Posted to Chabad News on

Letters to Frierdiker Rebbe Torn Up and Place in Ohel

Thousands of letters that people wrote to the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe, from the 1930s in Poland to after the war in New York and onward, were found in the Rebbe’s Head Secretary, Rabbi Nissin Mindel‘s possession after his passing.

The letters were in many languages: Russian, Spanish, French, Yiddish, Hebrew, Arabic, English etc., with people asking for advice and blessings for health, sholom bayis, Parnossa and so on.

The Rebbes’ responses to the letters are set to be published shortly, but due to the private and confidential nature of the original letters, they were not copied. The question arose as to what to do with them, and Rabbi Sholom Ber Schapiro decided that the best thing to do would be to put them in the Rebbe’s Ohel.

Today, Rabbi Schapiro went to the Ohel and tore up the letters, placing them by the Rebbes’ headstones. While he was there, an intrigued bystander took pictures of the historical event.

Related Articles

44 Comments

  • s.b.s.

    These letters belong stricly to the Rebbe and so naturally, they were given back to him.
    For the record, the Rebbe entrusted these letters to his private secretary, Rabbi Dr. Nissan Mindel, for reasons we do not know. The Rebbe did not instruct him to give these or copy of these to any other institution.
    These letters are now where they belong.

    S.B.S.

  • Tearing up letters at Ohel - why?

    Can ANYONE explain the reason why letters to the Ohel are torn up? I cannot find ANY explanation ANYWHERE! Also, is there a custom on how to tear them – 1X or several times??

    (Please don’t just say we do so because the Rebbe did so – he may have been protecting privacy, a protection that our own letters may not need, or he may have had another cheshbon.)

  • mottel

    I really hope copies of the letters were kept for historical reasons. Even scrubbed of identifying material, they represent a treasure trove of important historical and sociological information! It would be a crime for them to be forever lost.

  • T.D.

    To #3
    THE PAPER THAT YOU SEE R’ SCHAPIRO READING IN THESE PICTURES IS HIS OWN PERSONAL PAPER.

    THE LETTERS,THAT PEOPLE HAD WRITTEN TO THE REBBE, WERE TORN UP AND AND PUT IN THE OHEL.

  • This is HORRIBLE

    Posted by: Fleishike Kishke | January 22, 2012 at 02:57 PM
    OMG!!! This is mamish a crime. Is it not self understood how terrible it is to throw out letters from the 1930? What a historical treasure trove. Nearly 100% of these people (if they were of letter writing age by then) are already deceased, and if not, in a few years they will be. What a historical view was lost!!! You don’t have to publish such letters, but to preserve them in an archive where scholars can have access if for some reason, which maybe is not obvious to you right now. (You may not publish this letter because of what follows but I’m going to say it anyway.) THANK GOD Russia has not turned over the Schneerson Library to these “librarians.” If there is anything there (which allegedly there is) which in their small minds shouldn’t be made public will they destroy that too? Hashem Yiracheim. The Frierdike Rebbe read these letters once. He didn’t need to read them again. He gave them to his secretary to PRESERVE. Not to destroy. His story is SICKENING.

  • S.B.S.

    In answer to the question why these letters were being read at the Ohel – no letters written to the Rebbe of a private nature were read. Those that were read were of a public nature or addressed to Rabbi Mindel.

  • What about at the Kotel?

    Letters placed in the Kotel – should they be shredded before placing them into the cracks? Are there different minhagim about this? Can anyone explain?

  • gavirelsohn

    these letters belong in the Rebbe’s Library.

    the only reason Rabbi Mindel had the Letters was because he was a Secretary of the Rebbe.

    after Rabbi Mindel passed away, it should of went to the library. not to his son-in-law. or other private hands!

  • Sammy

    Why don’t we tear up the reshimos and put them in the Ohel as well. Maybe the rebbe forgot to tear them up as well!!!

  • Cma

    Dear Sholom Ber,

    Do you think the Rebbe made a mistake? If these were personal letters to the Rebbe and Friediker Rebbe, why did the Rebbeim give them to Rabbi Mindel and not dispose of them?

    Perhaps the reason is that almost 80 years (!!!!) later, they could have been published without original names, in a way that would have ensured privacy yet given us tremendous insight into the Rebbeim and the nature of the Chossid Rebbe relationship?

    You have done a terrible disservice.

  • Arieh

    To #4 — I also find the custom of tearing it up interesting. Might I humbly suggest that it is related to the breaking of a dish at Tenoim/Chosson’s Tisch.

