Letter No. 5

To my friend,

I read your letter from after Shabbat of this week, and I find pleasure in your need to disclose the states that pass over time from letter to letter. Certainly, the Creator will open our eyes with His law.

My view on that is that you should do more in love of friends. It is impossible to achieve lasting love, unless through Dvekut [adhesion], meaning that you will unite the two of you with a tight bond. And this can be only if you try to “undress” the clothing in which the inner soul is placed—the clothing called “self-love”—for only this clothing separates two points. But if we go on the straight path, the two points, which are discerned as two lines that refute one another, become a middle line, which contains both lines together.

And when you feel that you are at war, each of you will know and feel that he needs the help of his friend, and without him, his own strength will weaken, too. Then, when you understand that you must save your life, each of you will forget that he has a body he must keep, and you will both be tied by the thought of how to use the enemy. Therefore, hurry, and the truth will show its way and you are certain to succeed.

And do continue corresponding.

Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag