By the Grace of G-d 5th of Menachem Av, 5724 Brooklyn, N. Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

This is to confirm receipt of your letter of July 5th.

Needless to say, one of the foundations of the Jewish way of life is complete trust in G-d in a personal way, namely that G-d’s benevolent Providence extends to each and everyone individually, and that G-d is the Essence of Goodness, willing and able to do good, and enough good. This, of course, does not mean that one should not do everything possible to help himself in the natural order of things. On the contrary, it is necessary to do everything possible, but at the same time to put one’s faith in G-d that He will send His blessings in an infinitely greater proportion to the effort, as it is written "And G-d will bless you in all that you do."¹

As² we are now commemorating the sad events which led to the Destruction of the Beth Hamikdash and the beginning of the present Exile, it should be remembered that the purpose of this commemoration is not just to inflict a sad period upon ourselves, but rather that we should be reminded and inspired to do all we can to lessen, and eventually remove altogether, the cause which brought about the sad events which we are now commemorating.

For, as we declare in our prayers, "Because of our sins we have been exiled from our land.”³ It was the neglect of the Torah and Mitzvoth, in the daily life and practice, which resulted in the Destruction and Exile. Therefore efforts to strengthen and spread the observance of the Torah and Mitzvoth in the daily life will hasten the complete Redemption through our righteous Moshiach and, as promised, these sad days will be transformed into days of joy.⁴

With blessing,

M. Schneerson