By the Grace of G-d 4th of Tammuz, 5741 Brooklyn, N. Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

I am in receipt of your (undated) letter.¹ Many thanks for sharing with me your impressions of your visit in Crown Heights. In accordance with the teaching of our Sages that “action is the essential thing,” I trust that you are translating these good impressions and the inspiration of your experience in Crown Heights, into actual deeds, in terms of Torah and Mitzvoth in the everyday life.

With regard to the question of “Shirayim,” it is surprising that you apparently are unaware that this is not a custom of Chabad which developed in Lithuania, though it is a prevalent custom among different trends of Polish and Galician Jewry.

Needless to say, inasmuch as it is a custom among various traditional movements, it has a solid foundation, but has nothing to do with any such idea, G-d forbid, that you mention in your letter. The origin of Shirayim is based in the Talmud (Jerusalem Moed Koton²), where it is related that Rabbi Yochanan, one of the great luminaries of his time, sought to eat shirayim of a Seudas Mitzvah. And, of course, when Jews gather together for a sacred purpose, whether it be on Shabbos and Yom Tov or on a weekday, when words of Torah are spoken and words of inspiration stimulate better and stronger observance of the Mitzvoth, the conditions are there to make it a Seudas Mitzvah. But, as mentioned, Chabad does not practice the custom of Shirayim, though some individuals present would like to follow the example of the above mentioned Sage. At any rate, this is not the place to go into this matter more fully.

Apropos of the subject matter, I trust that you know that we are approaching the auspicious anniversary of the Geulo of my father-in-law of saintly memory, on the 12th-13th of Tammuz. No doubt you are familiar with the history of his imprisonment and vindication, and the practical lessons we can derive from it, each one in his own circumstances. The basic point is that a Jew has no right to think only of himself and his own spiritual perfection, but must do everything possible to spread and strengthen Yiddishkeit in his surroundings to the fullest extent of his ability and influence. And if this was done under circumstances of grave peril to one’s life in that country and in those days, how much more should a Jew do under circumstances of freedom and ease, where no real self sacrifice is required, but only the will and determination to act in accordance with the great principle in our Torah, “V’Ohavto L'Reacho Komocho".

With the traditional blessing of the Chag Hageulah,

M. Schneerson