By the Grace of G-d Third Day, Parshas Bo,1 Rosh Chodesh2 Shevat,3 5741 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

On this third day of the week, “the day twice blessed with good,”⁴ of the Sedrah highlighted by “But for all the children of Israel there was light in their dwellings,”⁵ “in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month,”⁶ of the Year of Hakhel—“Assemble the people, the men, and the women, and the children (including the very young)⁷...that they shall keep and do all the words of this Torah,”⁸

And in keeping with the well-known teaching of the Baal Shem Tov⁹ that whatever a person sees or hears contains instruction in the service of G-d,

I call attention to the instructions contained in each of the above mentioned aspects of this day for every Jew, man and woman, in the service of the Creator, blessed be He; for this Divine service is the purpose and meaning of the Jew’s life on earth, in accordance with the clearly formulated Halachah in the Shulchan Aruch:¹⁰ “Let all your actions be for the sake of Heaven,” and “Know Him in all your ways,” namely:

In the eleventh month, on the first day of the month—recalls the day, as stated in the Torah, Toras Chayim (“instruction in living”), when “Moshe began to expound this Torah”¹¹—

And true recollection means that it becomes an experience that moves to action, which is the essential thing; in this case—to activate the spark of Moshe Rabbeinu that animates every Jewish soul,¹² so that it begins to vivify it with a new and clear light of this Torah—the Torah which Moshe received from Sinai, and will not be changed,¹³ for it is eternal¹⁴ in all its details—Shleimus HaTorah (Wholeness of Torah),

Expounding it in a manner of “twice good”—“Good to Heaven and Good to the Creatures”¹⁵ to every Jew within reach, even those that are on the level of “creatures” for lack of higher qualities, in keeping with the imperative, “Love your fellow as yourself"¹⁶ until they, too, become actively involved in Torah and Mitzvos;

Thus, in fact, “assembling” all of them into one kohol¹⁷ to carry out all the words of this Torah—the men, women, and children—Shleimus ho'Om (Wholeness of the People).

And though “darkness covers the earth,”¹⁸ the darkness of Golus-night—we have the assurance that just as during the first Golus (in Egypt), when even before the hour of the Geulo came, “there was light for all the children of Israel in their dwellings,” so also now, in the very final stage of the present Golus, Jews enjoy light, in the study of Torah, Torah Or, and the observance of its Mitzvos, Ner Mitzvah,¹⁹

Particularly in our Holy Land, with the additional Mitzvos pertaining to it—

“The land in which (בה) G-d’s Eyes are always watchful, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year”;²⁰

בה—In all of which—in all our Land according to its borders that were permanently established by G-d, our G-d, as the eternal heritage of our eternal people—Shleimus ho'Oretz (Wholeness of the Land).

And since, as noted, the essential thing is action, it calls for an additional effort in the study of Torah (both Nigleh and Chassidus) and the fulfillment of its Mitzvos with Hiddur, on the part of everyone of our people, the men, women, and children, to realize the Divine promise, “I will dwell in their midst²¹—within every one of us.

In all this the Almighty helps²² everyone of us—“we Your people and the flock of Your pasture,”²³ and His help is wondrous, great, and abundant, as explained in the discourse “Bosi l’Gani, 5710,” published by my father-in-law of saintly memory to be studied and disseminated, especially on the Tenth of Shevat.²⁴

With esteem and blessing for Hatzlocho in all above, and for a good and blessed month in all respects,²⁵

/Signed: Menachem Schneerson/