By the Grace of G-d 20th of Tammuz, 5725 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

I received your two recent letters.

In reply to your questions, it is of course to be expected that one should try to understand the world around him, and as is mentioned several times in the Torah about the need to think and reflect on G-d’s Providence, and how He guides the destinies of the world, etc.

However, my point in my previous letter was that before one delves into such questions, it is necessary to become thoroughly familiar with the fundamental concepts of the subject matter, especially where the subject matter embraces the whole of Creation. In other words, it is necessary first to have a thorough knowledge of the Torah, which is called Toras Chaim, the Law of Life, being not only the source of true life, but also the true guide in the daily life. Otherwise, one may easily come to very erroneous conclusions.

By way of example suppose someone would ask, how is it possible that by pressing a button, or turning a switch, in one place, an electric bulb lights up in another place; and what relationship is there between the button and illumination? And so, he may declare that he does not believe that there is altogether any connection between the two, that the pressing of the button and the lighting up of the bulb are two separate events which are not interrelated, but it was an accident. Indeed this may seem a logical conclusion to one who has never learned anything about electricity, and how an electric current can pass from one place to another.

Now, the problem connected with electricity can easily, be studied and resolved, since we are dealing here with physical and tangible things. On the other hand, problems connected with spiritual matters are more subdue and more difficult, and require a great deal of preparatory study of the Torah and the practice of the mitzvot, in order to receive the necessary insights and attunement to grasp the subtle problems involved. Consequently, I repeat again, what I wrote to you previously that you must first consecrate at least several years for Torah study, in a Torah atmosphere, and only after that minimum period of preparation you will be able to turn your attention to these questions, if they still persist in your mind.

The above notwithstanding, I will not pass over your questions in complete silence, and will at least give you some answers, to the extent that it is possible to do so by means of a letter, as is my custom:

a) I made the distinction between a human king or leader who enforces his rule over his subjects by virtue of his position, and the “queen" of the ants, whose leadership or authority is not compelling. To this you object on the ground that the "queen - does indeed compel by assassinating any rival."

I do not know the species of ants of which you speak, for to my knowledge, in most cases, the rivals of the queen are killed not by the queen but by other ants. In any case, this really has no bearing on the verse in Mishlei, "Go to the ant,"¹ etc., where the idea is to learn from the extraordinary order, discipline and coordination which prevail in an ant colony.

b) With reference to your second question concerning the tzaddik who had learned in a dream what the conditions for successful farming would be², my reply was not intended to justify his withholding this information on the ground that he was afraid that he would be ridiculed. I merely emphasized that he had two possibilities if he attempted to tell his dream to the other farmers: 1) They would not listen to him, and 2) They might even ridicule him, both of which are normal reactions, which the Gemorro does not have to tell us since that was not the purpose of the story in the Gemorro. If the tzaddik knew that there was no chance that people would listen to him, and he would only have to waste a great deal of time on a discussion and argument, surely he would not consider it advisable to create excitement and ill feeling for no purpose. This is self evident.

Finally, you ask why is it customary to omit a letter in order not to write G-d's Name in full. The answer is that G-d’s Name is sacred to us, and we do not like to see it thrown into a wastepaper basket, etc.³ By way of illustration, if you have a picture of someone you cherish, you would not like to see it lying about on the floor, etc. This is true only of a complete picture, not of a brief sketch or outline which is only a suggestion of the real picture and no more. The same is true of G-d’s Name.

With blessing,

P.S. In order not to leave your questions completely unanswered, I will reply to your first questions and very briefly:⁴

A) With reference to the passage in Mishlei to the effect that the ant has no king (according to students of the natural sciences, especially zoology, etc., there are certain species of ants which do have a leader or a "queen"), the answer is as follows: 1) There are very many species of ants. 2) Even those species which have been discovered to have a "leader," or "queen," the leadership or authority is not compelling in the same way as the authority of a human king or leader who rules over his subjects by virtue of his position.

B) With regard to the story of our Sages relating to the tzaddik who learned in a dream what the conditions of rain would be in the following year, and your question: Seeing that he was a tzaddik, how is it that he did not reveal his knowledge to the rest of the people, so that all would be successful in their farming?

The answer to this can be illustrated from drawing a parallel in our own time: Suppose a person would come and say that he has learned in a dream that the farmers should plant their crops in a certain unusual way, surely no one would rely on this dreamer. Moreover, he would even be exposed to ridicule.