3870 —תיקון המצב תלוי בנמצאים על אתר, ומצות הוכחה בדרכי נועם

B"H, 10 MarCheshvan, 5716.

Brooklyn.

Greetings and blessing!

...Especially since, according to the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov on Divine Providence over each and every detail of a person's life, and particularly in what concerns Torah and mitzvos, it is obvious that all those ... were given the powers to improve the situation, each according to his circumstances. For our Sages said, לפום גמלא שיחנא, "According to the camel is the load" (Kesubos 67a); and the instruction of our holy Nesi'im is already well known: טובה פעולה אחת מאלף אנחות, "One good deed is better than a thousand sighs." As for what you wrote, that they will not listen and will not act according to the instruction: none among us knows this (cf. Tehillim 74:9), as in the well-known saying of our Sages, אם לפניך גלוי וגו', "If it is revealed before You, [to them who is it revealed?]" (Shabbos 55a), from which it is evident that it is hard for a human being to know this with certainty; all the more so when we are speaking of those who, to a greater or lesser degree, have benefited from the light within the Torah, that is, the teaching of Chassidus, its guidance and its customs...

From all the above it is understood that the improvement and correction of the situation depends chiefly on those who are on the spot; and whoever is greater than his fellow, whether in wisdom or in years, his responsibility, and also his merit, are greater. Our Sages have already ruled that the mitzvah of admonition extends up to the point of etc. (Arachin 16b), and those who admonish are still far from that point. Our holy Rebbeim, the Nesi'im of Chabad, have already spoken at length about the manner of admonition, that it too must be בדרכי נועם, "in ways of pleasantness" (Mishlei 3:17), etc.; and to elaborate on so simple a matter is superfluous...

With blessing for good news.