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Weekly Letter: Three Customs For A Birthday
In connection with the birthday of the Rebbe on Yud Aleph Nissan, we present a letter in which the Rebbe lists the three customs which chassidim practice on a birthday and gives some insights into these customs.
By the Grace of G-d
25 th of Cheshvan, 5735
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr.
Miami Beach, Fla.
I was pleased to receive word about your recent birthday.
No doubt you know that Chassidim observe special customs in connection with a birthday. These also
reflect the significance of a birthday in Jewish life.
In general these customs comprise three items: 1) an aliyah (being called up to the Torah) on the
preceding Shabbos, of at all possible, 2) additional Torah study on the birthday itself, 3) and extra
donation for tzedoko on the birthday – if a weekday, or before or after, if it occurs on Shabbos.
Needless to say, the Jewish customs are meaningful in many ways. It would take us too far afield to
mention more than one aspect in regard to each of the above three customs.
The Aliyah to the Torah, on the preceding Shabbos, which is by way of preparation for the birthday,
emphasizes that with each birthday the Jew rises to a higher spiritual level. This is indicated also by the
word Aliyah (“going up”). And although the term also refers to the physical ascent of actually going up to
the bimah which is on a higher level than the floor of the shul, its real meaning is the spiritual aspect.
Indeed it is precisely because of the spiritual ascent (achieved through the reading and study of the
Torah) that the bimah is elevated.
The particular relevance of the birthday is this: a person, of course, grows physically and mentally from
day to day and from year to year, so that in some respects the person is not exactly the same today as
the day before. Certainly in the spiritual sphere the birthday is meant to bring about an essential (not
merely superficial) change, since on that day his mazal is renewed. By that is meant, as the Gemoro
expresses it, mazlayu chozi, the “root” of the soul, which remains attached to it Source On High, while
only an extension of the soul, as it were, descends into the body and vitalizes it. For, obviously, the soul
which is eternal and part of “real G-dliness” could not be wholly confined within the body, any more
that G-d Himself could be confined within the world He created, and just as G-d is both in the world and
beyond it (immanent and transcendent), so it is in regard to the soul and the body. Therefore, when the
birthday comes, the Jew is expected to ascend to a higher level in an essential way, namely by
strengthening the very root of the soul when, as a matter of course, the change is felt also in the “lower”
aspect f the soul and vitalizes the physical body. Such a change can be achieved only through Torah,
which is “our very life and the length of our days.”
The second observance – and increase in the actual Torah study – follows the first, but in a more
tangible way, namely the study of the Torah with understanding and comprehension, so that it
permeates the mind and is reflected in actual living experience in the daily life.
The third item – the giving of tzedoko – signifies the giving of oneself, both of body and soul. Since a
person consists of both body and soul, his growth and advancement has to encompass both the spiritual
and physical. If the aliyah and Torah study primarily reflect the spiritual, the giving of tzedoko reflects
the physical and material, namely the sweat and toil of earning money, which is then converted into
something spiritual and sacred, since it is dedicated to a sacred cause, as indicated by the term
“tzedoko.”
Being kept informed by our mutual friends about your consistent advancement both spiritually and
materially, there remains for me only to express the hope that since your recent birthday, you have
been doing this with even greater inspiration and joy, and that the advancement is evident in both
quality and quantity.
With blessing,