Igrot Kodesh · Letter 1634 — Health

By the grace of Hashem,

12 Sivan 5712,

Brooklyn,

Greetings and blessings,

I received your greetings through the intermediary of the Rav, distinguished Chassid* who fears Hashem and devotes himself to communal needs, Rav Menachem Zev HaLevi Gringlass[1]. He also tells me that you are preparing, these days, to move into a new house. May Hashem grant that, in this house, all the members of your family may receive renewed strengths in all that concerns the Torah, the mitzvos*, and yiras Shamayim*.

If your neighborhood is not as observant as that of your previous dwelling, your house will become the center from which "the candle (which) is a mitzvah* and the Torah (which) is light," as well as the luminary of the Torah, which is its inner teaching, will spread around you.

Rav Gringlass also writes to me that your son will celebrate his bar mitzvah* on 15 Tammuz. For a certain reason, you wish the celebration to take place next week. I therefore wish you to derive from him much pleasure, much Jewish satisfaction. In fact, among Jews, these two values are inseparable, and if one wishes to experience satisfaction, it is necessary that this be Jewish. It is in this way that your son will be able to know wholeness, physical and moral.

Many parents wonder where their children will draw the strengths necessary to overcome all the trials and difficulties with which a Jew is confronted in the world. The following responses can be brought to this question:

A) There is no choice. A boy or girl born Jewish possesses the merit and the strengths that are common to the entire people of Israel. They cannot be rid of them and must therefore use them to adopt Jewish conduct. It is only on this condition that they can be happy, materially and spiritually.

B) "The deeds of the fathers deliver a teaching to the children"[2]. The first bar mitzvah* of which the Torah speaks is that of the only son of a Jew, Yitzchak, son of Avraham. The Midrash relates that Avraham was then a king. And all the other kings of the time therefore participated in the celebration of this bar mitzvah*. Among them was Og, king of Bashan, and he mocked this celebration. He exclaimed: "What importance can an only son of aged parents have?" He even affirmed that he could destroy him with his little finger, chas veshalom*.

We all know what happened subsequently. The people of Israel descended from Yitzchak, whose descendants caused the loss of Og, king of Bashan, inflicting upon him a terrible defeat.

The Midrash does not relate this account without reason. It is not a history book, but rather a part of the Torah, which is a teaching, a guide for existence. This account also emphasizes to us that a simple only son, surrounded by hostile kings, has nevertheless absolute certainty, provided he be educated on the path of the Torah and the mitzvos*, which are the source of his strength, whoever he may be, of being disturbed by no one, of receiving health and happiness. Indeed, the Torah and the mitzvos* link a Jew to Hashem, Who is the absolute Master of the entire world, with all that it contains.

May Hashem grant that you and your wife educate your bar mitzvah* son in the spirit of what has just been said. In this way, he will grow and will be a healthy and happy Jew.

With my blessing,