By COLlive reporter

Agudas Chassidei Chabad International is urging the public to exercise greater care in the use of photos and videos of the Rebbe, particularly in advertisements, fundraising campaigns, personal materials and graphic designs.

The letter, issued during the month of Elul and addressed to “Anash, Temimim and their families,” comes amid the rapidly expanding use of images and video across digital platforms and social media.

It acknowledges that throughout the years, photos and videos of the Rebbe have played an important role in strengthening hiskashrus and inspiring Chassidim. The letter cites the Rebbe’s well-known instruction regarding looking at a photo of the Frierdiker Rebbe at a moment of spiritual weakness, and remembering that the Rebbe, “as a true shepherd of the Jewish people,” is also looking at the person at that moment.

At the same time, Agudas Chassidei Chabad says the widespread availability of photos and clips has led in some cases to their use in ways that are inappropriate or disconnected from their sacred purpose.

The letter also makes what appears to be a reference to AI-generated imagery, warning of “the possibility that exists today to create and falsify new images out of nothing, G-d forbid.”

While it does not explicitly mention artificial intelligence or AI-generated images by name, the wording appears to address the growing ability to create fabricated or manipulated images of the Rebbe using modern technology.

Agudas Chassidei Chabad specifically cautioned against using the Rebbe’s image merely as an attention-grabbing element in advertisements, campaigns and promotional materials.

Fundraising appeals are singled out in particular. The letter says that even when the cause itself is worthy, incorporating a photo of the Rebbe simply to strengthen the campaign or attract attention can constitute a lack of proper respect.

The same concern applies to entirely personal uses, including private invitations, personal advertisements, profiles and materials in which the Rebbe’s photo is included primarily as a graphic element.

“Even when speaking about matters of holiness and the loftiest and most important purposes,” the letter states, proper respect must be maintained. “How much more so when the publication of the picture or video has no connection to matters of the Rebbe, but rather serves completely private needs.”

The letter urges those preparing advertisements or other materials to consider whether a particular use is consistent with the honor due to the Rebbe, and whether it genuinely strengthens hiskashrus or is merely intended to promote an advertisement or campaign.

“If the publication was made to strengthen the advertisement, and the Rebbe’s picture was added for that purpose, even regarding matters of holiness, there is an element of the opposite of honor,” the letter says.

Along with the letter, Agudas Chassidei Chabad published a collection of answers and directives from the Rebbe illustrating the sensitivity with which images of the Rebbeim were to be treated.

Among them is a response concerning a proposal to print a postage stamp featuring a picture of the Alter Rebbe. The Rebbe rejected the idea, noting that stamps ultimately pass through many hands and are canceled by being stamped directly over the image.

Another sharply worded response concerned a certificate of appreciation that placed a picture of the Frierdiker Rebbe together with photographs of women connected to an institution. The Rebbe questioned how anyone could authorize such an arrangement, instructed that the page be immediately eliminated, and criticized the notion that considerations of “publicity” could justify it.

Another cited response involves a fundraising appeal connected with a “Levi Yitzchok Library.” The Rebbe crossed out the name and wrote that an institution bearing his father’s name should not be turned into “a vehicle for soliciting money.”

The compilation also quotes an instruction that photographs of Gedolei Yisroel should not be placed on toys and similar objects.

In another case, the Rebbe expressed surprise upon seeing a receipt issued by a Chabad institution bearing the Rebbe’s picture, noting that such a practice had not been seen in Chabad institutions and warning that someone seeing it could mistakenly conclude that the Rebbe himself was soliciting the donation.