THE REBBE’S TEACHINGS ARE OUR SHULCHAN ARUCH!

For Gimmel Tammuz, a day to strengthen one’s hiskashrus to the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach, we spoke with the Chabad rosh yeshiva in Tzfas, one of the Rebbe’s shluchim to Eretz Yisroel, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Wilschansky. * Does Chabad welcome questions? How should we be mekarev Jews to Chabad? How do we connect people to the Rebbe nowadays? Why are some Chassidim weak when it comes to inyanei Moshiach? How should we treat answers from the Rebbe by way of the Igros Kodesh? * Part 1

Interview by Avrohom Rainitz

YOU CAN ASK ANYTHING, BUT THERE ARE CERTAIN GIVENS

We are days before Gimmel Tammuz, and around this time of year questions arise. Some religious groups do not favorably regard questions on emuna and they are vehemently opposed to addressing questions on sensitive topics. In Chabad, the approach is different and there is definitely room for questions. Is the floor open to all questions or in Chabad are there also topics that are untouchable?

The story is told about a gadol who was at a festive meal and each of the participants was asked to say a d’var Torah. There were big rabbanim present and each one had a turn. At some point, a simple Jew had his turn and he said his d’var Torah, “Shma Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad.” The gadol said that as far as the divrei Torah that the rest of them had said, you could come up with a refutation, but on this one there was no possible refutation.

The town shochet replied jokingly that nowadays even on a d’var Torah like this you could find a question. This remark was taken very seriously and the shochet was fired from his position. Why? Because there are principles that are not to be trifled with, not even as a joke. When it comes to principles of faith, there are no jokes.

Look at what happens in Parshas Korach. The Jewish people believed in Hashem and His servant Moshe, perfect faith that was based on what they saw and heard how Hashem appointed Moshe to be the intermediary who connected Hashem with the nation. Korach came, and one night he raised some heretical questions and made some disparaging remarks about a tallis that was completely blue and a room full of s’farim. Within a few hours, the entire foundation of faith had been undermined.

What was so terrible about what Korach did? He just asked…

The problem was that he did not ask in order to understand but in order to challenge Moshe. That’s the point. In Chabad we don’t avoid questions, but the questions have to be asked in order to understand, not to challenge the Rebbe. You can ask everything, but you need to know that there is a foundation, certain principles which are givens.

What is considered “Shma Yisroel” and what is up for discussion?

By Chassidim, everything the Rebbe said is holy of holies, from which we cannot budge an iota. When it says something explicitly in a sicha, that is Shma.

Any hergesh (Chassidic sensitivity) that a Chassid has that is not explicitly stated in a sicha, even if based on similar points in sichos, is like any Torah pilpul which can be respected, but it can be refuted as well.

Even if he is a Chassid, a gadol ba’Torah, a yerei Shamayim, etc. – it is important to set a clear distinction between what the Rebbe said and what a Chassid feels. A Chassid cannot establish things without a clear source in the Rebbe’s sichos.

Rashi allowed himself to say “my heart tells me” in his commentary on Chumash, but we understand that only g’dolei Yisroel can say that. When an elementary school teacher reads the Rashi which says, “my heart tells me,” even young children understand that Rashi can say that. If their teacher would say what “his heart tells him,” then even if he were to be a big Chassid, he would be failing his students.

We need to repeatedly stress that just as it is out of the question for someone to express opinions about kashrus without sources in Torah, so too, it should be out of the question to express opinions and make declarations about inyanei Moshiach and Geula without a basis in the Torah literature, particularly in the Rebbe’s teachings.

There are many topics and sub-topics that are debated. Can we find clarity on all these topics in the Rebbe’s teachings?

Definitely. In the Rebbe’s teachings he deals decisively with most of the topics that are discussed and debated. When you look around and see what the debates are about, it’s very surprising. Why don’t they open the Rebbe’s sichos? At least 95% of the topics are discussed there. The Rebbe’s sichos, especially from the latter years, are our Shulchan Aruch for the present time. Just like someone cannot express opinions in the laws of kashrus without first learning these laws in Shulchan Aruch, so too, a person cannot express opinions about Moshiach before learning Toras Ha’Geula.

For some reason, the topic of Geula is seen as one that is open for discussion, where everyone can say an opinion. This is absurd and has been the sorry situation ever since Mivtza Moshiach began.

