebbe when the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka was born. So I wanna start with that one. Um, a lot of these letters, if you've gone to enough farbrengens about Chaf Beis Shvat or Chaf Heh Adar, which is her birthday, um, if you've been around Rebbetzin farbrengens,

01:01 you might have come in contact with lines from some of these letters. But some of these, there's, there's some content here that I never knew about. And other ones, it's nice to see them in context for the first time. So we're gonna look at a ton, I believe nine letters about the Rebbetzin today. We're gonna look at them as, as quickly as possible, pulling out only the parts that we need for our discussion. This letter is in Igris Rashab. This is going to be in volume three on page two sixty-two, and the letter is labeled Tov, Shin, Yud, Beis, and again, this is from the Rebbe Rashab. And the Rebbe writes, on Chaf Vav Adar, which is the day after the Rebbetzin was born, she was born on Chaf Heh Adar. He writes, "To my dear son and to my modest daughter-in-law," uh, and, uh, writes down here, that it was to my great joy of my heart that we received today. This took me forever, this abbreviation. I googled, I searched, and then I realized it's a telegram. Tes Ayin Gimel is telegram. So a telegram . Today we received a telegram saying that my daughter-in-law had given birth to a baby girl. I'm giving a bracha on ha- on behalf of this girl who has been born . And then he gives a bracha to the parents and also to the baby. You should merit to raise her to . I will note that this idea of was something we say in Lubavitch,

02:20 but the rest of the world does not say by girls, the word in front, so that's kinda cool to see it in the Igris of the Rashab going on the, on, on the Rebbetzin. which should be, uh, with and it should be easy to raise her. That she should have a long life and good years, but even pleasant years. He gives the Rebbetzin, the baby was then one day old, a bracha, that she'll be a woman who fears Hashem, uh, but emis in truth, with tamiman in simplicity or purity or, you know, tamim, whatever that word means. with a whole bunch of honorifics, as is the will of our holy forebearers. We should all merit to celebrate at her wedding. Obviously, that did not happen. The Rebbe Rashab was not at the wedding. But he gave a bracha that we should all merit to celebrate at her wedding. um, and he gives them bracha for all sorts of and a lot of abbreviations. If anybody wants to try their hand at them, I got most of them, but I don't know what the first one is. That looks like taketh. I don't know. In any event, , lots of abbreviations. He writes that I'm, I'm thanking Hashem for all the kindness that he's given us and giving us this, this baby girl that, uh, he's given us life and kept us alive to reach this time, and similarly, other simchas and toivas should come to us in a similar way. We should all be healthy,

03:42 he says. We should all be complete, and we should all thank, and we will, and we will thank, and we will praise Hashem, our God, at all times from the-- may we all praise and thank God at all times from the, from the joy of our heart. So there's just a lot of joy here. There's a lot-- there's an overwhelming paragraph of blessings for the birth of a baby girl. He says, "Please let me know in detail how the, uh, how the birth was, how the birth process was, uh, how is your wife and how is her energy right now. Please, please inform me of all the details in a very, uh, in , in a lot of detail. I've also sent you a telegram, uh, for a mazel tov, and I assume that you received the telegram," he says. But it sounds like maybe they didn't receive the telegram because then he goes on to say things that he said in the previous telegram. So I think yesterday when she was born, he sent a telegram, and today he's sending a follow-up letter in case they didn't receive the telegram. The part that I want you to really see down here is . When it comes to naming the girl, the mazel tov, because of the telegram, I already wrote the telegram that I sent to you immediately when I heard about the birth. If you haven't given her a name yet, I think you should call her Chaya Mushka. Because that's what I

04:43 think is appropriate according to my thoughts. So the Rebbe Rashab was the one who gave her her name. Please let me know about the naming of the girl. Please let me know details about the health of my daughter-in-law, and of the girl who was born in Mazel Tov. We have a couple other early letters I want you to see. The first letter in this volume fifteen. The volume fifteen it says down here was the, the, the-- they're letters that were held by the Rebbe, so that's why they came out in a strange order. The, the Friediker Rebbe's letters are not in year order like the Rebbe's letters are. They're kind of in whenever the clump came out. So this clump came out in volume fifteen. They have a lot of letters between the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin. This letter is from, uh, when she was very young. This letter was written to the Rebbetzin when she was twelve years old. The Friediker Rebbe wrote this to the Rebbetzin. It's the first letter in the volume. It's labeled Heh Shin Tzadi Gimel. And he writes a very simple little letter. Uh, almost all the letters have translations on them, uh, even the ones in Russian, which is very helpful. So he says I'm giving you a heartfelt, uh, a heartfelt, uh, um, regards, and I received your regards with incredible joy. I don't know why the Friediker Rebbe must have been out of town because they were still living in Lubavitch at this time, and the

