The name of the person to whom this letter was sent was not released.

B”H, 24 Nissan, 5711,
Brooklyn

Greetings and blessings,

…This is the wording of the greetings that I asked your son to convey to you:

L’chayim. May your father become an overt chassid. He is a covert chassid already. Thank G‑d, he has children who are chassidim. When, however, he is an overt chassid, he will be able to help his children become overt chassidim.

The meaning of the matter is as follows: Knowing my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, זצוקללה"ה, נבג"ם, זי"ע, you certainly realize that he was a tzaddik and the words and the activities of a tzaddik are true and everlasting. Obviously, there is nothing in them that will come to naught.

Several times, I heard my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, speak about you and your wife and the extent of the energy he devoted to you and your wife directly, through speaking to you, and indirectly, in his own ways, by reciting a kapitl Tehillim, etc. I also heard from my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, about the hopes he had for your children. We see with our physical eyes how, slowly, they are fulfilling [these hopes] more and more.

On this basis — that the actions of a tzaddik, and particularly, of a Rebbe, will not come to naught — I am certain that all the good things that my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, wanted to see in you will certainly come out in actual fact. [Indeed,] I am certain that everything — 100% [of what he desired] — will be fulfilled in a revealed manner.

It is obvious that we are not speaking [merely] of the observance of the mitzvos in a simple sense. You and your household have always maintained that. Here, by contrast, we are speaking about matters that extend beyond the measure of the law. In this there are no limits, no matter how much a created being has achieved, he can always advance further.

Nevertheless, “a jailed person cannot free himself from prison.”1 It is necessary to have the assistance of another person. As the Mitteler Rebbe (the Alter Rebbe’s son) said:2 “It is then two G‑dly souls against one animal soul.” This is particularly true when one is being given assistance from someone like my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, who possesses much personal merit in addition to the merit of his holy ancestors.

This is the explanation of what I meant with the words: “He is a covert chassid already. May he become an overt chassid,” that he should conduct himself beyond the measure of the law3 without reservations. My revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, endowed you with the potential for this — and as I wrote above — not only with the words he spoke to you face to face, but also [in his actions] when alone in his room, by saying a kapitl of Tehillim. In a revealed sense, however, you did not make full use [of these blessings], because it is impossible to use a tzaddik’s blessings to their fullest.

Therefore I wished you that the blessings with which my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, blessed you, in person and outside of your presence, will be fulfilled in the fullest sense.

The greatest blessing for any person and, in particular, for a Jew, is to receive satisfaction from his children, as [implied by] our Sages’ statement:4 “A person will be jealous of everyone except his children.” I explicitly highlighted and explained that the blessing from my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, will be fulfilled for you and that your children will openly be chassidim.

B

The reason I conveyed the blessing via your son at the time of a farbrengen is that it is stated in holy texts that when a Jew gives a blessing and there are ten Jews who respond Amen, the blessing is considered as having been given by many people, moreover, a group of many people concerning whom it is said (Sanhedrin 39a): “On any gathering of ten, the Divine presence rests.” It is particularly true [in this instance] since there were many times ten [at that gathering]. And it was held during the time of a Shabbos and festival meal, which is a feast associated with a mitzvah. And more particularly, it was being held in a holy place: in a synagogue and a house of study. [Therefore,] I did not want to let the opportunity pass. Seeing that it was in the presence of and among good friends who were inspired [at that moment], I used the opportunity so that [the blessing] would receive the endorsement of all those Jews present, as they were in a Shabbosdik and festive mood and at the time of Shelosh Seudos5which is a time of “the will of wills” (as we say in the Shabbos zemiros whose source is in the holy Zohar). [The intent was that] they should all agree that the blessings that my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, gave should be fulfilled in a complete sense.

One of the fundamental thrusts of [this blessing] to be chassidim is to conduct oneself beyond the measure of the law, to perform a favor for one’s fellow man, even if doing so harms one, as Tosafos interprets the term chassid (Niddah 17a; see also Shabbos 120a)….

With good wishes to all the members of your household and with blessing,