Hasid - Rebbe Relationship

17 Elul 1950

What you request, that I mention it in the Rebbe's resting place, I will do as you ask. And what you write about not understanding the matter (of being mentioned in the resting place), even when you eat, drink, and sleep, you certainly don't consider beforehand how it affects your body and soul, and you do all of it even if you don't understand how it affects you. The same applies in this case.

And what you write about how it seems to you that they talk to the dead, God forbid, and think of another (except God, that is, they make requests to another who is not God), God forbid, surely you understand for yourself that the matter is not like that, since it is accepted that Kalev Ben Iefune and many Tanaim and Amoraim (wise men of the Talmud) and Tzadikim (Righteous Ones) in all generations did that.

And in summary, to answer your question, even when they visited the Rebbe to ask for a blessing, they did so not for the virtue of their body but for the virtue of their soul. The whole matter of death exists only for the body, because the soul is eternal, and in particular the soul of a Tzaddik, which has no connection to Gehenna or punishments, etc. Death in that case is an elevation, that is, an elevation from one level to a higher level; it is not called death, God forbid. As the Zohar says (Part 3, 71).

And what you write about thinking of someone else (except God) in short, the issue is not like that, because:
1) The request is that the Tzadik, because of his great holiness, be a good intercessor for the one who asks, before the King of all kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
2) A second point here is that every Hasid and follower (united, in the original Hebrew, mekushar), their soul is a particular portion of the Tzaddik's soul, which is a general soul, and is compared to the head in relation to its individual souls, as explained in the Tanya, chapter 2. And just as each limb, despite receiving its vitality from the soul, is first invested in the head and brain, and from the head and brain the vitality is then distributed to each limb according to its function, so it is also between a Hasid and a Rebbe. When the head is healthy and strong, it contains all the different vitalities of each limb, and for each limb to be healthy as well, it must be fully connected to the head; that is, the veins and nerves that link the head to the limbs must be open, so that the corresponding vitality is projected to the limb.

This is the general matter of the connection between a Hasid and a Rebbe, through which the Hasid receives everything he needs in the material and spiritual realms.

Igrot Kodesh vol. 3, p. 458