Igrot Kodesh · Letter 1027 — Faith & Bitachon

By the grace of Hashem,
25 Iyar 5711,
Brooklyn,

To the distinguished chassid* who has yiras Shamayim*, Rav Yehuda Leib[1],

Greetings and blessings,

I was happy to have news of you through the Rav, distinguished chassid* who dedicates himself faithfully to communal needs, Rav Eliyahu Simpson. He told me of your gathering, which took place in a warm and chassidic context. According to the expression of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, a chassidic farbrengen* warms the brain, the heart, and even the heel.

When one returns home at the end of such a gathering, one introduces into one's household clarity and warmth, which illuminate and warm, render the home totally different from what it was before.

You doubtless know what my father-in-law, the Rebbe, related, citing the Baal Shem Tov*. Everything that a man sees and hears must deliver to him a teaching for his manner of serving Hashem, especially if it concerns that which allows him to ensure his livelihood, an activity to which one must therefore devote a certain time, many days a year and several hours a day.

Your new business, which you will open at a good and fruitful moment, is based on a new technique. It consists of taking used sacks, which, by reason of their use, may have come into contact with bacilli. These, in their state, can no longer be used and could even infect what would be placed in them. One has therefore sought a means of getting rid of these bacteria. To achieve this, one places these sacks in a closed location, which one heats to a temperature, higher than normal, that the bacteria cannot withstand. From then on, these sacks are disinfected and one can use them again.

It is the same for our life. At the age of thirteen, man receives his good inclination. He is then "used," by reason of the yetzer hara*, who came first and claims that his hold over the body of man, over his thoughts, his words, his actions, is a fait accompli. He claims to be the elder.

There is then a solution. So that the thoughts, the words, and the actions are not seized by the self-interested attitudes, the bad ideas, and the negative intentions of the yetzer hara*, one must momentarily cut oneself off from all external influence, shut oneself within the four cubits of the shul*, of the yeshiva*, or of the beis midrash*. There, one can warm oneself beyond one's usual "temperature," by the love of Hashem, the love of Torah, the love of the Jewish people.

It is in this way that one purifies one's own sack of the bacteria of the yetzer hara*, in order to introduce into it that which is pure and useful. Sometimes it is not sufficient to disinfect a sack only once for it to be sound. It is therefore the same for the "sack" of man, and when one wakes in the morning, one must, once again, fill oneself with Jewish and chassidic warmth. One can thus be certain of serving Hashem, of studying Torah, and of fulfilling the mitzvos*.

I wish you success in this enterprise[2], and may Hashem grant that there be fulfilled in you what my father-in-law, the Rebbe, said, citing the Alter Rebbe*, author of the Tanya*: "Hashem grants the Jews material abundance so that they may make of it spirituality" — thus satisfying their needs and those of their family in a permitted manner, strengthening[3] Yiddishkeit* and the dissemination of Torah.

I hope to have your good news.

With my blessing for a joyous festival, to receive the Torah joyously and deeply,

Notes
[1] Rav Y. L. Ungar, of Pittsburgh.
[2] The disinfection of the sacks.
[3] Through their contribution to tzedakah.

ב״ה ,כ״ב אייר ,ה׳תשי״א

ברוקלין

שלום וברכה!

ע״י הרה״ח הוו״ח אי״א נו״נ עוסק בצרכי צבור באמונה וכו׳ מוה״ר

מרדכי שי׳ חודקוב קבלתי מכתבו ,בו כותב שהעסק כעת שקט נבמיתון?[

הוא מודאג מהחובות שיש לו.

אין צורך להיות מוטרד בקשר לזה ,כי באופן כללי יש כעת מיתון

בעסקים ,למרות זאת צריך לנקוט בהשתדלות למצוא לקוחות חדשים ולא

להמתין עד שהם יבואו בעצמם לחנות ,אלא גם ללכת אליהם ,ולפרסם בין

הידידים שלכם והמכרים שלהם שיש לכם דברי הלבשה ]זדריי גודס[,

ובודאי ישלח השם יתברך פרנסה מידו המלאה והקדושה.

אך הוא צריך לשמור על קביעות הלימוד שהנהיג ,שזה ישמור את

צמרות ההשפעה פתוחים ,לו ולזוגתו יחיו לכל המצטרך לכם.

הנני מקוה שיבשר לי בשורות טובות בזה ,מצו״ב השיחה מל״ג בעומר

שזה עתה נדפסה ,ובטח ילמד אותה בעצמו ,וחלקים מתאימים ממנה

ימסור לזוגתו תחי׳.

בברכה לפרנסה טובה.