Letter No. 42

Hello and all the best to my friend,

I wrote you a letter before Passover, but since the address was incorrect, the letter returned. Now, before the festival of Shavuot, which is the time of the giving of our Torah, I shall write you a few lines…

The preparation for the Torah, as it pertains to us, is the matter of fear, as it is written, “And the people encamped, as one man with one heart.” This means that they all had one goal, which is to benefit the Creator. It follows…

We should understand how they could be as one man with one heart, since we know what our sages said, “As their faces are not similar to one another, their views are not similar to one another,” so how could they be as one man with one heart?

Answer: If we are saying that each one cares for himself, it is impossible to be as one man, since they are not similar to one another. However, if they all annul their selves and worry only about the benefit of the Creator, they have no individual views, since the individuals have all been canceled and have entered the single authority.

This is the meaning of what is written, “The view of landlords is opposite from the view of Torah.” It is so because the view of Torah is cancelling the authority, as our sages said, “‘If a man dies in a tent,’ the Torah exists only in one who puts himself to death,” meaning he puts himself to death, namely his self-gratification, and does everything only for the Creator.

This is called “preparation for reception of the Torah,” since it is written that it is forbidden to teach idol-worshippers the Torah, as it is written, “He shall not do so to any nation, and they do not know the ordinances” …

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