Igrot Kodesh · Letter 1599 — Faith & Bitachon

By the grace of Hashem,

1 Sivan 5712,

Brooklyn,

Greetings and blessings,

I received with pleasure your letter of 21 Iyar. I had already been telling myself that I had not had, for some time, news of your state of health and that of your wife. Thank Hashem, you are already going out into the street and going to the shul*. Your letter also indicates to me that your wife is much better than before.

One can therefore see with one's eyes of flesh that Hashem has caused you to recover health and that your wife is also engaged on the same path. Thus one must place one's trust in Him and be sure that all will go better and better, until you yourself are satisfied with it.

I read with pain and sorrow, in your letter, "useless" expressions. Why do you employ them? You are a believing Jew, and you are capable of influencing other people. When one weakens one's trust in Hashem, one causes harm to one's spirituality and to one's health. Moreover, one loses the will to influence others, to confer upon them eagerness and enthusiasm.

I hope that on receiving my letter, you will at last be in good spirits and will conform to the injunction of our holy Torah, "Serve Hashem with joy." Our holy books say that one can and one must serve Hashem not only by praying and by studying the Torah, but also by eating and drinking. When one lives joyously, one can recover health and enthusiasm, and be much more active, for oneself and toward others.

I conclude by expressing the wish that your trust in Hashem be strengthened, that you spend a peaceful and joyous festival of Shavuos*, and that you prolong it throughout the year.

With my blessing on the occasion of the festival,