Igrot Kodesh · Letter 5116 — Prayer

B"H

9 Shevat* 5717

Brooklyn

Greetings and blessings,

I am responding to your letter, in which you tell me that it is customary to serve a kiddush* (see note 1) in a certain area of your synagogue. Now, three weeks ago, it was decided to establish a Talmud* study session immediately following the Mussaf* prayer (see note 2), and it is desired to use for this class the table upon which the kiddush is set, since several of the people who sponsor this kiddush also participate in this class. You ask me:

A) Whether it is permissible to serve the kiddush inside the synagogue.

Many responsa address this question, and numerous opinions permit it as a matter of course. Moreover, in our times, when a synagogue is constructed, it is known from the outset that this permission to serve a kiddush there has become widespread.

B) Since another room is adjacent to the synagogue, why not have the kiddush there, which would allow the class to be maintained inside the synagogue?

In such a case, one must guard against disputes. Indeed, disputes and differences of opinion are very often the cause of a decrease in the number of those who study Torah and devote themselves to communal affairs in a synagogue.

In this case, those who organize the kiddush established this practice first, and they are more numerous. The risk of dispute is therefore greater (see note 3). For this reason, in my opinion, if you can decide together, in an agreeable manner, the location for the study and the location for the kiddush, that would be ideal. However, if there is reason to fear a dispute, it is what was recently established (see note 4) that should receive a new location, in order to avoid this dispute.

Surely you do not content yourself with this one class, and you have other times fixed for study. Having been trained in a yeshivah*, I hope that you study every day, morning and evening, as recommended by the Sages of the earlier and later generations.

May Hashem* grant you success.

With my blessing,

---

B"H

9 Shevat 5717

Brooklyn

Greetings and blessings,

We are on the eve of the holy Shabbos*, the day of the hilula* of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, whose merit protects us, and you have the merit of bearing the sacred mission he entrusted to you (see note 5).

May Hashem therefore grant that this merit protect you, together with all the members of your family, so that you may receive the satisfaction of all your needs, material and spiritual. And you will redouble your ardor in this sacred mission.

May Hashem grant that the success be considerable, that the veils and the obstacles diminish, that good, holiness, and light grow, until the wellsprings (see note 6) spread fully outward and "the night illuminates like the day" — the exile being compared to the night.

With my blessing for success and to convey good tidings,

M. Schneerson

Notes

(1) The Shabbos midday collation after the prayer.

(2) That is, at the same time as the kiddush.

(3) If the kiddush is moved.

(4) In this case, the class.

(5) An identical letter was sent to several individuals bearing communal responsibilities.

(6) Of Chassidus*.

ה'קטז*

ב"ה, ט' שבט, תשי"ז
ברוקלין.

שלום וברכה!

בערב שבת קדש, יום ההילולא של כ"ק מו"ח אדמו"ר זצוקללה"ה נבג"מ זי"ע, אשר זוכה הוא לפעול בעניניו הקדושים.

יהי רצון שזכות זה יעמוד לו ולכל ב"ב שיחיו בהמצטרך להם הן בגשמיות והן ברוחניות, וירבה אומץ בעבודתו הק' האמורה, ויהי רצון שיהי' בהצלחה מופלגה, ההעלמות וההסתרים הולכים ופוחתים, והטוב והקדושה והאור הלוך ומוסיף, עד כי יפוצו המעינות חוצה במילואם, ולילה (דגלות נמשל ללילה) כיום יאיר.

בברכת הצלחה ולבשו"ט,

. שניאורסאהן