Igrot Kodesh · Letter 986 — Chinuch

By the grace of Hashem,
24 Nissan 5711,
Brooklyn,

Greetings and blessings,

Here is the message I asked your son to transmit to you:

"Lechaim*, may your father be a revealed chassid*. He is already a hidden chassid*. He has, baruch Hashem*, children who are chassidim*. But when he himself is a revealed chassid*, he will be able to help his children to become so as well."

Here is what I wished to say:

I know my father-in-law, the Rebbe, and I know that he was a tzaddik*. The words and acts of tzaddikim* are truth. They are perpetuated eternally and, obviously, never disappear.

I have heard, on several occasions, my father-in-law speak of you and of your wife. He dispensed to you both numerous strengths, directly in conversing with you, or indirectly, by means proper to him, for example by reciting a Tehillim*. I also know the hopes my father-in-law, the Rebbe, placed in your children. And one can verify concretely that these were more and more well-founded.

Basing myself on all this and knowing that the action of a tzaddik*, in particular of a Rebbe, cannot disappear, I am convinced that you will concretely possess all the positive elements that my father-in-law wished to see in you. Moreover, this promise has already been partially realized, and I am convinced that it will be accomplished in its entirety.

Obviously, these remarks do not concern the observance of mitzvos* in the strict sense, which you have always maintained, which has always been present in your home. I am alluding here to what surpasses the framework of halacha*. What can be accomplished in this matter has no limit. As high as a creature can rise, it always retains the possibility to multiply its accomplishments.

Nevertheless, it is said that "the prisoner cannot free himself from his own prison." Someone must come to his aid that he may succeed. The Mitteler Rebbe*, son of the Alter Rebbe*, explains that the intervention of another person sets two divine souls against one animal soul. Even more, the one who brings his help is, in this case, my father-in-law, the Rebbe, whose personal merit, which is considerable, is complemented by that of his holy ancestors.

This, then, is what I wished to say. You are already a hidden chassid*, and you must become a revealed chassid*, by adopting a conduct that systematically goes beyond the line of the law. My father-in-law, the Rebbe, granted you the strength for this, not only, as I said, in the words he exchanged with you in your presence, but also when he was alone, reciting a Tehillim* in his office. You have not yet fully revealed these strengths. In fact, it is impossible to make full use of the blessing of a tzaddik*.

It is for this that I expressed the wish that the blessings granted by my father-in-law, the Rebbe, in your presence or not, should be fully accomplished.

The highest blessing a person, and in particular a Jew, can receive is the nachas* he derives from his children. Our Sages say that a person can be jealous of all, with the exception of his son. I therefore said all this and explained it. The blessing of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, must be accomplished in you, and your children must be revealed chassidim*.

-2-

Why did I transmit this message to you through your son, who was present at the chassidic farbrengen*? Because it is said in the sefarim* that when a Jew gives a blessing, and ten other Jews are present and answer Amen, that blessing is considered as emanating from a tzibbur*. Now, when ten Jews gather, the Shechinah* reveals itself fully, according to tractate Sanhedrin 39a. How much more so is it the case in the presence of several dozen Jews, at a Shabbos or Yom Tov meal, which is a mitzvah*, even more so in a holy place, a shul* or a beis midrash*. I therefore did not wish to miss this opportunity.

We were among good friends and the moment was a special one. I took advantage of it to gather the assent of all these Jews, who were imbued with the spirit of Shabbos and Yom Tov, during the third meal of Shabbos, when "the Will of all wills" reveals itself, as we say in the songs of Shabbos and as the Zohar* explains. In this way, all could give their consent that the blessings granted by my father-in-law, the Rebbe, should be fully accomplished.

One of the principal points is the following. We must be chassidim*, going beyond the line of the law, seeking the good of the other, even if a discomfort for one's own person results from it, chas v'shalom*. It is thus that the Tosafos* interprets the term chassid*, in tractate Niddah 17a and likewise in tractate Shabbos 120a.

Greeting all the members of your family and with my blessing,