Exceptional: Historic Letters from the Lubavitcher Rebbe to the Iggerot Moshe about Sailing on a Zim Company Ship

Exceptional: Historic Letters from the Lubavitcher Rebbe to the Iggerot Moshe about Sailing on a Zim Company Ship

Unique collection: Group of especially important letters from the Admo"r Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Lubavitch, sent in several parts to the gaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, author of Iggerot Moshe. The letters discuss the Rebbe's mighty battle against the Israeli shipping company, Zim, regarding sailing its ships on Shabbat. Brooklyn, 1956. The letters are typewritten and entierly filled with the Rebbe's handwritten glosses and corrections, including one addition (an apology) handwritten by the addressee, the author of Iggerot Moshe.

Historic group of letters with inestimable Torah and Chaba"d value, comprising a complete compilation [8 leaves], in which the Rebbe lays out his clear doctrine to forbid sailing Israeli ships on Shabbat. Those days, the Rebbe stood almost alone against the strongest forces - the state of Israel and all its branches, including prominent rabbis, who desired to permit sailing ships on Shabbat. Some of the letters were printed [in Iggerot Kodesh Part 13, iggeret 4'555 and iggeret 4'580, and some were not printed in Iggerot Kodesh].

Background to the letters: The battle about Israeli ships traveling on Shabbat was a battle of the titans conducted by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in the 1950s and 60s in order to awaken public awareness of the prohibition of traveling in Israeli ships under Jewish ownership that travel on Shabbat by desecrating it, in attempt to prevent the Israeli Zim shipping company from continuing its trips and misleading the public. Leading rabbis also held that running a ship does not desecrate Shabbat, and the Rebbe firmly attacks them in one of his letters here: "The author [of Sefer Shevitat HaYam] will have to give an accounting for his words"! The Zim company also published a detailed engineer's report explaining that there is no need for Shabbat desecration to sail the ship, as everything is done automatically by machine. The company also claimed that if the ships stop in the middle of the ocean, this would create a potentially life-threatening risk of collision. The Lubavitcher Rebbe describes his complete and orderly halachic approach to the topic (also relying on his extensive knowledge of engineering from his academic studies), responding to these claims, and demonstrate them to be untruths and misleading, writing, inter alia, as follows:

"Whoever knows, even generally, how ships and machines work, knows that there is no doubt that these involve the Torah prohibition of ma'avir, mevashel and much more - and this is regarding the machines themselves. In addition, there are several more prohibitions regarding the conduct and rules of shipping companies and transportation in general ... as machines can indeed work automatically for some time, but several times a day, they must be greased (with some type of oil), redirected or assessed (those that work automatically between checks), not just a resetting - also changes in the process of the machine, matching several details of the machines with external considerations - there is no space here to explain further."

"There are those who say - and in so saying are no less strange than the above - that leaving the boat standing in the middle of the ocean raises the possibility of two ships colliding - more so than a ship that is moving. This is clearly the opposite of what is basic to comprehend, as ships move at great speed - at least those in our days, and it is much harder to change course or stop if a ship is suddenly identified as approaching, which is not the case for a ship that is resting. This is especially far-fetched in our times, when ships at sea send telegraphic messages to all ships on the way in order to prevent them from colliding with each other. Sending these messages together with the lights that are on the ships - these are all methods of preventing a collision and not the ship's movement, which, on the contrary, makes it more difficult."

Towards the end of the 1960s, when traveling by ship became rare, as it was replaced by air travel, the controversy quieted down. However, it has become an issue again in our times due to the cruise ships that have become a common vacation option, and Israeli shipping companies also take part.

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the Admo"r Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Specifications of the letters:

* Letter 1, which does not appear in Iggerot Kodesh: 29 Tammuz, 1956. The letter is addressed to 'The rabbi and gaon ... of noble character ... Rabbi Moshe [Feinstein] shlit"a.' Sharp letter from the Rebbe writing to the author of Iggerot Moshe: "Requesting [your] forgiveness - I was astonished to hear that [you] permit travelling on Israeli ships ... perhaps the matter was insufficiently explained to [you]."

In the margins of the Iggerot Moshe's letter of response: "I did not address the leaders, but individual travelers."

[1] leaf, 28 cm. Official stationery of the Rebbe's. Signed by the Rebbe and with glosses and corrections along the Rebbe's entire letter in his hand.

* Letter 2: Very lengthy letter covering four leaves, without the addressee's name. All along the letter are many glosses and corrections in the Rebbe's hand. This letter contains the Rebbe's clear halachic approach to the topic, in which he disproves all the "proofs" that permit [traveling on Israeli ships].In Iggerot Kodesh, iggeret 4'555 this letter is printed with the date 23 Tammuz 1956.

[4] leaf, including three complete leaves of the Rebbe's stationery, 28 cm. Another half-page, 11 cm. Glosses and corrections along the Rebbe's entire letter in his hand.

* Letter 3: This is a continuation of the previous letters. This letter also does not include the addressee's name. In Iggerot Kodesh, iggeret 4'580, this letter is printed with the date Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av 1956.

[3] leaf, of which there are two of the Rebbe's complete stationery leaves, and another partial leaf, 16 cm. Corrections and marks in the Rebbe's hand. 

Overall very fine condition.