A wartime letter to the Lubavitcher Rebbe brought an unexpected reply

In Nissan 5751, during the Gulf War and on the eve of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s 90th birthday, Rabbi Asher Parkash recalls a personal story from his youth in Australia. Speaking on the Rebbe’s yahrzeit, he said he and his friends sent the Rebbe a bold letter and received a surprising response.

Parkash says the episode was part of a period when the Rebbe was repeatedly emphasizing a major shift in Chabad thinking, from merely believing in redemption to actually living redemption. He describes it as one of the defining teachings of those months, alongside the Rebbe’s public talks that urged followers to turn Jewish learning and daily life into a lived experience of geulah.

The closing segment of the series, released ahead of Gimmel Tammuz, also highlights several teachings Parkash says he learned from the Rebbe. These include the historic 28 Nisan address, in which the Rebbe said, “Do all that you can to bring Mashiach,” and guidance on studying Tanakh, Midrash, and Chassidut in a way that transforms a person’s mindset rather than remaining abstract belief.

The program also references a story about a Hasid who wrote “there is nothing but Him” instead of “just” in a business ledger, and the Rebbe’s explanation that “gulah” plus an aleph becomes “geulah,” illustrating redemption’s inner meaning. It says the Rebbe also instructed followers to study deep Chassidic discourses specifically today.