Request of birthday gift – a few minutes every morning for Tefillin; The impacts on you and on others
By the Grace of G-d
12th of Nissan, 5741
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Dr. David Tuvia Chase
1 Financial Plaza
Hartford, Conn. 06103
Greeting and Blessing:
On the occasion of the forthcoming Yom-Tov of Pesach, I send you my prayerful wishes that the Festival of Our Freedom bring you and yours true freedom, freedom from anxiety material and spiritual, from anything which might distract from serving G-d wholeheartedly and with joy, and to carry over this freedom and joy into the whole year.
Wishing you and yours a Kosher and happy Pesach,
With blessing,
M. Schneerson
P.S. It was a pleasure to see you at the farbrengen on the occasion of the 11th of Nissan, and exchange L’Chayim blessings.
Although it is not customary nor proper to ask for a birthday gift, but considering our special relationship, I venture to do so, being confident that you will treat it in the proper spirit.
The birthday gift that I have in mind, which I would consider an honor, as well as a great pleasure, is that you devote a quarter of an hour of your time every weekday morning and dedicate it for the sacred purpose of putting on Tefillin, with the appropriate prayer that goes with it, such as the Shema and the like. The latter need not necessarily be recited in Hebrew. If you can manage this in ten minutes, I am prepared to forego five minutes and let it be only ten minutes of your time.
In addition to the thing itself, being one the greatest Mitzvoth, as our Sages said that the whole Torah was compared to it, the Mitzvo of putting on Tefillin on the left arm, facing the heart, and on the head, the seat of the intellect, has the special Divine quality of purifying the heart and the mind, emotion and reason, and bring them into the proper balance and harmony. While this is important for every Jew, it is certainly of special significance to one whose activities normally involve a great deal of mental and emotional strain, and it is highly important to have them in the proper balance for the utmost degree of efficiency.
The above is of additional significance in your case as chairman of the Board of the Rabbinical College of America, in which you have had such remarkable Hatzlocho, with G-d’s help, and have been able to involve many others to follow in your footsteps. Thus, this “birthday gift” would also have a salutary impact on the Rabbinical College, its administration and students, and further widen the channels for all concerned to receive G-d’s blessings materially and spiritually.
I trust that you put on Tefillin every morning in any case, and the reason I am asking the above is only that you should make it a definite point on your calendar, to make sure that your preoccupation with your personal business and the business of the Rabbinical College would not distract you even once to overlook the putting on of Tefillin. And this will be my reward.
P.P.S. Although in matters of the Rabbinical College, I usually send a copy to our distinguished mutual friend Rabbi Moshe Herson, I am not sending him a copy of this letter, considering its very personal nature. I leave it to you whether you wish to show it to him.
Response and Reflections
Upon receiving the letter, Mr. Chase was very taken by the request, and told Rabbi Moshe Herson, "I can't let the Rebbe down". Three days later, he wrote to the Rebbe, reporting that he had begun to put on Tefillin daily:
Dear Rabbi...
. . After reading the text of the letter, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of joy, pride and humility. Your reference to our special relationship, your request for a birthday gift, had a most profound effect on me, and I hasten to report to you that I proceeded to put on Tefillin in my morning prayers the very next day.
Since this occasion will no doubt change my whole course of life, I will beg your forgiveness for being presumptuous in requesting a birthday present of you. I will be most honored and privileged if you should obtain for me, through your auspices, three sets of Tefillin. One which I will use in my northern home, one for my southern residence and one (a small set) to carry while traveling.
Since I am asking for a gift and yet I do not want to deprive someone from a material necessity which he or she may need much more than I do, I will include with this letter, and with your permission, a check for $1800. The $1800 is “Chai,” and references my prior statement of a new direction in my life. . .
On Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, 5741 the Rebbe replied:
Many thanks for your letter of June 24, with enclosures. I should have acknowledged it immediately, except that I was waiting for the Tefillin, which are accompanied by this letter.
Needless to say, since the Tefillin are a gift, my first thought was not to cash the check. I decided, however, that when a Jew desires to give Tzedoko, he should be encouraged, not deprived of the Zechus of it. Accordingly, I have earmarked it for a sacred cause, as per enclosed receipt. May the Zechus of the Tzedoko bring you and yours additional blessings from HaShem in all your affairs, particularly in the matters about which you wrote with such heartfelt sentiments, of which more is no doubt contained in between the lines. . .
In conclusion, I am most grateful for your letter and I will do my best not to overlook putting on Tefillin in the future. . .
The Rebbe’s follow up letter (as well as that of Mr. Chase) is available in full on the app. A photocopy of the letter is published below.
As a result of this exchange, Chase reflected later, "I have never failed to spend less than twenty minutes each morning putting on tefillin and davening. Then I go on feeling very strong and powerful and fulfilled to meet the challenge of the day."
