Igrot Kodesh · Letter 643 — Faith & Bitachon

By the grace of Hashem,

4 Menachem Av 5718,

Brooklyn,

To the members of the educational committee of Kfar Chabad,

may Hashem grant you long life,

I greet you and bless you.

I received your letter of 26 Tammuz, in which you inform me that Shabbos afternoon recreational gatherings have been organized. No doubt you have done this also for the girls — under the direction, of course, of the Chabad women and girls of Kfar Chabad. May Hashem grant that these gatherings, for boys and girls, succeed in causing them to acquire, in increased measure, Yiddishkeit*, Torah and Mitzvos*, illuminated by Chassidic clarity and warmth.

Happy is the lot of each of those who consecrate themselves to this sacred mission. All will know success. This is in addition to the blessing and success that they will receive in their personal concerns. With my blessing for success and to give good news,

* * *

643

By the grace of Hashem,

19 Tammuz 5710,

To the distinguished Chassid* who fears Hashem,

Rav Baruch,[1]

I greet you and bless you.

I reply to your letters of 8 Sivan and of Monday of Parashas Beha'aloscha, with delay, owing to my many occupations and the necessity of preparing 12-13 Tammuz.

In the circles you frequent, you can perfectly well carry out, with the help of Hashem, the mission for which Divine Providence has led you to this place.

For this, you must not become discouraged by considering that the number of people on whom you exercise a positive influence is quite modest, and that even on these, this positive effect is not on the scale of your expectations.

If one envisages the quantitative dimension, one must keep in mind that each individual is, in himself alone, an entire world. And it is justified that the entire world consecrate itself to the salvation, physical and a fortiori moral, of a single Jew.

Moreover, the one who receives a positive influence is not its sole beneficiary. He himself, indeed, will in turn exercise, in a direct or indirect manner, a good influence on other people, more or less close to him. Just as a limb is part of the body, which constitutes only one and the same entity, an individual is an integral part of the collectivity.

Bringing moral vitality to an individual therefore allows one to strengthen the situation of the entire community as a whole.

If one envisages the qualitative dimension, one will have difficulty representing the considerable service one renders to someone in coming to his aid, in bringing him even a little elevation.

On the one hand, it is impossible to evaluate what is one transgression less, that one does not commit, or one Mitzvah more. Moreover, the transgression would have led to another, while the Mitzvah draws another. Furthermore, each Mitzvah makes one more apt for a just understanding and its concrete application.

A Jew will cover his head; another will put on Tefillin*; a third will put on Tzitzis; a fourth will be led to love his fellow and to have good feelings; a fifth will observe the rules of family purity; a sixth will lead his children to study Torah.

Furthermore, you surely meet people to whom Hashem has granted material affluence and who are therefore liable to help financially Merkaz LeInyanei Chinuch and Machne Israel, which my father-in-law, the Rebbe, founded and to which he assigned the ambitious objective of bringing back to Yiddishkeit all those who have strayed or are weakened, in particular the youth.

By allowing, for example, Merkaz LeInyanei Chinuch and Machne Israel to publish and disseminate the largest number of publications, in different languages, one effectively takes part in an immense enterprise of salvation, which the donor could not have personally taken on. Of course, the merit that flows from this allows him to more easily accept the moral influence of which he is in need.

It is difficult to make an inventory, in the limited framework of a letter, of all the possibilities offered to you to exercise a positive action. But, it is important — according to the expression of my father-in-law, the Rebbe — "to speak less and to act more."

All that has just been said concerns your relationship with others. But you must also act on your own person. It is there that the yetzer hara* rises with the most force, but we shall speak of that another time.[2]

I have written to Mr. Harry Katz, as you requested.

I await your good news,

Rav Menachem Schneerson

You will find enclosed the booklet published on the occasion of 12 Tammuz.