Pictures and Portraits of Our Rebbes: Difference between revisions

==== Photos of the Rebbe Before Accepting the Leadership ====

The earliest photo of the Rebbe is from 5664/1904 (at age two and a half) taken in Nikolayev. The photo was discovered when Rabbi Shalom Ber Butman, following Rebbetzin Chana's instructions, visited Mrs. Rachel Schneerson, wife of Rabbi Shalom Shlomo Schneerson, and saw the photo in her home. Rabbi Chanoch Glitzenstein made a copy of the photo and sent it to Rabbi Butman, who gave it to Rebbetzin Chana. When the Rebbe later visited his mother after she received the photo, Rebbetzin Chana told the Rebbe that she had just received a new photo of him. The Rebbe responded, "I'm certainly there without a makif."

From before the wedding, there is another photo taken for issuing the Rebbe's passport, and another photo taken for the Rebbe's university studies in Berlin. An additional photo of the Rebbe was taken during the wedding period, and from the time the Rebbe lived in Berlin and Paris, there are several more photos of the Rebbe, some taken while he was beside the Previous Rebbe (Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak). After the Rebbe's arrival in the United States, there are many photos of the Rebbe until his acceptance of leadership, which were taken due to his closeness to the Previous Rebbe and the Chabad community.

==== After Accepting Leadership ====

In 5711/1951, a photo of the Rebbe was published that served as the Rebbe's official photo in Chabad publications in the press. Over the years, this photo was changed to another one. This photo was the only one the Rebbe authorized for publication in the early years. On the night following Yom Kippur 5729/1968, during a meal in the Previous Rebbe's house, Rabbi Chaim Baruch Halberstam photographed the Rebbe, but later in the meal, the Rebbe sent a messenger with a message to Rabbi Chaim Baruch that the photography downstairs (in the main hall) was sufficient. In 5730/1970, a Chabad Chasid from London prepared a photo album of the Rebbe called "Challenge" and published two new photos of the Rebbe. When the album was sent to the secretariat, Rabbi Chodakov sent a message to that Chasid stating that: "In all publications printed after receiving our permission, there is only one photo of the Rebbe that we permit to be published, and therefore there should be no change regarding the 'Challenge'."

==== 10 Shevat 5730/1970 ====

In the early years, the Rebbe opposed being photographed during farbrengens, and photos and videos that were taken were done secretly. Only toward the farbrengen of 10 Shevat 5730/1970 did the Rebbe give official permission to photographer Yitzchak Braz to photograph the event, and he seized the opportunity and photographed continuously. Several Chasidim who noticed him tried to rebuke him, but the Rebbe instructed them to leave him alone. He also appeared at the farbrengen held on Saturday night, and in the middle of one of the songs, the Rebbe said with a smile (and immediately the crowd stopped singing): "For every picture he takes, he will need to say l'chaim again. It's endless, he keeps taking pictures." When the Rebbe heard that a total of about one hundred and twenty photos were taken, he remarked: "I thought he would take two or three photos, not one hundred and twenty..."

==== Photographing the Rebbe at Weddings ====

When photographer Harry (Tzvi Reuven) Triner wanted to photograph the Rebbe during weddings and the marriage ceremony – the Rebbe would cover his face. When Harry complained that this was affecting his livelihood, the Rebbe stopped covering his face, though it was evident that he was not comfortable with it. Since then, Harry was careful to take only one photo. When Chasidim pressed at one of the weddings to take more photos of the Rebbe, Harry took three photos and prepared to take a fourth, when the Rebbe noticed and remarked that he thought three photos were enough, and from then on, the arrangement was that Harry would take three photos.

In 5714/1954, when the Rebbe began conducting weddings only in the yard of 770, Harry received a message from the secretariat that he was permitted to take only one photo. When he later commented that one photo was not enough, he was again allowed to take three photos. At one of the weddings, when the photographer wanted to take a fourth photo of the Rebbe in the lobby, the Rebbe covered his face with a siddur (see photo).

When Rabbi Berel Yunik showed his wedding album to the Rebbetzin, she was impressed by the photo of the Rebbe standing in front of Rabbi Chodakov who was reading the ketubah, and asked for a copy, which she placed on a dresser in the Rebbe's library in his home. This was the only photo of the Rebbe in his home. The Rebbetzin also mentioned that she did not allow the cleaner who worked in the Rebbe and Rebbetzin's home to clean the photo, and she was careful to clean it herself.

==== The Rebbe's Encouragement to Photographers ====

Despite the Rebbe's sharp attitude toward those engaged in photography in an inappropriate manner, the Rebbe had a relationship of affection for photographers whose photographs were intended for increasing the spreading of the wellsprings and publicity of Chabad Chassidus and its teachings, when they received the Rebbe's permission and consent to photograph him.