TORAH, TZ’DAKA, HEALTH, AND CARBON DATING

Beis Moshiach presents more of the Rebbe’s correspondence with the internationally renowned sculptor, Chaim Yaakov (Jacques) Lipchitz. Part 3.

By the Grace of G-d

Erev Shevuoth, 5719

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Chaim Jacob Lipchitz

168 Warburton Ave.

Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

After the long interval, I was pleased to receive your letter of June 7th, and thank you for your good wishes for the Festival, which I sincerely reciprocate, wishing you and all your family a truly joyous and inspiring Festival of “Receiving the Torah with joy and inwardness” to quote my father-in-law of saintly memory. Needless to say, the text of a blessing which has become traditional in Chabad, is meaningful. The significance of the blessing quoted above lies in the fact that the Torah entails two essential aspects:

The inward experience of the Torah and Mitzvoth, so as not to permit them to degenerate into an uninspiring habitual routine, and,

Joy, that is to say, one’s study and practice of the Torah and Mitzvoth should permeate one’s inner being to such an extent as to realize that, far from their being any sort of a burden or duty, or a means of getting reward or avoiding punishment, they are good in themselves and a source of true inner happiness.

With kind regards and,

With blessing, M. SCHNEERSON

Regarding an appointment, you will hear from the Secretariat as to the first available opportunity.

By the Grace of G-d

29th of Shevat, 5720

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Chaim Jacob Lipchitz

168 Warburton Ave.

Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

I received your letter with some delay, but I was pleased to read in it that the family matter has been resolved satisfactorily through the cooperation of an Orthodox Rav, who has made a deep impression on you.

May G-d grant that this satisfactory development be the forerunner of other successes in all your affairs, in accordance with the Torah, Toras Chaim, including, of course, the matter of health. For, as you know, the great teacher Maimonides has ruled that taking care of one’s physical health is part of our religious way of life. This is further emphasized in the teachings of Chassidus, where it is taught that all the daily aspects of physical life, including eating, drinking, etc., and certainly aspects connected with the emotions such as in art, etc., can and should be elevated to a higher spiritual level if carried out in accordance with Mosaic Law, as you mention in your letter, with inner joy and gladness of heart.

Being on the threshold of the happy and auspicious month of Adar, which has been so for all our people throughout our history, and also for every individual Jew, who is an inseparable part of our people, I send you the traditional good wishes for a happy and successful month. 

With blessing, M. SCHNEERSON

Thank you very much for your remarks concerning the work of Mrs. W.

By the Grace of G-d

19th of Adar, 5721

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Chaim Yaakov Lipchitz

168 Warburton Ave.

Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

This is to thank you for your note and best wishes for Purim, together with the Shallach Monos. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and attention.

You do not mention anything about matters of health, or other affairs in your family, from which I gather that all is well.

I have had occasion to observe that the commandment to increase joy with the entry of Adar, implies that every day of the month should have a larger measure of joy over and above the increased measure of joy in the previous day, and so on, in a compounded way each day. Similarly, it should be with all matters of Torah and Mitzvoth. Since G-d’s reward is in kind and in a most generous measure, His blessings come in a similar compounded way. May it be so with you and yours, and may you have good news to report in good health and contentment.

                   With blessing, M. SCHNEERSON

I trust you will find the enclosed of interest.

By the Grace of G-d

Erev Pesach, 5722

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Chayim Yaakov Lipschitz

168 Warburton Ave.

Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

I am in receipt of your letter of April 12. I do not know if you expect me to return to the subject of our correspondence, since it is evident from your letter that you know now my point of view. I find it necessary, however, to refer to two points which have been raised by you. Firstly, in connection with Mr. B.R. mentioned by me, and the question you ask, what would be the reaction if he had made such a gift to a Yeshiva? Needless to say, this is besides the point. The point which I made was that if it had been a person of a different background and profession, it would have not surprised me so much that you should consider it a worthy association, and I would have considered my chances of dissuading you much slimmer. But seeing that it is this particular person that is involved, it made me wonder all the more why you should consider it a worthy association, and it had also raised my hopes that on further reflection you might not like the company after all.

