By the Grace of G-d 18th of Sivan, 5723 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

I received your letter in which you describe the highlights of your life.

As requested, I will remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart’s desires, in the matters about which you write.

With regard to the question of a Shidduch, I trust that you are doing everything possible in the natural order of things, to find a suitable Shidduch. For, while a Jew must always put his trust in G-d he is supposed to try and help himself, as it is written, “G-d will bless you in all that you do.”¹ It is necessary to enlist the cooperation of friends, etc., and generally go about this with determination, though with Tznius, as required by the Torah.

If you have not had your Tefillin checked in the course of the past twelve months, I suggest that you should have them checked, and that every weekday morning, before putting them on, you should put aside a small coin for Tzedoko.

I trust that you know of the three daily Shiurim of Chumash, Tehillim and Tanya, that you should observe them.

Toward the conclusion of your letter, you write that you desire [to] teach a boy Torah and Yiddishkeit but that this may interfere with your own Shiurim. You ask, therefore, if you should give time to that boy.

The learning of Torah is balanced against all the Mitzvoth.² At the same time, the Mitzvah of loving one’s fellow Jew is called the great principle of the Torah.³ There can therefore be no conflict between these two great Mitzvoth, and no doubt you can find the way whereby to keep up your own Shiurim and, at the same time, find time to teach the boy. Moreover, the Old Rebbe, founder of Chabad, whose 150th Yahrzeit Anniversary we are observing this year, has stated in his book, Torah Or,⁴ that the practice of Tzedoko and kindness has a special quality of purifying the mind and the heart of the giver, to be able to understand the Torah and Mitzvoth more deeply and to gain insights which are otherwise not reached.

May G-d grant that you should have good news to report.

With blessing,

By Nissan Mindel