By the Grace of G‑d
1st day of Rosh Chodesh Adar, 5712 [1952]
Brooklyn
Greetings and Blessings!
Your1 letters of 22 and 29 Teves and 4 and 7 Shvat were duly received.
From what you write about the mikveh, it appears that the other party would not be influenced by halachic proofs and legalistic argumentation and disputation. I am afraid that [their opposition] is nothing other than a willful insistence to win the tussle. For otherwise, it is utterly incomprehensible how anyone could raise objections to the construction of a mikveh in a manner prescribed by the outstanding scholars of various circles in past generations.2 They, too, were undoubtedly well versed in the study of the Talmud,3 the works of the Rishonim4 and the Acharonim,5 and of our people’s [later] luminaries, and they handed down their halachic rulings accordingly. What a pity that within our own chassidic brotherhood6 there is no comparable resoluteness whatever, even after a directive on this very subject — on the resolute [loyalty] that should characterize a Jew who has come close to a man whom he regards favorably, and how much more so when that man (of blessed memory) is his Rebbe and nasi.
You can plainly see, even with fleshly eyes, how those people stop at nothing in order that the view of a man in whom they perceive mortal qualities should materialize. Yet in spite of that, you do not do whatever can be done in order that another view should materialize — the view of a man who was, as clearly as daylight, a G‑dly man. I.e., his mind was G‑dly, and he was accepted by tens of thousands of Jews as their guide in every detail of Torah and mitzvos. The analog with regard to the subject under discussion7 is self-explanatory.
You ask whether you should show [your colleagues] my telegram etc. Several well-known incidents testify that with staunch bitachon one can accomplish whatever is needed. The same applies here, too. I am certain that if, when you received the telegram, you had proceeded confidently, without being overwhelmed by the supposed awe of mortals, the directive of the Rebbe Rashab would have overcome all [obstacles] and would have materialized. But since [your colleagues] advised the opposite, and as a result you too fall into doubt and the subject requires support and questions and clarification, I am extremely doubtful as to whether you will [now] be able to proceed unflinchingly — and consequently, such steps would probably harm the cause. For, as is well known, a person who “hops between one opinion and the other”8 can do even more harm, even in matters of great import, than a person who leans to the opposite side.
My intention is not, G‑d forbid, to rebuke, but my heart is pained. Each one of us, with our mortal eyes, has seen so many miraculous things that were wrought by our Rebbeim, and has relied on them even in life-threatening situations, both materially and spiritually. Yet despite all that, it happens that at times (and I regret to say that in some cases this is at relatively frequent times), when put to the test by the opposition raised by the other side, [some chassidim] lose their self-assurance and begin to seek out ways and means and counsels and whatnot, and become diplomats and so on.
Moreover, this attitude provides additional proof that much is still lacking in the task of disseminating the wellsprings [of the teachings of Chassidus34] outward. For, as is explained at length in the literature of Chassidus, if there is to be even a little [chassidic light] outside, there must be an abundance of it within.
May G‑d grant every one of us an ample environment and help each of to fulfill his mission in this world, and may He draw us out of the straits to a truly unbounded spiritual freedom [...].
With blessings,
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