Igrot Kodesh · Letter 122 — Chanukah and Spreading Torah in the Public Domain

By the grace of Hashem,

Wednesday, 2 Tevet 5704,

To our friend, the distinguished Rav, Rav Ch. H. Havlin [1],

I greet you and bless you,

I am responding to your letter of 11 Marcheshvan*:

A) Given our desire to lower, as much as possible, the prices of the books we publish, and given that we take upon ourselves the shipping costs, which are very substantial, you will understand that, despite our good will, we are not able to grant you a discount greater than 20%.

B) Your request to Hakria V'Hakedusha* has been forwarded to the editorial office.

C) We have already sent you a portion of the books you ordered from us and we will soon send the others, with the help of Hashem. For technical reasons, we often make our shipments in small packages, but all are destined for your office. We have sent some to Rav Glitsenstein, to Rav Orenstein and to Rav Pariz. You will kindly collect them from them.

D) The edition of the Hayom Yom* for this year has been delayed [2]. A brochure has therefore been published, indicating the daily studies [3]. We have sent you about a hundred of them.

E) I am surprised not to have received a response to the letters I sent to my close relatives, Rav Sh. Y. L. E. [4] and Rav Ch. A. Nae.

I will conclude by evoking what is current, the festival of Chanukah [5]. It is then an obligation to publicize the miracle. For, unlike the miracle of Purim, the miracle of Chanukah must be propagated precisely during the night and only in the public domain. The Chassidic discourses of Chanukah explain that the night alludes to the time of exile, which foreshadows and prepares the revelations of Moshiach and the time of deliverance.

When the Baal Shem Tov asked Moshiach: "When will you come?", he answered him: "When the wellsprings of your teaching spread outward," precisely outward, as was explained at Simchas Torah 5690 [6]. It is therefore necessary to obtain the most elevated revelation. It is about this that it is said "and Hashem will illuminate my darkness," with the addition of the conjunction "and" [7].

It is the same for the service of Hashem. Some dwell on the upper floor [8] and thus allude to the people, few in number, who are capable of knowing elevation and of whom the end of chapter 10 of the Tanya* speaks. The one who resides on the upper floor has no door opening onto the public domain, is in no way connected to it. Nevertheless, he must also adopt the form of the service of Hashem that has just been described and illuminate the public domain, through his window.

The light of a window is superior to that which pierces through a curtain or a crack, as the Likkutei Torah* explains.

With my blessing of immediate Teshuvah, immediate deliverance,

Rav Menachem Schneerson,

Director of the executive committee