When the Rebbe requested that I join his secretarial staff, he told me to speak to Rabbi Hodakov, his chief aide. "He will tell you what needs to be done."
I went to Rabbi Hodakov, and he instructed me regarding the various tasks that needed doing.
"As you will be an aide to the Rebbe," he told me, "I cannot tell you not to see what is happening, because even if you do not want to, you will see things. I cannot tell you not to listen, for even if you do not want to, you will hear the Rebbe's responses to many of the questions. However, there is one thing that I can tell you—don't speak! Do not talk about what happens here. Do not reveal to anyone what is happening in these rooms."
The Rebbe would personally open all of his mail; no one else would open any letters. The Rebbe would personally respond to every letter, either in writing or by giving us a response to deliver over the phone. When the Rebbe wanted us to deliver his response over the phone regarding a private issue, the Rebbe would write his response on the margins of the letter and tear the actual letter off from the response, leaving only the individual's name for us to see.
People would write about their most intimate and personal issues to the Rebbe. Among the circle of aides, the essential instruction not to speak about anything we saw or heard was closely followed. For thirty-six years, I did not speak.
Today, many years later, I can reveal many anecdotes that I could not previously reveal, leaving out any personal details.