05:49 Friediker Rebbe was not in prison or anything, so he must have just been out of town. Uh, he says that what you wrote to me, all the details of your studies, uh, I appreciated seeing all the details of your studies that you wrote to me. So it sounds like when she was twelve, she wrote her father a letter explaining all the things she was up to, and the Friediker Rebbe appreciated it. He gives her a bracha here that she should be healthy and she should be happy for for long, good years, uh, as a blessing coming from her father. We have a letter here from when she was only fifteen years old that has a lot more detail in it. Uh, it appears to have been written in Russian originally, but fortunately they gave us a translation. This letter is Heishin Tzadet Dalet. The Friediker Rebbe was writing to the Rebbetzin, and he says, "Bitia, you Kara Haviva, Mosia, Tychia." It says, "My dear and beloved daughter, Mosia, Tychia. May she live." And here this is written on Chaf Hay other. The best place to find letters between the Friediker Rebbe and the Rebbetzin are Chaf Hay other letters. And the reason why is because the Friediker Rebbe writes to her almost every time it's her birthday. And I know that, that there's a idea that the Rebbe sort of invented birthdays as an important day. When you look back in these letters, you see the Friediker Rebbe, uh, writes to all of his kids

06:48 on their birthdays every single time and gives them special blessings on their birthdays he doesn't give other times. So clearly, the Friediker Rebbe greatly values birthdays, at least within the family as well. So he writes to her on her birthday, on her fifteenth birthday. "Bitia, Haviva, Bimah Latacha." This is, uh, my dear daughter on the day of your birthday. This is the day that you f- that you fill fifteen years, and they should be for long, good years. "Ani meit sameach lavilcha bracha ava si-- uh, ava his vichal shal herim." I'm very happy to give you a... I think that-- I, I don't know what that word means. I think they might have, uh, made a mistake, and that should be a hey there. That's a b- that's a loving blessing. "Vichal shal herim," and it's, uh, regards of your parents. I mean, I wouldn't know. The other side's in Russian. "Yiten lacha rich siamim me'umasharim." He gives her a bracha for long, for long life. And "Hatzlacha muf laga ves ke serra bilimu diman." Great hatslacha in her work and her studies. "Shtiam u'sheres tamid." And gives her a bracha that she should always be happy. He then gives her a bracha that she should be ha-- that says that she should be happy and beloved and signs his name. The, uh, we have a lot of birthday letters, and obviously I'm not showing you all of them. Uh, I just wanted to show you some really early ones because I think it's adorable,

07:45 you know, a father writing to his, to his, uh, twelve-year-old or fifteen-year-old daughter. But this letter I have to show you because this is a birthday letter where the Friediker Rebbe really says a lot to her and gives, uh, gives much stronger blessings and also I think expresses just how much he cares about, uh, his daughter. I, I don't think it's a chiddush that the Friediker Rebbe loves his daughter, but it's to me a chiddush just the amount of the, the, the effusiveness of the words that he's about to use. So this letter is labeled He Tov Nun Beis. I would have to do the math to figure out what birthday this was for her. It doesn't say. The Friediker Rebbe wrote this from Chicago, though, so this was definitely later on. The Friediker Rebbe was-- I think this was the first time he visited Chicago, though. Probably not when he finally came to America. And he writes, "Hayom bimabara matuk lechulanu. Today is a day of brightness and of sweetness for all of us, and it is the day of your birthday." I mean, what an opener, right? It's a yam apaher and matuk because it's your birthday. "V'rei v'osher ad meah v'esrim shanah. It should be with great joy for a hundred and twenty years. Yinavarech es cha- es cha- bitia iqara v'ahuba." I'm giving a bracha to you, my beloved daughter. "Sheshamis barech tenlacha lietenlach. Shanah v'ruches v'simchas v'musaras im ishacha. Chas mi ikari arav, Menach Mendel Sheyech Yesu." He gives a

