5894 —הכרח לימוד ההלכות הצריכות בחיי היום יום בדור יתום

B"H, 3rd of Kislev, 5718
Brooklyn.

The avrech engaged in communal needs, whose work is the work of Heaven^[1],
Dovid Tzvi, may he live^[2]

Shalom u'Vrachah!

In reply to your letter of the 27th of MarCheshvan^[3]: it was pleasant for me to read in it that your bounds have widened with students, and among them also outstanding ones, not only in Torah but also in fear of Heaven and in character traits. It is surely superfluous to emphasize how essential this is, and consequently it is understood that all toil and effort in this are worthwhile.

As for what you write about a counselor (madrich) for this: there is room to say that the search must be^[4] made through the activists, who know the yeshivah students and those who left the yeshivah not long ago and are suited to the work in question.

You do not mention in your letter that you have study of the laws needed in everyday life. Perhaps this is only an omission in the writing; in any case, the necessity of this study is understood and also obvious, especially in our time. For in past generations each and every one^[5] knew everyday conduct from his parents' home and even from the street, and all the more so from the synagogue^[6], where people went twice or three times a day. Whereas in an orphaned generation^[7], all this must be provided by the educational institution in which the boy or the girl is found, beginning with the aleph-beis, and the laws that are needed in the very simplest matters. Would that they introduced this study even in the senior yeshivos! For due to our many sins^[8], knowledge of the laws of Orach Chaim^[9], which are the most common and frequent, is very, very weak; and "an error in study counts as willful," etc.^[10]

And now that we have entered the month of Kislev, the month of redemption and victory, and especially the auspicious day of Yud-Tes Kislev, the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus and the ways of the Chassidim^[11] — may it be G‑d's will that you engage in spreading the wellsprings^[12] wherever your hand reaches; and may Hashem, blessed be He^[13], grant you success, with good news^[14] in all the above.

With blessing.

Enclosed herewith^[15] is the New Year's blessing, which was returned from the Holy Land^[16] because your address was not known.

[Publisher's notes: Dovid Tzvi: Marzbach, Be'er Sheva. Further letters to him: above, vol. 14, 4859; vol. 15, 5448.]

Notes

1. The avrech engaged in communal needs, whose work is the work of Heaven (האברך עוסק בצ"צ מלאכתו מלאכת שמים): עוסק בצרכי ציבור. "Whose work is the work of Heaven" — after the words of R. Yishmael to R. Meir the scribe in Eruvin 13a: "My son, be careful in your work, for your work is the work of Heaven."

2. Dovid Tzvi (דוד צבי שי'): R. Dovid Tzvi Marzbach, a maggid shiur in a yeshivah in Be'er Sheva (as he wrote earlier — above, vol. 15, letter 5448, where the Rebbe tells him to instill fear of Heaven and the practice of mitzvos in his students, and that giving the shiur is not neglect of Torah study but its fulfillment). An earlier letter to him: above, vol. 14, letter 4859, on questions in Iggeres HaTeshuvah, chapter 1.

3. The 27th of MarCheshvan (מכ"ז מ"ח): מכ"ז מרחשון.

4. Must be (צ"ל): צריך להיות.

5. Each and every one (כאו"א): כל אחד ואחד.

6. The synagogue (ביהכ"נ): בית הכנסת.

7. An orphaned generation (דור יתום): That is: a generation in which many did not receive the ways of Judaism from their parents' home; so it falls to the educational institution to give the child what in earlier generations he learned from home, from the street and from the synagogue.

8. Due to our many sins (בעוה"ר): בעוונותינו הרבים.

9. Orach Chaim (או"ח): אורח חיים, the section of the Shulchan Aruch containing the laws of daily life, Shabbos and the festivals.

10. "An error in study counts as willful" (שגגת תלמוד עולה וכו'): Mishnah Avos 4:13: "Rabbi Yehudah says: Be careful in study, for an error in study counts as willful"; also brought in Bava Metzia 33b. That is: one who does not know the laws and stumbles because of it — his error is counted as willful; therefore one must learn the laws needed in practice.

11. The Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus and the ways of the Chassidim (ר"ה לחסידות ודרכי החסידים): ר"ה — ראש השנה. After the words of the Previous Rebbe about Yud-Tes Kislev (Hayom Yom, 19 Kislev).

12. Spreading the wellsprings (הפצת המעינות): After the verse, Mishlei 5:16: "Let your wellsprings spread outward", and the letter of the Baal Shem Tov (printed at the beginning of Kesser Shem Tov): Mashiach will come "when your teaching becomes known and revealed in the world, and your wellsprings spread outward."

13. Hashem, blessed be He (השי"ת): השם יתברך.

14. Good news (לבש"ט): לבשורות טובות.

15. Enclosed herewith (מוסג"פ): מוסגר פה, i.e. enclosed with the letter. "The New Year's blessing" — the letter of blessing for the new year, which had been sent to him and was returned.

16. From the Holy Land (מאה"ק ת"ו): מארץ הקודש תבנה ותכונן.

Summary

The Rebbe is pleased that the recipient's yeshivah in Be'er Sheva has grown, with students outstanding in Torah, fear of Heaven and character; a counselor should be sought through the activists among recent yeshivah graduates. He stresses the study of the laws needed in daily life: in earlier generations they were learned at home, on the street and in shul, but in an "orphaned generation" the school must supply them — would that even senior yeshivos taught Orach Chaim. In Kislev he should spread the wellsprings wherever he can.