6710 —עצות למחשבות בלתי רצויות ולחשק בלימוד ובתפלה בכוונה: "יגעת ולא מצאת אל תאמין"

B"H, 4 Adar I^[1], 5719
Brooklyn.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

In reply to your letter of 28 Shevat^[2] and your questions:

(a) What is the advice for confusing thoughts and undesirable thoughts?

First of all, you should know a number of Torah matters by heart and review them^[3], also at the times free from the yeshivah's schedule. And it is understood that this is in addition to the main thing: a firm resolution that the moment you feel that your mind is occupied with an undesirable matter, you will stop it^[4].

(b) What remedy is there for [gaining] a desire to learn, and likewise to pray with kavanah?

The advice on this is as the saying of our Sages: "You toiled and did not find? Do not believe it"^[5]. If so, the matter depends on you: when you will want to pray with kavanah and to learn with diligence, in the end you will succeed. And the same applies^[6] to all the trials on a person's path: one should not be impressed by them, and one should overcome them; and when one truly wants, one succeeds.

Study the matters mentioned above in the holy book of Tanya, as listed in the index of subjects at the end of the book^[7].

Surely you know of the takanah to say a monthly portion of Tehillim (as the Tehillim is divided among the days of the month) every day after the morning prayer^[8]; keep it^[9], at any rate from now on. And it is proper that your tefillin be checked, that they are kosher according to the law.

With blessings for good news^[10],

On behalf of his holiness, our master, teacher and Rebbe^[11], shlita,

Secretary

Publisher's notes

Printed in Likkutei Sichos vol. 24, p. 404.

Notes

1. Adar I (אד"ר): אד"ר = אדר ראשון, the first Adar (5719 was a leap year).

2. Of 28 Shevat (מכ"ח שבט): מכ"ח = מיום כ"ח, "of the 28th". The recipient's name was not printed; his words here ("the yeshivah's schedule") show that he was a yeshivah student.

3. Know a number of Torah matters by heart and review them (בקי בעל פה כמה ענינים בתורה ולחזור עליהם): That is, to have Torah matters fluent on his lips, so that he can go over them in his mind at any time, even when he is not sitting and learning. The Rebbe wrote similarly in letter 5650 (vol. 15, 18 Menachem Av 5717), to someone who wrote that he found it hard to withstand the yetzer: וטוב שיהיו חקוקים בזכרונו איזה פרקים משניות ותניא ... ויסיח דעתו מכל ענין הנ"ל לעת עתה ואפילו מתיקונו, ועל ידי זה תקל עליו המלחמה, "It is good that some chapters of Mishnayos and Tanya be engraved in his memory … and that he take his mind off that whole matter for the time being, even off its correction; and through this the war will become easier for him."

4. You will stop it (יפסיקה): This is the way of the Beinoni explained in Tanya ch. 12: אלא, מיד בעלייתו לשם, דוחהו בשתי ידים, ומסיח דעתו, מיד שנזכר שהוא הרהור רע, "rather, as soon as it rises there, he thrusts it away with both hands and diverts his mind from it the moment he remembers that it is an evil thought." And during Torah study and prayer (Tanya ch. 28): ואפילו אם נופלים לו הרהורי תאוות ושאר מחשבות זרות בשעת העבודה בתורה או בתפלה בכוונה - אל ישית לב אליהן, אלא יסיח דעתו מהן כרגע, "Even if lustful thoughts and other extraneous thoughts fall into his mind during the service of Torah study or of prayer with kavanah, he should pay no attention to them, but divert his mind from them instantly."

5. "You toiled and did not find? Do not believe it" (יגעת ולא מצאת אל תאמין): Megillah 6b: ואמר ר' יצחק: אם יאמר לך אדם: יגעתי ולא מצאתי, אל תאמן. לא יגעתי, ומצאתי, אל תאמן. יגעתי ומצאתי, תאמן, "Rabbi Yitzchak said: If a person tells you, 'I toiled and did not find,' do not believe him; 'I did not toil, and I found,' do not believe him; 'I toiled and I found,' believe him." Rashi: יגעתי - בתורה, "I toiled — in Torah." Finding in Torah depends on toil, and whoever truly toils will find in the end. From this the Rebbe concludes that the desire to learn and kavanah in prayer also depend on the person's own will and effort ("the matter depends on you").

6. The same applies (וה"ה): וה"ה = והוא הדין.

7. The index of subjects at the end of the book (מפתח ענינים שבסוף הספר): That is, through the index of subjects printed at its end he will find the places in the Tanya where the matters he asked about are explained (undesirable thoughts, diligent study, prayer with kavanah, overcoming trials). This is the index in the Kehot edition of the Tanya, as the Rebbe wrote in letter 6560 (20 MarCheshvan 5719): בטח ימצא תניא שבהוצאת קה"ת ברוקלין, בשנים הכי אחרונות, שבא לבסוף מפתח ענינים, שמות אנשים הערות ותקונים, "Surely you will find the Tanya of the Kehot edition, Brooklyn, of the most recent years, at the end of which come an index of subjects, of names of people, notes and corrections."

8. The takanah to say a monthly portion of Tehillim (התקנה לומר שיעור תהלים חדשי): The takanah to say every day, after Shacharis, that day's portion of Tehillim in the monthly division, for which the Previous Rebbe, R. Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, strove. As the Rebbe wrote in letter 5661 (vol. 15, 22 Menachem Av 5717): וכידוע עד כמה השתדל בזה כ"ק מו"ח אדמו"ר זצוקללה"ה נבג"מ זי"ע ונתפרסמה בקשתו בזה וגם נתקבלה בכו"כ קהלות קדושות בישראל, "As is known, how much my father-in-law, the Rebbe, strove for this; his request was publicized and was also accepted in many holy communities in Israel." It is one of the three shiurim (Chumash, Tehillim and Tanya); see letter 3033 (vol. 10): שלשת השיעורים השוים לכל נפש מתקנת כ"ק מו"ח אדמו"ר זצוקללה"ה נבג"מ זי"ע, והם, א) אמירת שיעור תהלים - כפי שנחלק התהלים לימי החדש - בכל יום אחר תפלת שחרית, "the three shiurim that suit every soul, of the takanah of my father-in-law, the Rebbe: (a) saying the portion of Tehillim, as the Tehillim is divided among the days of the month, every day after Shacharis."

9. Keep it, at any rate (ע"ז עכ"פ): ע"ז = על זה, "on it"; עכ"פ = על כל פנים, "at any rate".

10. Good news (לבשו"ט): לבשו"ט = לבשורות טובות.

11. On behalf of his holiness, our master, teacher and Rebbe (בשם כ"ק אדמו"ר): כ"ק אדמו"ר = כבוד קדושת אדוננו מורנו ורבנו. That is, the letter was written and signed by the secretary, on the Rebbe's behalf.

Summary

Answering a yeshivah student through his secretary, the Rebbe advises him, against undesirable thoughts, to know Torah matters by heart and review them, and above all to resolve to cut such a thought off the moment he notices it. The desire to learn and kavanah in prayer depend on his own effort, for "you toiled and did not find? Do not believe it". He is referred to the Tanya and its index, and asked to say the daily Tehillim and to have his tefillin checked.