By the Grace of G-dBrooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

You write that you find yourself in great personal emotional difficulties, and that you find no gratification in your work and do not know how to overcome this, etc.

Such emotional upsets are fully discussed in Chassidus, and even secular science has lately given much attention to what is called the subconscious. A person may not consciously be aware of his true spiritual state and what he lacks, having suppressed certain inner drives, so that all he is aware of is a feeling of frustration and unfulfillment.

I refer, of course, to the fact that the Jew always has an inner drive to express his Divine Soul. Those who are in a position of influence, have an inner urge to exercise this influence to the utmost possible degree, to bring their fellow-Jews closer to the tradition of their fathers and to the Jewish way of life, according to our Torah, the Law of Life. The fact that one becomes superficially absorbed in some activity which only resembles that of true Jewish education, or a religious activity which stresses the Jewish heart and rightly so, but neglects to vigorously stress the real essence of Judaism, the daily performance of the Mitzvoth, and then religion becomes a three-day affair, or a matter of Yahrzeit and Memorial Services, etc., such activities do not provide real gratification for the soul, and, hence the inner urge is not fulfilled.

No doubt you have heard the explanation of the Old Rebbe when he was asked by a gentile scholar, what is the meaning of “Where art thou?”¹ which G-d asked Adam; surely nothing is hidden from G-d. The Old Rebbe then replied that when Adam committed the sin, he experienced a Divine call, demanding “Where art thou? Do you realize what you have done and what you have been supposed to do?”

The question “Where art thou?” is always asked of every individual, especially the Jew who has been endowed with Divine soul. It calls for introspective self-searching, in order to find one’s self again.²

It is clear from the above that it is quite unjustified to think that you have permanently lost contact, etc. G-d does not demand the impossible, and having set forth a program and a goal, He has simultaneously given the full ability and capacity to fulfill them. It is only that he wants everyone to fulfill his purpose in life out of [their] own free choice, in spite of temptations and difficulties. If you will, therefore, realize that you have it in you to overcome them you will find yourself again and the contact that you are missing at present.

May G-d grant that you succeed.