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Opening a volume of the Rebbe's letters at random — a person or a matter held in mind — is a living Chabad custom: the letter one meets is received as guidance, on the principle that nothing reaches a person by chance.

Chassidim write to the Rebbe, place the note between the pages of the Igros Kodesh, and open to a letter read as a reply. The practice rests on the Baal Shem Tov's teaching that all a person sees or hears — down to a leaf turning in the wind — is arranged by Divine providence as personal instruction. · Keser Shem Tov

The impulse long predates Chabad. The Talmud records that a traveler in doubt would ask a schoolchild, "Recite for me your verse," and treat what the child had just learned as a sign — for after the Temple's destruction "prophecy was given to children and fools." · Chullin 95b; Bava Basra 12b

Opening a holy book for direction — petichas ha-sefer — runs through the generations, most famously the goral attributed to the Vilna Gaon, a counted opening of the Chumash. The letter-draw continues that thread, with the Rebbe's own words as the page one lands upon. · goral ha-Gra

This archive draws uniformly across every letter as a study aid — an invitation into the collection, not a substitute for the custom, which is kept with a written note, intention, and often a mashpia's guidance.
THE CUSTOM & ITS ROOTS

Opening to an answer

THE PRINCIPLE — NOTHING BY CHANCE

The Baal Shem Tov taught that Divine providence reaches every detail of creation — a leaf that turns in the wind, a word overheard, a page one happens to open. If nothing is accidental, then what a person meets when opening a book with a question in mind may be received as a message meant for them. This is the ground the whole practice stands on. · Keser Shem Tov

SCRIPTURE AND THE LOT

Casting lots to discern God's will runs through Tanach: the two goats of Yom Kippur, the division of the Land among the tribes, the lot that exposed Achan, the one the sailors cast that fell upon Yonah, and Shaul chosen king "by lot" — with the Urim ve-Tumim of the Kohen Gadol as a sanctioned oracle. The common thread: an outcome surrendered to chance is understood as an outcome surrendered to Heaven. · Vayikra 16; Yehoshua 7; Yonah 1:7; Shmuel I 10

A CHILD'S VERSE

The Talmud gives an everyday form of this. A traveler uncertain of his path would ask a schoolchild, "Recite for me your verse," and take what the child had just learned as a sign for the road — a mild, permitted omen, unlike forbidden divination. For, the Sages say, "from the day the Temple was destroyed, prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to children and fools," so a child's unpremeditated word could carry a hint of guidance. · Chullin 95b; Bava Basra 12b

OPENING THE BOOK

From this grew petichas ha-sefer — opening a sacred book for direction. Its best-known form is the goral ha-Gra ascribed to the Vilna Gaon: a counted opening of the Chumash, by a fixed rule, that lands on a verse. It was famously used in 1948, when Rav Aryeh Levin drew the goral to identify the fallen of the Lamed-Heh convoy for burial. · goral ha-Gra

THE REBBE'S LETTERS

Chabad applies the same idea to the Rebbe's Igros Kodesh — his tens of volumes of collected correspondence. One writes to the Rebbe as to a living letter, places the note within a volume, opens to a letter, and reads the Rebbe's words there as a reply. Practiced by some in the Rebbe's lifetime through the letters of his predecessor, it spread widely after Gimmel Tammuz 5754 (1994) as a way of continuing to seek his direction. · minhag Chabad

HOW IT IS HELD

Mashpiim stress that this is not fortune-telling. The letter is read with humility, often with a mentor's help; a reply may be plain or ask to be understood between the lines, and it is weighed alongside a rav's counsel, never in its place. The draw on this page is uniform and unweighted — offered for study of the collection, not as the custom itself.
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In the Rebbe's lifetime — until Gimmel Tammuz 5754 — people from every corner of the world wrote to him: to ask a brachah (blessing), to seek his eitzah (counsel) in a decision, and to share good news. The letters gathered here are the replies he wrote back. To open one with a matter in mind is to place yourself in that same correspondence.

◆Give your full Hebrew name together with your mother's Hebrew name — a blessing is asked by the mother's name (e.g. מנחם מענדל בן חנה).
◆State the matter simply, briefly, and respectfully — the situation, the question, or the blessing you seek.
◆A note written to ask a blessing is a פ״נ (pidyon nefesh). Many ask the Rebbe to mention them at the Ohel; his frequent reply was "אזכיר על הציון" — "I will mention it at the resting place."
HOW TO PREPARE
01Give tzedakah before writing — a coin, a pledge, an act of kindness.
02Say a kapitel Tehillim — a chapter of Psalms — with intention.
03Write the note — your name and your mother's name, and the matter, as above.
04Place it between the pages of a volume, and open.
05Read the letter you opened with humility — many read it together with a mashpia.

This page is offered for study of the collection. The custom itself is kept with a physical volume, a written note, and intention.

THE WORDING AT THE TOP OF THE LETTER
ENGLISH
B"H
To His Holiness the Rebbe, שליט״א
עברית · HEBREW
ב״ה
כבוד קדושת אדמו״ר שליט״א

ב״ה — b'ezras Hashem, "with the help of G-d." כ״ק אדמו״ר — Kvod Kedushas Admu"r, "the honour of the holiness of our master, teacher and Rebbe." שליט״א — shlita, "may he live long and good days."

The custom is to write a short note — your Hebrew name and your mother's Hebrew name, and what is on your heart. It stays private on this page.

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YOUR NOTE — REVIEW & MAKE IT YOUR OWN
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Open a letter of the Rebbe

Hold the person or the matter in mind, and open. The letter you meet is read as a reply.

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