Igrot Kodesh · Letter 1543 — Faith & Bitachon

By the grace of Hashem,

5 Iyar 5712,

To the dear children of the distinguished chassid*,

who fears Hashem, Rav Moshe Eliezer,

and of his wife, Mrs. Rachel Elke

Creimer,

Greetings and blessings,

I learned, from a letter of the distinguished chassid* who fears Hashem and devotes himself to communal needs, with manifold accomplishments, Rav Avraham Dov Ber, that the yahrtzeit* of your dear father will be this evening. Then, on 22 Iyar, will be that of your dear mother.

I would like to express to you all my wishes and my blessing that you keep alive the memory of your parents, for length of days and good years.

Generally, a yahrtzeit* calls forth two sentiments. On the one hand, the neshamah* of the niftar* receives an aliyah* on this day, as our holy sefarim* state. It then accedes to a higher spiritual stage, which is a cause of joy for it and for all its close ones, for length of days and good years.

On the other hand, the yahrtzeit* commemorates here below the memory of the niftar*, which induces the opposite of joy.

Nevertheless, this anniversary should not generate here below the opposite of joy, but rather, on the contrary, a serious reflection, a meditation, and a moral accounting, in order to conform one's own life in this world to the one the neshamah* knows on high. The latter indeed receives, from year to year, successive aliyos*, and it must therefore be the same here below for all those who are bound to it. They too must know perpetual progress, in all that pertains to Torah, tefillah*, and good deeds.

It is in this manner that one can procure for those who have left this world the greatest satisfaction that is.

All this brings into evidence the fundamental pillar of our emunah* — the absence of death for everything that is bound to kedushah* in general, and for Yidden* in particular. There exists only the transition from one world to another. Consequently, those who in this world have an existence permanently bound to kedushah*, to Torah and mitzvos*, perceive this passage as an elevation, a progress — first in this physical world and then, after several stages, in the World to Come.

With my blessing,