5913 —שישים שנה לתומכי תמימים: חשבון הנפש והוספה בתמיכה, "מעלין בקודש"

B"H, 10th of Kislev, 5718

Brooklyn, N.Y.

To our brethren, the children of Israel, who love and cherish Torah and mitzvah, may G‑d be upon them, may they live

Shalom u'Vrachah!

The annual celebration of the central Yeshivah "Tomchei Temimim" Lubavitch, which will take place, G‑d willing^[1], on the 20th of Teves 5718, marks this year the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Yeshivah "Tomchei Temimim" in Lubavitch^[2].

The Lubavitcher yeshivos have traveled a long road, a road full of great upheavals and trials. Over the sixty stormy years of upheaval and exile, their founders and leaders — the Rebbe (Rashab), and my father-in-law, the Rebbe^[3], of sainted memory^[4] — the administration, mashpi'im, roshei yeshivah and students, have carried with the greatest self-sacrifice "the lamp of mitzvah and the light of Torah"^[5] and "the luminary within Torah"^[6], and spread the light of Torah and mitzvos on all the roads, cities and countries to which Divine Providence led them.

This year the central Yeshivah "Tomchei Temimim" celebrates, in addition to the sixtieth anniversary of its founding in Lubavitch, also its eighteenth anniversary here in this country: a golden chain of unbroken activity for Torah and the fear of Heaven.

A jubilee is not simply for marking a date. It is a call to take stock of the achievements of the time gone by, with the aim of increasing those achievements in the coming years.

If in a period of world-shaking^[7] events, with extraordinary difficulties and obstacles, the Lubavitcher yeshivos were not only able to exist, but also to widen, spread out and branch out, in quantity and in quality, one can imagine what it will be possible to achieve under better circumstances.

In this lies the call and the soul-searching that every person to whom Torah and Judaism are dear must undertake in connection with this year's celebration and double jubilee^[8].

True, in the course of the last eighteen years the central Yeshivah "Tomchei Temimim" Lubavitch has, thank G‑d, flourished greatly and has left its stamp on American Jewish life. But it must be "one ascends in holiness", steadily adding^[9]. One may not be satisfied with the achievements of past years. One must rise, add, and add again, and broaden. This, however, depends on, and demands, the wide participation of every individual, who must also ascend in holiness, steadily adding: to increase his support, in money and in active help, for the Tomchei Temimim yeshivos as a whole.

And the A-lmighty promises: "Whoever adds, is given more"^[10], in whatever one needs, materially and spiritually.

With blessing for all good, materially and spiritually^[11].

Menachem Schneerson

[Publisher's notes: Printed in Likkutei Sichos vol. 24, p. 486.]

Notes

1. G‑d willing (אי"ה): אם ירצה השם.

2. The founding of the Yeshivah "Tomchei Temimim" in Lubavitch (די גרינדונג פון דער ישיבה "תומכי-תמימים" אין ליובאוויטש): The Yeshivah Tomchei Temimim was founded in Lubavitch in 5657 (1897) by the Rebbe Rashab; in 5718 it was sixty years old. The central Yeshivah Tomchei Temimim in America was founded by the Previous Rebbe as soon as he arrived in the United States in 5700 (1940), and in 5718 it was eighteen years old (as the letter goes on to say).

3. The Rebbe (Rashab) and my father-in-law, the Rebbe (כ"ק אדמו"ר (הרש"ב) און כ"ק מו"ח אדמו"ר): The Rebbe Rashab, Rabbi Sholom DovBer, founder of the yeshivah; and the Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, his son, who stood beside him in directing the yeshivah from its founding, and later led it and planted it anew in America.

4. Of sainted memory (זצוקללה"ה נבג"מ זי"ע): זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה לחיי העולם הבא, נשמתו בגנזי מרומים, זכותו יגן עלינו: "may the memory of the righteous and holy be for a blessing for the life of the World to Come; his soul is in the hidden heights; may his merit protect us".

5. "The lamp of mitzvah and the light of Torah" (נר מצוה ותורה אור): The words of the pasuk, Mishlei 6:23: "For a mitzvah is a lamp, and Torah is light."

6. "The luminary within Torah" (מאור שבתורה): After the saying of Chazal (Eichah Rabbah, Pesichta 2): "Would that they had forsaken Me and kept My Torah, for by occupying themselves with it, the luminary within it would have brought them back to the good." In the words of our Rebbeim, "the luminary within Torah" is the inner dimension of the Torah, the teachings of Chassidus, which is the soul of the yeshivah's study.

7. World-shaking (הרת-עולם'דיקע): After the words of the Rosh Hashanah prayer, "Today is the birthday of the world" (היום הרת עולם); in Yiddish, events that shake the world, i.e. the years of the World War and the Holocaust and the exile that followed.

8. Double jubilee (דאפלטען יובילעאום): Sixty years since the yeshivah was founded in Lubavitch, and eighteen ("chai") years since it was founded in America.

9. "One ascends in holiness", steadily adding (מעלין בקודש, מוסיף והולך): Shabbos 21b: Beis Hillel say of the Chanukah lights, "On the first day one lights one; from then on one steadily adds", "and the reason of Beis Hillel is that one ascends in holiness and does not descend." Hence the lesson: never to be satisfied with what has been done, but to add each time.

10. "Whoever adds, is given more" (כל המוסיף מוסיפין לו): That is: whoever adds for the sake of Torah (in support and in work) is given more from Above in whatever he needs, materially and spiritually. The Rebbe uses this phrase often in his letters as a saying of the Sages (e.g. letter 1239 and letter 1670: "whoever adds in these activities is given more strength and power, and also desire and will, to continue and expand them"). Compare Taanis 31a: "from then on, one who adds will have added to him": one who adds in Torah study at night, from Tu B'Av onward, has life added to his life.

11. Materially and spiritually (בגו"ר): בגשמיות וברוחניות.

Summary

For the annual celebration of the central Yeshivah Tomchei Temimim, marking sixty years since its founding in Lubavitch and eighteen years in America, the Rebbe calls on everyone who holds Torah dear to take stock: if the Lubavitcher yeshivos grew through sixty years of upheaval, how much more can be achieved now. Following "one ascends in holiness", each person must keep adding to his support, in money and in active help, and "whoever adds, is given more".