Igrot Kodesh · Letter 2404 — Faith & Bitachon

B"H,

11 Shevat 5714,

Brooklyn,

To the members of the shul of nusach Ari Zal*

"Anshei Lubavitch" in Dorchester[1],

to its president, Rav Shraga Asher Fain, and

to the other officers, may Hashem grant them long life,

Greetings and blessings,

I have received with pleasure your news through the rav, distinguished chassid* who fears Hashem and devotes himself to communal needs, Rav Yehudah Leib Horowitz[2], who delivered to me the check for two hundred dollars, the proceeds of the appeal launched on Yom Kippur.

All that lives develops, particularly in the domain of holiness. I was therefore pleased to note that the proceeds of the appeal were higher this year than last year, although they are still far from covering the needs and expenses to which they are destined. I hope, however, that this will be a good beginning for that amount to become, subsequently, ever greater.

You know the saying[3] of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, may his merit protect us, whose hilula* we celebrated yesterday, that when a Jew decides to dedicate to tzedakah* a larger sum — even if at the moment he makes this decision he does not know how he will honor it — he immediately receives new means granted to him by Hashem in the form of increased blessing. Thus his earnings will multiply and he will be able to put into practice the good resolution he has made.

To these words of the master, we may add that, since tzedakah* is a tenth or a fifth of what one earns, Hashem will grant a sum that will be at least five times greater than the sum one has decided to give. One will therefore be able to retain the other four-fifths[4] for one's personal needs.

With my wishes that the mitzvah* of tzedakah* arouse for each of you the divine blessings, which are also a form of tzedakah*, and that they be expressed in whatever each of you needs,