Letter
9
7
Nissan,
Tav-Reish-Peh-Gimel,
March
24,
1923,
Jerusalem
To
my
friend,
may
his
candle
burn:
I
can
no
longer
restrain
myself
regarding
all
that
stands
between
us,
so
I
shall
attempt
open
and
sincere
admonition.
I
need
to
know
the
value
of
a
word
of
truth
in
our
land,
for
so
is
always
my
way—to
study
all
the
workings
of
creation
in
utter
precision
and
to
know
its
merit,
whether
it
is
good
or
bad.
This
is
the
only
place
my
fathers
left
for
me
as
a
boundary,
and
I
have
already
found
precious
things
and
secrets
in
these
passing,
trifle
images.
It
is
with
good
reason
that
this
lot
has
been
set
up
before
me,
and
they
are
lovely
letters
for
the
sentence
of
every
wisdom
and
every
knowledge,
and
were
created
only
for
combinations
of
wisdom.
First,
we
shall
judge
the
quality
of
laziness
in
this
world.
...
On
the
whole,
it
is
not
such
a
negative
and
contemptible
quality.
The
evidence
is
that
our
sages
already
said,
“Sit
and
do
nothing—better.”
Although
common
sense
and
several
writings
contradict
this
rule,
still,
to
make
the
proper
precision
I
shall
show
that
“Both
are
words
of
the
living
God,”
and
all
will
be
settled
peacefully.
It
is
clarified
beyond
any
doubt
that
there
is
no
other
work
in
the
world
but
His
work,
and
all
the
other
works
besides
His—even
for
the
souls,
if
it
concerns
only
oneself—would
be
better
if
they
did
not
come
into
the
world,
as
they
turn
matters
upside
down,
for
a
receiver
does
not
become
a
giver.
This
is
an
unbreakable
law,
and
“If
he
had
been
there,
he
would
not
have
been
redeemed.”
Thus,
we
should
not
discuss
a
work
or
a
worker
whose
doer
is
in
the
form
of
reception,
since
this
is
utter
vanity,
and
there
is
no
doubt
that
it
would
be
better
to
“Sit
and
do
nothing,”
for
he
is
doing
harm
by
his
work,
either
to
himself
or
to
others.
Its
benefit
is
utterly
absent,
as
we
said
above.
I
do
not
care
at
all
if
part
of
you
finds
this
ruling
uncomfortable,
and
even
openly
protesting
my
words,
for
so
is
the
nature
of
every
truth—it
does
not
require
the
consent
of
any
woman-born,
great
or
small,
and
anyone
who
has
been
rewarded
with
thorough
knowledge
of
the
Torah
is
very
opinionated.
Therefore,
following
this
great
and
famous
truth—that
one
who
curses
in
his
work
“is
a
friend
of
a
destroyer”—I
feel
no
mercy
or
concern
for
the
idle,
to
seek
advice
for
them,
due
to
the
great
rule:
“Sit
and
do
nothing—better.”
In
any
case,
if
they
cherish
the
word
of
the
Creator
and
truly
wish
to
worship
their
Maker,
to
glorify
His
works,
there
is
no
doubt
that
the
spirit
of
idleness
will
not
be
with
them,
since
the
spirit
of
the
Creator
robes
with
strength
and
might,
from
which
idleness
is
blown
away
as
straw
by
the
wind.
However,
if
it
turns
out
that
they
have
unity
with
this
spirit
of
idleness,
there
is
no
doubt
that
at
that
time
their
minds
are
not
dedicated
only
to
the
Creator.
If
this
is
so
then
“Sit
and
do
nothing”
is
certainly
better.
I
have
much
to
say
about
this
matter,
but
what
can
I
do
that
time
causes
you
to
misunderstand
my
words,
for
you
are
not
accustomed
to
my
innovations
in
the
Torah,
which
are
said
in
utter
simplicity.
It
requires
a
very
high
level
to
be
able
to
lower
one’s
level
so
much,
and
raise
them.
And
yet,
I
cannot
change
my
ways,
as
I
see
in
it
the
will
of
the
Creator.
Although
you
have
heard
from
me
many
words
of
Torah
said
in
simplicity,
and
I
also
troubled
myself
extensively
to
make
you
understand
all
my
ways
and
all
my
wishes
in
the
work
of
the
Creator,
I
wish
to
say—regarding
that
profession—that
with
the
Creator’s
help,
I
added
to
my
teachers
in
my
generation
and
before
me,
and
the
Creator
permitted
me,
and
you
are
my
witness.
And
yet,
our
study
of
this
matter
had
been
short,
approximately
...
from
the
second
day
of
the
portion
BeHaalotcha
[When
You
Mount],
Tav-Reish-Peh
[June
1920]
to
the
portion
Shemot
[Exodus],
Tav-Reish-Peh
[January
1920]
(Tav-Reish-Peh-Aleph
[December
1920])
since
your
situation
during
the
week
...
did
not
permit
me
to
speak
with
you
more
of
my
innovations
in
the
Torah.
Also,
I
stopped
entirely
the
way
that
I
teach
for
reasons
I
keep
to
myself,
and
even
prior
to
that,
I
let
you
know
about
it
with
some
explanation.