08:43 bracha to her that she should have long, happy, and good years with her husband, my dear son-in-law, the Rebbe's name. So at this point, she was already married. And it's tav tes tzadik. I just don't remember what year that is in her life. Uh, "Shemis barech imale es cha b'kachas v'teves v'chachma shelcha. Sheyes hacha b'vekeshes meshemis barech." God should give you all of the b'kachas v'teves, all the things you request, and also the chachmas that you request. I think, uh, the-- he, he mentions this in other letters too, gives her bracha for, uh, for learning, for understanding, for reading. A-as we know stories from the Rebbetzin, she was, she was always quite an academic and, uh, interested in the things that she was involved in. So, uh, her readings and her writings. The Friediker Rebbe gives her brachas for this. I think it's something that she cared about. "Shemis barech yitenlachem chayim teyvim adinim u'sharam." God should give you pleasant life, happy life. "Yisbarech uvi love and teyvim." Gives him a bracha for children. They should have good children, healthy children, smart- You know, it's interesting, Yiddish reads differently It does? How does it read in Yiddish? Yeah, because, because the Yiddish, the Yiddish basically reads and says, "Deine kluge..." What do you say when the- Kluge b'kachas ...the b'kachas teyves. That's your clever b'kachas. Clever b'kachas, yeah. Yeah. Not b'kachas- Yeah, that does read differently ...clever b'kachas. Kluge b'kachas. Good point. Good point. Kluge b'kachas. Bad translation. "I should give you a bracha for

09:56 good parnasas," he says here. "And you should be happy in the derech yadis vedis." You should be happy, uh, rejoice in the proper Jewish way of doing things. We should all get a lot of, uh, eining from you and all good things. We should get nachas from you. Uh, we should see, uh, "Im tir banu, oy rene kolchem yeladim ikarim ish v'chesem yichyu tamshichu halas sheshes azav." We should see children from you, and they should continue the golden chain. "Sheshas yacha shel Yisrael tferes vadar." I mean, just blessings upon blessings. She should have children, happiness, give nachas to everybody. It just goes on and on and on. Now, down here he says, "Faaz man rav me'ed li batim pamichtav." He says, "I haven't gotten a letter from you in a while," and I, I must tell you, I-- almost all of the Friediker Rebbe's letters to the Rebbetzin include at least one complaint that she hasn't written regularly, which is just such a parental thing to say. But he's always complaining that she hasn't written him enough. "Vad risa shalom, ah, isim eid," writes, "lesmeach v'baz mecham m'fur umcha." Although I've received regards from you, I'd really like to receive a letter from you. "Bas yikara." And then he writes, I think that this, this makes me teary-eyed every time I read it. "Bas yikara, my dear daughter. Lechal ta'ved mi yeshkuv ve'hefsek. For everything in the world, there is a limit. Av pnimis shel herim hi bilti mugbales. But the internal love that parents

11:00 have for a child, that's limitless. Hag goalim heim l'lo igbul. And the yearnings that I have for you are without, without limit, without, uh, without boundary. Hashem is barech yazi l'chulam l'sadas v'prias u'v'rei v'nachas b'gashmios v'ruchnias. God should help us all to see each other in good health and in great nachas, in physicality and spirituality. You should be healthy, and you should be strong. Signed, your father, who loves you very much, who loves you bligbul, loves you infinitely, and gives you a blessing." The Friediker Rebbe's signature. The Friediker Rebbe, as I think everybody knows, was, uh, very involved in the shidduch between the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin. The Rebbe Rashab, according to legend, uh, legend, I don't know. There's no good source for it, so I call it legend. But according to legend, the Rebbe Rashab originally suggested the shidduch. And, uh, the Fried-- as far as I know, there's no written record of this among the Rebbe, but Chassidim say it. And the Friediker Rebbe was very involved in, uh, in meeting the Rebbe and deciding whether he was good enough for her daughter. Uh, and we have one letter, fairly famous letter, uh, of He Tov Zion, uh, also in this volume of Igris, where he writes to the Rebbetzin about the Rebbe. And, uh, just to give you a little bit more of this context I told you is on all of these letters, on the first page, it's just him complaining that he hasn't heard from her in a while. He

12:06 says, uh, he says, "Nachli asi sheim nimbrat negam. I'm, I'm shocked that I don't have a telegram from you, a letter from you, uh, responding to my last mivrach, responding to my one." Uh, he says-- he then adds, "I have been receiving letters from your sister. Ayem michtam Hanalah shtichya. I have received letters from Chana." Uh, and, uh, she writes-- she wrote that, uh, that her, that her son was, uh, starting to sprout teeth That, uh, she mentions that, uh, that their son was, uh, was teething. The Vayshai Amar, I just like the lines here. She says, "You know, you know Chana, she worries about everything like a Schnaerson." But in any event, he says, "I've heard from your sister, her kid's having teeth, she's worried about everything." Anyway, he says down here, "Biti, my daughter, this week I learned Hilchos Mendel. I've heard this expression of Farbrengens, I've never seen it inside. This week I learned the Sugya of Hilchos Mendel, that I was, I was studying your, your, your, your husband-to-be." Almost the entire day until the following day at night, uh, several days during-- several hours during the day. On the first day, and he says that, the three of us, uh, spent, the three of us spent the entire day together. That's him and the Rashag. So that's the Friediker Rebbe, the Rashag, and the Rebbe spent the entire day together, uh, several days together, and it was very pleasant. Uh, he's staying here for Shabbos, and I assume on Sunday

