Letter No. 49

To the students, may the Lord be upon them:

While I trust you to keep your commitment to devotedly observe every utterance I utter in Torah and Mitzvot, I order you to begin to love one another as yourselves with all your might, to ache with the friends’ pains, and rejoice in the friends’ joys as much as possible. I hope that you will keep these words of mine and execute this matter to the fullest.

I received the letters and everything in them, but at the moment I cannot answer in person. And besides what I have already replied to each and every one in the previous letters, I promise to speak more elaborately.

Concerning the abovementioned order, I mean specifically among the friends, because it is written, “your friend.” About people from the outside, it requires much scrutiny because there is more to lose than to gain due to their clinging to corporeality and self-importance, and among the friends this must never be accepted; be very careful.

Awaiting salvation for it is close...

Yehuda