The Rebbe - What is a Rebbe - Part III

00:01 Behemshech in continuation to the earlier installments been geared to the concept of a Rebbe. We continue now with installment number three, discussing an additional insight what the Rebbe wrote during the time of the court case regarding the Svalim in the Agudas Chasidei Chabad Library. One of the main claims that the Rebbe wished to present to the court with regard to this case was the fact that the previous Rebbe wrote explicitly in a letter while he was in Poland that the library is property of Agudas Chabad. The opposing side attempted to refute this claim by suggesting that this was only written in order to ensure the library's safe exit from war-torn Europe. But in truth, the previous Rebbe did not intend that it was really and legally property of the organization. Meaning, they implied that the previous Rebbe did not mean exactly what he wrote, Chas v'Shalom, God forbid. Here, in this statement that we will soon read, the Rebbe articulates in great detail that to think of such a behavior by the previous Rebbe is absolutely out of the question. It is precisely the opposite of what the whole being of a Rebbe stands for. In addition, the Rebbe protested against the terrible Chilul Hashem that takes place when such a school of thought is aired publicly. The Rebbe wrote the following. This is a free translation of the original document that the Rebbe wrote in Hebrew, as it is translated here by Chassidishe Daher. As with all Chabad Rebbes, the first foundation is truthfully

02:24 nullifying one's existence starting with himself. Being a Rebbe, it is his integral and primary mission to guide and strengthen Chassidim in Torah mitzvahs in general, beginning with belief in Hashem, keeping the laws of Shulchan Aruch, etc., and to show them a living example of this, even when it requires the extent of actual Mesiras Nefesh. It is self-understood that a Rebbe must also withhold all actions that may mistakenly be explained contrary to the above. Only after this comes the Rebbe's private life, and in this aspect as well, the foundation is not to interfere at all with his general and primary purpose.