Secondly, your suggestion to leave our divergent views to the Supreme Judge, is something that I cannot accept, since it is not a matter of theoretical differences, nor am I G-d’s policeman. I am hopeful that both of us will for many many years to come do our share to spread Yiddishkeit and strengthen our traditions. But I considered it my duty to try to prevent a Jew from doing something which, in my opinion, was not recommendable, especially a Jew who is close to my heart.

As for citing the case of Prof. Boris Schatz, I trust you will forgive me when I say that the facts were not quite the same as you seem to think. At any rate, I have no desire to go into this matter, for it is not important what any other individual did, since in this matter we have a clear ruling in the Shulchan Aruch, and when a person deviates from the Shulchan Aruch he cannot be cited as an example to follow. Here lies one of the fundamental differences between the Jewish religion and others, for our Torah is an open book, and everyone can find out for himself what the Jewish law is; and there is no authority that can change it.

Since I have clarified my views, there is no point in my prolonging the discussion. On the other hand it is my policy in my relationship with other people to seek out points of agreement rather than of disagreement. Therefore, seeing that for the time being, at any rate, we have reached an impasse on this question, I prefer to turn my attention to points of mutual agreement.

At this time on the eve of the Festival of Our Liberation, I send you my prayerful wishes for a kosher and inspiring Pesach. I trust you will find the enclosed copy of my Pesach message of timely interest.

With kindest personal regards, and

With blessing, M. SCHNEERSON

P.S. With reference to the question of carbon dating, which you mention in your letter, this method is precisely also one of those that has all the weaknesses which I noted in my letter. Thus, this method has only fairly recently been discovered and has not been tested over a long period; it belongs in the category of extrapolation, where a relatively very short period of observation is used as basis for inferences going back to the distant past; it is based on some illogical and unscientific assumptions. For example, there is no logical basis to assume that certain carbons could not have been produced except by the decay of other carbons, while those other carbons came into being in some other way. This is an arbitrary assumption. In view of the above, and other reasons, this method is a doubtful criterion even in regard to a not too distant past, and is certainly of very doubtful validity in regard to the distant past.

By the Grace of G-d

4th of Adar, 5723

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Chayim Yaakov Lipschitz

168 Warburton Ave.

Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Sholom uBrocho:

       After not having heard from you for some time, your letter of February 22 was particularly welcome, following the regards which I had previously received through Mrs. Weill. 

       I am very pleased to note that you have resumed your work, and are working with inspiration. 

       In connection with your forthcoming exposition, I wish you unqualified success, and for many, many good and happy years to come may G-d grant you to use your gifts to the credit of our Jewish people, and of our Jewish values in particular. For there are many ways in which a Jew can serve G-d, and one must serve Him in all, in accordance with the principle “Know Him, and make Him known, in all your ways.” You have a unique privilege of doing so through your own medium, which to certain circles is the only medium of learning something about Jews and Judaism.

       A propos of the above, I trust you will not take it amiss, though it may sound somewhat chauvinistic, but it is nevertheless true, that Jews, as Jews, can be justly proud. For although we declare, and pray for, three times a day – in the famous hymn “Oleinu l’shabe’ach”: “To establish the world under the kingdom of the Almighty, and all mankind shall invoke Thy Name,” this is preceded by “It is our duty to praise the Lord of all things… Who hath not made us like the nations of other lands,” etc. Any doubt that one might have had about the inherent distinction between our people and other nations, in this 20th century of enlightenment, science and philosophy, has tragically been dispelled by our experience at the hands of a nation which claimed first place in the arts and sciences in our generation, while the other “advanced” nations hardly did anything to avert or stop the mass slaughter. This is too painful to contemplate. 

       I will conclude on a happy note, having entered the joyous month of Adar, highlighted by the festival of Purim, may you, we all in the midst of all our people enjoy – to quote the Megillah – “light and gladness, joy and honor.”

With blessing, M. SCHNEERSON

       Your check was turned over to the special Purim fund, for “gifts to the poor,” in the spirit of the Megillah.

