2497 —אותנטיות מכתבי הגניזה חרסונית ותוכנם

[Adar 5714]

For my part, having seen about three hundred of these letters by my father-in-law the Rebbe (some of which were not permitted to be published), on the contrary—without any doubt—the content is authentic (except for those who believe that the simplest explanation of an event is a miracle entirely outside the natural order; such people could also believe that, by a miracle, a man was found in Odessa who could forge and invent from his imagination and write 300 such letters and then disappeared without a trace). With G‑d's help, when I have more free time, I intend to republish all the letters printed in HaTamim with additional letters that my father-in-law permitted to be printed at that time but whose publication was interrupted when HaTamim ceased printing. As an introduction to them, I will explain the reasons and arguments compelling my above conclusion. Here I will cite only two points:

a) It is known to all those who were present at the appearance of the Geniza letters in southern Russia—near Odessa and Kherson—the well-known individuals, especially those knowledgeable in Chassidic history and teachings. Among them there was not one person who was both capable and able to compose such letters from his imagination.

b) At that time, given the great confusion among countries and emergency conditions affecting communication between nations, obtaining parchment like that on which these letters were written was almost impossible.

Most of the questions raised by those who doubt the authenticity of these letters are based on finding several contradictions in their dates, etc.—that is, mistakes mostly dependent on a single letter or word, sometimes omissions of words. Anyone who has ever copied letters—especially when done hastily (unfortunately I know this well as I proofread an important portion of articles and books published by our press)—even a good copyist will have at least five percent of lines with errors after the first copy; they are then proofread a second or third time. As above—this is with a very good copyist. On the other hand—a forger wishing to forge and then sell these letters to one of the Rebbes' courts (i.e., to those knowledgeable in Chassidic history and teachings) would certainly be meticulous and proofread several times out of concern that if such errors were found his fraud would be exposed publicly and he would lose his entire business. Therefore, the existence of such errors (after deducting those added by the young typesetter at HaTamim) is actually proof that these letters were not written by a forger intending to sell them for full price to experts in this field—who would require utmost care—but rather were copied for people who only cared about their external appearance. This is further evidence supporting my father-in-law's conclusion—which he apparently heard from his father—that: a) without any doubt, the content is authentic; b) they were copied from manuscripts written by individuals renowned for their deep knowledge in Chassidus as well as Kabbalah.

Another point—which also seems to me decisive for my father-in-law's conclusion—is that anyone who saw hundreds of these letters at once—as they were brought together for sale to Lubavitch's representative—could not possibly think they were original manuscripts because all shared identical handwriting and parchment details. A forger attempting such uniformity could only hope to find buyers among those lacking critical sense or simple common sense.

Additionally—in some unpublished letters there were amulets, special script with crowns and unique points—and as I heard from my father-in-law, there are matters found within both published and unpublished letters which were not publicly known except through oral tradition passed from Rebbe to Rebbe from Admor HaZaken down to his father's generation.

I am presenting here only general points; but in my opinion even these suffice not only to refute the claims made in this article and its predecessor but also compel an entirely opposite—and most reasonable—conclusion: it is clear that Admor MiRuzhin z"l was imprisoned (so far no "scientific" researchers deny this fact—even though there was a well-known Polish researcher who reached an "absolute scientific conclusion" that Baal Shem Tov never existed). In such severe imprisonment it was customary for authorities to confiscate writings found with prisoners; certainly Admor MiRuzhin possessed manuscripts from contemporaries or earlier generations as well as books and cherished items inherited or otherwise acquired—whether few or many. Surely when he reached safety he sought ways to recover these writings etc.; obviously he could not do so openly through government channels since he had escaped prison—so only secretive means remained. If those involved managed somehow to bribe relevant officials—what would those officials do to cover up their actions or minimize chances government investigators would discover return of documents? The simplest thing—to substitute other documents matching externally (appearance, number etc.) those taken away. Clearly this could not be done calmly over extended time etc., so there was no opportunity for careful proofreading nor did they see necessity for it since both exchangers and inspectors feared mainly Russian rather than Chassidic expertise. Likewise it is clear that copying was done on parchment or paper contemporary with exchange—not original writing period—especially since at that time people did not know how to test parchment age scientifically.

Summary

The Rebbe affirms beyond doubt the authenticity of the Geniza Chersonit letters based on personal experience, logical analysis of copying errors versus forgery motives, historical context, and oral tradition. Apparent discrepancies are explained naturally rather than undermining their credibility.