By the Grace of G-d 21st of Shevat, 5724 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

Your letter reached me with some delay. I was glad to read in it that you have made good progress in your learning of the Torah. I hope that you will not rest content with your accomplishments in the past, but that you will make ever-growing efforts to speed your achievements, not only in the study of the Torah, but also and especially, in the fulfillment of Mitzvoth, for the essential purpose of the study is that it should lead to practice and fulfillment.

You ask about the transmission of the Torah and Mitzvoth from generation to generation, and you mention that there are certain aspects which you do not understand especially in regard to certain details connected with the Mitzvoth. All these matters have been adequately explained in various books of Mussar and Chassidus. If you will discuss this matter with any Rov in your environment, you will be able to clear up all these matters of questions and doubts.

I want to make one general observation, however, and this is so obvious, it is surprising that it had not occurred to you. The point is this:

It does not surprise anyone if a small child does not understand the thinking of a very wise man or an advanced scientist, even though between the small child and the scientist is only a difference of years and development. For a small boy can one day become even a greater scientist, while the scientist was once a small boy.

Why should it, therefore, be surprising if a human being cannot understand G-d the Creator, especially as there is nothing in common between the Creator and the created? It is only because G-d, in His wisdom and kindness, saw fit to reveal to us some glimpses of the reasons for this or that Mitzvah that we have any idea about the significance of the Mitzvah, but actually, no human intelligence, however great, can fully understand the Mitzvoth or any details connected with them.

With regard to the question of dating, and similar questions which are dealt with in the Shulchan Aruch, you should consult with a Rov, who will be able to tell you the Psak Din and the Torah view on these and similar questions.

The important thing for you at this time is to apply yourself with devotion and diligence to the study of Torah, the kind of study that leads to action and good conduct, as our sages emphasized.¹ Moreover, with this study of Torah, and especially with the observance of the Mitzvoth, you will get a deeper insight into the meaning and significance of the Mitzvoth. The illustration for this is simple:

When a person is hungry, but wishes to know how food turns into energy in the human body, the way to go about it is not to refuse to take nourishment until the question is answered, but rather to take nourishment first, and then try to get an answer to his question. For, in addition to the fact that the nourishment is needed to keep alive, it is also needed in order to facilitate the various functions of the body, including the brain. Similarly, it is with matters of the soul and spirit, where Torah and Mitzvoth are the nourishment of the soul. Surely no further elaboration is necessary.

With blessing,