This letter was sent to R. Efraim Wolf.

B”H, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Adar II, 5711,
Brooklyn

Greetings and blessings,

In response to your letters of the 22nd of Teves and the 7th and 16th of Shvat:

On the occasion of your son Eliyakim reaching the age of three, I am sending my blessing that you raise him together with your other children to Torah, marriage, and good deeds amidst prosperity. Enclosed is a letter from my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe,1 regarding the custom of cutting a child’s hair at the age of three (and not before).

May it be G‑d’s will that in the near future, you share good news about the good health of your wife, the health of your sons, and their success. For the older ones, this refers to their studies; for the younger ones, to their physical growth and [the expression of] their holy soul. As is well known, with regard to the entry of the holy soul [into the body], there are several stages that are dependent on [the child’s age].

These stages precede the levels that are dependent on a person’s Divine service, as evident from the statement of the elder2 [mentioned] in the Zohar (Vol. II, p. 94b), [Parshas] Mishpatim: “If one merits further, he is granted…. If he merits further, he is granted….”3

[The stages] are:

a) at the mitzvah of circumcision (for a girl, who is considered as if she has been circumcised — Avodah Zarah 27a — it is possible to say that this occurs at the naming; for a son is not given his name later than the time of his circumcision, although there are times when the name is given earlier, e.g., Rachel’s naming of Benyamin4 and the naming of the son of the daughter-in-law of Eli, the priest);5

b) when they reach the age when they are trained to observe mitzvos;

c) when they become obligated in the observance of the mitzvos (see the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, Mahadura Basra, the conclusion of sec. 4);6

d) at one’s twentieth year (see the maamar entitled MiBen Esrim, Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar, [p. 2a]);7 i.e., when one is 19 years and 30 days old or when one is 20 years minus 30 days old (this is dependent on the two opinions [regarding the reckoning of age] mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 155:12; see also the Kuntres Acharon to the beginning of ch. 1 of the Alter Rebbe’s Hilchos Talmud Torah).

Thus as a child advances in age, he also draws closer to a higher stage in the entry of the holy soul.

In reply to your question: Since you are working in Lod and are successful there, it is appropriate that the members of your household also move there [so that] everyone will be together….

With regard to your question concerning the study of Chassidus with Sephardic Jews (adults and youth):

In the yeshivos and the schools of Oholei Yosef Yitzchak-Lubavitch that we have opened in Morocco, the students study Tanya, Likkutei Torah, and the kuntreisim.8 It is apparent that [the efforts] are successful and that [this study] has infused a spirit of vitality into their Torah study and observance of the mitzvos. Similarly, the chassidic mentor R. Shmuel Levitin relates that in that era, he asked the Rebbe Rashab about this matter with regard to [the Jews in the country of] Georgia.9 He told him that they should study [Chassidus]. They did and there are already students of students from that study.

If that was true at that time, it is more powerfully true now when we have moved several decades closer to the coming of Mashiach. In actual practice, we saw that my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, encouraged great and manifold efforts in the spreading of the wellsprings of Chassidus in a variety of different ways among all the circles that could be reached.

May it be that “the knowledge of G‑d will increase”10 and the master (Mashiach) will come to reveal the inner motivating principles11 of the Torah, and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G‑d.”12

With blessings for success in your holy work and great success in your personal affairs in both material and spiritual matters. Greetings to all the members of our fellowship,

Cutting the boy’s hair at that time — an opsherenish — is an important Jewish custom whose main aim is to educate the child to leave his peyos [uncut]. From the time of his [first] haircut, when the peyos are left uncut, the custom is to make a point of training the child to wear a tallis katan, and to recite the Morning Blessings, the Grace after Meals, and the Prayerbefore Retiring at Night. May G‑d assist you in raising [your child and enabling him to] reach Torah, marriage, and good deeds amidst abundant sustenance and peace of mind in both material and spiritual matters.13