Igrot Kodesh · Letter 211 — Publishing Fundraising — Kehot

By the grace of Hashem, 1st of Adar Rishon

To the honorable Chassid,* Hashem-fearing and faithful in his mission, Rav Y. HaKohen,* Chicago,

I greet and bless you.

You have no doubt received my letter of the 7th of Shevat.* I hope that you will soon return to me the Pesach* discourse that I lent you.[2]

You surely remember telling me that you would like to participate in one of our publications. Such an opportunity has just arisen, and this is the reason I am writing to you.

My father-in-law, the Rabbi Shlita,* has just given authorization to publish, in mimeograph form and in a limited number of copies, a collection of discourses by his father. This book must be ready by the end of the week and will comprise approximately 330 pages.

The publishing costs will be approximately one thousand nine hundred dollars, which we expect to receive in the following manner. Two donors will each contribute five hundred dollars, and the remainder will be obtained from the proceeds of sales. The first donor[3] has already contributed his five hundred dollars. The second, however, had to withdraw at the last minute, being unable to commit to that amount.

I would therefore like to seize this opportunity to propose that you be the second donor for the publication of this book. And I see no objection to your transmitting to us a sum of one hundred dollars per month for five months.

I think it unnecessary to explain to someone like yourself the importance of this publication. Nevertheless, since this book must be ready by the end of the week, I would ask you to kindly inform me of your decision, whatever it may be.

I will conclude with a word on the Parasha* of the week, that of Mishpatim.*

The very first of all the laws stated after the giving of the Torah* is that of the Jewish servant:* "When you acquire a Jewish servant, he shall serve you for six years, and on the seventh year he shall go free without payment."

This may seem surprising. Why begin the exposition of the laws with this one? Moreover, the tractate Kiddushin* 14b specifies that this concerns a man who has committed theft and, being unable to repay his theft, has therefore been sold as a servant.

Furthermore, if one accepts that it was indeed necessary to present this law first, logic would have required that theft itself be defined first — the requirement for the one who commits it to repay double what was stolen — and only then would the status of the Jewish servant have been addressed.

Moreover, why is this Parasha* introduced with an unfortunate situation? It presents: 1. a Jew who has committed theft, 2. who possesses nothing with which to repay it, 3. who finds no one to come to his aid, so that the court must sell him as a Jewish servant for six years.

In fact, this law must be understood as an illustration and a teaching of what all the other laws are, in general. For these laws are indeed intended to provide human beings with the means to master their desires and passions, and to rectify the wrong they may have done.

Is it conceivable that a Jew, just after the giving of the Torah,* could have reprehensible desires and commit wrongful acts? Our Sages explain, in tractate Berakhot* 28b, that a Jew sometimes forgets that Hashem,* the Master of the world, sees everything he does. Consequently, he thinks he can "steal."

The solution, therefore, is as follows. This Jew will become the servant of Hashem.* For this, he will "work" — devoting himself to Torah* and Mitzvot* — for six years. Then, from the seventh year onward, that is, the seventh millennium, "he shall go free without payment." At that time, the Mitzvot* will be fulfilled in an entirely different manner, as the Admor HaZaken*[1] explains in his Torah Or,* at the beginning of our Parasha.*

With my blessing for immediate Teshuvah,* immediate redemption,
Rav Menachem Schneerson,
Director of the Executive Committee[4]