Igrot Kodesh · Letter 3039 — Prayer

B"H

20 Marcheshvan* 5715,
Brooklyn.

To the distinguished Chassid* who fears Hashem and devotes himself to communal needs, the Rav A. S. (Rav A. Shklovski; see, concerning him, letter no. 2707),

Greetings and blessing,

I received with pleasure your letter of Sunday of Parshas Vayeira*, in which you describe to me, in a relatively detailed manner, the situation of the Chabad* synagogue of Petach Tikva*. In certain respects, an improvement is indeed necessary, in the direction you describe. Nevertheless, you know the assurance of Hashem that if "you open for Me like the point of a needle," then "I will open for you like the entrance of the Sanctuary."

When the secretary of the synagogue and those who pray there make efforts on their part, Hashem will therefore grant success, especially since it is said (at the beginning of the second chapter of the Tanya*), regarding every Jew: "The second soul of Israel is, literally, a part of the Divine." Indeed, the verse (Iyov 31:2) speaks of a "part of the Divine" and the Alter Rebbe* specifies "literally," thus emphasizing that this soul must appear concretely, not only in thoughts and words but also in actions, daily and in all the points you allude to (literally, "by the initials").

The sacred books explain, and the Alter Rebbe* also mentions in his Siddur*, that one introduces the prayer with the precept "Love your fellow as yourself." When the secretary of the synagogue regards those who pray there in this manner, and the reverse is also true, it is certain that there will be fulfilled: "Bless us, our Father," inasmuch as one is "all as one."

The Tanya* alludes to this in chapter 32 and concludes that it is so thanks to "the Light of Your Countenance," which also emphasizes that each person must show others a luminous face, for "the heart of man toward his fellow is like the face that is reflected in water."

One point must be added, at least as a remark, concerning a Chabad* synagogue. I have asked the Kehot* editions to offer you several books of Chassidus*, as well as Tehillim* Ohel Yosef Yitzchak, which bear the name of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, whose merit will protect us.

On the occasion of the month of Kislev*, the month of liberation (of the Alter Rebbe* and the Mitteler Rebbe* from the Czarist prisons, as well as that of the Beis HaMikdash* at Chanukah*), which approaches for us and for all Israel, for good and for blessing, you will please, as secretary of this synagogue, transmit to those who pray there and to the members of their families my blessing that there be fulfilled the terms of the verse (Tehillim* 55) "He has redeemed my soul in peace." The reason why this is so is specified just after: "For they were many with me."

Indeed, even those who, outwardly, seem to oppose, are, deep within themselves and in reality, "with me," as the Yerushalmi* Sotah, chapter 1, paragraph 8, emphasizes, so that all have a single conception, linked to the one Torah and to the one Hashem, as various texts of Chassidus* explain.