It’s hardly a secret that society faces an unprecedented mental health crisis. Recent years have seen an epidemic of loneliness and lack of self-esteem. Already alarmingly high suicide rates keep climbing. To counter this, conventional wisdom has been to focus on the painful experiences that might have led to an individual’s negative state of mind. The struggling senior, adult, teen—or child—is guided to double-down on the distressing thoughts causing them angst or worse, to relive the negative experiences of their past and give them voice. Or some variation thereof.
Whether this approach works is subject to some debate. What is not debatable is the worsening mental health crisis this and other countries face, with no sign yet of abating.
A new book suggests an alternative path. The culmination of five years of research and writing by Chassidic scholar Levi Shmotkin, Letters for Life: Guidance for Emotional Wellness from the Lubavitcher Rebbe draws on the voluminous correspondences of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, to share his timeless advice with today’s generation. “The Rebbe taught … that the world, stripped to its essence, is a divine symmetrical organism,” Shmotkin explains in the book. “In G‑d’s holistic creation, each and every one of us plays a special role. Therefore, inner wellness is not achieved by retreating into our own minds, but by plugging into the larger, healthy whole outside ourselves.”
“The Rebbe recognized years ago [that] living with a higher consciousness positively transforms our minds and insulates us against depression, addiction and many other mental health concerns,” says Dr. Lisa Miller, professor of psychology at Columbia University and bestselling author of The Awakened Brain. Only recently have the sciences come to recognize this as “a whole new path in the study of neuro-science.”
The Rebbe is widely recognized today for uplifting and inspiring a decimated post-Holocaust Jewish nation, doing this via his ubiquitous mitzvah campaigns, creating a worldwide network of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and institutions, all of it underpinned by his towering Torah scholarship, collected and published in hundreds of volumes to date.
Speaking for hours on a kaleidoscopic range of topics, the Rebbe’s mode of teaching came via the public forum, addressing the thousands assembled at Chassidic gatherings in his synagogue. What is less known, however, is the wealth of wisdom and guidance the Rebbe offered behind closed doors to men and women, young and old, who met with the Rebbe in private and poured their hearts out to him. Many more of these therapeutic relationships were formed by mail, and serve as the primary source for sage advice contained within the eponymous Letters for Life.
If the Rebbe’s practical counsel was difficult to access for many until now, Letters for Life changes that.
Among the countless people corresponding with the Rebbe were real men, women, and children struggling with very real, human problems. Parents worried about their children, grief-stricken widows scared of what lay ahead, hippies grappling with existential questions, and lonely and confused adolescents searching for direction. The Rebbe patiently responded to each of their queries, guiding each of them individually toward a healthier and more fulfilling life.
This reality helped make Letters for Life what it is. “This book is not an anthology of abstract hypotheses,” Shmotkin writes. “ … Instead, it is a collection of practical tools, culled from the Rebbe’s counsel to regular individuals in real time, on how to actually walk through life with confidence and serenity.”
Clear Structure
Unlike the Rebbe’s Torah teachings, which are encyclopedic in both their scope and framing and clearly communicate their deeply-sourced philosophical depths, the practical advice he gave was more often than not direct, designed to quickly reach the bottom line. For this, Letters for Life’s breathtaking endnotes serves to give the reader an appreciation of how “the teachings of the Talmudic sages and the spirit of the Chassidic masters were the ground on which he rooted his timely guidance.”
To write the book, Shmotkin and his team studied nearly 20,000 of the letters written by the Rebbe, reviewing 1,500 interviews and personal accounts as well, to identify some of the core principles that stand behind the Rebbe’s specific guidances.
The result: Weaving together digestible excerpts from the letters, storytelling, and common challenges, Letters for Life relates 12 primary themes that recur throughout much of the Rebbe’s counsel. These themes address the foundational and prevalent issues individuals commonly face, and identifying them allows readers to gain practical insights for navigating their own mental and emotional journey.
Finding applicable lessons is very much a part of the Letters for Life reading experience. Each chapter begins with a statement of basic principles, includes relatable specific examples, and ends with a pointed summary that clarifies these principles.
It is divided into two primary sections. The first delves into the Rebbe’s views—based on the Torah—for what it calls the “Essentials For a Healthy Life.” For example, a healthy life requires the individual to recognize that a human being is designed to be a giver, not only a receiver. Helping others with their challenges liberates a person’s mind and fosters a strong and resilient self.
Another critical pillar for a healthy psyche is knowing you are never alone in life. G‑d is always with you, unconditionally, and He helps you along your path. The more you internalize this the less fears you have and the more unassailable you become.
To truly feel fulfilled, and to have the inner strength to overcome life’s many hardships, it is also vital to know that you have a unique mission in this world. It is in your hands to effect positive change in your immediate surroundings, and there are things that only you can accomplish and no one else.
The second half of the book guides the reader on “Overcoming Darkness.” There the Rebbe counsels to “refrain from denigrating our lives and characters and resolve instead to take up the divine calling of joy,” have a positive attitude towards our endeavors, assuming they will work out right, and refrain from battling disturbing thoughts, instead redirecting our minds towards themes of “light.”
Central to the Rebbe’s outlook is that we are never defined by our darkest moments. “[Negative] experiences certainly affect us,” Shmotkin explains, distilling the Rebbe’s philosophy, “but they cannot break our essence. That place inside us remains forever complete, forever whole.”
Book for Everyone
Letters for Life is not meant only for someone struggling with emotional wellness. Addressing the core human experience and what we all yearn for, to live a happy, fulfilled life, full of inner peace, this book will also benefit anyone going through all the regular ups and downs of life.
Therapists and professionals will appreciate the unique manner in which the Rebbe counseled individuals, offering profound but equally practical advice. Those with a Torah background will appreciate how the Rebbe’s foundational teachings, often explored in esoteric texts and study halls, are applied to the everyday dilemmas people face. Jewish readers seeking advice addressing their emotional experiences will discover the infinite treasures within their own tradition.
Many individuals find themselves struggling regularly, but at the same time the Jewish people are reeling as a whole. Now, more than ever, they seek guidance, and long for strength and support. Young Jews in particular, feeling abandoned by the various parts of “respectable” society they thought accepted them, are turning once again to their own spiritual roots for a sense of purpose and comfort. From the wellsprings of their own tradition in the form of Letters for Life, they will find a new source of tranquility and comfort in an increasingly hostile world.
In the end of the day, this is a book that will benefit men and women, young and old, Jewish and not—anyone, really, seeking the ultimate peace of, in the author’s words, “transcend[ing] their limited reality and connect[ing] with something larger and infinitely greater.”
Letters for Life will be released by Chabad.org and Ezra Press, an imprint of Kehot Publication Society in September. A pre-publication limited release was organized in connection with the 30th anniversary of the Rebbe’s passing, order your copy here.
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