Last week, a relative of mine who is starting to teach at a religious graduate school contacted me in a panic. He has been assigned a one-hour class per week but hasn’t received any curriculum. It’s basically up to him to fill an hour each week with topics that should be useful to 19-year-old young adults.
“Do you have any ideas what I can teach?” he asked.
While I had never taught that age group, I didn’t think twice before responding. “Teach them from the series ‘Igrot Kodesh’ — the rebbe’s responsa,” I told him. I have had the great fortune to learn many letters in this book series, and every time I am fascinated by it.
The diversity of the questions and topics is simply remarkable. It is written in chronological order of the answers, so one letter might address a young child, the next one a Torah scholar on a complex halachic issue, and the next one an Israeli IDF general, inspiring him about his important role.
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“But please,” I added, “don’t rush through the letters. Sometimes the letter can be short and the insight seems easy to grasp, but when you learn it slowly and pay attention to each word, you realize how this idea is expressed so beautifully. So spend the time on each line, fully appreciating its message.”
This week he sent me a text message. It included a screenshot of a letter from the rebbe. “This is so powerful!” He wrote. “I am so glad you gave me this idea. This letter of the rebbe can be life-changing! And the students loved it!”
So here is the letter he chose for this week (translated from Yiddish into English by ChatGPT):
“I received your letter of November 20, in which you write about the state of your business and the health of your husband, may he live. And according to your request, I will mention you at the holy resting place of my father-in-law, the rebbe of blessed memory, for improvement in the above matters.
“But I am surprised that after you had spoken to me several times with bitterness about a shidduch for your daughter, may she live, and you viewed it pessimistically, now that G-d has shown you miracles and she has made a good match, you do not even mention a word about it.
“This, despite the fact that it is a lifelong joy for your daughter, and consequently also a joy for you and your husband, may you both live. And when one sees kindnesses from G-d that one had not at all expected, the very first thing should be to thank Him from the depths of one’s heart. Only afterward should one complain about matters which, for the time being, are not as one would wish.
“Of course, I do not mean to say by this that your business should, Heaven forbid, suffer or be slow, for G-d desires to grant a Jew everything he needs, without having to trade one thing for another. But after all, one must not overlook what G-d has already done for a Jew.
“When one thanks Him for the miracles He has already shown, and that gratitude is expressed in matters of Torah and mitzvot, this itself serves as a vessel to bring down further blessings from G-d.
“May G-d help you to share good news about yourself, your husband, and all of yours.”
As I suggested to him, I read this letter slowly, trying to understand and internalize every word. Here is a woman, writing to the rebbe, asking for a blessing for what seemed to her like a bad situation. The rebbe grants her the blessing she is requesting, and then, like a loving father, teaches her a lifelong lesson.
Look how worried you were just a short time ago. Now, you’ve got the biggest blessings of all, and not only do you not pay enough attention to it, you don’t pay any attention at all! You are on to the next problem, the current issue, not taking the time to pause, appreciate, and be grateful to G-d for his blessings.
This letter was exactly what I needed. As we approach the coming Rosh Hashanah, when we pray to G-d for a good year ahead, I have so much to ask for, so many things I feel are not good or not good enough. Yet did I take a moment to look back and say, “Wow, G-d, thank you so much for so many blessings during the past year.”?
I know I didn’t. I know I should.
This High Holidays season, I will try to keep this in mind, and I hope you can, too. Yes, we have a long list of requests. Yes, things are far from optimal, and many things are pretty not okay. But before all, let’s take a moment to say thank you.
Wishing my readers and everyone a shana tova! May this year bring blessings to you and yours beyond all expectations! And as always, I’d love to hear from you.
Read more on njjewishnews.timesofisrael.com
