1520 —ברכות בר מצוה, הדרכת אברך, ואריכות תפלה לנוער

B"H, 27 Nissan, 5712.

Brooklyn.

Haraha"g veHaraha"ch iy"a nu"n oseik b'tzt"z etc. Moreinu HaRav Yehuda Zev HaLevi.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

In response to your letter informing me about the Bar Mitzvah of your son Pesach, enclosed is my letter to him. May it be the will of the Blessed One that you derive abundant nachas—Jewish nachas and chassidic nachas—from him, with peace of mind and body. The merit of your involvement in drawing the hearts of Jews closer to their Father in Heaven is great. The attribute of the Holy One is measure for measure: you will see much nachas from your children and students.

I was pleased to read in your letter about the arrangements at the yeshivah in the past period. I strongly hope that in the coming period you will expand your boundaries with more students both in quantity and quality and succeed in influencing them to draw their hearts closer—to illuminate their souls, spirits, and neshamot with the inner light of Ner Mitzvah v'Torah Or (the candle of mitzvah and Torah light). This arouses also the inner dimension of their soul, as it is written: 'Bakshu Panai et Panecha Hashem Avakesh' (Seek My face; Your face, Hashem, I seek), and this paved path is through learning the inner dimension of Torah. May Hashem grant success both from the teachers and mashpi'im as well as from the students and recipients.

With blessings for abundant nachas from your aforementioned Bar Mitzvah son and success in general and personal matters.

P.S.: Regarding what you wrote about the conduct of the students... that you are not so pleased with their lengthy prayers because it does not fit with their conduct in other matters and you fear arrogance—perhaps your arguments are correct. However, it is well known from experience visible to anyone who examines youth today that they are especially going through a crisis period. Therefore one must be extra careful not to weaken anything that could strengthen their resistance against prevailing winds in society. Even if there are matters which at this stage are not yet appropriate for them to engage in fully—since this adds another element helping them stand strong against outside influences—it would be irresponsible to remove or weaken this practice. If you feel there is a contradiction between lengthy prayer and their conduct elsewhere, you should gently but firmly work on improving their behavior in other areas—but do not abolish lengthy prayer since ultimately it increases fear of Heaven and detachment from worldly pleasures—even if only externally. Of course, one can only judge based on what he sees directly; but as you describe it in your letter, my opinion is as above. Our hope—yours and mine—is that we will see fulfilled our Sages' interpretation on 'Ein yotzeis v'ein tzo'akah b'rechovoteinu; Ashrei ha'am shekacha lo; Ashrei ha'am sheHashem Elokav' (There is no outcry or lamentation in our streets; Happy is the people who have it so; Happy is the people whose G‑d is Hashem) (see Zohar III 245b).

Summary

The Rebbe encourages maintaining practices like extended prayer among youth as a means to fortify them spiritually against societal challenges. He emphasizes guiding improvement elsewhere gently but firmly while preserving what builds inner strength.