13:16 he's going to go back to his house, . Uh, and this note, I don't know what it means. It's just so interesting. Says that it's totally different than the first time I met him. I think maybe the Rebbe made a negative first impression, or maybe the Friediker Rebbe made a negative first impression. Unclear. It seems that they didn't necessarily get along as well the first time they met. He says that there's a-- I-- th-things feel completely differently from the first time we met. Things are a lot better now, and I don't know what it was. We don't have any record of the first time they met. But it seems that somebody, e-either the, either the Friediker Rebbe on the Rebbe, the Rebbe on the Friediker Rebbe, I don't know that there was a positive first impression, but it seems that things certainly got a lot better from there. I don't know what that word is. Oh, that's the Caucuses. Uh, he was very impressed by the area, by the Caucuses, by the mountains, I believe. Yeah. Kavkaz? Yeah. I think that's the area, right? Kavkaz. What is that? Kavkaz. Right. I think Kavkaz maybe the- Kavkaz is a certain type of a... What is that? I think Kavkaz is a type of Jew, like you have Kavkaz Jews. I think Kavkaz means Caucuses and that there were Jews living in the Caucuses, but I think he liked the Caucuses, and that's probably where he was. And, uh, because anyway, he wanted to climb the mountain

14:27 a second time. Apparently, there were mountains, they went hiking. The Rebbe wanted to go up another time. He really enjoyed walking around the mountain and, uh, and he writes about what it was like to spend time with the Rebbe prior to their wedding. So he writes to the Rebbetzin about this. I wanna show you this letter only because it has a detail in it that I never knew anything about. This letter is also-- This letter is written to the Rebbetzin and the Rebbe, addressed to both of them. They were, of course, already married and living in Paris. This is written from Otvots, and the letter is Heh-Tav-Kuf-Nun-Zayin. And here the Friediker Rebbe encourages them to take a job as the rabbi and Rebbetzin of Paris. Did you know this was on the table? I never knew this was on the table. Did you know about this? Anybody? No. Okay. Uh, look at this down here. Uh, it says, "My dear friend, Mr. Rynin or something, uh, asked me if it would be appropriate for me to ask you to be the Rav of Paris. And, uh, what would I think about that? And I asked him for some details, and I looked into it to find out if it would be good for you. But as far as... That, that's my talk with him. As far as you guys, my dear-- my my dear children, I cannot find the words to tell you just how happy this made me to hear. The people wanna make

15:33 you the rabbi and the Rebbetzin of Paris. I can't tell you how happy I was. I would be so happy if you would accept this appointment, you would become the rabbi and Rebbetzin of Paris. God will help. It's gonna be in a good hour. It would give me packages and packages of additional health to know that you would take in this position. It would break-- it, it would bring joy to my broken heart. So I'm turning to you, my beloved children, with a deep, uh, with a deep request, which I'm asking of both of you, my daughter and my son-in-law, to very seriously consider taking up this position. I'm asking for a quick response, please. my dear children, please consider this seriously." So the Friediker Rebbe kind of begs them to take a job in Paris as the rabbi and Rebbetzin. As far as we know, nothing ever came of it, but I was just-- Along the way, I found this letter, was very surprised. The last thing I wanna show you was something that, uh, I hinted to today in the WhatsApp group. Did you see that message that I put in WhatsApp? I hinted this today when somebody mentioned-- somebody mentioned the story where the Rebbe was very specific to pick out a set of pearls for the Rebbetzin, and, uh, the pearls kept on coming, and every time the pearls showed up, he said they weren't good enough for the Rebbetzin until they finally got, uh, got a very special pearl, uh,

