A most interesting connection was discovered to a letter from the Rebbe to Oholei Torah’s dinner 26 years ago to this year’s event.
The Rebbe followed closely the success of the Oholei Torah dinners, in fact, when questioned whether to hold a dinner every year, the Rebbe encouraged that it be a yearly event. The Rebbe wrote a letter for each dinner, carrying an important message to the guests, as well as to the mossad.
As the Gala Dinner is this weekend, Sunday, the 3rd of Sivan, an astounding discovery was noticed in the last letter that Oholei Torah merited to receive from the Rebbe, 26 years ago.
In the letter, dated Beis Iyar, 5751 / 1991 it was very unusual to see that the Rebbe added the word “worthy” or “important” each and every time Oholei Torah was mentioned. In this one letter the Rebbe mentioned it 6 times. It was highly unusual then, the Dinner guests were visibly inspired. Rabbi Michoel Teitelbaum, co-founder of Oholei Torah found great encouragement from this fact, and expressed it many times to the honorees and dinner guests at that time.
When Rabbi Joseph Rosenfeld was looking over the letter, he noticed another unique and uncommon connection with this year’s event. The main base of the letter is the uniqueness and specialty of a “three-fold year” meaning that the two days of Rosh Hashona are immediately followed by Shabbos, and so were many of the yomim tovim of that year. The beginning of Oholei Torah’s Shnas Hashishim was in 5775 – 2015 and that year was a year of “three-fold.”
Also in that same letter, when the Rebbe mentions the support of the participants, the Rebbe added, “particularly ANaSH” – and this years event honorees are all from the anash and the Oholei Torah alumni community.
There is no question that with such hashgocha protis that this letter holds, it is most fitting for the Gala Dinner that celebrates the institution’s 60th year.
We hereby present to you a copy of the letter, together with an audio of from that year’s event.
That year, Rabbi Herschel Fogelman a”h, Shliach to Worcester, Massachusetts, was the master of ceremonies, and Rabbi Lipa Schapiro a”h, of the Va’ad Rabbonei Lubavitch, read the Rebbe’s letter.