By the Grace of G-d

5th of Teves, 5725

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Chaim Yaakov Lipchitz

168 Warburton Ave.

Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Greetings and Blessings:

       After the considerable interval, which already made me wonder at your prolonged silence, I was pleased to receive your letter of the 3rd of December.

I was particularly pleased to note that you are back at work, now that you have returned from abroad. May G-d grant that you should continue your work to a ripe and happy old age, and thus utilize the gift with which you have been blessed to animate, so to speak, even the inanimate. And as you no doubt expect me to connect this with the concepts of our Torah, I can indeed say that it is one of the foundations of our Torah, Toras Chaim, to “spiritualize” the material, inasmuch as everything in this world has to be used as an instrument to glorify the Name of our Creator.

       I must say that I sometimes feel embarrassed at finding your check for Tzedoko in your every letter, as if you thought that you cannot write to me without including a donation for our cause. Thus every time I write to you may entail an expense on your part. I would feel better if you would separate the two, namely your correspondence and contributions. I do not, of course, wish to discourage you from sending Tzedoko, which is one of the greatest Mitzvoth, and there can never be too much of it, but you do not necessarily have to include a check whenever you feel like writing to me.

       With prayerful wishes for your good health, and with kindest personal regards,

With blessing, M. SCHNEERSON

By the Grace of G-d

Erev Lag B’Omer, 5729

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Chaim Yaakov Lipchitz

La Quinta Hotel

La Quinta, Calif.

Greeting and Blessing:

       Thank you very much for your letter of the 21st of April. I was delighted to note that you feel much better in health.

The inauguration which you mention and which is to take place on May 4th, will no doubt be a certain strain, but on the other hand, I am confident the gratification that will go with it will have a very beneficial effect on your health.

I just received a good report from Rabbi Krinsky that your stay in your present surroundings is satisfactory. He also told me that you expressed your readiness to meet with some of our representatives on the West Coast who are active in the dissemination of Yiddishkeit in that area. I trust that this encounter will be of mutual benefit, to you no less than to them.

       I send you my prayerful wishes and warm personal regards.

With blessing, M. SCHNEERSON

By the Grace of G-d

25th of Shevat, 5732

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Chaim Yaacov Lipchitz

Villa Bosio

Pieve di Camaiore

Lucca, Italy

Greeting and Blessing:

       I was sorry to hear that you were not feeling too well, but I trust that by the time this letter reaches you, your health will have improved satisfactorily. Inasmuch as there is always room for improvement in all things, I wish you further improvement and a Refuo Shlemo.

       Not knowing what sort of a patient you are, I take the liberty of expressing my confident hope that you follow your doctors’ instructions. Even if this may entail an enforced period of rest and interruption in your work, which no doubt you would be inclined to militate against, nevertheless, I am confident that you will overcome this, so as to expedite your complete recuperation.

       It is customary for Jews to connect everything with the Weekly Portion of the Torah. Significantly, we read in this week’s Sedra ורפא ירפא, which our Sages explain to be the mandate of physicians to heal and cure. Moreover, our illustrious teacher the Rambam, who was a famous physician in the plain sense, as well as a great spiritual healer, made it a point in his great Code – היות הגוף בריא ושלם מדרכי ה’ הוא (הל’ דיעות ר”פ ד’).

       To paraphrase the Rambam, and apply it in the area which we had occasion to discuss, we may say that what the Rambam is expressing here is that in order that the physical body be fit to serve G-d, that is to say to elevate and sublimate the physical into the spiritual, or to bring out the spirituality of the material, which is the key to the all-embracing Divine Unity – it is necessary that the physical body be in a good state and healthy. I might add that in your own sphere of sculpture, this is also self evident. For, in order to create an idea out of a piece of inert matter, whether metal, wood or stone, it is, of course, necessary that the material be in a good state.

       I trust you will not consider me presumptuous in trespassing upon your domain. However, I only wish to impress upon you the essential thing, namely the need to follow your doctors’ instructions.

       Wishing you a Refuo Shlemo, and with kindest regards to you and your family,

With blessing, M. SCHNEERSON