3896 —מי שביכולתו להיות נוקב מרגליות אינו יוצא באפיית לחם

B"H, 23 MarCheshvan, 5716

Brooklyn.

Greetings and blessing!

In response to your letter of the 19th of Cheshvan and its enclosure.

As you request, you and all the members of your household, may they live, will be mentioned at an auspicious time at the holy resting place of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, of saintly memory, whose soul is in the hidden treasuries on high, may his merit protect us, for a year of success. One of the aspects of this is that "כל יומא ויומא עביד עבידתיה" — "each and every day performs its own work" (Zohar III, 94b): the work of the corresponding day, and the work of this particular person, since the ability — and so also the work required — of each and every one is not the same.

You surely know the saying of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, which is also copied in the calendar Hayom Yom (25 Nissan): however great the value of baking bread — for "ולחם לבב אנוש יסעד" — "bread sustains the heart of man" (Tehillim 104:15), even (reading אָנוש) of one gravely ill — nevertheless, one who is able to be a driller of pearls and [a polisher of] precious stones does not fulfill his duty at all by occupying himself with baking bread.

He wrote this in a letter to one of the Temimim, in reply to his report that he had set up classes in nigleh, etc., etc.

From this the lesson is plain for each one of us, and you are included: however truly your work in strengthening Judaism in general is valued, you do not fulfill your obligation through it at all, since you merited to grow up in a Chassidic home of Chabad Chassidus, and you have also tasted, to a certain degree and perhaps even to a significant degree, of the teachings of this Chassidus, its guidance and its customs — one of whose foundations is the spreading (specifically) of the wellsprings outward (specifically) (cf. "יפוצו מעינותיך חוצה" — "Let your wellsprings spread outward" — Mishlei 5:16). The approach of Chabad Chassidus is well known: every matter must be done in a way that is absorbed inwardly. Yet in the great majority of what I have read of your writing in the periodicals, I have not yet found you engaged in fulfilling this inner and soulful task of yours.

Understandably, I do not necessarily mean that you should use the periodicals in this direction, for there are many paths to this work, and the one who serves must choose the most effective and lasting path. All I mean by the above is that I have not heard that you use your talents in other ways, and in your above-mentioned articles, too, they have not as yet been used to spread the wellsprings outward. I am confident that with even slight reflection you will find several ways to act with your talents in this very matter — in the spirit of our Sages' exposition of "כבד את ה' מהונך" — "Honor G‑d with your wealth" (Mishlei 3:9): do not read מהונך ("your wealth") but מחונך — "from what He has graced you with".

May it be His will that you reflect on this soon, and so begin with it soon, and with success. And by the measure of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is measure for measure, this will add to what you and your wife, may you both live, receive: much Chassidic nachas from all your offspring, and from yourselves as well.

With blessing.

Publisher's notes

The exposition of our Sages (דרשת רז"ל): see also above, vol. 10, letter 2983.