When Tzach promoted the signs saying “Hichonu L’Bi’as HaMoshiach” (Prepare for Moshiach’s Coming) throughout Eretz Yisroel, there were detractors then too. A Lubavitcher came over to me who has many non-Lubavitcher friends in Yerushalayim. He said that people who, until then, had admired Lubavitch, now looked at him pityingly. He was simply embarrassed to meet them.

I told him to go and ask them whether they learned Hilchos Melech HaMoshiach in the Rambam. It was quite likely that they would say there are no such halachos. The truth is, that is what these halachos are called in old editions, but even if you asked them whether they learned prakim 11 and 12 in Hilchos Melachim, which they heard about, most of them probably had not looked at them even once.

If that is the case, I said to him, they ought to be ashamed. They never saw what the Torah has to say on the subject, so why are you ashamed by their opinion?

Unfortunately, nothing has changed. Those who learn are the ones who are active in inyanei Moshiach and Geula; those who are not active, and might even disparage those who are, don’t learn. It is not possible for someone to learn all the Rebbe’s sichos on inyanei Moshiach and Geula and not start doing something to spread the Besuras Ha’Geula. There is no reason to feel ashamed by those who mock.

MAKE A CHESHBON HA’NEFESH AND BOLSTER THE “V’NIFLINU”

How do you explain the weakness some have when it comes to Mivtza Moshiach? Is it just a matter of not having learned the Rebbe’s sichos or is there more to it?

In order to get involved in announcing the Besuras Ha’Geula, there must be learning that precedes it. “Great is learning for it leads to action.” It’s when you learn inyanei Moshiach and Geula, especially the most recent sichos, that you “live with Moshiach.” “Living” with it leads to sharing it with others.

You can see a reference to this in the sicha of Parshas R’ei 5751, where the Rebbe says that even those who still haven’t fully “gotten” the Besuras Ha’Geula need to publicize it, because their relatives and Jews around them don’t need to suffer because they didn’t quite “get” it yet. In this sicha we see that when a person himself doesn’t live with it, it interferes with his wanting to broadcast it.

But if we analyze this situation more, we see that the source of the problem is that the “v’niflinu” (pride in being different) is lacking. We were trained to be soldiers of the Rebbe, soldiers who follow the Rebbe with eyes closed, through fire and water, without looking sideways to see how people are looking at us. To be proud of the fact that we are Chassidei Chabad and to feel the need to tell the world about how fortunate we are that we are Chassidei Chabad, and the even greater good fortune that we have a Rebbe, and everyone needs to know what he has to say.

When the Rebbe announced Mivtza T’fillin, for example, it was obvious to us all that when we met a Jew on the street, we would tell him that the Lubavitcher Rebbe asked that he put on t’fillin. One could ask, why is it so important to say that this is coming from the Rebbe? Isn’t the main thing that a Jew put on t’fillin? We didn’t have that question. It was obvious to us all that everything we do needs to be presented as being done because the Rebbe said so.

By the way, R’ Dovid Raskin would say in his farbrengens with the bachurim that when you come to a Jew and say do such and such because the Rebbe said to do it, these words have a greater effect than anything else and they are accepted. The Rebbe himself writes a similar thing to R’ Eliezer Karasik, that going to government offices and telling them firmly that Lubavitch wants such and such, has the ability to grant success.

The goal of every Chassid was always for the Rebbe to conquer the world and that all Jews become Chassidim of the Rebbe. That is the fuel that pushes us onward. Every Jew we were mekarev was immediately acquainted with the Rebbe, so that another Jew would become a soldier of the Rebbe.

This approach is not an invention of the Chassidim. It is the approach that the Rebbe taught us in dozens, and even hundreds of sichos. The Rebbe repeatedly emphasized that we need to bring things in the name of Lubavitch and Lubavitch must conquer the world. The Rebbe said explicitly that every shliach has to know that his goal is to transform the place into Lubavitch.

To ensure that this be understood correctly I need to clarify it – there is no question that when a Jew learns Chassidus, that is a great thing, even if he is not mekushar to the Rebbe. There are even letters from the Rebbe to people who were afraid to learn Chassidus because they did not want to become Lubavitchers, and the Rebbe wrote them that they can learn Chassidus without becoming Lubavitcher Chassidim, the main thing being to learn Chassidus. The learning itself is a great thing, but we cannot forget the goal.

