Igrot Kodesh · Letter 4444 — Faith & Bitachon

B"H

13 Sivan 5716

Brooklyn

Greetings and blessings,

I have duly received your letter, in which you briefly describe what your life has been — the events, the wanderings, and the transplantations that have led you to where you have recently arrived. And you cite events that you do not understand.

My secretariat does not possess a typewriter for Russian, and my response is therefore written in Yiddish. Nevertheless, it is quite clear that you may continue to write to me in that language, which you handle more easily.

You write to me that you find no explanation for the events that have occurred in your family and in your home.

If you reflect a little upon all this, you will cease to be amazed. Indeed, a person observes only a small part of what concerns him and what surrounds him. He therefore has difficulty making a just evaluation of reality, understanding the deeper meaning of what he sees.

To clarify this idea well, I will cite an example. If someone enters the operating room of a hospital, he will see a person lying on an operating table. Several people surround him, holding knives, and they cut into his body. The man groans from his suffering, but they all continue to make incisions.

Not knowing the full story of the one undergoing this procedure, the outside observer will be terrified and will flee. He will consider that a man has been seized and is being cut to pieces, that he screams in pain but cannot free himself from these thieves and murderers.

Conversely, if one explains to this observer that this operation will prolong the patient's life by decades, that one should therefore not take into account the suffering imposed by the few hours the operation lasts, he will agree not only that the men with knives are not thieves and murderers, but moreover, that they are the benefactors of the one they are operating on.

Furthermore, this is so despite the fact that the men with knives — or, in modern terminology, the surgeons — cannot completely guarantee the success of the operation or how long the patient will survive afterward, even if it is successful.

All of this demonstrates the following idea. A person can experience, in the course of his life, a painful event that continues for a certain time. And this pain is real. Despite this, if he knows that Hashem grants him His Providence, if he observes with his own eyes that the world is not abandoned but operates within a certain system — encompassing not only the person himself but also his family and many others — he will admit, by the most elementary logic, that all these events cannot contradict the system governing the world all around him. However, the "Professor of Surgery" does not always explain the great benefit that a passing pain can have.

Some people wonder, or even claim that they are in doubt: does the world truly have a system? Does it have a purpose? However, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and other disciplines — which are accepted not only by Jews or by believers, but also by non-believers — affirm that the smallest atom in this world obeys very precise laws. And everything that occurs conforms to established laws — including what concerns the earth, minerals, plants, and animals.

Thus, everything that surrounds each of us indeed responds to precise laws, to well-defined characteristics, albeit at a dimension infinitely greater than that of a person and his family.

Picture the following image: an immense building possessing thousands of rooms. And you observe that each of them is in impeccable order, whose positive character one must admit. There is, however, one small room about which a doubt remains. Is it indeed as well-ordered as the others? Are the furniture and everything in it truly in their place?

Every normal person will admit that if the thousands of other rooms are indeed in perfect order, there is no doubt that this one room is as well, even if one does not understand the nature of that order. For this room is an integral part of the entire building, and it must therefore have the same characteristics, even if one does not understand how this can be the case.

I imagine it is superfluous to elaborate more clearly on the meaning of this image. I would only add one point. Each of us — including you — upon meditating objectively on how the years have passed, on the places where one has found oneself, on the events that have occurred, will discover hundreds, thousands of situations in which one has been led in a very specific direction. Think back to ten years ago. Since then, everything moves from left to right, always in the same direction.

As you know, however, Hashem wishes that a person act according to his own decision, "of his own free will," as the expression goes in Russian. Each person is therefore free — you included. One can thus choose one's own path. But one is only human. It is therefore not surprising that one can sometimes err, stray from the straight path. Instead of going straight ahead, one may zigzag. Despite this, if one reflects on everything that has been said and does not seek to deceive oneself, one will say to oneself that these zigzags are becoming smaller and smaller, less and less frequent.

It is in this way that one achieves the purpose that Hashem has assigned to every person and, in particular, to every Jew — that one is truly happy, with all the members of one's family, in this material world. For this, one must adopt the conduct advocated by the Torah*, which is called the Torah of life.

One must, furthermore, set aside the argument that the evil inclination frequently raises. It points to a person considered pious, who conforms to the teachings of the Torah*, and highlights his faults. It deduces that if one can adopt the Torah* and, despite this, accumulate so many faults, it is the Torah* itself that must be rejected, Heaven forbid. Has this person not committed such a fault, and such another, and yet another?

Such an argument is erroneous, for one is thus observing only a part of the person and not his totality. An image will make this clear. If, while crossing a street, one encounters a person who has just left a doctor's office and is walking with crutches, one might think — and even say: "See how incompetent this doctor is! This person consulted him, paid him much money, scrupulously followed his prescriptions. Yet he walks with crutches and cannot take a step without them!"

One must therefore explain that this person, before consulting the doctor, could not even move his legs, that he was totally paralyzed; that the doctor not only reduced the paralysis but also strengthened the person; that he can now not only move his legs but even walk; that his condition is improving little by little; that he must still, for now, use crutches; but that he will no doubt be able to do without them in the future, if he continues to follow the doctor's prescriptions and attain perfect health.

Likewise, people from birth possess different characteristics. Some possess more good, others more evil. Through receiving one's education from good teachers and, above all, through the training one acquires on one's own — to the extent that it is positive — one succeeds in weakening one's innate faults, in rendering them without effect.

Throughout one's life, a person must train and learn. If one encounters him in the middle of his effort and his training, it is therefore not surprising to also observe some faults. This does not mean that he conforms to the instructions of the "Professor" in his desire to train. However, his faults are assuredly much weaker than before.

I would like to conclude by specifying my intention. The purpose of this letter is not merely to express a "philosophical" position, but also to make you understand that if you wish to be objective and reason in a straight manner, you must strengthen your trust in Hashem, view the people around you in a positive light — in general, and the residents of your city in particular. You will observe their qualities, and, moreover, you have trained a large portion of them. You will regard their faults, if they exist, as crutches that are kept only for a certain time, according to the example given above.

Above all, you must know that you must contribute, reveal the light, illuminate your surroundings — not only your family, but also a broader group of people. To achieve this, you must fill yourself with love for your fellow, wanting to be useful to him. Without a doubt, this is the good — positive also for you and for your family.

I hope that you will read this letter with all due attention. Obviously, if you have questions or if certain points are not sufficiently clear, you will write to me about them, and I will be happy to respond to the best of my ability, even if, due to my many activities, this response is somewhat delayed.

I think that the fact of responding to you in this way proves that time is devoted to you and that, likewise, you must devote yourself to the people around you. It also shows that one must, from time to time, improve one's conduct. May Hashem grant you success.

With my blessing,