By the Grace of G-d13th of Kislev, 5725Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mrs. . . .
Far Rockaway, 91 N.Y.
Blessing and Greeting:
I am in receipt of your letter with the enclosure. If you will let me know your Hebrew name and your mother’s Hebrew name — as is customary in such a case — I will remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart’s desires for good.
It is surprising that, judging by your letter, the physician who prescribed the pills for you has not forewarned you that one cannot foresee any side-effects or aftereffects in the case of new drugs.1 It is not at all astonishing that there should be some aftereffects. Needless to say, this observation is made not just to express an opinion about a bygone thing, or purely from the medical viewpoint, but rather with a view to the future.
I assume of course that the pills were taken in a way that was permissible by the Torah and did not infringe the strict line of the din. However, there is no need to emphasize that the general idea of birth control is not in the spirit of the Torah.2
At any rate, as above, what I have in mind is your attitude in the future.
I must also make the following observation, which I trust you will accept in the spirit that it is made. A case of the kind you describe sometimes happens as a result of a deficiency in the necessary 100% observance of the laws and regulations of taharas hamishpocho. You would do well to check whether there has been any negligence, however unwittingly.
May G-d grant that you should have good news to report about all the above and that the zechus of your tzedoko should stand you and yours in good stead. Especially as we are now in the auspicious month of Kislev, the month of deliverance and miracles.
With blessing,
By (secretary)
Notes and sources
1) See also letter dated 14 Nissan, 5721.
2) For a more comprehensive view on the subject of family planning see the Rebbe's message in this regard (from the Sicha of 17 Sivan, 5740); Likkutei Sichos, vol. 25, pp. 35-37; A Partner in the Dynamic of Creation: Womanhood in the Teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson (SIE, 1994), pp. 45-55. See also the Rebbe's letters dealing with this subject.
Published: The Letter and the Spirit, vol 6 (Nissan Mindel Publications, 2023), p. 33.
Note: Letters printed in "The Letter and the Spirit" are from the Archives of Rabbi Nissan Mindel A"H, the Rebbe's personal secretary entrusted with writing up the Rebbe's orally dictated responses. The “Nissan Mindel Archives” are comprised of secretarial copies, including first drafts, and may have subsequently been published with editorial changes. Therefore the letters as they appear in the book may not be the final signed version.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_DoIooxnpeZ6AuyAKmdZIpxqZywK_f6F/view?usp=drive_link