This topic is brought numerous times in the Rebbe’s teachings and is also found in edited sichos like in Likkutei Sichos, volume 10, in the first sicha on Parshas VaYeishev. The Rebbe explains that “tying bundles” is the avoda of shlichus. We learn from the verse, “and behold, your bundles turned around and bowed to my bundle” – that “the completion of the work in affecting another is when he gets to bring him to Yosef HaTzaddik’s bundle, Yosef being the ruler of the entire land of Egypt – the Nasi Ha’dor, to get him to have bittul to the Nasi.”

Similarly, in Likkutei Sichos, volume 11, in the third sicha on Parshas P’kudei, the Rebbe says, “There needs to be an involvement and work of each and every person in Torah and mitzvos with his own abilities. Yet, he needs to know that this is only by way of preparation, and he needs to bring all his work to Moshe (within each person and through this, to the extension of Moshe in every generation), the sages of the generation, the ‘eyes of the congregation,’ because ‘Moshe’ of the generation has the ability to raise the Mishkan of the soul of every single person.”

When we want to build a Mishkan, and that is the task of the seventh generation, we must bring it all to Moshe. That is the only way to erect the Mishkan. If we want to bring the world to its perfection, to draw G-dliness down to the world, we must bring the world to Moshe-the Rebbe.

That is the Rebbe’s chiddush (innovation), something we did not see in previous generations. Since the Rebbe took over the Chabad leadership, he emphasized that the goal is to bring Jews to the Rebbe, to connect them to the Nasi Ha’dor. Why? Because the role of the seventh generation cannot be done without Moshe Rabbeinu. We must connect everything to Moshe and bring all Jews to Moshe.

This is why we need to see to it that the Rebbe’s name is publicized in every possible place, whether it’s a flyer or a monthly newsletter, it should include the Rebbe’s picture or articles about the Rebbe and his work, or special gatherings in honor of the Rebbe. It was always a given to every Chassid and shliach involved in hafatza that in every event he does, and with all material he produces, the Rebbe’s picture must appear prominently.

The same goes for publicizing what the Rebbe said. Our job is to share the Rebbe’s opinions on all timely matters and to get people to obey the Rebbe’s directives. If it’s about shleimus ha’aretz, for example, there can’t be a person in the world who doesn’t know precisely what the Rebbe, i.e. daas Torah and daas Hashem Himself, has to say. It makes no difference what the person’s personal opinion is, whether he is to the Right or the Left. So too with every subject.

When the Rebbe announced that Moshiach is coming and that he himself is the final redeemer, our job is to make sure everyone knows this and prepares for the Geula.

But the Rebbe said on occasion that in those places where you cannot quote me directly, just say it without mentioning my name, the main thing being that the message get out?

First of all, the Rebbe said that only about specific things. In most cases the Rebbe emphasized that it should be said in the name of Lubavitch. But even in those specific instances, pay attention to what the Rebbe said: only in those places where they won’t accept it if it is said in his name, can it be said without his name. From the negative you derive the positive, that in places where it will be accepted in the Rebbe’s name, it is important to the Rebbe that it be said in his name.

This became an even stronger point after the Rebbe’s sicha of Shoftim 5751, in which he said we should publicize to all members of the generation that there is a Navi and we need to consult with him and obey his instructions.

In any case, the Rebbe’s permission to say things not in his name are definitely for certain times and places and is not a blanket allowance to do so on principle.

Unfortunately, today we have a lot to fix in this regard. You speak with people who are not involved in inyanei Moshiach and Geula who lack the v’niflinu. There is the sense that they lack the desire to connect the entire world to the Rebbe, so that everyone knows about the Rebbe.

CONNECTING JEWS TO THE REBBE

But maybe it makes sense, as some say, to first be mekarev people to Torah and mitzvos and then to Chassidus and then to the Rebbe?

Listen, if you and I were to sit down and devise a strategy about how to lead Chabad, maybe we could come up with alternatives, but that is not what we’re doing. We want to know what the Rebbe’s opinion is. The Rebbe’s opinion on the matter is clear – as soon as you begin the kiruv process, you should connect the person to the Rebbe, to the Moshe of the generation.

In a long letter to Anash in Paris, which is printed in Igros Kodesh volume 3, page 54, the Rebbe describes the efforts of a young man who ended up in a city far from a Jewish center, who immediately began connecting Jews to the Rebbe. Suddenly, dozens of letters began coming to the Rebbe Rayatz from that city with requests for brachos. The Rebbe writes that not only should those Jews be connected to the Rebbe, they should be convinced to send Maamad money to support the Rebbe! What Chassid would have thought, on his first encounter with someone, to speak to him about hiskashrus to the Rebbe and even about sending Maamad? But the Rebbe said this is what needs to be done in the seventh generation.

