[Before Yud Beis Tammuz] 5723

Greeting and Blessing:

Thank you very much for your letter enclosing your article on the founder of Chabad, Rabbi Schneur Zalman, whose 150th Yahrzeit Anniversary is being commemorated this year, and for inviting my comments.

First of all, I want to congratulate you on your success in compressing the salient points of the Alter Rebbe’s life and shita into so tight a compass. I trust, however, that you will find the opportunity to elaborate on this material, and that the newspaper will permit you more adequate space for such an important topic, one that is of particular interest and relevance to our day and age. Indeed, the interest in the Alter Rebbe and his shita has been particularly lively in Jewish circles everywhere. A newspaper, which surely desires to serve the interests of the community, should be willing to provide adequate space for such a subject. I am not familiar with this newspaper, or with its policy, but we are taught to judge everyone and everything in the scale of merit.¹

In compliance with your request, and especially in light of the importance of the subject matter, I will refer to some of the points in your article, even some that may seem “minor,” with a view to correcting them.

(1) At the beginning of your article, you write that the Alter Rebbe changed his mind “on the way,” and went to Mezritch. This is not accurate, since he had decided to go to Mezritch before he set out on his way. It may seem a minor point, but actually it is not, for it indicates that the turning point in his life came only after due deliberation.

(2) You show how the Maggid of Mezritch inspired the Alter Rebbe. In this connection, it is revealing to note how the inspiration came about, inasmuch as it has to do with a basic aspect of Chabad.

It happened when a complicated shaala (halachic inquiry) came before the Maggid and his disciples, at a time when the Alter Rebbe happened to be present, and he was tremendously impressed by the way the Maggid dealt with this shaala, analyzed all its intricacies and substantiated his reasons before announcing the psak din. The profundity of the Maggid’s knowledge in Talmud and Halacha so impressed the young but scholarly Schneur Zalman that he decided to remain in Mezritch and be the Maggid’s disciple for the rest of his life.

(3) You state that Rabbi Yaacov Yosef “relinquished his Talmudic background” to become a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. This, again, is not very accurate, for even after he became the Baal Shem Tov’s disciple, not only did he retain his rabbinic position, but also he constantly engaged in halachic discourse in his works. His sharp critique was directed against the conduct of certain rabbis who used their rabbinic positions and Talmudic scholarship in a way that was not becoming to their station. But, this is a matter that cannot be entered into here.

4) You state that the Alter Rebbe ‘negated’ the concept of the Baal Shem Tov that it is the emotions that govern the mind. You will surely pardon me if I say that it is not so, for it is well-known that the Alter Rebbe elaborated and expanded on the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, but did not, G-d forbid, negate any of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings in any way whatsoever.

The concept that “the mind governs the heart” is not an innovation of the Alter Rebbe, but is found in the Zohar (Part III, page 224A). Hence, the Baal Shem Tov could not deviate from this concept. What can be said, however, is that, inasmuch as the Baal Shem Tov lived and worked in the southern part of Russia, (although he did occasionally visit the northern part), where, for various reasons, the majority of the Jews were not of a scholarly disposition, he emphasized the approach most likely to afford them the greatest spiritual uplift, namely, prayer and emotional expression.

On the other hand, the Alter Rebbe, who lived and worked in the northern part of Russia, where Lithuania was the citadel and center of Talmudic scholarship-the Alter Rebbe emphasized the power of the mind and the primacy of intellectual activity in Divine service.

We have arrived at the eve of the auspicious days of the 12-13th of Tammuz, the anniversary of my father-in-law’s liberation from Soviet imprisonment, a punishment he received for his selfless and relentless struggle to preserve the Torah and its traditions, even under that totalitarian and anti-religious regime. May we all be inspired by his example to do our full share in spreading and strengthening Yiddishkeit, especially as we are so fortunate as to be able to do so in freedom and in congenial circumstances.

With blessing,