Igrot Kodesh · Letter 93 — Pastoral Outreach and Tisha B'Av Lessons on Love

By the grace of Hashem,

Thursday, 11 Menachem Av

To the highly esteemed donor, the Rav ...

I greet you and bless you,

We are very surprised not to have had news from you lately. We are always happy to receive a letter from you, informing us of what concerns you personally and of the way in which you are strengthening Judaism in your city, as we discussed when you were here.

We have sent you a membership card for the Mishnah by heart group and you have undoubtedly already received it.

We are surprised that you have not yet ordered the Hayom Yom and Chanoch LaNaar* compilations that have recently been published and have aroused great satisfaction in the Chassidic world. You have probably not ordered them because you were not aware of their publication. We are therefore sending you five copies of these compilations, for you and for your friends. If you think you will not have use for them, you can return them to us, at our expense.

In this month of the destruction of the Temple, which Hashem will transform, very soon and in our days, into joy and gladness, we must all remember that the First Temple was destroyed because people had, at that time, turned away from the Torah, while the Second disappeared due to gratuitous hatred.

Remembering all this must awaken a profound desire to love each person, in a gratuitous and disinterested manner. You will consult, in the Hayom Yom, on the date of 15 Kislev, what the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch, says on this subject. It is especially necessary to strengthen love of Torah, which one can impart by explaining that it is the Wisdom of Hashem and, more generally, by strengthening the fear of Hashem.

With my blessing of immediate Teshuvah, immediate deliverance,

The director of the executive committee