In general, this topic of hiskashrus is the Rebbe’s chiddush. Although in earlier generations there were Chassidim who were mekusharim—if you read the letters of R’ Isaac of Homil, you will see astonishing expressions of hiskashrus –hiskashrus wasn’t a central theme in Chassidic education. The one who placed hiskashrus in the center of the Chassidic experience is the Rebbe.

So you’re saying that this policy of not presenting the Rebbe to mekuravim is a new phenomenon and is not the way the Rebbe taught us.

It might just be among a few people and it might be subtle, but since this is so important, it has to be spoken about even if it pertains to only a handful of people.

The truth is that that handful who barely mention the Rebbe in their work, also feel the need to explain themselves repeatedly. The truth that the Rebbe implanted in their hearts doesn’t let them rest, and we hope that very soon they will realize that all these weak explanations are only attempts to avoid the truth.

How do we connect a person to the Rebbe today? You used to be able to bring him to a farbrengen or for dollars. He saw the Rebbe and you just had to finish the work. Today, all the work is on you. How should it be done?

I think the reality is just the opposite and the work gets easier and easier. I’ll tell you why. Our generation is called the “Instant Generation.” In stores there are all kinds of instant powders. If you want soup, for example, you don’t have to put in much effort. You just add water to the packet and you have soup. People are very pliable today. That doesn’t mean they aren’t smart; it’s that most people accept things readily and love when things are quick and easy.

The same is true spiritually. It used to be that in order to bring someone to the Rebbe you had to invest a lot of time on explanations about the Rebbe’s greatness and the need to connect to him. When you finally managed to get him to understand this, he would come to a farbrengen, not understand a word of it…

In recent years, as people have become more flexible, the Rebbe provided us with new approaches so that even those who want everything ready-made can connect to him. Take dollars, for example. That was an easy way to connect to the Rebbe. Shluchim would bring their mekuravim to the Rebbe without special preparation, and with the dollar he gave them, the Rebbe connected them to him. Tens of thousands of Jews around the world today have a dollar from the Rebbe. You speak to people who seemingly have no connection with Chabad and then they take out a dollar that they got from the Rebbe and show it to you.

Instead of waiting months for yechidus, the Rebbe enabled people to pass by for dollars, and in an instant, something big happened. Sometimes ten people went by in one minute but the dollar received from the Rebbe made an enormous change. That was a new type of hiskashrus.

How is it done today?

Since the Rebbe said that Mivtza Moshiach is the gateway to everything else, that would also be the way to connect people to the Rebbe. It is the easiest way to connect people to the Rebbe and get them to follow his horaos. When you tell someone that the Rebbe is the man whom Hashem chose to take the Jewish people out of exile and to bring the Geula, and that in order to hasten the Geula he needs to accept the Rebbe’s authority and do what he says, he will happily do so. Who doesn’t want the Geula? Everyone understands that we cannot remain mired in galus. When we come and suggest a way to get out, through hiskashrus to the Rebbe and doing his horaos, people will jump at the opportunity.

Just as dollars ratcheted up the rate of hiskashrus to the Rebbe, we see how the rate has increased recently thanks to answers in the Igros Kodesh. People know they can ask the Rebbe and get a bracha. This makes them mekushar to him and want to do his horaos. When ads were placed which said, “write to the Rebbe MH”M and see miracles,” thousands of Jews connected to the Rebbe by writing to him and receiving clear answers in the Igros Kodesh.

ANSWERS IN THE IGROS KODESH ARE LIKE A LETTER COMING FROM THE REBBE’S ROOM

Some people don’t like the idea of publicizing writing to the Rebbe. They feel it demeans the sacredness of writing to the Rebbe.

I don’t think that the people who are uncomfortable with it feel that it’s disrespectful, because if that were so, how did they bring groups to the Rebbe for dollars? Doing that also cheapens the whole inyan of hiskashrus to a tzaddik. People would come with no prior preparation and stand on line and receive a dollar from the Rebbe. Shluchim would bring people for dollars who had no knowledge of the basics of Judaism. Why? Simply because they were sure that a look from the Rebbe would ignite their spark. So why not convince people to ask the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh so that the Rebbe’s answer will inspire them?

