An Explanation of the Phrase “Spreading the Wellsprings Outward” - Letter No. 815:

This letter was printed as a foreword to the kuntreis published for Yud-Tes Kislev, 5711. 1

No explanation needs to be added to the words of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, הכ"מ, in his letter2 concerning the obligation of all Jews to study the teachings of Chassidus. His call obviously relates to Yud-Tes Kislev, for this day is the Rosh HaShanah of Chassidus.3 In his words,4 Yud-Tes Kislev is “a particularly auspicious time — to gain strength and energy in one’s study of Nigleh, the revealed plane of the Torah, and in one’s study of Chassidus; to devote oneself to the avodah of prayer; to rouse oneself to refine one’s character traits in the spirit of Chassidus; and to cultivate an unbounded love of one’s fellows.”

The relationship between Yud-Tes Kislev and the dissemination of the study of Chassidus among our Jewish brethren of all circles becomes even more obvious according to the explanation of the Rebbe Rashab:5

The process whereby6 “your wellsprings will be disseminated to the peripheries” began primarily after the release of the Alter Rebbe [in 1798] from imprisonment in] Petersburg [on Yud-Tes Kislev]. Before the teachings of Chassidus came into being, not every Jew was able to grasp Elokus. To do that, one had to possess a lofty soul; alternatively, [in order to grasp G‑dliness,] one who did not possess such a soul had to rectify all the matters that required rectification and had to have refined himself.”

The achievement of Chassidus is that it enables every Jew to understand a Divine concept and internalize it. This process began primarily after [the release of the Alter Rebbe from] Petersburg, for at that time the Alter Rebbe rose to a higher level.

* * *

When Mashiach replied to the Baal Shem Tov’s question as to when he would come, he made a point of quoting the precise wording of the verse (Mishlei 5:16), יפוצו מעינותיך חוצה: [he would come when] “your wellsprings (maayanosecha) will be disseminated outward.” As is well known,7 wellspring water (mei maayan) is superior to any other kind of water [in which a person might be able to immerse in order to purify himself]. Wherever it extends, even at a distance, it always retains the unique halachic status of wellspring water — provided only that its bond with its source is never interrupted, for it would then lose the status of the wellspring from which it arose.8

This, then, is exactly what is demanded of every one of us: that we should (a) disseminate (b) the wellsprings (c) even in the peripheries. All of this is possible only when there is an uninterrupted bond with the source, when there is ever-strengthening hiskashrus with the Nasi — my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, הכ"מ— who is the source for the dissemination of these wellsprings to all the ends of the earth.

May our eyes behold the fulfillment of the promise made by our righteous Mashiach, when “all the forces of evil will cease to exist and it will be a time of Divine goodwill and salvation,”9 and he will redeem us in the true and complete Redemption.

Menachem Schneerson

Rosh Chodesh Kislev, 5711 [1950]
Brooklyn, N.Y.

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Footnotes

[The letter also appears in Sefer HaMaamarim 5711, p. 134, and in Likkutei Sichos, Vol. X, p. 243.]

[Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. X, Letter No. 3636.]

See the Introduction to Kuntreis U’Maayan (Heb. edition only), pp. 15-18, 24-26.

The letter of the Rebbe [Rayatz ] quoted here appears in Kuntreis Yud-Tes Kislev 5708 (i.e., Kuntreis 52, [which is reproduced in Sefer HaMaamarim 5708, p. 79, and in Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. VIII, p. 328ff.)].

[The explanation from this point to the end of the indented paragraphs is] condensed from the sichah of Yud-Tes Kislev, 5668 [1907] (in Sefer HaSichos — Toras Shalom, p. 98, [and p. 112 in the recent editions]); consult that source.

The quoted phrase is the reply of Mashiach to the question [posed by the Baal Shem Tov] as to when he would come. It is cited by the Baal Shem Tov in his well-known letter concerning the ascent of his soul on Rosh HaShanah 5507 [1746], which appears at the end of Ben Poras Yosef. It also appears in Michtavim MeHaBaal Shem Tov VeTalmidav [“Letters from the Baal Shem Tov and His Disciples”], published in Lvov in 5683 [1923]. There the publisher writes that he copied the text from the manuscript letter which was written by the Baal Shem Tov’s son-in-law, the saintly R. Yechiel, and personally signed by the holy hand of the Baal Shem Tov. The letter also appears in Ginzei Nistaros (Jerusalem, 5684 [1924]), Vol. I, sec. 65; and in Sefer Baal Shem Tov (Lodz, 5698; on Parshas Noach, note 13). It appears in part at the beginning of Kesser Shem Tov, and in Likkutei Amarim by the Maggid of Mezritch.

[See Letter No. 818 below.]

This is the ruling of the Tzemach Tzedek (in his responsa on Yoreh Deah 164:2, and see also Tzemach Tzedek, Shaar HaMiluim, Vol. III, on Mikvaos 5:6). This view accords with Tosafos, s.v. שמא, on Bechoros 55b; with Rambam’s Commentary on the Mishnayos; with the view of Raavad, Rashba, Rivash (as cited in Darchei Moshe), Perishah, and other authorities; as well as with “the plain meaning of the Mishnah and the poskim” (to quote the words of Sifsei Cohen in Yoreh Deah 201:30).

The view of the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch (which cites the Tur) is problematic (thus writes Beis Yosef in Yoreh Deah, sec. 201). Maharik (cited in Beis Yosef) holds that if the water has not stopped flowing, then even if it was disconnected from its source it still retains the halachic status of a wellspring. (One could argue that even according to this view, this water is regarded as wellspring water only insofar as it can be metaher bezochalin; [i.e., one can immerse in such water which flows from a wellspring (though not from a mikveh), even though it is in motion]. However, one could argue, [unlike genuine wellspring water that such water,] cannot serve for the immersion of zavim, nor, moreover, can a minimal quantity of it purify (letaher bekol-shehu), [instead of the rquired volume of 40 se’ah necessary for a regular mikveh].) On this view, see the Responsa of Chasam Sofer on Yoreh Deah, sec. 209.

Nevertheless, even according to these views [in the above paragraph], as soon as the connection between the wellspring water and its source is interrupted, it can no longer extend the halachic status of wellspring water over a pool of [rain]water over which it flows. This will suffice for the present.