By the Grace of G-d 15th of Av, 5745 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Shalom u’Brocho:

Your letter reached me with considerable delay. Thus, by hashgocho protis, your letter, dated on the day of the Chag haGeula of my father-in-law the Rebbe, of saintly memory, is fittingly acknowledged on the auspicious day of the 15th of Av. Both these dates are connected with the dissemination of Torah. It was the cause of the arrest and eventual liberation of my saintly father-in-law under the Stalin regime (1927); while increased Torah study is the main feature of the 15th of Av, as explained at some length at the end of Mesachta Taanis.

This brings me to the paragraph in your letter wherein you refer to “very modest acts”¹ on your part in the field of Torah education. I must challenge this self-assessment on the ground that the record speaks for itself. Moreover, in wide segments of Jewry, especially among American Jews, the impact of your “modest acts” strikes deeper and wider than similar acts of a Rabbi or Rebbe (myself included) could attain, for obvious reasons.

Incidentally, it is well to remember an admonition by my father-in-law to the effect that a person should not underestimate one’s achievements, since only then will one generate the inner incentive and drive to achieve the fullest utilization of one’s total capacities.

For the sake of a mutual consensus, I am prepared to accept your claim of “very modest acts” - in a relative sense, in terms of your potential and future acts, which will dwarf your past accomplishments by comparison. Indeed, this is a natural human aspiration, as our Sages assure us in the well-known adage: “Whoever has 100 desires 200; and, (attaining) 200 (will not be satisfied with the increment of another 100, but desires double) - 400. And so forth in geometric-progression.

Me’inyan I’inyan. Some time ago I noticed in the JTA Bulletin an item about another “modest act” of yours, namely your involvement in a project to publish the Chumash in Braille. I do not have it on hand, so I am relying on memory. Needless to say, it’s a great zechus.

In light of the famous teaching of the Baal Shem Tov that anything that comes to the eyes or ears of an individual contains some personal message to the beholder or listener, I take the liberty - though I do not usually take such liberties - of volunteering a suggestion. I feel certain that whether you take it or leave it, you will surely accept it in the proper spirit.

My suggestion - that is all it is - is that you consider including in the said project the publication in Braille of the section of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch in English that deals with the month of Tishrei, with the preparations for it in the latter part of Elul. The need for it requires no elaboration to you, and if it is to be implemented without undue delay, there is time, I believe to have it done in good time before Rosh Hashanah, הבע״ל.

Should this suggestion be approved and acted upon, then - in keeping with Ps. 119:63 - I would like to participate in it with a financial contribution which I leave to your assessment, since I am not familiar with the actual costs involved in the publication and distribution of such an item in Braille. I will look forward to your response on this matter.

To conclude on the auspicious note of the 15th of Av, may Hashem grant the fulfillment, for you and all of us in the midst of Klal Yisrael, of the assurance of our Sages z”l, כל המוסיף מוסיפין לי’ כו, רש״י ד״ה מכאן ואילך: יוסיף חיים על חייו (סוף מס' תענית).

With esteem and blessing,