This letter was addressed to R. David Nosson Lesser.

B”H, 8 Shvat, 5711,
Brooklyn

Greetings and blessings,

I was shocked to read your letter [describing] the fire that occurred in your apartment. Since I do not know if you have the sefer Derech Mitzvosecha ([see] the bottom of p. 228), I am copying a letter of the Tzemach Tzedek which he wrote concerning such a matter:

A copy of my revered grandfather’s1 writing:

I heard [the following explanation] from [sages] of the highest levels of holiness concerning the popular adage: “After a fire one becomes wealthy.” The progression of the sublime holy attributes follows the order: Chessed (kindness), Din (judgment), and Rachamim (mercy). Therefore, after [the manifestation of] the attribute of judgment through fire, the attribute of mercy is aroused; [the attribute of mercy] which surpasses the attribute of kindness that was revealed previously. [Mercy] is the attribute of Yaakov, “an unbounded inheritance,”2 extending from one end to the other.

This concludes his golden wording.

See also the text Meah Shearim, Igros Kodesh of the Mitteler Rebbe, Epistle 73 and [Igros Kodesh of the Tzemach Tzedek], Epistle 5.4

May it be G‑d’s will that this ruling of the Alter Rebbe, [based on the words of sages] of the highest levels of holiness, and that of the Mitteler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek, become manifest in a comprehensive manner and you will be able to share good tidings about this.

With blessing,

Menachem Schneerson

Enclosed is one letter (which you lent me on the condition that it be returned). The others will be returned, without committing myself with a vow, after they have been copied.