9068 —על מעמד תלמידי תלמידים ומונח 'נשתכחו תלמידיו'

Shalom u'Vrachah! [4 Teves 5726] Many thanks for the good news. May you continue to share only good news, including the highest level of good news—that there are students of your students (which apparently is the meaning of 'nishtakchu talmidav' (Tosefta Eduyos at its end), as in Berachos chapter one: forgetting, etc.—later ones cause the earlier ones to be forgotten. There is no need to alter all printed editions and manuscripts).

The reason may be explained as follows: from this point onward, we no longer need (to give strength—by calling someone Rabbi—to be a Rabbi or student), since Torah (on this level and in this manner) returns to its original host (the three generations from Rabbi).

Copied from the original handwriting—on the margin of a letter from the heads of the yeshiva, HaRav Y.Y. Pikarski and HaRav M. Mentlik, in which they reported about the students.

'Nishtakchu talmidav': (meaning that there are already students of his students, and thus his own students are considered forgotten) he is called Rabban. If both these and those are forgotten (meaning there are already students of his students’ students), etc.

In Berachos chapter one: 13a. 'There is no need to alter all printed editions and manuscripts': see Chasdei David on Tosefta there: it is possible that a scribal error occurred here, and instead of 'nishtakchu' it should say 'nismachu', etc. 'Torah...returns to its host': Bava Metzia 85a.

Summary

The Rebbe clarifies that when there are multiple generations of students, earlier ones may be considered forgotten according to certain sources, but textual accuracy must be preserved. The chain of Torah transmission continues through successive generations.