A request for a response from a chassid

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Blessings for a chassid; yearning for Mashiach

No. 355

This letter was addressed to R. Shlomo Chayim Kesselman, at that time one of the leading chassidim among the refugees in France.

B"H, 13 Nissan, 5708

Greetings and blessings,

I acknowledge receipt of your letter from 23 Adar II. In response to it:

1. the series of discourses beginning from Rosh HaShanah of this year concludes with the maamar published for Parshas Noach.

2. I sent you [the text] HaYom Yom as you requested. Since this is an exception, at the very least, you will certainly allow others to gain merit by making it available to them.

3. [Any funds that] are in your possession for printed material or for the Torah scroll [to greet Mashiach] should be given to the office of R. Benyamin Gorodetzky. They will inform us and we will receive payment [from them]. After the Pesach holiday, the committee for the Torah scroll will inform [the purchasers] which letters were chosen for them.

4. Enclosed is the kuntreis for Pesach that was just published. Certainly you will allow others to gain merit by making it available to them.

When I was studying it and looking for an explanation of the statement:[348] "When the sitra achra is subdued, the glory of G-d is diffused [throughout all the worlds]," I found the explanation in Torah Or as mentioned in note 47.[349] It occurred to me that this can possibly be used to explain the custom of the scribes who would copy the maamarim of Chassidus and conclude with the term salik.[350] [By doing so,] they alluded to the idea that with the conclusion of the maamar, i.e., the concepts that [can be grasped] through understanding and comprehension, the light that was drawn down was diffused. [This refers to] the light that was encompassing and surrounding, and thus uplifted and lofty. [It parallels] the concrete appreciation of the truth stemming from the attribute of Chochmah that follows understanding. [In terms of our Divine service,] this refers to the service of kabbalas ol, the acceptance of G-d's yoke, that follows Divine service based on intellect. It is possible to elaborate on all of the above.

With wishes for a happy and kosher Pesach holiday for everyone.

Rabbi Menachem Schneerson

Several copies of the study schedule [for Tanya] were sent to you with the intent that you give one to [the inhabitants of] each of the buildings where members of the chassidic brotherhood [live]. With thanks for [taking] the trouble.

   

Notes:

348. (Back to text) [See Zohar II, 128b.]

349. (Back to text) [Sefer HaMaamarim 5708, p. 167, cites Torah Or, the conclusion of Parshas Vayakhel, among other sources. There (p. 89d), the Alter Rebbe explains that although the term used by the Zohar, istalek, usually refers to an ascent and a withdrawal, in this instance, it refers to a diffusion and revelation of light. The intent is, however, that the light which is revealed is truly transcendent and cannot be assimilated and settled within the worlds.]

350. (Back to text) [Which shares the same root as the term istalek.]

A request for a response from a chassid

Table of contents

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Blessings for a chassid; yearning for Mashiach