  • to #4 we tear the letter-s at the ohel

    to #4 we tear the letter’s at the ohel because we have belve (beatochon) we are sertain that as soon as we read the letter at the ohel hashem already answerd our tiflies and the letter already had fulfild it’s acompishment’s tearing the letter demenstrait’s our beatocho in hashem and

  • so, no one knows why we tear them up!!

    Is it possible that NO ONE know why we tear up letters at the ohel?! If ANYONE knows why, please post!!

  • To #2 & All

    That’s right, they belong strictly to the Rebbe not Nissan Mindel or anyone else. Nissan Mindel had no right to take them. Just because you work on something (as the Rebbe’s secretary) doesn’t make it yours. They belong with all of the other letters which were written to the Rebbe, not torn up because someone is upset and in a fight with Kehot.

    Nissan Mindel once told me “I have a fortune in the basement”. He guarded those letters for many years. I thought that one day this fortune would become a fortune of knowledge for the Chassidim. Nissan Mindel would not have wanted this, the same as the Rebbe would not want this. Is’t that what the Hei Teves court case was all ablut! That this vast treasure should be destroyed at the whims of one person is unthinkable.

  • Why we tear the letter.

    From the back of my head without much research.

    1) Great question and thanks for bringing it up.

    2) Yes – because the Rebbe has torn up letters at the Resting place of his father in-law, the Friedike Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson – many times AND in public where others were able to see – is a good enough reason for us to follow.

    2) The idea of writing a letter at a resting place of a Tzadik is not something that is found in the regular places where the concept of visiting the resting place of a Tzadik is discussed (Gemara and Shulchan Aruch) but rather something that we have seen by specifically by the Rebbeim.

    After the passing of The Friedike Rebbe, the
    Rebbe urged his Chassidim to keep writing to him for Brochos. “He will find a way,” the Rebbe explained, “to communicate his answer.” [NOTE: This is one of the reasons why many Chassidim prefer to send their letters to the Ohel as oppose to those who place it in the Igros and LOOK for an answer.}

    (to my knowledge) This is when the idea of writing a letter at the Ohel fully kicked in. To be more clear of what i wrote in the above paragraph. When ever Chassidim needed to ask for a Bracha from the Rebbe they would send it directly to their Rebbe himself (even though they would go to visit the Kivrei Tzadikim before Rosh Hashonah as is brought down in Gemara and Shulchan Aruch never the less, they would send their Pan to the present Rebbe (and some would also write a pan at kivrei tzadikim as well but there was no pig stress on it) but when their Rebbe would pass away it wasn’t long until they had the next Rebbe. However, when the Friedike Rebbe passed away and the Rebbe had not yet officially taken over, the Chassidim were in a dilemma as to where they should send their Pan’im to? and that is when the Rebbe gave the push for writing at the ohel and the rest is obvious how the Rebbe would take the Pannim from the Chassidim and bring the to the Ohel etc. and we follow the minhagim of the way the Rebbe has done at the Kaver of the Friedike Rebbe

    I hope the above will help you understand why we follow the Rebbe’s Minhagim at the Ohel.

    I would like to finish off with a small story that i personally experienced at the Kaver of the Rambam during his Yartzeit in 2009.

    As i was leaving the Rambams Kaver i see Rabbi Leiter from Tzfas sitting and writing a small note on a small piece of paper and it was clear that he was like writing a few names or sow to put by the Kaver (i did not actually read what he was writing to tell you for sure but i guessed so) I had the “Chutzpah” to ask him like “are you writing a pan to the Rambam???” he looked up to see me looking very surprised at him and he replied YES! and told me the following story:

    One of his Mekuravim went to the Rebbe with a complaint, saying that Rabbi Leiter told him that if he goes to daven at one of the Kevorim for a certain segula, so and so would happen but it never did…. so the Rebbe asked if he wrote a note? so the man replied “No, Rabbi Leiter never told me to” so the Rebbe replied that when you make a physical connection down here than you make a spiritual connection as well.

    3) lots of people say that the reason why the rebbe tore the panim was only because of privacy.

    I haven’t done much research before putting this up and would be glad to get any corrections that may be out there.

    Y.K.

