Igrot Kodesh · Letter 96 — Torah Publishing Operations and Community Outreach Strategy

By the grace of Hashem,

Thursday, 9 Elul 5703,

To our friend, remarkable young man,

Rav M. Z. Gringlass [1],

I greet you and bless you,

I respond briefly to your letters, for I am very busy with the publication of the Kuntres Umaayan [2], the discourse of Pesach [3], and some other texts. This is why my response has been delayed until now:

A) You have undoubtedly received our previous letter, mentioning your coming here to take counsel on the manner of acting, in your country, for everything concerning the purest Jewish education, as well as the way to promote the fulfillment of Mitzvot and the study of Torah.

B) For some reason, the publication of Hakriah VeHakedushah* has been delayed these past months. We have good hope that the issues of Tammuz, Menachem Av, and Elul will appear within a week.

C) All the publications you requested have been sent to you and you have undoubtedly received, in the meantime, the copies of letters for Klotzkin [4]. I am surprised that all of this has been delayed.

D) We have received from you 48 copies on 20 Tammuz, 25 on 1 Elul, and 30 through Rav Fredmeski.

E) The committee of the Sefer Torah* sent receipts and letters two weeks ago, which have surely reached all those who contributed through your intermediary. If this is not the case, please let me know the missing names and I will then make the necessary inquiries.

F) From what I have heard, and you can obtain confirmation from the Rashal* [5], the Tefillin* of Rav D. Shifrin were not very beautiful [6]. If you still wish to have them, let me know. I will search for where they are and attempt to satisfy your request.

G) We have sent volumes 1 and 5 of the Sifreinu to Rav Carlebach, as he requested.

H) Through whose intermediary could we arrange for our study books to also be distributed in the circles of your Jewish Congress?

I) Perhaps it would be possible and even desirable for your newspaper to make an announcement for the Sifreinu in particular and, in general, for all our publications. Our efforts from here are not followed by results and it would therefore be good for several readers to write to the editorial board about this, or to intervene by comparable means.

J) We are currently preparing a calendar in the English language, like last year's, and a book about the Temple, with a plan of the building and the service that was performed there, also in the language of the country. And, on condition that donors are found, whose names can be printed, an identical calendar will be published in Yiddish, if time permits, by Machane Israel*.

You write to me that in the Divine Names Av [7] and Sag [8], the tens digit is placed first, whereas in the Name Ban [9], it is placed last.

I saw, many years ago, an explanation on this subject, it seems to me in the name of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropolya, according to which the reduced numerical value of the Names Av, Sag, and Mah [10] is nine [11]. Now, it is the same for Ban, for the final Nun equals seven hundred, which in reduced value is seven [12]. If one had said Nab, on the other hand, the reduced numerical value would have been only seven [13]. I do not remember if he explains why it is important that the value be nine.

Perhaps it was because nine is, according to the Etz Chaim*, "the summit of the digit, which is its most elevated stage." Indeed, the number ten introduces the tens and is only their beginning. You will consult, on this subject, the introduction of the Shefa Tal* which, it seems to me, was widely studied in your country. This explains that the Name Mah has a numerical value of nine [14], thus emphasizing the importance of this number.

One can also advance that this formulation allows easy memorization, since it is a word with a meaning [15], which is not the case for Nab. One can, however, question this regarding the Name Mab, which could have been stated as Bam [16].

More profoundly, Ban is linked to Even*, the stone, which decomposes into Alef Ben, a son, alluding to the four sons discussed in the Haggadah* of Pesach or the ten sons of Elkanah. You will consult, on this subject, the discourse delivered this year on Pesach.

The difference between the normal Nun and the final Nun is explained elsewhere, but I wonder if this has any bearing on our subject.

I will answer the other questions next time.

With my blessing of immediate Teshuvah, immediate deliverance,

Rav Menachem Schneerson,

Director of the executive committee [17]

At the beginning of the Niflaot Chadashot, of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropolya, this same question is posed in the name of the Sages of the Kabbalah. The meaning of the Name Ban is specified and, when it is written with a final Nun, it has the same numerical value as Shabbat [18].

And what is said in the body of the letter appears, in the name of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropolya, at the end of the Pitgamin Kadishin, published in Lublin in 5649 [19].

Much later: I found in the commentary Yoel Moshe, an explanation in the name of the Rav of Lvov, according to which the Tet, whose numerical value is nine, is a sacred letter, for it is never modified. Indeed, the numerical value of two times nine remains nine [20].

In the Likkutim Yekarim of Nemiatin, it is reported that Rabbi Abele of Vilna asked the Tzemach Tzedek about the Midrash according to which the disciples asked Rabbi how many Names does the Holy One, blessed be He, have. He answered them: "Hashem asks that one give Him one's heart." They asked further: "Why are they all in disorder [21], only one being in order?" He answered them: "Because the Name of Hashem is truth." The Tzemach Tzedek explains that the numerical value of the Names Av, Sag, Mah, and Ban [22] is the same as the initials of the phrase "Hashem asks that one give Him one's heart" [23]. Moreover, the reduced numerical value of Emet, truth, is nine [24].

Later addition: I found this explanation in several Chassidic manuscripts that I consulted afterward.

ב״ה ,ה׳ אדר ,תשי״ח
ברוקלין.
נשי ובנות חב״ד סניף בריג׳פורט,
ה׳ עליהן תחיינה
ברכה ושלום!
שמחתי לקבל את המכתב אודות התייסדות סניף נשי ובנות חב״ד
שלהן ,ובטח העבודה של שאר המחלקות תראה להן את הדרך כיצד
להתקדם גם הן בעבודתן ,והשם יתברך יעזור שזה יהי׳ בהצלחה רבה בכל
המובנים ,והעיקר להרחיב את העבודה בחוגים גדולים ורחבים יותר של
נשי ובנות ישראל בבריג׳פורט .וכידוע פתגם אדמו״ר הזקן ,שחסידות
)חב״ד( היא ענין לא רק עבור חוג מסויים של בנ״י ,אלא היא נכס של כל
היהודים.
וכיון שנכנסנו בחודש אדר ,שבו נס פורים ,שאסתר המלכה כבת ישראל
במסירות נפש שלה תרמה להתרחשות נס פורים ,כך גם בנות ישראל כיום,
תכרנה במלוא המידה את האפשרויות והאחריות שלהן ,שזה ודאי יביא גם
לחיזוק והגדלת העבודה של נשי ובנות חב״ד בכל המובנים.
בברכת הצלחה
נ.ב.
מצו״ב העתק המכתב כללי האחרון לסניפי נשי ובנות חב״ד.