Igrot Kodesh · Letter 804 — Faith & Bitachon

By the grace of Hashem,
22 Mar-Cheshvan 5711,

To the great Rav, distinguished Chassid* who fears Hashem,
Rav ...,

Greetings and blessings,

I am responding to your letter of 14 Mar-Cheshvan, which somewhat surprised me. Your daughter came to see me, and we discussed this subject at length. She gave me her assurance that she would write to you, as well as to her mother, to report the content of our discussion, which in no way corresponds to what you tell me in your letter. I will therefore set out my position:

A) In general, it is not my habit to give orders, except in exceptional cases. But when my opinion is asked, I indicate it, according to my judgment, and that has indeed been the case here.

In the middle of the summer, the young man, a Chassid who fears Hashem, who is to marry your daughter came to see me, and I explained to him my conception of how he should organize his life so that it should be fruitful, materially and spiritually. This is the advice — and not at all the order — that I give also to you and to your daughter.

B) I advised them not to settle in Brooklyn, New York, nor even in the United States, but in a place where he can make full use of his capacities and where your daughter can do the same. There are two or three places in which I have good hope that this will be possible.

C) When I spoke to your future son-in-law and to your daughter, I told them, from the outset, that they would perhaps encounter difficulties, would feel the abandonment, would even have to give of themselves with mesirus nefesh*. Now, from whom is one entitled to expect such conduct if not from a Chassid, son of a Chassid, and a daughter of Chassidim?

D) Nevertheless, your future son-in-law and your daughter have known success, and, in my opinion, my proposal corresponds in fact to their material good as much as to their spiritual good. Let me explain. Experience has shown what future they could expect by settling in the United States or in another country, and what is called there 'success' — that which young men like them, who have settled in those places, have had.

I do not wish to develop this subject, and you yourself must know what has become of the young men settled in your city. You also have been able to see their situation during the few weeks you spent in Brooklyn. You have seen those couples, comparable to your future son-in-law and your daughter, who now live in Brooklyn and in New York.

By contrast, if my proposal is accepted and they leave for one of these places, there is good hope that the blessing of my father-in-law the Rebbe will accompany them there, in their lives, and rapidly they will be able to settle properly. He himself will lead a Jewish community. I am indeed speaking of a leader and not of a Rav. For, in my opinion, he will have under his authority a Rav, a teacher, a shochet*, various institutions. Moreover, with the appropriate effort, your daughter herself will have a situation comparable to this.

E) Essential point, adding to all that has just been said: my father-in-law the Rebbe strongly desired to create points of Chassidic implantation in the entire world. This is why he sent some Chassidim to Australia, others to Canada; he spoke, on several occasions, of South America and of South Africa.

We have been able to see, and you have no doubt seen yourself, that those who accepted the shlichus* entrusted by the Rebbe were delivered from all difficulties and placed in a ray of light, materially and spiritually, even when success had to transcend natural ways. Moreover, in this instance, a satisfactory settlement can quite well be obtained in a natural manner. The blessings of my father-in-law the Rebbe can, moreover, multiply it tenfold.

F) In the middle of the summer, your future son-in-law accepted all this, but only in principle, for I did not want to propose that he go there before his engagement to your daughter was confirmed.

At present, it seems that you yourself, your wife, and your daughter do not accept, do not want to hear about this proposal which has already received the agreement of your future son-in-law, who wishes to be a shliach* of my father-in-law the Rebbe, who continues to lead the Jewish people in general and his Chassidim in particular.

G) A proof of what has just been said can be drawn from the account at the end of your letter, which raises a real contradiction. You recount that my father-in-law the Rebbe told you that the husband of your daughter need not necessarily be a student of Yeshiva Lubavitch. You then answered him: "When we (that is to say, presumably, you and your wife) think of the eventuality of giving our daughter to someone who would not be a student of Yeshiva Lubavitch, we tell ourselves that our life is not worth living."

Reflect, then! The blessing of my father-in-law the Rebbe was realized, and your daughter is engaged to a student of the Yeshiva. Now you want to separate him from the work of my father-in-law the Rebbe, prevent him from being his shliach, from accomplishing his will! You are content with the qualities he has been able to acquire until now.

H) I beg your pardon for what I am going to write now, and I hope that you will not hold it against me.

You surely know the expression of the Rebbe Rashab*, according to which the students of the Yeshiva are "candles to give light." And you know the sharp terms our Sages employ when they observe that the result is in proportion to the effort. Even if one acts, but without making full use of his strengths, one is also considered as introducing a deficiency.

The parents of the chassan and kallah are all former students of the Yeshiva, and this saying of the Rebbe Rashab therefore applies to them as well. They must, even now, give light.

I do not know whether you have fully assumed this mission. In any event, the necessity of giving light is also exercised toward your children. The former students of the Yeshiva must also give light through the intermediary of their descendants.

Reflect now on how they will give light if they remain here, and if they go to one of the places to which I was alluding.

I) I repeat once more, as I said before, that this is in no way an order, but the response to a question that was put to me. This young man asked me how to envisage his life, and I could only answer him according to what I think.

I would, however, like to specify that I have no doubt on this subject and that, as one can hope, the happiness they will know by accepting this proposal is entirely clear in my eyes. And I am also alluding to physical happiness.

J) You conclude your letter by describing your situation and that of your daughter. You tell me that the joy is darkened. I am stupefied to read such words.

For, after all, what is it about here? Going to a city where there are several tens of thousands of Jews, where one can observe Torah and mitzvot in the best way, where one can be entrusted with a shlichus by my father-in-law the Rebbe, and put his will into practice.

Now, "the shliach of a man is identified with him." He will therefore arrive there with great strengths and a solid position, will spread there the light of Torah, of Yiddishkeit*, of the wellsprings of the Baal Shem Tov, and of the teaching of Chassidut* among our brothers, the children of Israel, who, for the moment, do not know it or know very little of it.

For a reason that escapes me, that escapes you, that escapes people like us, according to the end of chapter 7 of Iggeret HaKodesh, such-and-such a young man and such-and-such a young woman were chosen to carry out this mission. This is not the result of their effort; they did nothing to obtain it. Despite this, they are proud of it, and one caresses them, gives them gifts, adds sweets for them. And this is what you call a darkened joy? I cannot understand it!

You conclude your letter by asking my pardon, and I do not know why you must do so, for all this concerns me no more than it concerns you. Deeply, it is clear that each man and each woman among us desires to put into practice the will of my father-in-law the Rebbe. You yourself and your wife know well, if you were not troubled by the fact that it concerns your daughter, that by assuming such a shlichus in that place, one indeed accomplishes the will of my father-in-law the Rebbe. What am I and who am I that one should ask my pardon about this?

In any event, it is not possible to indefinitely postpone the work and the spreading of the wellsprings of Chassidut in the place that has been proposed. I would therefore ask you to let me know as soon as possible what your decision is in this matter, if possible by telegram.

Once more, I give no order, chas v'shalom*, and it is solely a proposal. Nevertheless, it falls upon me to occupy myself with this, and I must therefore find the appropriate people. If need be, I will turn to someone else.

With my blessing and greeting all your family,

ב״ה ,ה׳ מרחשון ,ה׳תשי״א

ברוקלין

שלום וברכה!

. . .כיון שכותב שהי׳ במקלט לפני סוכות ת״ש יחד עם כ״ק מו״ח

אדמו״ר הכ״מ ,מעניין אותי לדעת את כל הפרטים שזוכר מאז :מה כ״ק

מו״ח הכ״מ דיבר אז ,או עשה ,או הורה לאחרים לעשות ,וכן הלאה.