In a certain way, the attitude toward writing to the Rebbe is more serious than going for dollars. People make preparations and make a good hachlata and only then do they write. When shluchim convinced their mekuravim to go for dollars, many of them didn’t even make those minimal preparations.

At that time, nobody saw a problem with that. Just as they were sure that a look from the Rebbe would change the mekurav, I see no problem with publicizing about writing to the Rebbe. You can see how, when a person asks the Rebbe, and all the more so when he gets an answer, that this connects him to the Rebbe and makes a change in him.

How can you compare dollars, which the Rebbe initiated, to answers in the Igros Kodesh, which is something Chassidim came up with?

We are ruled by the Shulchan Aruch. When there is an explicit source in Shulchan Aruch for this, and in the Rebbe’s sichos he mentions it, what difference does it make who started it? The Rebbe once said that even in a situation where the Rebbe seemingly cannot answer, you should write to the Rebbe and he will find a way to respond.

After Gimmel Tammuz, thousands of people have written to the Rebbe and have received answers in the Igros Kodesh. Obviously, this is a way the Rebbe has chosen to respond to the letters sent to him at this time.

Some of the big mivtzaim of the Rebbe started because of Chassidim. Mitzva Tanks or the Torah written for Klal Yisroel were mivtzaim initiated by one or two Chassidim who suggested it to the Rebbe . Is it right to say that those campaigns are not as important since they were initiated by Chassidim?

There is nothing more powerful than facts on the ground. If we look around us we see that this is going on and the Rebbe is making miracles. We need to view it as a new revelation that the Rebbe is showing us in order to help us during these times. We need to happily embrace these giluyim and not run away from them!

It should be noted that it was the Rebbe who said the Igros Kodesh should be printed and he said this in recent years.

If the Igros Kodesh were used just for questions about spiritual matters, that would be one thing, because as you mentioned, there is a source for this in Shulchan Aruch. The problem is that many people want answers about mundane matters like business etc. Isn’t that treating the s’farim disrespectfully?

A teacher in our yeshiva published a booklet about answers through the Igros Kodesh in Torah literature. He has an interesting answer to your question. If we go back some years, we will remember that when we wanted to send a letter to the Rebbe and due to technical reasons we were unable to do so, we would put a letter in a volume of the Rebbe’s maamarim or in a Tanya. That is what Chabad Chassidim did and the Rebbe referred to this.

Interestingly, when people discovered that the Rebbe responds to letters through his holy books, Chassidim began putting their letters specifically into the volumes of Igros and not into volumes of maamarim. Not to minimize the importance and holiness of the Igros, but most of the letters are about material matters. So there is no reason to say that questions about mundane matters are a disgrace to these s’farim because that is what these s’farim are mainly about! We see how the Rebbe prepared a way for us to ask and receive answers even in material matters, through s’farim in which the k’dusha permeates the material.

In the introduction to the Igros Kodesh, volume 12, to which the Rebbe gave his approval before it was printed, an entire chapter is devoted to stressing the uniqueness of the series of Igros Kodesh. It says there that the Igros is like the Tanya. When time does not allow for each person to be answered personally, a series like this is published which contains the Rebbe’s views on all areas of life and every person can find the Rebbe’s advice on all sorts of topics.

That introduction ends with “all this fits with the Rebbe’s directive mentioned before that with any question one should consult with a mashpia, ‘assai lecha rav.’ The obligation of the ‘rav’ is to advise the person based on the horaos and guidance of the Rebbe that are scattered throughout these letters.”

There is the feeling that people use the Igros Kodesh in an exaggerated manner. Doesn’t that minimize the importance of writing to the Rebbe and receiving an answer?

In principle, you are right. When you write to the Rebbe, you need to think about whether this is something that is befitting to ask. Definitely not everything needs to be asked. Sometimes, the approach of those who ask about every single thing can minimize the value and importance of it.

Generally speaking, Anash limit the scope of what they ask. They treat writing to the Rebbe today and getting an answer in the Igros Kodesh just as they always regarded writing to the Rebbe.

The Rebbe once said that when he wants to know something he looks in Shulchan Aruch. If there is no reference there, he asks the Rebbe Rayatz. Along the same lines, when Anash are not sure about something, they usually speak to a mashpia who will check to see whether the Rebbe addressed this. Only in cases where the Rebbe did not clearly refer to the issue will they write to the Rebbe.

