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In continuation to the letter of the Rebbe we published here last week, a reader brought to our attention a similarly-styled letter sent to a frum college student who was fed misinformation about the Chabad shita on a host of subjects and addressed these questions to the Rebbe. In very strong language, the Rebbe rebukes him for accepting lashon hara from ill-informed individuals while providing him the answers to his questions.

B”H
Rosh Chodesh lyar, 5725
Brooklyn 4, N.Y.

Shalom u’Brocho:

Your letter reached me with considerable delay and it concludes with an apology if it had offended me.

I do not feel offended. I only feel sorry for those who apparently fed the information which induced you to put down in writing questions and strictures which are not only devoid of any substance, but which a priori are inadmissible, except in a mind slanted by the influence of individuals who consciously wish to mislead and confuse the uninitiated. It is even more regrettable in view of the fact that the instigators are (judging by your letter) people who should know what the Gemoro says about loshon-horo namely, that it is more heinous than avodo-zoro, giluy-arayos and shfichas-domim.¹

As for you, it is my duty to remind you what the Gemoro says about the person who listens to loshon- horo; that the listener shares in the consequences equally with the peddler of it. This is understandable; for if the listener would refuse to listen and would stop the loshon-horo in its tracks, upon uttering the first word of it, there would be no loshon-horo.

Now to reply to your letter in the order of its contents:

You begin by introducing yourself as a student at Columbia University, yet you declare at once that your questions come after a “rather superficial study.”

I ask you now: As a student at Columbia, should you not know better than to ask questions which are serious allegations and strictures rather than an honest quest for clarification in a subject wherein you have made a “rather superficial study” – by your own admission?

As I said above, I cannot blame you for these “questions,” since they obviously emanate from other sources. All I can blame you for, is for allowing yourself to be their unwitting tool and thereby encouraging them to hold sway over you, as well as to victimize other unsuspecting youths.

Tzaddik Gamur of Tanya

You question the statement of the Alter Rebbe (in ch. 1 of the Tanya) to the effect that a tzaddik-gomur has no yetzer-hora and how can it be reconciled with the position of Moshe Rabbenu, etc.

Let me, first of all, remind you that the Alter Rebbe is recognized as a Posek not only by Chassidim but also by Misnagdim.

The main point, however, which you missed, is that the Alter Rebbe, in making the statement, immediately quotes its source in the Gemoro! As a matter of fact, this idea is found more than once in the Talmud and not only in the Bavli but also in the Yerushalmi.² So this is not the chiddush (innovation) which the Alter Rebbe makes there.

You ask further, if this were true, how can it be reconciled with the matter of freedom of choice and retribution, etc. – I refer you to the Rambam, Hil. Teshuvah, chap. 5, where you will find the answer.

The Machlokes On Chassidus

Next you write that you have been “told by many people” about a disagreement between two persons and repeat a very serious, though ridiculous allegation.

I will not repeat their names so as not to be a party to such loshon-horo about any Jew, especially in regard to Jews who are already in the World of Truth. For, according to the din, one who repeats this kind of loshon-horo, as well as one who accepts it, are obliged to take a minyan Jews to the grave of the calumniated person and beg his forgiveness.³ I should not wish to be in this category. However, no doubt you have a copy of your letter and can guess to what section of your letter I am referring.

As for the issue itself, about which you have been “told by many people,” which apparently concerns the essence of Pnimius haTorah, let me say only this: The only ones who are concerned with the fundamentals of our Emuna and desire to understand and grasp its inner aspects, are those who delve into sifrei chakiro (of course those which are based on the Torah) and even more those who delve deeply into the sources of Kabbolo, as explained in the writing of the Wilner Gaon, and more extensively in the books of Chassidus. On the other hand, those who have no knowledge of Chassidus, nor of Kabbolo, nor of Chakiro, (regardless of what the reason of this ignorance may be), have as much right, or logic, to express a value judgment on this discipline as, for example, one who is not a doctor and never studied medicine would express a categorical opinion on the value of a certain medical drug in a matter of life and death of the patient.

I leave it to your judgment to evaluate the character of the person who expresses categorical opinions in vital matters which are not his province, or how much such opinions can be relied on.

 —To be continued —

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