  • motti

    If you can publish the rebbe’s response why not publish the letters just change the details so it is not clear who they are. No difference surely. Does seem a bit peculiar if you ask me

  • Rabbi Sholom Ber Schapiro

    In an effort to dispel gross misunderstanding & mis statements about the personal/private letters written to the Rebbe which R.S.B.S brought to the OHEL & returned to their rightful owner, the following points of facts & clarification need to be made:

    1. those who know do not say and those who say do not know – this is clearly the case here. The llittle that we do know from the source , Rabbi Nissan Mindel – who was the only CHIEF SECRETARY (as stated in the official list in the back of our Siddur) and personal secretary who dealt with the letters of the Rabbeim, we wish to convey here, for the sake of truth.

    2. the letters in question are those that were written by private individuals about private matters (& not answers of the Rebbe to these letters) – these are the letters R.S.B.S took to the OHEL.. (no copies were made of these letters).

    3. as for the Rebbe’s letters written in answer to private individuals, these clearly have practical and historical value and will iy’h continue to be published in R.N.Mindel’s LETTER AND SPIRIT series as instructed by him. Privacy of the person to whom the answer is addressed, will be strctly maintained, as R.N.M. had done in Letter & Spirit I.

    4. as for RIGHTS – in Torah there are no rights, there are only responsibilities. R.S.B.S. carries an awesome responsibility to care for these matters as entrusted to him by R.N. Mindel.

    5. in keeping with these responsibilities, R.S.B.S. urges the CHABAD ORGANIZATIONS of AGUCH, MERKOS & MACHANEH (and all their subsidiaries) to do likewise and dispose of any personal/private writings and the like sent to the Rebbe in the same manner, by returning them to their rightful owner at the OHEL.
    Personal, private letters serve no pratical purpose other than to satisfy the curiosity and power of the ones in these organizations. It is of vital importance to respect and honor the privacy of others and by taking these writings to the OHEL – this is the surest way of doing so. We understand that this was the Rebbe’s intention in his dealings with private matters.
    Our intention is to promote TRUTH, not ego.

    Rabbi Shalom Ber Schapiro

  • He did the right thing

    How would you feel if a personal letter from your grandfather pouring out his soul before the Rebbe – be it sholom bayis, a tikun on something etc. etc – do you think its appropriate it should be kept by someone (or even in the library) it might fall in the wrong hands and your family will become very embarrassed by it.

    I think Rabbi Schapiro does the right thing, and I also hope Rabbis Groner, Klein, Krinsky and Simpson will take care to destroy the “Personal” letters of people so it should not fall in to unwanted hands.

    Remember what happened to the Miteler Rebbe a Chosid passed on (with no children) a member of his family Maserd on the Miteler Rebbe trough papers.

  • chaim yona

    to #23
    you write:
    “Rabbi Shalom Ber Schapiro carries an awesome responsibility to care for these matters”.

    my response:
    Rabbi Shalom Ber Schapiro’s responsibility is to return all the manuscripts to the Rebbe’s Library.
    they are not his. nor R’ Mindel’s!

  • Thank you YK #21

    Thank you YK (no. 21) on why we tear up letterst at the ohel. Many have no clue and this should be explained (with more than just a “brush off” answer that we do it because the rebbe did it – that would also explain EVERY mitzvah, minhag etc.).

    It is still unclear:

    1. if the tearing of letters also applies at OTHER kvorim (of our previous rebbei’im or other kivrei tzadikim)and at the Kotel?

    2. is there a messorah on how to tear the letter – do you tear it to shreds (confetti – to insure privacy) or one to two tears (as symbolic)?

    3. do you also tear up invitations, brochures etc. or just letters?

    4. why is it not “disrespectful” to toss the ripped up letter, which is now destroyed and is basically litter, onto the mokom ha’kever?

    5. if the tefillah was already answered (as someone suggested), and therefore we tear up the bakasha, why are we leaving the torn up bakasha at the ohel?

    6. is there any writen messorah explaining this minhag or tearing the letters, or is this topic part of “torah she’bal peh” amongst chasidei chabad?

    7. if someone does not tear the letter (because they either forgot to do so, or it isn’t their messorah or are uncomfortable tearing the letter), does it negate the brocha?

    8. Based on what rabbi Leiter told you (b’shem the rebbe), one should write letters at ALL kvorim, even when visiting relatives – but what should be done with those letters afterwards (hardly any places have an area for the ripped litter)?

    9. Should letters at the kosel and kivrei tzaddikim also begin the way a letter begins at the ohel or should it be modified (and if so, can you suggest a nussach)?

    10. If the letter will be ripped up, can it include any divrei kedusha such as a possuk as part of the teffilah, or is that a bizayon to shaimos?

    Please respond as there is no one else that seems to know or care!!

