The Lubavitcher Rebbe was a rebbe. This is not a redundancy. “The Lubavitcher Rebbe” was the leader of a worldwide Jewish outreach movement, a man of enormous administrative duties. A “rebbe” is a spiritual adept who is deeply involved with individuals, one at a time, counseling them or simply offering empathy. “The Lubavitcher Rebbe” gathered so many responsibilities and so many disciples that, as the decades passed, he had less time to counsel individuals, one by one, and was restricted to handing out $1 dollar bills to very long lines of followers, offering each recipient a brief smile and blessing. It seems, then, as time passed, “The Lubavitcher Rebbe” was hardly a “rebbe.”
However, at least in the early periods of his “rebbe-hood,” if we may use that term, “The Lubavitcher Rebbe” was the picture of a rebbe, and in more than one format.
• First, he met with individuals (often into the wee hours of the morning). Long lines gathered outside his door, but these lines were not swiftly moved along. Rather, each supplicant met with the rebbe and sought his advice on personal or communal issues, or both. Sometimes these individual sessions lasted a few hours. There are countless individuals who remember these sessions, sometimes as life-changing. When the rebbe discerned that individuals in his presence had the potential to grow the Jewish community and influence many people, he spent extra time with them.
• Second, the rebbe received letters and answered letters. Each writer received an individualized reply. Sometimes the correspondence was extended, not just a one-time letter and one-time response.
• Third, the rebbe would write to his emissaries upon a major occasion, such as an annual dinner. Lubavitch of Colorado received this kind of letter for its annual dinners more than 30 years ago. Incidentally, the rebbe’s grammar and syntax were perfect and each letter’s appearance was neat and clean.
• Fourth, individuals who wanted to marry wrote the rebbe to seek his approval. In almost every case the rebbe approved and that was a great boost to the prospective bride and groom; and often the letter itself was treasured. On rare occasion, however, the rebbe would not approve.
I am not certain when the “Rebbe” could no longer serve as a full time “rebbe,” but the book under review, Letters for Life, by Levi Y. Shmotkin, demonstrates that Rabbi Menachem Schneerson was a very involved rebbe with a vast correspondence. This book contains a sampling of the rebbe’s letters — a few out of thousands that seem to be extant.
I never corresponded with the rebbe, but I was privy to one of his extended correspondences. It was a third-party correspondence, so to speak. The rebbe’s letters were directed to someone in order to advise him how to help someone else, with whom the rebbe was also in contact. Here was a case of the rebbe not addressing a letter writer’s own issue, but someone else’s — and how the recipient of the rebbe’s advice might proceed to help the third party.
I was shown these letters but did not read them — they were not for my eyes. They were doubly private, concerning the recipient and the recipient’s friend. I was shown them by the recipient as a matter of great pride. He treasured these letters from the rebbe for their content, and beyond their content, again as a matter of pride. He pointed out to me that in the rebbe’s letters, his friend (his own counselee) was referred to only by his initials.
Letters for Life: Guidance for Emotional Wellness from the Lubavitcher Rebbe divides the rebbe’s letters of advice and counsel into two broad categories, “Essentials for a Healthy Life” and “Overcoming Darkness.”
Under the first category are two subcategories: The first is “Essential Outlooks” such as “Seeing Others,” “Know You’re Not Alone” and “Recognize Your Unique Role.” The second is “Lifestyle Essentials” such as “Build Healthy Habits” and “Be Spiritually Anchored.”
Under the second category, “Overcoming Darkness,” are also two subcategories. The first is “Common Challenges” such as “Discontent,” “Worry,” “Bad Moods” and “Self-criticism.” The second is “General Tools” such as “Don’t Battle: Pivot,” “Transcend Isolation” and “The Courage to Change.”
The rebbe’s letters on all these aspects of emotional wellness are both illuminating and limited. They are illuminating because the rebbe was, indeed, a man of very wide acquaintanceship. He interacted on a personal level with many thousands of people, dealing with the things that were most important to them. The rebbe acquired a lot of wisdom. Of course he also brought his own considerable background in Torah knowledge to his advice. There is a lot to learn from these letters, especially since the rebbe’s advice seems, at least to me, not necessarily the expected.
The letters are also limited because they were addressed to individuals, dealing with very specific issues and circumstances. The letters offer guidance pertinent their recipients. They are well worth reading, especially because, as I say, their perspectives are often surprising. But they cannot constitute precisely tailored advice to an individually contoured issue, since the Rebbe/rebbe died in 1994.
I will cite one example from the book. I am fond of it for two reasons. First, it speaks to a spiritual reality particularly meaningful to me — Shabbos. Second, it nicely illustrates a chasidic phenomenon often commented on, and associated not only with the Lubavitcher rebbe but with countless chasidic rebbes. That phenomenon is a chasidic rebbe’s ability to articulate a major point in the fewest of words, and to change a person’s whole life thereby.
A young mother, Raizel Wolvovsky, was crazy busy. She was building a preschool; she looked after the sick and the aveilim (people in mourners); and hardly least, she was the mother of five children under the age of seven. She asked the rebbe how better to cope with the pressure. His written response simply said, “Light Shabbos candles without stress.”
Five words.
She took them to heart. One of her children later recounted:
“In addition to her 11 children, my mother always hosted many guests for Friday night Shabbat meals. So there was good reason for her to feel pressure right before Shabbat. However — and I remember this vividly — as the sun was coming down, and the time for lighting the Shabbat candles arrived, a serene cloud came to rest on my mother and everything around here — something otherworldly. If I had anything I needed to wrap up before Shabbat, instinctively I would move somewhere else to do it — my mother never told me a word. The calm spirit she radiated simply didn’t allow for rushed energy nearby.”
Another child said:
“I heard from my mother how this helped her maintain her emotional equilibrium, and I personally witnessed its effect. These sanctified minutes hovered over her week and life. Despite keeping a busy and productive schedule until her last days, internally, she was a woman at peace.”
Letters for Life is published by Ezra Press (lettersforlife@chabad.org).
© IJN 2026
