Feb. 18th, 1970
Chicago, Ill. 60611
Gentlemen:
Your letter addressed to the United Lubavitcher Yeshivah has been turned over to us.
In reply, please be advised that no picture or artist’s representation of the Baal Shem Tov is extant. What sometimes purports to be his likeness is not authentic.
Similarly there is no picture of his successor Rabbi Dov Baer of Miezricz.
However, insofar as the latter’s successor is concerned, namely Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad —Lubavitch branch of the Chassidic movement, and progenitor of the Schneerson dynasty of Lubavitcher Rabbis, we are in a position to provide you with pictures of some of the members of this dynasty (first, third, fifth, sixth and seventh generation — the present Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson) as well as biographical data.
If we can be of any assistance to you in regard to the above, please communicate with us.
Sincerely,
Dr. Nissan Mindel
Notes and sources
Published: The Letter and the Spirit, Vol 5 (Nissan Mindel Publications, 2019), 156.
Note: Letters printed in "The Letters and The Spirit" are from the Archives of Rabbi Nissan Mindel A"H, the Rebbe's personal secretary entrusted with writing up the Rebbe's orally dictated responses. The “Nissan Mindel Archives” are comprised of secretarial copies, including first drafts, and may have subsequently been published with editorial changes. Therefore the letters as they appear in the book may not be the final signed version.