16:44 I think pearls for a necklace of some kind. Uh, this reminded me of a story that I'd heard but I'd never found in letters, which is actually how this whole, this whole shiur started. I went back into the Yiddish to look for it, and indeed it's here. The Friediker Rebbe sends the Rebbe multiple letters with a riddle in them, and the Rebbe never solves the riddle. The Friediker Rebbe has to give him the answer. So we have this-- I'm gonna show you three letters in a row. We're not gonna read the whole letters, but I wanna show you the riddle 'cause it appears in all three letters. This letter is from Taf Res Pey Tes. The letter is labeled Heh-Tav-Lamed, and the Rebbe writes to the-- I'm sorry, the Friediker Rebbe writes to the Rebbe. And down here... Where are we? Don't worry, I'm gonna find it. Ah. He says, "PS," I want you to think very carefully about about the, about the good pearl. I think. Oh, these abbreviations are killing me today. I only know our Rebbe's abbreviations. Uh, and even those I'm not great at. Um, okay. So he gives him a berakhah, but he tells him, "I want you to think very carefully about the, about the pearls that you've been given," and he doesn't say what those pearls are. He says, "I want you to, I want you to think very carefully about the pearls you've been given by Hashem for long life and for the long term." In another

17:57 letter that was, uh, from of Taf Res Tzadik, the letter is labeled Heh-Tav-Mem-Zayin. The Friediker Rebbe mentions these pearls again, and this time he's onto-- th-this time he's in on the joke. "When it comes to this good gift, these dear pearls I've been mentioning, is it possible that you still don't know what I mean? Or did you figure out my riddle?" So he knows that he's playing with him. He says that I've sent you a riddle. It seems you still don't understand what I'm talking about. Have you figured it out? And then he gives him a berakhah that everything should be good . For-- It, it seems the Rebbe never figured it out because in the end, the Friediker Rebbe does give it away. We have a letter here. This letter is Heh-Tav-Nun-Alef. It's from Kaf Pe Adar, the, the Rebbetzin's birthday, and he writes to the Rebbe on the Rebbetzin's birthday, and it's a long letter, but near the very bottom of this letter, he does finally give away the answer The Amargol yes teva she nasan lcha halakim ki b'tir ayasecha k'vodo tichya. This special pearl that Hashem has given you, this is my daughter, your wife, uh, your honorable wife. Va'aze k'nasim michtavileidecha zbilashini. Says, I-- this is what I intended in my previous letters, but, uh, you never figured out exactly what I meant. You, you didn't notice what I was talking about. Y'kuim ba, ba chachmas nashim. And what is-- why do I call my daughter this precious pearl? Not

19:05 just because I'm a father who loves her daugh-- who loves his daughter, because she's special. Y'kuim ba chachmas nashim. She has chachmas nashim within her, the wisdom of women within her. Ban sabesa, she-- it's fulfilled within her. I'm sorry, I misread. Let me read it again. Y'kuim ba chachmas nashim ban sabesa. It is fulfilled in her the statement of the Gemara that the wisdom of women builds houses. Now, he said, kadesha kadashim, based on the Holy of Holies. V'tiyaheim beis cham psucha l'ravacha. May your house always be open for people who need help. L'chol hatev, uh, for all good. Asher be-- asher berchu etanu kulan yachad, uh, as we've been blessed all together by our holy forebearers with a whole lot of honorifics. Asher divreihem chai vekayamim. Their words last forever. Le'ad l'netzat nitzachim u'chal shomer b'kudasam to all those who keep that which they, that which they say to do. So we have here as the final bit, just through-- in our three-part series on the bottom, where the Friedike Rebbe refers to the Rebbetzin as a precious pearl. Uh, the Rebbe not understanding what he's talking about, and the Friedike Rebbe finally explaining that she's a precious pearl, and it is fulfilled through her that which the Gemara says, that chachmas nashim ban sa-besa. So to review everything then, we have a letter from the Rebbe Rashab announce, um, um, saying mazel tov for the birth and suggesting the name Chaya Mushka. We have letters from when she's twelve and when she's fifteen

20:11 between her and her father that are sweet and short. We have a very long birthday letter from the year taf reish tadeck where the Friedike Rebbe gives her tons of blessings. And, uh, in addition to that, explains to her that a parent's love for a child is limitless and boundless, and it's the only thing in the world that has no end. Uh, we have the letter where he talks about Hilchas Mendel, where he looks into the Rebbe and considers the Rebbe as a shidduch for her. We have a letter where the Friedike Rebbe begs her and her husband to take a gig in Paris that as far as I can tell, they never took. And finally, we have three letters describing the Rebbetzin as a pearl and explaining that the Friedike Rebbe is not just saying, "She's my daughter, she's the pearl," but also, "I can justify this. She really is very special." Okay, that's it for today.