Letter 20
1 Tishrey, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, September 9, 1926, Rosh Hashanah, London
To my soul mate and student ... may his candle burn:
... Why have you not informed me of the Dvekut [adhesion] of the friends, if it is going from strength to strength? This is the very basis of our good future and of your success in teaching.
I am not ashamed to admit that my troubles are so numerous that I have no energy to entertain you according to each and every one’s wish, but you are engraved within my heart all day and all night. I burn with thirst for your well-being and wholeness, and the Creator knows how much I have labored and exerted on your behalf. We are certain that they will not be in vain, and the word of the Lord will stand forever.
But why have you forgotten the teaching that I said in the holiday of Shavuot [Feast of Weeks] about the verse, “My beloved is like a gazelle,” concerning “turning the face back,” that the face is built during the escape and hiding, but in the form of Achoraim [back/posterior], which is the measure of sorrow over the distance and concealment? But in truth, these Achoraim are actually Panim [face/anterior], as our sages said, “turning the face back,” so the face is in the back. This is the meaning of “I, the Lord, do not change; and you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed,” meaning as it is written, “They who seek Me shall find Me.”
I wrote you the intention of the blowing [of the Shofar], to know why they blow and trumpet standing up ... “For the day is holy to our Lord.” Although I know that my words will not reach you while you are hearing the sound of the Shofar, but it is written, “Before they hear, I will answer,” which is why I wrote in its time.
You, too, show my letter to all the friends and perhaps they will lend an ear to my words.
... From this day forward let us grow strong in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] “as an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load,” to raise the Shechina [Divinity] from the dust, “arising contempt and wrath,” and the sins will become merits because His glory will fill the whole of the earth.
God willing, I am certain that our salvation is near and we will be rewarded with serving the Creator together abundantly, and the Lord’s wish will succeed by us.
Yehuda Leib