Appreciation for a donation to publish Kehot texts; the need to reach out to all four sons of the Pesach narrative, even the wicked and those who do not know how to ask

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The difficult financial situation Lubavitch was facing; request for assistance for the Rebbe's mother

No. 225

This letter was addressed to R. Avraham Eliyahu Axelrod, an active communal Rabbi in Baltimore.

B"H, 11 Nissan, 5706

Greetings and blessings,

Last week, we were visited by your uncle, Gershon b'reb Meir Sofer from Valdosta, Georgia. There was an initiative in his community to send a Torah to Europe. Your uncle charged us to act as the agents to accomplish this mitzvah. We have already purchased the Torah scroll and it will be sent in the coming days.

When [your uncle] visited my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe Shlita, he was aroused with a good-spirited feeling to endeavor to participate in the efforts that are being directed by my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe Shlita, through Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch and Machne Yisrael to afford spiritual assistance to our brethren in Europe whose lives were saved. When I saw the great reverence and feelings of dearness your uncle held in his heart for my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe Shlita, I said that I would ask you to write to him to motivate him and strengthen [his resolve] in the above with the additional power.

Parenthetically, [your uncle] told me that his father (i.e., your grandfather) wrote a Torah scroll at the time of the birth of one of the Rebbeim. Do you know any particulars about this?[403]

You have certainly seen my notes at the conclusion of the text Toras Shalom and the Haggadah Im Mareh Mekomos.[404] If you have any comments with regard to the above, please notify me.

After the printing, I became doubtful with regard to the statement I made that the intention associated with the letters of the name [Havayah] in the Great Hallel[405] is a matter relevant to people at large.[406] (There are few other instances [where Kabbalistic intentions are mentioned] in the Alter Rebbe's Siddur.) Now certainly, the Alter Rebbe did not copy the psalm into the Siddur by hand. Instead, he indicated that it should be printed in this place in the Shabbos prayers. If so, it is possible to say (although [this supposition] is slightly forced) that the printer inserted the letters of the name [Havayah] on his own (copying the psalm from the Siddur of the AriZal [where it is printed] with these letters). [Indeed,] I have heard similar statements with regard to the vowelization of [G-d's] name in the Shemoneh Esreh.

With blessings for a kosher and happy Pesach,

Rabbi Menachem Schneerson

Executive Director

   

Notes:

403. (Back to text) [R. Axelrod replied to the Rebbe, relating that the Rebbe Rashab commissioned the writing of a Torah scroll in connection with the birth of the Previous Rebbe in 5640. The Rebbe Maharash selected R. Axelrod's grandfather to write the scroll.]

404. (Back to text) [Both of these texts were printed during that year, 5706.]

405. (Back to text) [Tehillim, Kapitel 136. That kapitel contains 26 verses, equal to the numerical equivalent of G-d's name Y-H-V-H. In the Siddur (Sidddur Tehillat HaShem, pp. 156-157) and the Haggadah, the yud from that is printed after the first ten verses, the hei after the next five, etc.]

406. (Back to text) [In his notes, the Rebbe explains that the fact that the letters are printed in the Siddur indicates that the matter is relevant to people at large, i.e., all those who pray with the Siddur.]

Appreciation for a donation to publish Kehot texts; the need to reach out to all four sons of the Pesach narrative, even the wicked and those who do not know how to ask

Table of contents

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The difficult financial situation Lubavitch was facing; request for assistance for the Rebbe's mother