By the Grace of G-d 9 Adar, 5743 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

In addition to the gratifying reports and regards I have been receiving through our esteemed mutual friend Rabbi Shlomo Kunin, I was particularly pleased to receive your short personal note on the success of the Chabad Telethon.

In view of the nature of such undertakings, which bear fruits long afterwards, I am confident that your assessment of its success and expectations is fully justified.

May G-d grant that it should indeed be a case of יגעת ומצאת - "make the effort, and you will succeed" (literally, "will find it"). This is a typical maxim of our Sages, who usually express profound ideas and principles in but several well-chosen words. By using the word umotzoso, denoting an unexpected "find” (rather than a word denoting "success"), our Sages tell us that when the proper and persistent effort is made, the results will be satisfactory not just in a fitly proportioned measure, commensurable with the effort, but rather incomparably more so, as in the case of a person unexpectedly finding and picking up a precious thing.

For various reasons, this letter had been delayed until today, which happens to be the auspicious day of the 9th of Adar, the day my father-in-law the Rebbe of saintly memory stepped ashore in the U.S.A, (in 1940). This marked the beginning of the last decade of his life on earth, which he was destined to spend in this country, in order (as he declared thereupon) to change the whole panorama of Jewish life in the so-called New World. The first step in this direction was his declaration, immediately upon disembarkation, that "America is nit andersh (not different)", meaning that the New World was neither "new” nor any different from the "Old" - in so far as Yiddishkeit is concerned; there is no need, nor any real excuse, to make any concession in regard to any aspect of the Jewish way of life that our parents and forebears upheld so tenaciously for thousands of years back home in the "Old World." Indeed, in many respects it is vastly easier to follow the Torah way in this Land of Opportunity - opportunity not only in terms of material prosperity, but also and more importantly in the realm of the spirit. And applying the principle of yogato umotzoso, the newly found resources and opportunities can be utilized and realized to the fullest capacity.

As I am told that you are a practical and successful business executive, there is no need to elaborate on the above. I will therefore conclude - in the vein of the beginning of this letter - with the prayerful wish that you should see the fulfilment of yogato umotzoso in your partnership with Chabad to spread the light of Torah and Mtzvos, realizing your fullest potential also as a moving spirit to bring into this partnership all those who are waiting to be inspired by you - not merely as "sleeping partners" but as very active and personally involved partners like your good self.

Wishing you and yours a joyous and inspiring Purim, with much Hatzlocho in all above, and

With esteem and blessing,