Maintaining a bond with the Rebbe Rayatz

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Instructions concerning beginning shlichus in North Africa

No. 578

This letter was sent to R. Michael Lipsker, who was charged by the Rebbe with heading Lubavitch activities in Morocco.

B"H, 3 Nissan, 5710

Greetings and blessings,

In response to your letter of 28 Adar:

I will investigate the possibility of obtaining a letter requesting [your immigration] from [North] Africa for you, but certainly, you should — together with our friend, R. Benyamin Gorodetzky[321] — seek more dependable and quicker paths, for the matter should be rushed to the greatest degree possible.

[Even] in ordinary times, we require the merit of the binding of Yitzchak, whose significance stems not from the binding itself, but from the eagerness with which Avraham our Patriarch carried it out (as explained in [Tanya,] Iggeres HaKodesh, the conclusion of Epistle 21. On this basis, we can understand the reference in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim. In the first version, sec. 1:10, he writes that the reason [the passage describing] the Akeidah should also be recited [daily] is to humble one's yetzer hara. In the second version, the conclusion of sec. 1, by contrast, this was omitted. There he states only that the passage should be recited to recall the merit of our ancestors.)

This surely applies in the present time. Since [Divine influence is granted] "measure for measure,"[322] in order that this merit protect us, it is necessary that we [conduct ourselves] with eagerness. In particular, this applies with regard to the situation at hand, when each day, there are those who seek to snatch the souls of Jewish boys and girls.[323] It is needless to elaborate on this.

Signing with wishes for a kosher Pesach for you and your household and awaiting good news,

Rabbi Menachem Schneerson

   

Notes:

321. (Back to text) [A chassid who headed the office for the aid of refugees which received financial assistance from the Joint.]

322. (Back to text) [See Nedarim 32a, et al.]

323. (Back to text) [By involving them in non-Torah educational systems.]

Maintaining a bond with the Rebbe Rayatz

Table of contents

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Instructions concerning beginning shlichus in North Africa