Rebbe’s letters a life force for those in the dumps

Growing up in Connecticut in the US, Levi Shmotkin was beset by dark thoughts about himself and his future. “I was confused, I felt isolated and worried, it was a time of great pain.”

He found his answer in an archive of more than 20 000 letters written by Rabbi Menachem Schneerson.

Revered as the Lubavitcher Rebbe – one of modern Judaism’s most revered leaders and thinkers – Schneerson had replied in person, through more than 20 000 letters, to people who had written to him for advice. They were Jewish and non-Jewish, young and old, ordinary people and leaders of state.

“I became obsessed with this treasure trove of wisdom and began organising the Rebbe’s insights on emotional health in a personal notebook. I then began applying them to my own life,” said Shmotkin.

“It was like a magnetic force pulling me from the darkness, a new window opening me to a brighter way of living. I felt a strong sense of gratitude.”

There were underlying themes to the letters and Shmotkin decided to distil several of them into a single volume that’s accessible to all.

The result was Letters for Life: Guidance for Emotional Wellness from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, published last July.

Shmotkin has travelled across North America and to Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, France, Finland, the UK and Israel before coming to South Africa.

He spent last weekend in Johannesburg, before flying to Cape Town.

“I had a fascinating conversation on Friday afternoon with a prominent South African business leader. He said the issue that occupies him most is the tormented soul of South Africa, the emotional struggle of black youth, the catalyst of which had been the apartheid government implementation of migrant labour which destroyed the rootedness and identity of families.

“I showed him a letter the Rebbe wrote in 1959, to a parent explaining his diagnosis of the upheavals of that time on the cusp of the ’60s. In the Rebbe’s words ‘peace of mind is dependent on inner security.’

The youth felt no anchor to their lives

Following the dramatic changes and disappointments of the first half of the 20th century, people were feeling existentially uprooted.

“The youth were struggling because they felt no anchor to their lives.”

Schneerson said the way for the youth to find their inner security was through connecting to tradition that was timeless, through faith in the transcendent that carries beyond political, cultural and technological winds and beyond the markets.

“The businessman asked me to mark the page of this letter in the book that I was giving him. The Rebbe’s words aligned precisely with what he felt was needed to heal South Africa’s soul.”

Letters for Life, guidance for emotional wellness from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is available from Chabad House Books, Long