This letter was addressed to R. Shlomo Chayim Kesselman, at that time one of the spiritual mentors of the chassidic community in France.

B”H, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, 5709

Greetings and blessings,

a) My letter of Shushan Purim1 no doubt duly reached you. I am still awaiting an answer to it....

b) In addition to the telegram for the wedding of your daughter, I am repeating my blessing for an auspicious mar­riage. May they build a faithful home on the foundation of the Torah and its mitzvos.

[In the seven wedding blessings,] it is our custom — [based on] the directive of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe Shlita — to say Samach Tisamach (with the first mem enunciated with a patach,2 not a tzeirei). According to Chassidus, it is possible to explain this concept as follows: A patach is associated with Chochmah, the right vector. A tzeirei, by contrast, is associated with Binah. (See the explanation of the verse:3 “My sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife” in Biurei Zohar, Parshas Emor.)

May it be G‑d’s will that “only good and kindness be visited upon them at all times and forever.”4 See sec. 1 of the maamar entitled LeHavin Shoresh Chalav U’Devash in the additions to Torah Or which focuses on the AriZal’s conclusion that Chochmah is “solely kindness.”

c) Your letter of the 17th of Adar was received. Due to a factor, the list [of contributors to maamad] that you sent in your letter of 8 Adar has not yet been given to my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe Shlita. I will give it to him on Beis Nissan. No doubt, every delay is for the good.

d) I will look into the matter of your letters in the Torah scroll.5

e) Enclosed is a kuntreis for Beis Nissan and a letter from Machne Israel. They are intended to be shared with people at large.

Awaiting good tidings; with regards to all those who seek our welfare,

Rabbi Menachem Schneerson