Igrot Kodesh · Letter 1362 — Faith & Bitachon

By the grace of Hashem,
27 Teves 5712,
Brooklyn,

Greetings and blessings,

I have duly received your letter of 24 Teves, in which you describe your situation. You tell me that you have read your medical file, and you describe to me the effect this had on you. You therefore imagine what should happen. Consequently, you read Tehillim* and pray to Hashem. You ask me what I think of this.

Here is my reply.

The fact of reading Tehillim and imploring the Master of the world is, without the shadow of a doubt, a good thing, for He effectively directs the entire world and each man in particular, with all that concerns him. By contrast, the reading of the medical report and the conclusions you have drawn from it for the future do not satisfy me at all, for this is not your affair. It is not for this that you were created!

The great Rav Dov Yehuda Schochet writes to me that you observe Torah and mitzvos*. You therefore believe that Hashem is the Master of the world. Now, even an owner of flesh and blood, if he is effective, distributes the roles in such a way that one does not encroach upon the other and that all contribute to the final goal — the one assigned to them. If this is so for man, who is limited in all that he does and may sometimes be mistaken, how much more so is it for the Master of the world, his true Owner. Everything that exists must therefore be used in a perfect manner and fully assume its mission.

Conversely, when one sets oneself another objective, one suffers two drawbacks:

1. Since the action carried out is not what it must be, it can only cause harm.

2. It moreover prevents one from carrying out what is really the mission one has received.

All that has just been said applies likewise, from various points of view, to your own situation. You do not have a medical profession, and you were raised as a Yid* observing Torah and mitzvos. Two points result from this:

1. Medical problems do not belong to the mission Hashem has entrusted to you in this world.

2. Your aim and the mission for which you were created consist of observing Torah and mitzvos, which also includes precepts like "You shall love your fellow as yourself," "You shall surely rebuke your fellow," and also, as the Tana DeVei Eliyahu explains, "When you see one who is naked, you shall clothe him," which means that when one sees a Yid "naked" of Torah and mitzvos, one must strive to clothe him in them.

Consequently, as long as you make medical predictions and prognoses:

1. you will turn yourself away from the mission assigned to you,

2. you will only harm your own recovery, chas veshalom*, and in any event you will not favor it. In what way will you be able to harm yourself? In imagining what will never exist, which will weaken your lot, as well as your bitachon* in Hashem, by dint of meditating and concentrating on what such-and-such doctor says and what such-and-such professor thinks.

If you ask my opinion, I would like to tell you that you must adopt the conduct that our holy Torah prescribes. It affirms, in this case, that it permits healing. It thereby authorizes men to consult doctors. It grants the latter the right and the power to heal, and only that.

It is for this reason that one consults a doctor, and that one then conforms to his prescriptions. You yourself do not intervene in this process. You must let the doctor act. It is incumbent upon you only to place your bitachon in Hashem, to be certain that you will have long days and good years, as it is said: "The fear of Hashem is life." The stronger your bitachon in Hashem, the fewer doubts you will have, and the more you will be able to devote yourself to the mission entrusted to you in the world — that of putting Torah and mitzvos into practice and of guiding others on this way, as I said earlier.

It is therefore in this way that you will have long days and good years, in the most literal sense. Forget completely the medical report and what you have read in the medical manuals. All that does not belong to your mission and does not concern you. It cannot therefore improve your situation, and in general can only have the contrary effect, chas veshalom.

You will read each day Tehillim, according to their monthly division, in the morning after davening. You will also study each day Chumash* with the commentary of Rashi. You will moreover take part in public shiurim*, and at least one of them will deal with Chassidus*. Of course, you will set as your objective what the verse says: "Serve Hashem with simchah*." The Baal Shem Tov underscored its importance to chassidim*. You will rejoice both in davening and studying, and in eating, drinking, devoting yourself to all everyday occupations, and even in sleeping, as the Rambam writes in his Hilchos De'os.

When you adopt such conduct, your situation will know a positive evolution, your state of health will go on improving, and you will be able to give me good news about it.

It would also be good if, every morning before davening and likewise before Minchah, you gave a few coins to tzedakah*, except of course on Shabbos and yomim tovim.

I hope and I am certain that you will accept my opinion and my counsels. You will let me know as quickly as possible.

With my brachah* that you have good health, a speedy recovery, and may assume the mission that is yours in this world, with calmness of spirit and body, for long days and good years, and may you be a chassid.

P.S.: No doubt you take part in the chassidishe* gatherings that are organized in your city.