We have clear horaos from the Rebbe that each of us should have a mashpia to consult with every step of the way. Just as previously, a person would speak to his mashpia and only if the mashpia told him to ask the Rebbe, would he write to the Rebbe, so too today. We need to consult with a mashpia and write to the Rebbe based on his guidance.

The same is true for answers in the Igros Kodesh. Previously, when we received a letter from the Rebbe, it wasn’t always possible to understand what the Rebbe meant, because man is subjective and he can often distort the meaning to align it with what he wants it to say, so we consulted with a mashpia. Similarly, today too, we must consult with a mashpia about answers we receive via the Igros.

For those who don’t do so already, mashpiim should be telling their mushpaim that when they put a letter into the Igros Kodesh it is just like submitting a letter to the secretaries and the Rebbe receiving it on his desk. It’s because the matter is so sacred that it can’t be done wantonly; asking the Rebbe about every little thing and wanting an answer through the Igros is inappropriate.

Even in earlier generations they would ask the Rebbeim about material things. They would tell of Chassidim who cried on their way to the Rebbe for wasting the Rebbe’s time about trivial matters. The Rebbe once said that the difference between a Chabad Chassid and a Poilisher Chassid is that a Chabad Chassid rarely asked about material things.

But we were taught by the Rebbe that not only is it okay to ask about material things, you need to ask about material things. Back in the time of the Rebbe Rayatz, the Rebbe would tell Chassidim to write to the Rebbe Rayatz about material concerns. I remember even in my time how the elder Chassidim found it hard to digest this. At the beginning of the Rebbe’s nesius people knew to ask about gashmius too.

In later years, the Rebbe changed things and said that certain kinds of questions should be asked of hanhalos of yeshivos and other questions should be referred to doctors, and there were questions the Rebbe said to ask rabbanim. At one point, the secretaries were instructed that when people came with these kinds of questions, to refer them to the appropriate person in light of the Rebbe’s horaos.

What was the reason for this?

If we can be so audacious as to give explanations, it would seem that it was simply a matter of time constraints, not a change in approach, i.e. that people should no longer ask about gashmius. Then too, after they went to a rav or doctor, they would report to the Rebbe and receive a bracha or other instruction.

It’s interesting that each time the Rebbe spoke about the need to limit the amount of mail he received, there were many more answers from the Rebbe after that, a hint that the bond with the Chassidim had not weakened; on the contrary.

It is also important to note that in 5753-5754 the Rebbe indicated that he wanted to respond to letters. We can learn from this that the Rebbe wants to respond. So lately, after the Rebbe has been seen to answer through the Igros Kodesh, we see clearly that the Rebbe wants to respond. In this time of darkness the Rebbe revealed a new light to us and leads us by the hand. The Rebbe said on Shabbos Parshas Shoftim 5751 that before Yemos HaMoshiach the concept of “your judges and advisors” will be revealed, and here we see how the Rebbe gives instructions, advice and brachos to all.

Sometimes, people do not open to a clear answer and they ask again. Is that acceptable?

Let’s go back to the way it was before Gimmel Tammuz when we submitted letters to the Rebbe and the Rebbe responded. It happened then too that the Rebbe did not respond. What did people do? They would say another chapter of T’hillim in the hopes that the Rebbe would respond and they consulted with their mashpia about whether to write again or not. Sometimes the mashpia would advise that they make a good resolution and then write to the Rebbe again.

In Tammuz 5755, I was part of a discussion among rabbanim, mashpiim, and directors of Chabad houses. We spoke about Igros Kodesh and one of the mashpiim said that one night he got a call from a friend who had a halachic question and he decided to ask the Rebbe. From the Rebbe’s answer he understood that he was supposed to consult with his mashpia which is why he called.

One of the rabbanim present said this showed that this had gone too far, with people asking questions about halacha. I said that since the Rebbe gave the opportunity of asking him questions through the Igros Kodesh, when a person makes a mistake and asks a halachic question, the Rebbe finds a way to send him to a rav. In the past too, people sent Halacha questions to the Rebbe and the Rebbe referred them to rabbanim.

I am sure that after the Rebbe opened this new path for us, he makes sure that no misstep comes about as a result. I can only conclude by saying that the rav who was so opposed to it, today puts letters in the Igros Kodesh and encourages others to do so and sees miracles. If you were to remind him that he opposed it in the past, he would be very surprised.

To be continued