5725

Greeting and Blessing:

I am in receipt of your letter.

Judging by your writing, I trust it is unnecessary to emphasize to you at length that one of the foundations of our faith and way of life is the firm conviction that G-d’s Providence extends to everyone individually, and that He is the essence of goodness, and does only good, as the Torah states, “And G-d saw all that He had done and behold it was very good.”¹ And while G-d gave man the free choice to choose his way in life and in his daily conduct, He has, in His goodness, given us His Torah, which teaches us what the right way of life is and how to pursue it unerringly. Therefore, your writing that you find life “a burden,” and the general mood in which your letter is written, are completely out of harmony with the Jewish way of life.

I can, of course, understand that such a mood is possible in light of the events and happenings that you describe in your letter. However, this is possible only if one does not take into account the fact that everything is by Divine Providence, and therefore thinks that one is alone in the world and quite forsaken, and only has oneself to rely upon, and so on.

On the other hand, if one bears in mind that everything that happens, happens through G-d’s Hashgacha affecting every single individual, and that the only freedom that a person has is freedom insofar as he personally is concerned, but that he has no control over events relating to others, then he can look at things differently. And though he may still not understand why such things happen, it will no longer surprise him, knowing the limitations of the human mind, and how impossible it is for a human mind to grasp and understand the infinite wisdom of G-d, who is called Ein Sof (Infinite). Consequently, seeing that G-d gives the gift of life and other blessings, and at the same time provides opportunities to fulfill His will, not because He needs satisfaction and pleasure, but only because in this way He makes it possible for the Jew to spread G-d’s light in the world at large, and especially in his own family and immediate environment, surely it is out of place to refer to these blessings of G-d as “a burden,” G-d forbid.

Nor is it right to consider burdensome the fact that it is difficult to see the good clearly for, as our Sages declare, “The reward matches the effort.”² The better and more worthy the thing, the harder it is to obtain, and while the difficulties may be imaginary, or real, the effort to overcome them will be truly rewarding, and the reward will infinitely surpass the effort. It is surely unnecessary to elaborate further on this subject.

I suggest that you have the mezuzot of your home checked, as well as your tefillin, if they have not been checked within the past twelve months, and every weekday morning, before putting on the tefillin, you should put aside a small coin for tzedakah. No doubt your wife observes the good custom of putting aside a small coin for tzedakah before lighting the candles.

Hoping to hear good news from you,

With blessing,