This letter was sent to the congregants and the gabba’im of the Nusach Ari synagogue in Chicago.

B”H, 25 Adar II, 5711,
Brooklyn

Greetings and blessings,

Your participation in the maos chittim1campaign was received [as conveyed] by the distinguished chassidic mentor, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Hecht. Enclosed is a receipt.

I would like to ask you to convey my thanks and blessings to the donors and the members of their households.

We are now between the holidays of Purim and Pesach which are both referred to as “redemptions” by our Sages.2 There is, however, a difference between them. The redemption of Purim caused the Jews to be saved from [Haman’s] decree, but they remained in exile.3 In contrast, the redemption of Pesach brought the Jews to a state of freedom. Therefore, Pesach is called “the Season of our Freedom.”

The beginning of the celebration of Pesach starts with the announcement: “Let all who are hungry come and eat; let all who are needy, come and celebrate Pesach.” In other words, even before we begin our own seder, we tell all those who are needy that we will give them everything they need. Afterwards, we proceed to the seder. This generates the merit for us to truly celebrate “the Season of our Freedom.” This is one of the effects generated by tzedakah in general and maos chittim in particular. We do more for ourselves by giving tzedakah or maos chittim than we do for the recipient of these funds.4 For by making these gifts, we merit to be freed from material and spiritual worries, and each one of us, individually, truly celebrates the Season of our Freedom. And — speedily in our days — we will all merit the collective Season of our Freedom when G‑d will take us all out of exile with Mashiach who will bring us the true and Ultimate Redemption.

With wishes for a kosher and happy Pesach and for all sorts of material and spiritual good,