When the Lubavitch community of Melbourne, Australia, invited the broader community to their Simchas Torah hakofos in 5717 (1956), some participants came in cars. Reb Yaakov Eliezer Hertzog turned to the Rebbe asking for a tikkun – a way to rectify the incident.
The Rebbe answered, “The tikkun is obvious, and It is indeed surprising that it wasn’t done this year: publicize a statement in the press, preferably together with the announcement of the hakafos times, that the prohibition of driving on Shabbos and yom tov are well known, and that driving to hakafos is a self-contradiction.”
A few weeks later, Reb Zalman Serebransky suggested to the Rebbe that perhaps it would be advisable to shorten the hakofos and cancel the kiddush altogether, so outsiders would not be attracted, and chilul yom tov would be avoided.
The Rebbe rejected his proposal unequivocally. “Not to make a kiddush, chas vesholom, and to shorten the hakofos, is absolutely out of the question.”
(Igros Kodesh vol. 14, pages 95 and 155)
