... It pained me to read in your letter that the opportunity has not yet presented itself to travel to purchase a
sheitel. I am astonished that you are delaying the matter for so long.
Particularly so, as you are aware of that which is explained in Chassidus in many places, and it is understood with one’s rational intellect as well, that with each and every moment one is able to acquire an "entire world," or G-d forbid the opposite, [i.e., to lose an "entire world."]
This being so, with every passing moment that you do not accomplish the above, [i.e., purchasing a sheitel,] you are missing an opportunity to "build a world," that is to say, to draw down [through the purchase and the wearing of a sheitel] an additional measure of holiness throughout all the worlds -- as is to be understood from chapter 12 of the Alter Rebbe’s Iggeres HaTeshuvah. And to think that all this has not been done simply out of negligence!
However, "One does not remonstrate about the past"; merely [to alert you] that now you are to hasten and accomplish this task as soon as possible. This is also why I am sending this letter "Special Delivery."
You surely know that Machne Yisrael maintains a special loan fund for matters such as these, with ample time provided for easy repayment of the loan. If this [i.e., lack of funds,] was the reason that the matter was held up until now, then it is regrettable that you did not reveal this, for then the matter would already have long been taken care of.
In any event, you should hasten to take care of this matter now. ...
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. VI, p. 327)
It pleased me to receive regards from you, as well as the good news that from this day and onward you are wearing a
sheitel.
May G-d help you through fulfilling His promise (Zohar III, p. 126a) [that proper head covering results in] "being blessed with spiritual and material blessings, with wealth, children and children’s children." ...
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. VIII, p. 304)
It delighted me to receive your (undated) letter, in which you inform me that your wife
tichye has agreed to wear a
sheitel. May G-d will it that she do so with heartfelt joy.
May she speedily verily observe added measures of blessings and success in all aspects of her life, both communal as well as private, in good health and ample sustenance, for you and the entire family. ...
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. VI, p. 28)
... It pleased me to read that you have received a position in .... Surely this will positively affect the attitudes towards you and your wife within all the groups of Jews who live there. Ultimately, you will receive material sustenance as well, and with the passage of time -- ample sustenance.
(Although if you would have listened to me with regard to growing a beard (in accordance with that which is explained in Pirush HaMilos of the Tzemach Tzedek, on the verse "V’Hu Rachum," ch. 4, (printed as well in Tehillim Yahel Or, Kehot Edition) and your wife [would have listened to me] with regard to wearing a sheitel (in accordance with that which is explained in Zohar III, p. 126a), a tangible improvement in your material state would already have been palpably observed. But what more can I possibly do about these two things aside from speaking to you about them?) ....
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. X, p. 311)
As a follow up to your visit here with your husband and children
shlita, at which time he expressed that the "known matter" [i.e., your wearing a
sheitel,] was fraught with difficulties -- this, it seems, being the explanation as to why it had yet to take place:
However, there is the known promise made by our Sages in their Mishnah,[2] "The reward is commensurate with the difficulties." Particularly so, that when one thinks through the matter, one comes to the realization that the difficulties are more imagined than real.
Most importantly [these difficulties dissipate] upon apprehending the degree of reward [for wearing a sheitel.] In the words of the sacred Zohar (III, p. 126a) [with regard to proper hair covering]: "If she does so, her children will be superior to other children of the nation; her husband will be blessed with spiritual and material blessings, with wealth, children and children’s children."
All the above is in addition to the reward you receive -- reward for the matter itself [of wearing a sheitel,] as well as the reward for having drawn down a bountiful flow of blessings upon the entire family.
Blessed and A-mighty G-d will surely fulfill His above promise, and you and your husband sheyichyu will merit to raise your children sheyichyu to Torah, Chupah and Ma’asim Tovim, with truly ample material and spiritual sustenance.
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. XVI, p. 209)
I was astounded to read in your letter to ...
sheyichye that you feel that I harbor -- G-d forbid -- a [feeling of]
kpeidah (a feeling of severity, sternness and harshness) toward you. It is self-understood that this is entirely baseless. And as I have already written to some individuals, that I see no useful purpose served by a
kpeidah.
It is possible that at times I am pained by inappropriate conduct, or by the fact that proper utilization is not made of the blessings and success that G-d grants, and my heart hurts at the fact that matters could be better than they are, and merely because of trivialities one does not utilize G-d’s blessings.
... The aspect about which I am referring to [and about which I am pained.] is something which I believe I have already written to you about, i.e., that your wife should wear a sheitel. And as I think I have already hinted to you previously that matters are not changed, and surely they are not rectified, by ignoring the issue -- and before G-d all matters hidden are revealed.
The pain associated with the above is understandable, in light of the statement of the holy Zohar III, p. 126a (cited as well in the later commentaries on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim):
"A woman must cover her hair [even] in the corners [i.e., the concealed places] of her home." (From which we understand how much more so is she to cover her hair when she is outside her home.) "When she does so, her children will be superior ... her husband will be blessed with spiritual and material blessings, with wealth, children and children’s children." Examine this text well.
I wish to emphasize once again that there is not even a scintilla of an aspect of kpeidah on my part, only a feeling of regret and pain. This feeling becomes even stronger when thinking about the so-called "self-sacrifice" necessary for conducting oneself in the proper manner and weighing it against the loss incurred [by failing to do so].
Particularly so, when bearing in mind the location in which you find yourselves, and how such good conduct could influence many Jewish families that they begin following your example and go on from strength to strength.
May G-d will it that at last each of us should see how G-d provides us with blessings and success materially and spiritually, and make all the necessary receptacles to receive and utilize these blessings to the greatest extent possible. ...
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. XVII, p. 288)
Notes:
- (Back to text) Avos 5:21.
Chapter II -- The Sheitel -- A Fundament of the Jewish and Chassidic Home