  • Chaim

    Sholom Ber Schapiro is wrong!

    He has no right to do anything with these letters. They are NOT HIS to receive as inheritance from a secretarey from an organization, and defenitly NOT HIS to decide, on his own, what to do with them. They belong to the organization – not him personaly.

  • shimon L

    TO # 27

    you basically made a fool out of yourself by writing what you wrote!!!! YES, IT WAS IN R’ SCHAPIROS HANDS, AND YES, IT DOES NOT BELONG AND SHOULD NOT BELONG TO ANYONE, FOR THESE LETTERS ARE PERSONAL PEOPLES LETTERS, SO TRUE, THEREFORE R’SCHAPIRO DID EXCATLY WHAT YOU ARE SAYING, HE PLACED THEM WHERE THEY BELONG, AND NOT IN ANYONES POSSESIONS OR HANDS!!!!
    wHY ON HEAVENS EARTH WOULD ANYONE SAY THAT IT BELONGS TO THE ORGINIZATION??? WHAT A FOOL!!! THESE ARE PRIVATE!!! would you like that the “orginization” should have possesion of the letters you wrote to the REBBE????

  • Can someone answer #26

    Can someone answer #26 – REALLY good questions and I have no idea! ANYONE????

  • to #26

    A. to 1&2 Well based on the only reason that I have found so far, the the Pan is torn for privacy. Than yes, the “tearing” applies in all cases. And to my understanding you may tear it in any way you want.

    A. to 3.Well since it has already become the costume to tear panim at the Ohel (which are private) therefore people follow the costume for Invitations as well but when people put (lets say) their wedding invitation at the kaver of a family member than most times they do not tear it they just put it on the kaver and place a stone on top of it so it should not get winged away.

    A. 4 & 10 On the contrary, from the moment you are writing your pan, the pan begins to move to a special category – it is no more that regular piece of paper that you were holding just a few moments ago. Now you can imagine that reading your letter at the Ohel moves your pan to an even greater category although it still looks like that regular piece of paper as it looked moments before you put any ink on it. With that said and done i would like to tell you the following story hoping to explain to you how sometimes things that can be viewed as disrespectful is really the proper and most respectful way.
    I happened to hear this story first hand from who it happened with. Many years ago a woman decided she would like to finally get pierced ears but felt very uncomfortable since there are so many places in Halacha that discusses how a person has to protect your body….. and your body is not yours to keep etc. so she decided to ask the Rebbe if she is allowed to make a hole in her ear for earrings. The Rebbe replied (I don’t remember the exact words but this letter is actually printed in the back of one of the Lekutai Sichus) the on the contrary, it is something that you see in the torah, that woman would wear jewelry to enhance their beauty etc. (the Rebbe finished off: that he is not a rav so she should double check with a rov..) so we see how in one hand you may think you are destroying a part of your body but in the other hand you are really enhancing it.

    A. 5. My guess would be that since the letter is still something physical you bringing to the closest place to the Rebbe that is physical as well and that is the Ohel.

    A. 6. As of this message I haven’t yet found a “written messorah” explaining this minhag or tearing the letters.
    A 7. To my understanding – NO WAY!
    A. 8. First of all: (to my understanding) The Rebbe never said you SHOULD but rather WHEN you do go to a kaver of a tzadik and you write a letter than…. Second: a Letter doesn’t necessarily mean a full note, it can even be a small paper with your name and your mother’s name written on it. Although they may not have a place for panim, there is always some place at the kaver where you can leave it. And when you leave it you know you did your part and what happens to that letter – happens.

    A. 9 I don’t know how people start off their letter when writing at the Kosel but when you are writing to other Rabbeim than it is usually the same way starting with the words Anah L’orer etc.

    Y.K.

  • Speculator

    Interesting, it seems the entire idea of writing Kvitlach originated with Chassidim, starting from the Baal Shem Tov – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…

    I’m just speculating, but it seems that the main reason for ripping up the letters is to avoid any possibility of someone reading another’s private letter, based on Rabbeinu Gershom’s ban against reading another person’s mail.

    That the ripped letters are left at the kever or at the kosel is probably to keep at least a token connection to the holy site that will be ongoing even after one leaves the location, and as a sign to others of the importance that people consider attachment to the site to be.

  • Thank you #30 YK

    I appreciate the time you spent to explain something that no one seems to know. I am unsure if I can be mekabel your p’sak that a person may rip up a letter if it has direi kedusha (psukim) in it since it would be a cheftza of shaimos. There is a reid about writing boruch hashem on letters since the hay (when representing HKBH) is kedusha and then the letter cannot be treated as garbage.

