3890 —תפקיד ברבנות הצבאית: כשרות המאכלים והשפעה על החיילים

B"H, 19 MarCheshvan, 5716

Brooklyn.

The young man Shalom Leib [Lerman], may he live

Greetings and blessing!

In response to your letter, in which you write that you are already in the Military Rabbinate, and describe your duties, and that you are not in one place but move from place to place, etc.: surely there is no need to arouse you to the great importance of supervising that the food be kosher according to law and custom. Especially since, besides its being one of the principal mitzvos, it is explained that non-kosher foods, G‑d forbid, dull the heart and the mind, and consequently lessen a person's talent and capacity to absorb matters of Torah and mitzvah, even mitzvos that human reason acknowledges, as is also alluded to in Tanya at the beginning of chapter 8. Surely you can use this position also to explain to those you meet the great importance of being careful to eat specifically kosher food.

With all this, it is also understood that you should not content yourself with the above official duties. Rather, you should make use of your contact with a number of young men, for whom you may be the only one from whom they will accept words regarding Judaism. You should therefore awaken them to צור מחצבתם, "the rock from which they were hewn" (cf. Yeshayahu 51:1), the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, and explain and make clear to them that, regardless of their standing and condition until now, בשעתא חדא וברגעא חדא, "in one moment and in one instant" (Zohar I 129a), they are obliged, and it is their privilege, to be upright Jews in their daily lives, in the full sense of the word. Surely you will find in maamarim of Chassidus and in the holy sichos a number of ideas and expressions that will help you explain the above. We are already assured that the involvement of Chassidim in these matters is blessed with success, but it must accord with the saying of our Sages, דברים היוצאים מן הלב, "words that come from the heart" [enter the heart].

May it be G‑d's will that you do all the above to the utmost of your ability. This will also add to G‑d's blessing and to your success as regards yourself as an individual, so that there be fulfilled what is written, ומבשרך לא תתעלם, "do not hide yourself from your own flesh" (Yeshayahu 58:7), to go from strength to strength in the study of the Torah and the fulfillment of its mitzvos in the finest manner.

With blessing, and with greetings to your friends, may they live; may they want to fulfill [this], and then they will succeed in fulfilling the command of the Creator of the world, והי' מחנך קדוש, "your camp shall be holy," for then "the L‑rd your G‑d walks in the midst of your camp," etc. (Devarim 23:15).

Publisher's notes

Printed in Likkutei Sichos, vol. 9, p. 287, and completed from the secretariat's copy.

Shalom Leib (שלום ליב שי'): Lerman, Tel Aviv. A further letter to him: above, 3818.