Erev Succoth, 5713 Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr. E. H. Einbinder
c/o N.Y. Paper Co.
90 State Street
New Haven, Conn.
Greeting and Blessing:
I have received your letter of Tishrei 7, in which you write that you visited the Ohel, with members of your family. I was gratified to read this, inasmuch as it shows that you appreciate the words of our Sages, 'The Righteous even after death are considered alive,'1 since all their life on this earth they are united with the 'Living Torah' and 'Living G-d,' eternal beings which give them eternity, too.
One of the forms of this eternity of the Righteous is that their disciples and followers walk along the path which the Righteous have shown them, and participate in the institutions and work which the Righteous have founded and guided.2
As for your remarks that you want so much to go in the ways of G-d, but find many limitations and roadblocks, etc., I would like to tell you what my father-in-law of sainted memory said, namely, that when a Jew decides on a good resolution, it is immediately decided in Heaven to give him the ability to carry out his good resolution in practical life.3 This is so all year round, and especially during the month of Tishrei, and even more so during the Ten Days of Teshuvah. I trust therefore that you will be able to translate your good resolutions into deeds.
Please convey my prayerful wishes for a Chasimo uGmar Chasimo Toivo to your mother and entire family, including yourself, of course.
With blessing
/Signature omitted; see note below/
Encls: Receipts.
Sec'y's note: The above letter having been typed on Chol-Hamoed, and inasmuch as the Rabbi Shalito does not write on Chol-Hamoed, is left unsigned.
Notes and sources
Mr. Eliyahu Hirsh (Tzvi) Einbinder (1912-1991) was born to a Lubavitch family in Kurenitz, Russia, and in the 1930s emigrated together with his family to the United States, settling in New Haven, Connecticut. Mr. Einbinder frequently corresponded with both the Rebbe Rayatz and the Rebbe, to whom he was a devoted chassid.
For additional letters to Mr. Einbinder see Igros Kodesh, vol. 3, letter 591 (pp. 281ff.); letter dated 16 Iyar, 5711; Igros Kodesh, vol. 4, letter 1,035 (p. 312); 28 Av, 5713 (Yiddish); 13 Kislev, 5716; 13 Kislev, 5717; 26 Kislev, 5717; 15 Av, 5717; 2 Iyar, 5718 (Yiddish); 17 Shevat, 5719; 16 Tammuz, 5720; 11 Cheshvan, 5721; 8 Teveth, 5721; 25 Adar, 5721; 13 Shevat, 5722.
1) Berachos 18a.
2) See Taanis 5b (just as their disciples are alive, so too, are they alive).
Source: Photocopy of original.
Published: Via Rebbe Responsa - Kovetz Heoros, (Chicago, 3 Tammuz, 5781).