By the Grace of G-d 14th of Iyar, 5737 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Blessing and Greeting:

Your letter reached me with some delay. As requested, I will remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart’s desires for good.

I can give you a comprehensive reply to a number of your questions. It is that when a special Divine blessing is needed, it is necessary to keep open and widen the channel to receive it, which for a Jew, means to conduct the daily life in accordance with G-d’s Will as set forth in His Torah.

Included in G-d’s blessing is also the ability to find the proper solution to questions and problems which cannot be resolved by others, but by the person himself or herself.

A further general point is this. Every day begins a “new lease” on life and every person has been given the capacity to begin a new life. Therefore, regardless of how it was yesterday or a minute before, it is possible to accomplish it if there is a strong will to do it, though one may find it easier or more difficult than another; but it is always possible.

Since G-d has not endowed everybody with the ability to foresee the future, it is clear that this is not a prerequisite for ordering one’s daily life as it should be. This way of life includes also real trust in G-d and the firm belief that He is not an abstract concept, aloof and removed from the world, G-d forbid, but a personal G-d, Whose benevolent Providence extends to each and everyone individually and in all details.

You mention that there are Jews who are not the “type” to be orthodox and observant. With all due respect, this is not so. To be sure every person has been given free choice to think speak and act, but no one has the choice or ability to change one’s essence. The essence of a Jew is his or her Jewishness; this is the Jewish “type,” to use your expression and the only type. Except that, as mentioned above, one may find it easier or more difficult to act his type, which may be due to a variety of reasons, such as background, upbringing, environment, etc. However, when one faces more difficult tests, this in itself is proof that he or she has been given extra powers to overcome the difficulties and the greater the pity to let them go to waste.

Herein is the answer to your remark that extreme orthodoxy does not fit in with your style, etc. A Jew does not have to undergo a transformation to become fully observant, for it is only a matter of returning to his essence and real self. To put it another way, all that is necessary is to remove the external “dust” and accretions that have clung to the soul and then the soul reveals itself in its true essence which is the Jewishness in every Jew. This is quite certain — and I use the term advisedly — since it is based on the teachings of our Torah, Toras Emes and it has been demonstrated throughout the ages. I personally know of many individuals in similar situations and even more complex, who were able to make this return to a life of Torah and mitzvos as an everyday experience, and have since found true harmony and inner peace, fulfillment and happiness. This has a direct bearing on what you write about your state of health, anxieties, etc.

Much more could be said on the subject, but if you need further enlightenment, I am sure a Rov in your vicinity will be glad to enlighten you, though I think that what has been said above should suffice.

May G-d grant that you should have good news to report in all above.

With blessing,