  • To 31.

    You posted a nice interesting link how ever Wiki does not say when the idea of bringing letters to the graveside of a Tzadik & tearing them started & why. Yes we do know that the idea of a kvital is an age old costume but here we are talking about actually bringing them to the resting place (and the idea of tearing them)

    Y. K.

  • To 31 and 33

    My Rosh Yeshiva shlita has a big tzorich iyun on the kvittel minhag which he says we don’t find in earlier doros, e.g. kalev who went to daven at the mearas hamachpella is not mentioned bringing a kvitel!

    The Rosh Teshiva shlita feels that it is a minhag chadash and “ein bo ela chidusho”, therefore i should ONLY bring a kvittel to places that it is the minhag to do so, but not bring a kvittel to the kever of gedolim where this minhag was not niskabel.

    As far as tearing up the kvittel, my Mashgiach shlita says that “chochem einov b’rosho” and since you know it will be torn up, not to write psukim or divrei kedusha in the tefillah. B’dieved it becomes shemos and must be treated with such kedusha.

    Also he warned that the bakosha and tefilah is davkah to HKB“H and not to the tzaddik – which would be c”v Ossur b’tachlis.

    Is this also how chabad views the tefilah and bakasha (that the kvittel is to HKB”H and not to the Rebbe)?

  • to 32

    B H stands for the words “Boruch Hashem” which means “bless the name” although it is referring to g-d but you are not in anyway actually writing any mame or initials of of g-d and therefore there is no issue to be thrown out.

    Just to be clear, the holy letters that are left at the ohel are not thrown away, they are later burned.

    Y. K.

  • To 35 YK

    Shaimos are considered “nikborim” not “nisrofim” and the halacha is “nikborim ainom nisrofim” (an exception is chometz and there is a reid about that in Shagas Aryeh and other achronim).

    The poskim speak about kedushas of the Hay in “BH” and some recommend l’ma’aseh writing BSD for this reason – as most yeshivish people are makpid to be noheg (I believe the Rockachover also holds this way).

    I am impressed with the high level of chashivus haTorah on this chabad oriented web-blog discussion. It is refreshing! To paraphrase: Ha’omrim Yesh Torah b’chadab – ta’amin!

  • Milhouse

    “Also he warned that the bakosha and tefilah is davkah to HKB“H and not to the tzaddik – which would be c”v Ossur b’tachlis.”

    He is wrong. The bakosho is to the tzadik, that he should daven for you. Ono le’orer rachamim rabbim; please arouse great mercy. It is a request to the Rebbe to arouse Hashem’s mercy. If your Rosh Yeshivah has a problem with it then he should learn the piece of Zohar which is in the Maaneh Loshon. “Vedoresh el hameisim” does not apply to tzadikim, because they are not meisim. They are the “meisim asher kvar meisu” whom Koheles praises, and it is entirely proper to direct requests to them and ask them to intercede Above.

  • Milhouse

    #36, on the other hand look at the comments on the “long skirt long life” thread, and you will despair. Yesh torah bechabad, but unfortunately there is a lot else too. The Rebbe is surely not happy about it.

  • Milhouse

    #36, we only have the example of our rabbeim, who wrote BH on letters, and BSD only on maamorim.

  • #37 Milhouse

    I wrote in 34 that it was the Mashgiach shlita that paskened to me that the bakosha or tfilah MUST be davka to HKBH (and not to the niftar), the Rosh Yeshiva shlita made no comment about it. However he holds that a kvittel which includes psukim have a din shaimos.

    Do you agree that a kvittel which has a posuk is shaimos, requiring gnizah, like nikborim, and certainly not nisrofim as they do with kvittels at the ohel (someone tried to burn his own kvitel at the Besht Ohel causing a small fire)?

  • Milhouse

    I have not expressed an opinion about sheimos. Why are you asking me about them? But whether it was your RY or your mashgiach who told you that we must not ask the Rebbe for anything, please show him the Zohar that’s in the Mayne Loshon, so he can learn the truth.

  • To R- Milhouse #41

    My Mashgiach said that we don’t pasken from Zohar, especially when the issur to be doresh l’meisim states no exceptions.

    I asked you for an opinion on the shaimos issue because you sound like a person who is a yodaya sefer and machshiv Torah.

    Your opinion will not only help me but also be marbitz Torah!

  • the rebbe

    the reason we tear panim at the ohel is so its beatween only you and the rebbe