3056 —נטיעת אתרוגי קלבריה בכפר חב"ד, והכשר על הגרעינים, ועזרה לשד"ר תומכי תמימים בצרפת

B"H, 26 MarCheshvan, 5715.

Brooklyn.

The distinguished Rav and Chassid, a G‑d-fearing man, distinguished and honored, engaged in communal needs, R. Mordechai HaKohen

Greetings and blessing!

In these days the Rav and Chassid, etc., R. Nachman Elbaum, son-in-law of the well-known esrog merchant R. Dov Ludmir, left from here, with a proposal to take seeds and also saplings and cuttings of Calabrian esrog trees and to plant them in the Holy Land, may it be built and established, in Kfar Chabad. In my opinion this is right. For although there is room to say that the care about Calabrian esrogim among Anash, whose source is the Alter Rebbe, is not only because of the concern of grafting, as explained in the responsa of the Chasam Sofer cited in Shaar HaKollel, but also that they want them to be from "משמני הארץ" ("the fat of the land"), for it is explained in the Midrash Rabbah that "the fat of the land" is Italy of Greece, that is, the Calabrian peninsula.

(The necessity for this exposition of our Sages can be explained, for seemingly it is difficult: after Yitzchak blessed Yaakov with "the dew of the heavens and the fat of the land," how could he then give this very thing to Esav? See on this the commentaries on the Chumash and Torah Or. According to what is explained, that this peninsula was not in the world at the time of Yitzchak's blessing, and came to be only when Shlomo married the daughter of Pharaoh, as explained in Shabbos 56b, the above is clear.)

Nevertheless, even though the latter virtue will not apply to Calabrian esrogim grown in the Holy Land, there will at least be the virtue of the presumption of being ungrafted. Since Rabbi Elbaum has an interest in the matter, and on the other hand I do not know the ways in Italy, I spoke with him that he should get in touch with your honor, so that your honor can give him a letter of testimony and a kind of certification for the seeds, cuttings and saplings he will take with him. Of course he will pay for your trouble. As I told him explicitly, Rabbi Elbaum, he must speak with your honor about this too.

I await good news.

In addition, I come in this letter to spur on the energetic: since the situation of Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in France is pressed, and they have sent an emissary to Italy, and surely also to Milan, you will surely help him with all your ability in a suitable way, and increase the success of this mission...

With blessing,

M. Schneerson

Notes

Shabbos 56b (שבת דף נ"ו ע"ב): Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel: When Shlomo married the daughter of Pharaoh, Gavriel came down and stuck a reed in the sea, and a sandbank rose upon it, and on it was built a great city [of Rome].

Publisher's notes

Printed in Likkutei Sichos, vol. 19, p. 573, and completed from a photograph of the letter.

R. Mordechai (מוה"ר מרדכי): Perlov. Further letters to him: above, vol. 8, 2380, and the references in the notes there; below, 3149.

To take seeds (לקחת גרעינים): In continuation of this, below, there.

There is room to say (שיש מקום לומר): See also Likkutei Sichos, vol. 9, p. 390.