The following letter was addressed to R. Moshe Dultzin, who resided in Mexico. Similar letters were sent to many others at this time.

B”H, 8 MarCheshvan, 5711,
Brooklyn

Greetings and blessings,

I was happy to receive greetings from you from our mutual friend, Rabbi Yosef HaLevi Wineberg. I would be interested in hearing of your communal work. You also certainly have fixed times for Torah study in general and in the teachings of Chabad in particular, as well as studying, teaching, and [working] to bring merit to your surroundings.

There is a well-known adage1 of the Rebbe (Rashab) that the temimim2are “candles to illuminate.” As my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, הכ"מ, would frequently emphasize to all the members of the chassidic brotherhood whose lot was to journey to distant places, and particularly to the temimim: “the steps of man are established by G‑d.”3 [The intent is that] a Jew does not make a journey [solely] for the sake of his material sustenance. Instead, [his inner motivation is] his soul’s mission which he must carry out in a particular place and a particular country.

There is a well-known interpretation in Chassidus on the verse:4 “Journey forth”: that every Jewish person, a descendant of Avraham our Patriarch, must follow the path of Avraham our Patriarch who wandered from place to place. And in every place he came, he “called forth the name of G‑d.”5 [And our Sages teach:]6 “Do not read ‘And he called forth,’ read ‘And he had others call forth,’” i.e., he would publicize G‑d’s existence. Even though this task is difficult for a wayfarer, the powers have been granted to every person to carry out the undertaking and mission of his soul in actual practice.

The beginning of the activity must be to be, as stated above, “a candle to illuminate,” i.e., to bring “the candle of mitzvah and the light of Torah,”7 into all of one’s surroundings. Thank G‑d, He has endowed you with potentials, powers and abilities that are overtly revealed and that you are honored within your community. Thus you will certainly be able to achieve much. And as my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, הכ"מ, would say:8 “It is guaranteed that endeavors and toil [for the dissemination of Yiddishkeit] will never go unrewarded.”

I hope to hear good tidings regarding your communal work and your fixed times for Torah study. Thank you [in advance] for informing [me] of them.

Wishing you and all those dependent on you all forms of good.

With blessings for great success in material and spiritual matters,

Menachem Schneerson

Enclosed is a receipt for your donation to maamad.9

I would be interested in knowing about the welfare of your son who visited here a few years ago.

(Enclosed) is a digest of the talks of Shabbos Bereishis.10