4817 —הנהגת הרבנות בתוקף ובלי פשרות, ולימוד הלכות הצריכות לחיי היום יום

B"H, 6 Cheshvan, 5717

Brooklyn.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

It was a pleasure to receive your letter of Erev Shabbos Kodesh with your good news that you have been accepted as rav in ...^[1], and that, as it appears, you will be able to conduct the rabbinate without any outside influence, G‑d forbid.

May it be G‑d's will that "the purpose of G‑d will succeed in your hand"^[2] in strengthening and spreading matters of Judaism in your community, ever increasing. As is known, the Alter Rebbe said regarding the meaning of the title mara d'asra ("master of the place")^[3] that the rav is in truth the master of the house of the place, that is to say, by the authority of his semichah and of the Shulchan Aruch. And although "a person is close to himself"^[4] and a person is not reliable about himself, it is known, as explained in several places in the sichos of our holy Rebbeim, that in the teachings of Chassidus one can find many counsels and tests for how to foil the counsel of the evil inclination and its schemes to deceive a person.

A further help to you is that your wife, may she live, will surely be able to help you in this work within her own sphere, on the basis of the trials she has gone through and withstood. The general point is that although it must be with "ways of pleasantness"^[5] and ways of peace, the congregation must be led with the proper firmness, and there is no need at all for compromises. On the contrary, by proposing a compromise one loses the trust of the members of the community in the rav, which is not so when one follows the way of truth.

Although you do not specify the content of the classes taught in public, they surely include the study of the laws needed in everyday life, since, after all, this is "the whole of man"^[6].

With blessing for success in your holy work described above, in good health spiritually and in good health

physically.

Publisher's notes

The words of the Alter Rebbe (דברי רבנו הזקן): see also above, vol. 4, letter 786; vol. 7, letter 1885; vol. 10, letter 3235.

Compromises (פשרות): on this see above, vol. 13, letter 4463, and the sources noted there; below, letter 5196.

Notes

[1] In ... (ב...): the name of the place is omitted in print.

[2] The purpose of G‑d will succeed in your hand (חפץ ה' בידו יצליח): after Yeshayahu 53:10.

[3] Mara d'asra (מרא דאתרא): Aramaic, "master of the place," the title of a town's rav. The true master of the house in the town is the rav, by virtue of his semichah and of the Shulchan Aruch by which he rules, and not the influential members of the community.

[4] A person is close to himself (אדם קרוב אצל עצמו): the words of our Sages (Sanhedrin 9b): "A person is close to himself, and no one makes himself out to be wicked." It is hard for a person to judge himself fairly, and his inclination may persuade him that even his improper conduct is right. To this the Rebbe adds that Chassidus offers counsels for foiling the inclination's schemes.

[5] Ways of pleasantness (דרכי נועם): after the verse "Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace" (Mishlei 3:17).

[6] The whole of man (כל האדם): after the verse "Fear G‑d and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man" (Koheles 12:13). Keeping the mitzvos is the essence of a person's life; hence the main part of the classes should be the practical laws needed every day.