5534 —תוכחה חריפה על חילול שבת בפרהסיא

B"H, 21 Sivan, 5717. Brooklyn.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

With great astonishment I read in your letter from the 10th of Sivan that your brother had a "great test" regarding traveling on an Israeli ship on Shabbat... The astonishment is at his coldness in writing about such a shocking matter. Even more so in calling it a great test, considering that this involves public desecration of Shabbat, which is as weighty as all the mitzvot together, etc. And the "reward" for this Shabbat desecration was to be present... at his sister's wedding! I did not sense that his desire to attend the wedding was because he was so eager to fulfill the mitzvah of bringing joy to the bride. I am certain he is also not fooling himself into thinking that his urge to travel specifically in this manner to Eretz HaKodesh was due to the importance of the mitzvah of bringing joy to the bride.

As with all matters, it is understood that here too "one transgression leads to another." At first, as he wrote in his letter, out of lack of courage (and it is clear how strange such an expression is regarding a transgression in general and especially regarding public Shabbat desecration), he traveled in a manner—which, as I told him clearly—is public Shabbat desecration. Consequently, he made Kiddush over wine belonging to the owners of a ship that travels with public Shabbat desecration; such wine is forbidden to drink (and supervision over this is a mockery and ridicule, since the prohibition against wine handled by one who publicly desecrates Shabbat is not because of contact with non-Jews. This is clear). Furthermore, according to some great authorities even double sealing does not help here since the wine was already forbidden beforehand.

From this he stumbled into doubt whether one may recite a blessing over it, as is well known there is debate regarding prohibitions like this. In any case—there is also here the prohibition of "he who blesses [over stolen bread] blasphemes Hashem." This led to another doubt—whether he ate that night without Kiddush. Certainly—he also read or otherwise used electric light on the ship, whose passengers and crew are Jews; therefore all light made for them is forbidden even for others, even regarding matters where "a candle for one is a candle for a hundred."

This further led to drinking water and washing hands: on ships nowadays during travel they take water from the sea and boil it to make it fresh water; thus it follows that water used at night comes from boiling done during the previous day, and similarly water used during the day comes from boiling done hours before—that is, sweet water on board midday comes from boiling done at night or on Shabbat morning. Here too there is no leniency as with "a candle for one..." Similarly he violated several other prohibitions.

And if—with G‑d's help—this can be called (perhaps) unintentional (shogeg), even this justification does not apply regarding a yeshiva student.

It is understood that as a brother and relative—at first glance these expressions may seem harsh; but upon brief honest reflection one will see they are nothing compared to this most shocking event and its darkness: calling it merely "a great test," when he could have sat learning Torah peacefully—and perhaps even in purity—in yeshiva here and exchanged this for traveling to a land watched by Hashem from year's beginning to end but in direct opposition to Shabbat observance which equals all mitzvot.

If there remains any spark of fear of Heaven regarding this matter let him seek out a wise person who can give him rectification—and perhaps then he will push himself through and enter [the path of teshuvah].

Summary

This letter teaches us about the severity of public Shabbat desecration and warns against rationalizing serious transgressions. The Rebbe urges honest self-reflection and seeking proper guidance for true spiritual repair.