Letter & Spirit: Being Realistic and Positive

In this week’s edition of Letter & Spirit, in honor of the Month of Iyar – which stands for ‘Ani Hashem Rof’echa’ – we present a letter from the Rebbe in which he answers a woman who is despondent over her grim medical prognosis and health. The letter was written through the Rebbe’s trusted secretary Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and was made available by the latter’s son-in-law, Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro.

In her letter, the woman tells the Rebbe that she is being “realistic” in the face of such a negative prognosis, but the Rebbe turns the tables on what is “realistic.”

This weekly feature is made possible by a collaboration between CrownHeights.info and Nissan Mindel Publications. Once a week we publish a unique letter of the Rebbe that was written originally in the English language, as dictated by the Rebbe to Rabbi Mindel.

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Mrs.                                                                                                                                         5712

Bronx, N. Y.

Blessing and Greeting:

I received your letter.    While I am pleased to read in  your letter a quotation about G-d being the Creator of the world Who also  guides all its destinies, etc., this very good impression is weakened by the further tone of your letter, where you state that you want to be “realistic”, based on the prognosis of physicians regarding your condition.

I want to tell you, first, that even from the realistic point of view, we must recognize the fact that very many times the greatest physicians have made mistakes in diagnosis. Moreover, in recent times we see that new discoveries are made daily in the medical field, with new “wonder” drugs and methods, which have revolutionized medical treatment.

Secondly, observing life in general, we see so many things that are strange and unbelievable, that to be truly realistic one cannot consider anything as impossible.

In a condition which is, to a large extent, bound up with the nervous system and the resistance of the organism, even medical opinion agrees that the stronger the patient’s faith in cure, and the stronger his will to get better, the stronger becomes his ability to recover.

Needless to say, this is not said in the way of an admonition. But, inasmuch as by individual Divine Providence, you have learned of me, and I of you, I think I am entitled to convey to you the above thoughts, which I was privileged to hear from my father-in-law of saintly memory in similar cases.

May the Almighty help you to fulfill your promise to work for Torah-true movements, and to bring up your children in the way of true Yiddishkeit.

With blessing, and hoping to hear good news from you,

Sincerely,

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The above letter is from a forthcoming volume of The Letter and the Spirit Series, two volumes of which have been published to date, with volume three coming out shortly, IYH. The letters are from the archives of Rabbi Dr. Nissan Mindel, a personal secretary to the Previous Rebbe and The Rebbe, whose responsibilities included the Rebbe’s correspondence in English.

We thank Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro, director of Nissan Mindel Publications and the one entrusted by Rabbi Mindel, his father-in-law, with his archives, for making these letters available to the wider public. May the merit of the many stand him in good stead.