By the Grace of G-d Erev Shevuoth, 5719 Brooklyn, N. Y.

Blessing and Greeting:

After the long interval, I was pleased to receive your letter of June 10th, in which you write about your trip to California and Mexico.

Inasmuch as you do not refer to the matter of health, I assume that this is in order, though I should, naturally, be glad to hear it from you explicitly.

I was particularly gratified to read in your letter that there is now in you the "certainty of trust that the basic things are firm and lasting." I assume that, on the basis of our conversation, we are both in agreement as to what is meant by "truth" and permanency, which are intimately connected with our Torah, given to us by the Creator in the presence of all our people. Thus the Torah is true and everlasting and we, the Jewish people, by virtue of the Torah, have acquired these aspects, as has been amply demonstrated throughout our long history.

At¹ this time before Shevuoth, I send you my wishes for a happy Shevuoth, and, to quote my father-in-law of saintly memory, "Receiving the Torah with joy and inwardness." Needless to say, the text of a blessing which has become traditional in Chabad, is meaningful. The significance of the blessing quoted above lies in the fact that the Torah entails two essential aspects:

a. The inward experience of the Torah and Mitzvoth, so as not to permit them to degenerate into an uninspiring habitual routine, and,

b. Joy, that is to say, one’s study and practice of the Torah and Mitzvoth should permeate one’s inner being to such an extent as to realize that, far from their being any sort of a burden or duty, or a means of getting reward or avoiding punishment, they are good in themselves and a source of true inner happiness.

With blessing,

M. Schneerson