Igrot Kodesh · Letter 939 — Chinuch

By the grace of Hashem,
First day of Rosh Chodesh* Adar Sheni 5711,
Brooklyn,

To the Rav, distinguished chassid* who has yiras Shamayim*, Rav Ephraim[1],

Greetings and blessings,

I am replying to your letters of 22 Teves, 7 Shevat and 16 Shevat.

I extend to you my blessing on the occasion of the third birthday of your son Elyakim. May you raise him, together with your other children, to Torah, chuppah* and good deeds, in expansive circumstances. I enclose for you an excerpt from a letter of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, evoking the custom of cutting the child's hair specifically at three years old and not before.

May you announce to me very soon the good news of the recovery of your wife, of that of your sons and of their success — for the older ones in their studies, and for the younger ones in the development of their physical body and of their nefesh ha'Elokis*. It is known, in fact, that the latter enters the body in stages, at different moments.

Some stages precede those that depend on man's effort. Thus, according to the Zohar, vol. 2, page 94b, in Parshas Mishpatim, the elder says: "If his merit is greater, he is given...; if it is greater still, he is granted..."

These stages are as follows. There is, first of all, the bris milah*. And a girl is also considered to have received it from her birth, according to Tractate Avodah Zarah 27a, so that for her the first stage is therefore the giving of a name. Likewise, a boy receives a name at the latest at his bris milah*. But it can be given to him beforehand. Thus Rachel gave it earlier to Binyamin and likewise the daughter-in-law of Eli the Kohen.

The second stage is the age of receiving a Jewish chinuch*, then comes that of being obligated in the practice of mitzvos*, according to the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, Orach Chaim final edition, end of chapter 4.

After that comes the age of twenty, which is defined by the Likkutei Torah Bamidbar in the maamar* entitled "Mi'ben esrim shanah," that is to say at nineteen years and thirty days or twenty years minus thirty days, according to the two opinions cited by the Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer, chapter 155, paragraph 12. You should also consult the laws of Torah study by the Alter Rebbe, at the beginning of the first chapter, in the Kuntres Acharon.

Thus, as the child grows, his nefesh ha'Elokis* takes possession of his body more and more clearly.

You tell me that you are working successfully in Lod[2]. It therefore seems to you that the members of your family should join you in that city, so that you may all be together, and you ask me about this.

You also ask me about how to teach Chassidus* to Sephardim, adults or children.

In the Yeshivos and Talmud Torah Ohalei Yosef Yitzchak Lubavitch* that we have founded in Morocco, the students study Tanya, Likkutei Torah and the kuntreisim*[3]. The success is evident. The Torah study and mitzvah* observance of the students is enlivened thereby.

Likewise, the Rav, distinguished chassid* who has yiras Shamayim*, Rav Ch. Levitin recounts that he had, in his time, asked the Rebbe Rashab about Georgia[4]. The Rebbe answered him that one had to teach it[5], and so it was indeed. One can now see the "fruits of the fruits" of this teaching.

If this was so in those times, how much more does it apply during the current period, when we have come closer by several decades to the coming of Moshiach*. And one has been able to see the great and considerable effort made by my father-in-law, the Rebbe, to spread the teaching of Chassidus* through the most diverse means among all the circles of the Jewish people that he could reach.

May the knowledge of Hashem therefore multiply, and may the Teacher[6] come to reveal to us the secrets of the Torah. Thus, "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem."

With my blessing for success in your sacred mission, for great success in all that concerns you, materially and spiritually, and with greetings to your entire kehilla*,

As for the upsherenish*[7], it constitutes a great principle of Jewish customs and its essential purpose is to accustom the child not to cut his peyos*. From the day of this haircut, in fact, the child will have peyos*, will wear a tallis katan*, will say the morning brachos* and the one after the meal, as well as the bedtime Shema Yisrael*.

Hashem will help you and you will raise him to Torah, chuppah* and good deeds, in material abundance and with peace of mind, physical and emotional.

Notes
[1] Rav E. Wolf.
[2] Where Rav Wolf was directing the yeshiva.
[3] Presenting the chassidic discourses of the Frierdiker Rebbe.
[4] In the Asian part of the Soviet Union, whose Jews are Sephardim. Rav Shmuel Levitin was the Rav there and he asked the Rebbe Rashab whether he should teach Chassidus to his community.
[5] Chassidus.
[6] Moshiach.
[7] Of a three-year-old child.

תתקלט*

ב"ה, ה' אד"ש, תשי"א ברוקלין.
הרה"ח הוו"ח אי"א נו"מ וכו' מוה"ר נתן שי'

שלום וברכה!

במענה על מכתביו ממוצש"ק תרומה ומי"ט אד"ר:

יהי רצון שיכנסו - הוא וב"ב שיחיו - לדירתם החדשה בשעה טובה ומוצלחת בגשמיות וברוחניות, ובודאי יחנכו אותה בהתועדות חסידותית, און ווי מען שטעלט זיך אזוי פירט דער אויבערשטער, שיהי' א חסידישע ווארימע הויז, באהבת השם אהבת התורה ואהבת ישראל, ומדה זו, יומא דאזיל עם כל יומין תמשיך ברכה והצלחה בכל הג' קווין דבני חיי ומזונא רוויחא...

בפ"ש כל החבורה תי' והצלחה בעבודתם בקדש.

בטח יודיע מקבלת הקונ' לפורים עם המכתב המצורף אליו ומפירסומו באופן המתאים, ופשיטא אשר תוכנו הנה גם אחרי ימי הפורים זמנו הוא.

תתקלט*
מוה"ר נתן שי ': גורארי'.