Featured this week on TheRebbe.org is an article about the famous sculptor Jacques Lipchitz. The article is the fruit of many years of research and interviews I conducted with tens of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries as well as members of Lipchitz's family.
My initial interest in Lipchitz was sparked by a rumor I heard that his property in Italy was donated by his family to Lubavitch of Milan.
The relationship between Jacques and Yulla Lipchitz and Chabad of Milan was the product of a letter the Rebbe sent to the sculptor prior to one of his trips to Italy.
In the article, I included an excerpt of the letter; here is the letter in its entirety, with a copy of the original letter provided by Jacques' step-son Hanno Mott.
By the Grace of G‑d
Erev Shovuoth [Eve of the Holiday of Shavuot], 5722 [1962]
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr. Chayim Yaakov Lipschitz
168 Warburton Avenue
Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
Greeting and Blessing:
I take the opportunity of this auspicious time, on the eve of the Festival of Mattan Torah [the Giving of the Torah], to acknowledge receipt of your letter of May 31st.
And in connection with this central festival, the Season of Our Receiving the Torah, the eternal Torah which is also the Torah of life, I send you the traditional Shovuoth blessing of my father-in-law of saintly memory – to receive the Torah with joy and inwardness, with a goodly measure of inspiration to last through the year.
With prayerful wishes and kindest regards,
With blessing for a Happy Yom Tov [holiday],
M. Schneerson
In view of your mentioning that you plan a trip to Europe and to work in Italy, I trust you may have an opportunity to visit Milan and get acquainted with a young couple, Rabbi and Mrs. Garelik (Via Giulio Uberti 41). Rabbi Garelik was born, and for the first decade of his life brought up, under the Bolshevik regime. His wife is an American born girl, who gave up all the amenities of American life to join her husband in a mission to spread Yiddishkeit [Judaism] in Italy, especially among the young generation. Despite initial difficulties and the language problem, they have succeeded in their work thanks to their dedication and inspiration which have won them recognition and admiration. It goes to emphasize the common bonds which unite Jewish people everywhere by means of the Torah and Mitzvoth which are eternal and know of no boundaries. In a sense, the art of sculpture is analogous, in that by means of the creative idea it animates the inanimate raw material, giving it form and life that evoke responses in the viewer.
I trust Mrs. Lipschitz will find interest in the enclosed copy of my message to the recent convention of the Chabad Women.
