By the Grace of G‑d
5th of Teves, 5725 [Dec. 19, 1964]
Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Chaim Yaakov [Jacques] Lipchitz
168 Warburton Ave.
Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Greetings and Blessings:

After the considerable interval, which already made me wonder at your prolonged silence, I was pleased to receive your letter of the 3rd of December.

I was particularly pleased to note that you are back at work, now that you have returned from abroad. May G‑d grant that you should continue your work to a ripe and happy old age, and thus utilize the gift with which you have been blessed to animate, so to speak, even the inanimate. And as you no doubt expect me to connect this with the concepts of our Torah, I can indeed say that it is one of the foundations of our Torah, Toras Chaim, to “spiritualize” the material, inasmuch as everything in this world has to be used as an instrument to glorify the Name of our Creator.

I must say that I sometimes feel embarrassed at finding your check for Tzedoko in your every letter, as if you thought that you cannot write to me without including a donation for our cause. Thus every time I write to you may entail an expense on your part. I would feel better if you would separate the two, namely your correspondence and contributions. I do not, of course, wish to discourage you from sending Tzedoko, which is one of the greatest Mitzvoth, and there can never be too much of it, but you do not necessarily have to include a check whenever you feel like writing to me.

With prayerful wishes for your good health, and with kindest personal regards,
With blessing,

M. Schneerson