But
since
the
time
was
very
short,
you
have
not
become
accustomed
to
my
ways,
and
my
ways
were
not
immersed
in
you
at
all.
For
this
reason,
you
have
inserted
many
changes
of
your
own
mind
in
my
teaching
...
for
which
you
have
lost
much
time.
...
You
said
explicitly
that
you
would
help
me
with
all
your
might
and
power
to
scrutinize
the
ways
of
my
teaching
and
its
expansion
in
the
world,
but
you
are
sitting
and
waiting
for
the
right
time
when
you
can
partake
with
me
in
this
matter.
You
promised
it
wholeheartedly,
resolutely,
and
ceremoniously,
without
a
shred
of
a
doubt,
that
who
knows
if
you
are
rewarded
with
the
above-said.
Now,
what
can
you
say
of
all
your
promises
to
me
...
and
I
know
your
tactic
and
ploy,
which
you
have
devised,
to
wash
your
whole
body
all
at
once
in
endless
water.
I
also
know
the
answer
that
is
readily
available
for
you
regarding
my
question—that
you
are
still
unfit
to
display
knowledge
and
to
ruin
or
build,
much
less
bond
with
me
in
work,
while
you
yourself
have
an
insufficient
grip
on
it.
And
yet,
it
is
the
inclination
in
you,
and
you
inherently
contradict
yourself.
That
is,
you
answer
another
question
without
humility,
but
to
the
contrary.
Thus,
how
can
you
grip
both
ends
of
the
rope?
...
And
I
am
telling
you
that
there
is
no
shame
here
whatsoever,
no
smallness,
and
no
greatness,
only
the
work
of
the
devil
that
has
succeeded
in
interfering
with
every
good
thing
that
appears
in
its
ways.
After
all,
why
should
you
mind
if
I
understand
your
smallness
too
much?
Is
it
my
praise
that
you
crave?
I
rather
know
that
your
soul
is
purer
than
such
litter.
Also,
why
should
you
mind
if
I
understand
the
exact
measure
of
your
greatness
as
it
is
within
your
heart?
Do
you
not
fear
my
mocking
you
for
your
obstinacy?
And
why
this
shame
to
speak
before
a
friend
like
me
with
boasting
words?
And
also,
all
our
sages
have
traversed
this
road,
disclosing
their
secrets
either
to
a
special
teacher
or
to
a
special
and
true
friend,
whether
high
or
low,
just
as
they
came
in
their
hearts.
The
ways
of
the
path
of
truth
are
not
impressed
at
all
by
the
truth,
be
it
bitter
or
sweet.
And
most
important,
each
scrutiny
is
as
though
accepted
at
its
time,
for
the
mind
must
be
“clean,”
and
God
forbid
that
it
should
be
biased
due
to
one’s
bitterness.
And
the
heart,
too,
must
be
righteous
in
its
place,
justifying
the
Creator
under
any
circumstances.
And
as
there
is
no
measure
to
the
Creator’s
merit
and
Almightiness,
there
is
no
measure
to
the
lowliness
of
a
woman-born
(and
to
his
weakness),
unless
that
creation,
for
all
its
lowliness,
is
willing
to
accept
a
word
of
truth
without
any
bias,
for
its
afflicted
body.
It
is
always
as
in
the
verse,
“The
clean
and
the
righteous
do
not
slay,”
and
so
it
marches
on
the
rungs
of
sanctity
and
purity
until
...
“What
is
this
work
for
you?”
I
evidently
see
that
you
will
fall
in
this
pit,
whether
less
or
more.
This
is
the
final
Satan,
which
I
find
in
my
fruitful
work
for
my
generation.
With
the
Creator’s
blessing,
I
have
been
found
agreeable
in
the
eyes
of
my
Creator,
to
reveal
to
me
the
full
lowliness
of
the
generation
and
all
sorts
of
easy
and
faithful
corrections
to
bring
each
soul
back
to
its
root
as
quickly
as
possible.
But
what
can
I
do
in
the
day
of
calling,
for
you
will
have
to
answer
the
wicked
man’s
question,
“What
is
this
work
for
you?”
Although
the
answer
is
clarified
in
the
Haggadah
[Passover
story],
“Had
he
been
there,
he
would
not
have
been
redeemed,”
as
there
is
no
need
for
fools,
worshippers
of
vanity,
still,
no
one
is
chosen
for
His
work
unless
his
heart
is
whole
with
the
Creator,
to
work
the
work
of
the
burden
devotedly,
all
day
and
all
night,
always,
endlessly,
only
to
bring
a
shred
of
contentment
to
one’s
Maker.
Thus,
why
should
this
wicked
one
mingle
and
deliberate
with
such
lovers
of
the
Creator?
And
yet,
my
brother,
this
is
not
an
intellectual
question.
It
is
clear
and
it
is
true,
and
no
reflection
or
doubt
is
left
in
the
matter.
But
precisely
because
of
it,
it
is
a
question
to
which
there
is
no
answer,
for
it
is
the
question
of
a
murky
and
turbid
matter,
and
it
is
only
a
demand
on
the
part
of
the
material
body
to
return
to
the
idols
of
his
father,
in
whose
work
he
shares,
or
even
truer—he
is
the
worker
and
all
the
pleasure
is
his.
