By the Grace of G‑d
3rd of Tammuz, 5722 [July 5, 1962]
Brooklyn, N. Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

I received your letter in which you ask for advice on two points. Firstly, that it seems to you that you cannot concentrate during prayer as well as you used to, and that you seem to experience a greater affinity for Nigleh [Talmudic study] than Chasidus [the study of Chassidism].

With regard to the first, it is surely unnecessary to emphasize to you at length that it is one of the well-tried tricks of the Ye[t]zer [evil inclination] to discourage and distract; in other words, it is an external thing, if it has any reality at all. It should therefore be recognized for what it is – a test and a challenge to be overcome by the very fact of being recognized as such.

There is an additional explanation in your case, having recently come into the Holy Land. It is expected of a Jew that his avoidas haShem [serving of G‑d] would be on a higher level than before when he sets foot on the sacred soil. If, however, he remains on the same level, then, even though it is hard to see it rationally, there is an inner feeling of dissatisfaction. But, be it as it may, there should be no place for discouragement, but a determination to advance in all matters of holiness, especially in the Holy Land.

As for your experiencing a greater affinity for Nigleh than Chasidus, this should be made use of not, G‑d forbid, to reduce the study of Chasidus, but to increase the study of Nigleh, and since one Mitzvah leads to another, it will surely bring also to an increase in Chasidus.

With blessing

By [signed by the Rebbe's secretary]