Proper Vessel
Mundane distractions can eat away at the soul, diverting our attention away from the holy. How can we maintain our priorities? The Avner Institute presents two letters highlighting the Rebbe’s interest in all matters, large and small, from choosing the proper education for a child to donating to questionable organizations, with the gentle reminder that Torah permeates our entire lives.
Dedicated in memory of loving memory of Hadassah Lebovic A”h
“In all matters of Torah and mitzvoth”
By the Grace of G-d
14 Menachem Av 5724
Brooklyn, NY
Greeting and Blessing:
I received your recent letter with the enclosure. You write about your background and some highlights of yourself mentioning various problems which you are facing at this time.
May G-d grant that the problems be resolved in a satisfactory way in every respect.
With your background, it is surely unnecessary to emphasize to you that a channel to receive G-d’s blessings is through the daily conduct and observance of the Torah and mitzvoth. In matters of goodness and holiness, there is always room for improvement, since they are infinite coming from the Infinite. Every additional effort in this direction, therefore, will bring you and yours additional Divine blessings.
Efforts to advance in all matters of Torah and mitzvoth are particularly timely at this time when we are coming from the Three Weeks, the commemoration of the Destruction of the Beth HaMikdash and the beginning of the present Exile. For, as we say in our prayers, “Because of our sins we have been exiled from our land.” Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the cause, namely the neglect of the Torah and mitzvoth, in order to reduce the effect, namely the Destruction and Exile, and every effort in this direction, to the extent of eliminating altogether the cause of the events commemorated, will hasten the complete Redemption of our people through our righteous Moshiach.
Hoping to hear good news from you.
With blessing,
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P.S. In reply to your questions:
Re the continuation of your older son’s learning – it would well be for him to utilize the summer period to learn and make up what he had missed in the past (as you indicate) due to his illness (no more). Then, as the new term approaches, and reappraising your son’s situation, you will decide—together with the principal who knows him—as to the class wherein he would fit best.
Whether your son should learn in a school using the “ivris-b’ivris” [Hebrew language in Hebrew] method, and the like—without getting into the controversy about the advantages, or otherwise, of this method in general, and even if the curriculum etc., be completely al taharas hakodesh [in purity]—it is my opinion that considering the very limited time allotted to limudei Kodesh [holy subjects], it is a crying injustice to further deprive the students of this precious time in order to teach them in a way which compels them to translate in their mind the subject matter of their lessons into an unfamiliar to their language. (Note: For the same reason the student should not be compelled to learn everything in Yiddish—if this is not his spoken language.)
Re your promotion to a new position, which, however, does not offer so many opportunities to help the students in matters of Torah and mitzvoth—no doubt you will utilize the promotion to promote Yiddishkeit, too, and if so, you should dismiss the pros and cons of the offer in the above terms, and it is written “u’teshua b’rov yoetz [with great advice].”
The idea to buy a house, instead of renting an apartment, and thus eventually pay off the mortgage with rent, is a good one. Of course, only if the location of the house is in a neighborhood of shomrei Torah u’mitzvoth [Torah observance]. It is also self-understood that it is not worth incurring extra debts in order that it be a detached house, and no other, etc.
“All is in good order.”
By the Grace of G-d
20 Iyar 5726
Brooklyn, NY
Greeting and Blessing:
After not hearing from you for a very long time, I received your letter of May 6th, though in the meantime I inquired after you from time to time through our representatives in Philadelphia.
In your letter you ask my opinion as to whether a religious or charitable group may properly receive donations from a company which is conducting its business in an unethical way, at usurious rates of interest, etc.
Generally speaking, it is not my function to answer shaalos [questions], for which there are special Rabbinical bodies in each city. Moreover, it would be impossible for me to give you a definitive answer to your particular question, in view of the fact that many important points of information are missing.
For example,, one essential factor is whether the acceptance of a donation from that company would be tantamount to an expression of approval of its methods, either explicitly or implied; or whether it can in no way be so mistaken by anyone, not even by the company itself, in which case it would be a question of in no way encouraging the policy of the company, but only giving it the mitzvah of tzedakah, or withholding it. It is only after you have all these facts available and ready to be presented to a Rov, that he would be able to give you his decision.
You do not mention anything about yourself and your affairs, from which I gather that all is in good order. And “in good order,” insofar as a Jew is concerned, means that it is not stationary, but is progressing and advancing.
This bring me to the timely message of the present days of Sefirah, the Counting of the Omer. It has been noted that in counting the Omer we use the cardinal numbers rather than the ordinal numbers. In other words, we say, for example, ‘Today is thirty-five days of the Omer, etc.,” rather than “Today is the thirty-fifth day of the Omer.” This means that it is not a case where each day constitutes merely a single additional day, but each day constitutes a part of the whole and, in fact, complements the previous days. Considering that the counting of the Omer symbolizes the counting of the days of preparation for Shavuoth, the Festival of the Giving of the Torah, the lesson of the Counting of the Omer, and the significance of each day of this period, are obvious.
With blessing,
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