And
since
the
asker
is
but
a
mindless
matter
and
body,
the
power
of
the
mind
is
weak
in
giving
it
any
answers,
for
it
has
no
ears
and
it
is
“like
the
deaf
asp
that
stops
its
ear.”
I
know
the
great
advantage
with
which
the
Creator
has
granted
me
over
my
contemporaries,
for
I
have
searched
a
long,
long
time
why
I
have
been
chosen
by
God’s
will.
And
after
all
the
lowliness
emitted
from
that
son
of
a
wicked
one,
which
is
the
Klipa
[shell]
that
rules
in
my
time,
and
after
I
have
witnessed
its
true
measure,
I
realize
the
Creator’s
kindness
with
me,
to
distract
my
heart
today
and
always
from
hearing
the
above-mentioned
question
of
the
wicked.
I
find
myself
committed
and
obligated,
as
today
and
as
always,
to
be
as
an
ox
to
the
burden
and
as
a
donkey
to
the
load,
all
day
and
all
night.
I
will
not
rest
from
searching
some
place
where
I
can
bring
some
contentment
to
my
Maker.
Even
in
this
day
that
I
am
in,
I
am
happy
to
work
under
a
great
burden
even
seventy
years,
without
any
knowledge
of
its
success
(even
my
whole
life),
except
that
it
is
certainly
the
way
that
I
have
been
commanded
to
walk
in
all
His
ways
and
to
adhere
to
Him,
which
I
have
heard
initially.
At
the
same
time,
I
cannot
excuse
myself
at
all
by
any
notion
or
contemplation
from
doing
any
work
for
His
sake
because
of
my
lowliness.
I
crave
and
think
all
day
about
the
sublimity
of
the
work
of
God,
in
such
sublimity
that
I
cannot
even
write
about
it.
It
is
true
that
as
I
discussed
these
matters
with
my
contemporaries,
I
saw
that
they
have
a
sort
of
code
of
law
in
which
they
delve
to
find
their
measure
of
the
work
of
God
for
all
their
needs.
But
I
have
never
seen
that
code
of
law,
that
it
allots
conditions
and
amount
to
the
Creator’s
wish
from
His
creations,
which
He
has
created,
concerning
the
rungs
of
Dvekut
[adhesion]
with
Him.
By
and
large,
I
have
received
face
to
face
that
small
and
great
are
equal
before
Him,
and
all
creations
are
ready
for
the
instilling
of
His
Shechina
in
their
hearts,
and
the
measure
of
instilling
depends
on
the
Creator’s
will,
and
not
on
him,
at
all.
I
therefore
wonder—it
is
a
grave
disgrace
for
a
woman-born,
whoever
he
may
be,
to
place
a
limit,
or
a
seeming
limit,
on
the
quality
of
the
Creator’s
will.
These
words
of
mine
are
utterly
simple,
yet
I
have
yet
to
see
in
my
generation
anyone
who
is—in
his
own
eyes—such
a
simple
man
as
to
understand
the
value
of
my
words
as
they
are,
for
they
cannot
lower
their
bodies
so.
And
once
I
have
come
to
this,
I
will
reveal
to
you
all
their
secrets
in
the
chambers
of
their
figures.
If
you
understand
...
that
it
all
came
to
them
because
of
the
question
of
a
wicked
man,
“What
is
this
work
for
you?”
for
they
always
need
blindness
toward
that
wicked
man.
...
But
they
are
people,
and
why
did
they
not
nonetheless
turn
their
work
to
that
profession?
What
does
the
owner
of
the
vineyard
receive
from
his
vineyard?
And
still,
they
worshipped
their
Creator
intellectually,
whether
He
would
pour
upon
them
spirit
from
on
high
to
see
fruits
in
their
work,
or
not.
But
they
would
not
be
excluded
from
among
the
worshippers
of
the
Creator
nonetheless.
When
they
are
compared
to
beasts,
carrying
the
material
emotions,
such
as
worshipping
the
Creator
with
their
will
without
wanting
to
understand
that
they
will
lose
all
the
substance
along
with
anything
they
can
acquire,
their
memory
shall
be
severed
from
the
earth
forever.
And
yet,
my
brother,
I
have
spoken
to
you
extensively
regarding
these
matters
face
to
face
when
we
were
together,
and
it
is
impossible
to
elaborate
on
them
so
in
writing.
Yet,
I
am
certain
that
if
you
properly
scrutinize
these
words
that
I
have
written
in
this
letter,
you
are
certain
to
find
many
matters
with
which
you
will
be
displeased,
and
which
I
wrote
you
deliberately,
as
I
believe
that
perhaps
you
will
understand
henceforth.
Do
let
me
know
every
detail
and
every
root
where
you
do
not
completely
agree
with
me,
for
my
heart
is
whole
with
yours,
and
you
...
and
the
Creator
is
my
witness
that
if
I
could
feed
you
heaven’s
milk
above,
I
would
spare
not
labor
or
exertion.
Yehuda
Leib