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The following is a freely-translated excerpt
from a letter by the Rebbe dated Iyar 3, 5715 (April 25,
1955):[1]
I was pleased to read that you have begun your holy work in the field of education...
May the Almighty grant that you not be overwhelmed by the initial difficultiesas
per the saying of our sages All beginnings are difficult[2]that
you will experience. On the contrary: these should arouse in you added vigor
and provoke hidden potentials.
Among the advances of medical science in recent times was the discovery of
certain vaccines. In order that the body should be able to
resist certain aggressive diseases, G-d forbid, it is injected
with a similar and weaker specimen of the same disease; by
this means, the body creates weapons and defenses against
this disease, which prevent it from ever invading it. The
same is true regarding spiritual medicine (as Maimonides,
in his famed Eight Chapters, makes the correlation
between physical and spiritual healing). By encountering a
weak, so-called hindrance, the soul creates weapons
and defenses with which to vanquish true hindrances and difficulties...
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[1]. Igrot Kodesh, vol. XI, p. 58.
[2]. Mechilta on Exodus 19:5.
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