By the Grace of G-d 25th of Elul, 5731 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

I am in receipt of your letter and I will remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart’s desires for the good. May G-d grant that your “return to Torah and mitzvos” as you express it, should succeed at a steady and growing pace. As you surely know, a Jew’s “return” is described by the Torah as a return to his source and origin, to his very essence. Consequently, the extent of this return is not always to be measured by the cause that brought it about, whether through an external influence by an individual, or through an internal impulse, inasmuch as the results in terms of the return to the source and the conduct in the daily life that follows, have their own force.

The above is often illustrated by an analogy of opening a wellspring. There is a certain effort necessary to dig for it - in other words, to remove that which covers it and prevents it from pushing forth. But having removed this outer layer, the well-spring of living water begins to gush forth with all its tremendous potential inherent in it. The inference is clear, since every Jew is connected with that wellspring of living waters, the Divine Torah and mitzvos, and it is often only necessary to remove the outer layers that inhibit this wellspring from asserting itself.

At this time, with the approach of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the New Year, may it bring blessings to us all, I send you my prayerful wishes for a good and happy year, materially and spiritually.

With the traditional blessing of a Kesivo vaChassimo Tovo,

With blessing,