Without Question
“In the beginning it is necessary to start observing the mitzvoth, and it eventually comes also, most certainly, to a better appreciation of the significance and truth of the mitzvoth.”
The Rebbe
How does one start to keep the Torah? Learning, then doing? Should one ever question a leader? The Avner Institute presents two different approaches and two different answers: the first, the Rebbe’s tactful letter to a ba’al teshuva, that the Jews’ promise at Sinai, na’aseh ve nishmah – “we will do and we will understand” – emphasizes immediate action, where obedience to commandments awakens the mind and soul; the second, a story, as told by Rabbi Pesach Tzvi Schmerling – Chabad emissary to Far Rockaway — of his father-in-law and the Rebbe’s secretary Rabbi Binyomin Klein, of blessed memory, who learned from his holy employer how to speak up and how to defuse an awkward situation.
Dedicated in honor of David and Eda Schottenstein, may they be blessed with much continued health and success & In loving memory of Haddssha bas Schneur Zalman.
“A Clearer Head and a Better Understanding”
By the Grace of G-d
23 Tammuz 5712
Brooklyn, NY
Master Aaron V. Cousin
c/o Manchester Talmudical College
Manchester, England
Sholom u’Brocho:
I was pleased to receive a letter about you from your friend Avrohom Yitzchok Shemtov, in which he informs me of your learning at the Yeshiva and also at school. I hope you will give more time to your studies at the Yeshiva, especially during the summer vacation from school, and that you will apply yourself with growing diligence and devotion to your studies at the Yeshiva.
It is surely unnecessary to emphasize that the purpose of studying at the Yeshiva is not merely to gain knowledge, but principally to gain proper guidance how to conduct one’s daily life. At the same time, inasmuch as the study of the Torah is one of the greatest mitzvoth (Talmud Torah kneged kulom), it will surely bring you blessing and success in your needs: to make up for lost time in the study of the Torah and the observance of the mitzvoth; to continue your Torah studies successfully, and that your heart’s desires to see your father, brother, and sisters come closer to Yiddishkeit be fulfilled.
It would be a good idea to write occasionally of yourself and to explain to them the proper approach to these matters: In the beginning it is necessary to start observing the mitzvoth, and it eventually comes also, most certainly, to a better appreciation of the significance and truth of the mitzvoth. To approach this matter from the opposite direction, that is, to understand first and then do them, is wrong on two scores. First, the loss involved is not to be retrieved. Second, the very observance of the mitzvoth, which creates immediate bonds with G-d, develops additional powers the sooner to understand and appreciate them.
Take, for instance, a person who is rundown or ill, for whom vitamins and medicine have been prescribed by a specialist. Would it not be foolish for him to say that he would not take them until he knew how the vitamins and medicine can restore him to good health? In the meantime, he would remain weak and ill, probably get even worse. It is senseless, because knowledge as to how the vitamins and medicine do their work is not necessary in order to benefit from them. Moreover, while taking them, he will get a clearer head and better understanding to learn how the prescription helps him.
Should you want additional explanations, you can surely get them from the deans of your Yeshiva and friends, particularly the mashpia [advisor] in Chassidus, Rabbi I. Dubov, whom I know personally, and your friend Shemtov. I trust you say some kapitlech Tehillim [chapters of Psalms] every day. Wishing you success in your Torah studies with yiras shomayim [fear of Heaven], and hoping to hear good news from you in any language you find most convenient,
With blessing,
[signature]
“In Good Company”
Rabbi Pesach Tzvi Schmerling relates:
On many occasions my father-in-law Rabbi Binyomin Klein, of blessed memory, said one never ask questions about the Rebbe’s conduct. He was true to his word: throughout his years of loyal service, he never asked once why the Rebbe did or said something.
But one time, there was an exception.
“One morning,” Rabbi Klein said, “as I drove the Rebbe from his house to 770, he asked that, if it weren’t too difficult for me, I should come to him afterward. Therefore, when we arrived at 770, I followed the Rebbe to his room.
“The Rebbe showed me a letter he had received from someone in Kfar Chabad who complained that on my last visit to Kfar Chabad, I had not visited him, which left the gentleman with offended. Apparently he had read into this and come up with his own ideas.
“In embarrassment I tried to explain to the Rebbe my predicament.
“Some time beforehand I had gone to Eretz Yisroel and brought with me a package from my father-in-law, Rabbi Mordechai Shusterman, to his sister, Mrs. Golda Nadel, who lived in Kfar Chabad. When I left her house, Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi, the community leader, met me and invited me in for a cup of tea. When I left his house, I ran into Rabbi Mendel Futerfas, who also schlepped me to his house.
“Then I passed by the home of the person who wrote the letter. I saw his wife outside and asked her, ‘Is your husband at home?’
“`No,” she answered.
“When I said I would call later, she said, ‘The phone isn’t working.’
“`Too bad,’ I said. Then I added, ‘Oh well, please give him my reagrds.’
“I related all this to the Rebbe. But since this upset me, I veered from my usual practice, so for the first and only time I asked the Rebbe why he should believe every story people wrote to him.
“The Rebbe said, ‘If I believed everything that was written to me, I’d have to chase everybody out of here.’
“But the Rebbe, seeing how this still upset me, added, ‘You shouldn’t care so much about it, since you are in good company. They write all kinds of things about me too.’”
When my father-in-law gave over this story, he was still moved – on the one hand, the unpleasantness of actually questioning the Rebbe; on the other, the conciliatory words the Rebbe said to him so lovingly.
