B.H.
3rd of Menachem Av 5726
Brooklyn, N.Y.
[July 20, 1966]

Sholom uBrocho:

I am in receipt of your letter [of] July 14th and the preceding two. May G‑d grant that, although you have written in a mood which echoes the Three Weeks, there should soon be a reversal of these days to joy and gladness, and likewise in your personal affairs, and that you should be able to report good and happy tidings.

All the more so, since, as I hope, you have taken with you from 12-13 Tammuz a goodly measure of additional inspiration for Torah and Mitzvoth, together with which goes a goodly measure of additional Divine blessings in all matters, including business – private and communal – to carry on a serene and happy frame of mind.

With blessing,

M. Schneerson

P.S. I was greatly “surprised” to read what your bank manager has said. I can only reiterate what I have already told you, that you ought transfer your custom to another bank, either completely or to a substantial degree at any rate. To use a common expression, the manager has certainly “fixed you up” nicely, to have you shell out thousands of pounds in interest and now putting the squeeze on you. No doubt there was nothing “irregular” about the interest rates, but there are two ways of evaluating the function of a bank: a narrow one, looking at a bank as if it were only concerned with collecting interest from customers; or, taking a broader view, considering its wider responsibilities for the general economy and for its customers, and using its fullest resources to help its customers go from strength to strength in developing their potentials, which, in the final analysis, is also for the benefit of the bank itself. It is clear to me that your bank manager’s outlook is limited to the “next 24 hours”, which is more in keeping with the viewpoint of a tax collector that with that of bank manager in the best tradition. I was suspicious of this from the first day of your difficulty to pay the loans on time, for which I did not blame you but your bank, a conviction which grew stronger as time went on. And now that he holds it against you that you have opened the shops, there is not a shadow of a doubt left in my mind that your bank manager may be a good interest collector, but lacks real business acumen. In my opinion, the shops are not merely a good investment, but a very important one.

With regard to your question about coming to New York – generally it is always pleasant and useful to meet friends. However, since you seem to have in mind a trip connected with the business, I cannot see the use of it; on the contrary, it may have a negative effect in raising the manager’s false hopes that there might be a possibility of further loans. Since such a possibility does not exist, as I indicated to you when you were here, the manager should have no illusions about it.

As for your own situation, surely G‑d has many ways of rendering help, especially to one who has considerable merits in strengthening Yiddishkeit in general and spreading Chasidus in particular, as you will be remembered at the holy resting place of my father-in-law of saintly memory, whose whole life was dedicated to this end.