To my friends [...],

Greetings and Blessings:

Any town in which one of the temimim lives should bear the marks of the radiant influence he generates in the Jewish life of the community and of its individual residents -- in their Torah and in their mitzvos, in their school system and in their interpersonal conduct.

If so, it is obvious that even more than this can be expected in a town in which a number of temimim live -- provided only that they talk things over as friends. Only then can each of them individually and all of them together fulfill the appointed soul-mission for the sake of which Divine Providence brought them there.

Now, one of the differences between [the intensely spiritual primeval chaos which is called] the World of Tohu and [the ordered and contained state of being which superseded it and which is called] the World of Tikkun is this: In the World of Tohu, each of its component Divine emanations or attributes functioned independently, unable to coalesce with a contrary attribute; in the World of Tikkun, its component Divine emanations or attributes are not only able to tolerate contrary attributes, but they even coalesce with each other and incorporate each other and help each other function. And the ultimate Divine intent is that the mellow orderliness of Tikkun should prevail: it is only through Tikkun that the universe can hold its own.

The Alter Rebbe trained chassidim to relate to each other at all times with love and brotherliness, exactly like the organs of a single body. In their composition and function the individual organs are so different from each other, yet they are all interdependent and they help each other function, for it is only then that (with G-d's help) the body is healthy and is fit to carry out the tasks of the whole man.

In this spirit, let me request my friends to discover by discussion what is the best way in which they can work together -- to arouse heightened interest in Yiddishkeit in their respective hometowns as well as in towns nearby. These should be visited from time to time, though not for any fundraising at all, but only in order to encourage study and observance.

May G-d grant you His help and bless you all and your households, and may He give you success in whatever you are in need of, both publicly and privately.

With material and spiritual blessings,

Yosef Yitzchak

Notes:

One of the temimim: I.e., one of the present or past students of one of the Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch Yeshivos.

Tohu...Tikkun: As to how the management of contrary attributes -- on the mortal scale -- affects interpersonal relationships, see the early chapters of: On Ahavas Yisrael: Heichaltzu (Kehot, N.Y., 1996).