By the Grace of G-d 14 Menachem Av 5711 Brooklyn, N.Y.
Tsevi Menachem Greenbaum
Exercise Southern Pine
Fort Bragg N. Car.
Greeting and Blessing:
I have received your telegram in which you inform me of your address, and also mention that you feel a little weak. I hope you will write me more fully about your state of health.
It would interest me to know about the position of Yiddishkeit in your new surroundings, whether you have a chaplain, etc. etc.
What is happening about the food packages that you used to receive from Eli Gross now that he is not in the city.
Next Shabbos is Shabbos Nachamu (see enclosed booklet, published by Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch),1 when we read the Haphtorah from the Prophet Isaiah beginning with Nachamu, Nachamu (Comfort ye, comfort ye). The repetition, our Sages say, indicates a double consolation. So it is in the case of the individual who suffers discomfort or pain, G-d eventually comforts him and recompenses him doubly, twice as much as the individual thinks his due. The essential thing about this comfort is that the sufferer himself begins to understand and grasp more fully why he had suffered and what purpose his suffering had served in benefiting him and benefitting his environment and all the Jewish people, since all Jews are united into one organism.
Looking forward to hearing from you good news,
Cordially,
Notes and sources
For additional letters to Tsvi Menachem (Harry) Greenbaum see letters dated: 2 Adar I, 5711; 26 Adar II, 5711; 21 Cheshvan, 5712; 15 Shevat, 5712.
For Mr. Greenbaum's interview describing his correspondence with the Rebbe, see here.
1) The Three Weeks - בין המצרים, published by Merkos L'inyonei Chinuch in 5704 as part of their "Holiday Series," a small pamphlet that contains information relating to the period of the Three Weeks in the Jewish calendar, including historical background to the events of these days, laws and customs, stories of the two Temples, inspirational messages regarding the Temples and their destruction, and special prayers that are recited during the fasts of Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av.
Source: Photocopy of Original.
Published: Myencounterblog.com.
SA