Advice for a person suffering from emotional volatility; the need to be content with one's material portion and to strive harder spiritually despite hardships

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The lesson of the Counting of the Omer:that time is precious

No. 596

The name of the recipient of this letter was not released.

B"H, 8 Iyar, 5710

Greetings and blessings,

In response to what you wrote:

May it be G-d's will that you be a fit vessel so that all the blessings with which my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, hk"m, blessed you will be fulfilled in a complete way in both material and spiritual matters.

You certainly saw the passage cited in HaYom Yom, the entry of 11 Nissan, regarding the conduct of a person on his birthday.[384] This applies particularly to this birthday on which you enter your 22nd year. See Kiddushin 30a "until 22." (See the Alter Rebbe's Hilchos Talmud Torah which combines the two opinions [mentioned in that passage]. Some analysis is required.[385])

Signing with blessing,

Rabbi Menachem Schneerson

   

Notes:

384. (Back to text) [There the Rebbe quotes the Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. V, p. 106, that on his birthday, a person "should seclude himself, review his memories and contemplate them," correcting any matters that require teshuvah.]

385. (Back to text) [The passage in Kiddushin records a discussion on the Rabbinic obligation to educate — i.e., to mold the character of — one's son. According to one view, it begins at 16 and ends at 22; according to another view, it begins at 18 and ends at 24. Significantly, in the passage from Hilchos Talmud Torah cited, the Alter Rebbe combines the stringencies of both approaches (Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe,Vol. 2, p. 168).]

Advice for a person suffering from emotional volatility; the need to be content with one's material portion and to strive harder spiritually despite hardships

Table of contents

Search this book:

The lesson of the Counting of the Omer:that time is precious