ב"ה6 Nissan, 5711Brooklyn, N.Y.
New York, N.Y.
Sholom ubrocho:
With Pesach approaching, I want to send you herewith, and through you to the entire group, my best wishes for a kosher and happy Yom-Tov, and a brief message.
You have surely heard of the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov,1 oft repeated by my father-in-law of sainted memory, that a Jew should find a lesson for better Divine service* in everything that he sees or hears. Certainly, the festivals contain important lessons for us in our daily life, especially such a festival as Pesach, and to one such lesson I call your attention.
For a long time the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt, in physical and intellectual bondage. The danger of complete assimilation was grave, as the Torah tells us. So low had they sunk that when Moses brought them the message of deliverance from Egyptian bondage, they did not listen to him “because of lack of spirit and hard labor.”2
However, after their liberation from enslavement, they reached, in a comparatively very short time, the highest spiritual level which is humanly possible to attain, making them all, men, women and children, fit for Divine Revelation at Mount Sinai, and worthy of the highest knowledge and inexhaustible source of wisdom and faith for all generations to come.
This shows that potentially every person has it in him to rise from the lowest depths to the loftiest spiritual heights in a comparatively short time, provided he has the sincere and wholehearted desire and will to do so. The children of Israel had such desire and will, for, as our Sages tell us,3 when they learned of the real purpose of their liberation — the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, they experienced a burning desire to receive the Divine science, and counted every day in eager anticipation of that event. (That is why we also count Sephirah). Moreover, where there is such a will, G-d provides the ability to achieve it through liberation from all handicaps which stand in the way, so that every Jew could fulfill his soul’s mission upon this earth, until G-d will send us our complete redemption בב”א.
Cordially,
M. Schneerson
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*) "Divine service” is used here in a broader sense, as explained by Maimonides (Hilechot Deoth, ch. 3) on the verse: “Serve Him in all your ways.”4
Notes and sources
For more letters to Rabbi Carlebach's study group, see letters dated 19 Adar II, 5711; 2 Sivan 5711; 8 Nissan, 5712; 25 Iyar, 5712.
1) HaYom Yom 9 Iyar.
2) Shemos 6:9.
3) See Ran end of Pesachim.
4) Mishlei 3:6.
Source: Typed copy.