אמנות, רישום וציור

00:01 This is Igris. We are doing letters from sometimes exactly fifty years ago, sometimes exactly sixty years ago or forty years ago. We're all over the place, but that's great. That's what makes it more fun. And this letter I have, I have no idea when it was written. And the reason why I have no idea when it's written is because there's a long footnote on the bottom trying to figure out exactly what year this letter came out. But this appears to be a letter from Tes Zion Adar of Tuv Shin Lamed Dalet. And if it's Lamed Dalet, it would be how many years ago then? That'd be fifty years ago, right? Fifty? That'd put us at fifty. Well, it's written to somebody named Mostavi. I spent a lot of time looking for who this might be. Uh, I tried different English spellings, and I put it into the Etz HaChaim to see if anything else had been written about him. I don't know who this is. I don't know who this was. But, uh, if you know, please let me know. Uh, now we're at the end. This is a copy that was written to Yosef Mostavi, and it was written maybe in nineteen seventy-four. And there's a whole discussion here whether it was in October or not or where the, where the dates go. We're not getting into it. Uh, first thing the Rebbe writes. The Rebbe writes, "Bim ein zeman frilavadas betzur ve'veker bim einai v'shabbas v'yom tov." He says to him, "I want

01:03 you to continue doing what you're doing as long as it does not get in the way of your artwork, something that you're good at. You're good at making art, so I don't want it to get in the way of your art. And second of all, it can't be on Shabbos and Yom Tov." What this actually was is so much fun. It's below the line. He was asking about playing checkers. Said, "Main l'sheilas im yamshich lismachis misrach damakah." Uh, he was interested in playing checkers, and he was so good at playing checkers . They were flying him around the world to play checkers. Not chess, checkers. This was a checkers grandmaster who was, uh, who was going around the world playing checkers, and he asked the Rebbe, "Can I keep on playing competitive checkers?" So the Rebbe says back, "Yeah, you can play competitive checkers as long as two conditions. Condition number one, it doesn't get in the way of your work as an artist," which the Rebbe, as we'll see in a moment, felt was his real calling, not checkers. And second of all, that it's not gonna be on Shabbos and Yom Tov. So of course, you can't violate Halakha. What's really interesting here, though, is that somebody's writing to the Rebbe about two of their interests, and the Rebbe's saying, "One of your interests I don't think is your calling, so you can do it as long as it's not getting in the way of what your calling is. So, uh, you're interested

02:03 in checkers. That's great. But if it gets in the way of your painting, I'm not interested." Then he says, uh, "Thank you very much." Now, what's the Rebbe in the ? Thank you very much. What's the Rebbe thanking him for? We gotta look below the line again. Thank you very much the twenty-four Shas Achronis. In the past twenty-four hours, this artist had made a picture of the Rebbe, it sounds like. It's tziyyur, I think. That's a picture of the Rebbe. So he'd drawn or painted a picture of the Rebbe, and he wanted the Rebbe to receive this painting. So the Rebbe said, "Yeah, I got it. Thank you very much." "My minig here is that I only accept gifts if I'm allowed to pay with tzar bateila. I'm allowed to pay the money that was lost from your normal business by you making this thing." So which is included, which is twenty dollars. He said, "If you accept my twenty dollars that I'm giving you, then I will accept your drawing of me." Um, that sounds kinda funny now because twenty dollars isn't really tzar bateila, but nineteen seventy-four it might have been. I don't know what twenty dollars was worth in nineteen seventy-four. Not as mu-- it's certainly a lot more than it is today. Maybe that's tzar bateila. For even nowadays for an artist, that's generous tzar bateila. Twenty dollars. In any event, it says down here, the Rebbe says, "Since you have been given by Hashgacha Yena, that Hashem himself decided to

03:11 give you an incredible talent for art , therefore you should be using it to spread Yiddishkeit, true Yiddishkeit, and all of its inyonim." "I want you to consult with other people." Apparently, this guy was French. "Consult with other people living in France who are Yedidim. They're your friends, and yirat shamayim, and they fear heaven. Shevinu ech, and they will help you understand how you can channel your artwork," which again is and that is that he was given a talent by Hashgacha Yena to be involved in art, how you can channel that toward, uh, toward the cause of Yiddishkeit. the Rebbe says God should give-- the Rebbe says that God should give you success in all of these things that I've just mentioned. And be'ikar, apparently this guy wasn't married yet. He should have success in finding a shidduch, who's yirat shamayim, who can build his life on Torah and mitzvah. And I would love to tell you more about the story of this individual, but as I told you, I looked around. I don't know the artist. I don't know the person. I don't know what happened after this. What we do see from here is the Rebbe telling somebody that he knows he's identifying a talent in art and telling them, "I want you to really double, triple down in that talent. Use it for Yiddishkeit, but also use it over other things. If you have a choice between playing checkers and investing in your passion, talent as an artist, I want you to

04:16 invest in your art." This is actually something that happens a lot. We have, uh, several stories that's been featured on, uh, on, on, on Gem and on, uh, on my stories. Artists-- Several artists got their starts through the Rebbe. I'm not gonna tell their stories today. We're just gonna go through the letters where the Rebbe writes to artists. But there are several artists who, uh, who either got their start or were encouraged or were given money by the Rebbe to learn art. The Rebbe very much was a, uh, a patron of the arts, not in the conventional sense. I don't think the Rebbe objectively supports artwork in as, in, as it is. But, uh, the Rebbe values people who are good at it and is well-- and is ready to push people into it if they have-- show some talent for it. So we have here a longer letter. This letter is labeled Tes Re- Tes Tov Reish Samech Tes. That is Tes Tov Reish Samech Tes. It's from Tuv Shin Chaf Tes, Beis Nissan. It's written to Ruth Ratner. I also am not sure who that is, although there are some Ruth Ratners around. I, I'm not sure which one it is. In any event, she's an artist, and the Rebbe writes to her. It took a while, but I received your letter, and there you ask how to understand the Pasuk, "Le'sas la'chapes of chol t'munah." You ask me, how should she understand the Pasuk that says that you're not supposed to make

05:17 pictures of God or pictures of anything, right? "Bechol t'munah asher bashamayim ma'aleh ve'aratz mitachas." That would seriously limit the average artist if you're not able to make pictures of anything. "Ve'she'eles gam ken ayesh hevda mehusi venatzir ve'amuzika." She also asks, is there a significant difference, is a significant, a significant difference between drawing and music as expressions of art? So she's asking the Rebbe some pretty artsy questions. The Rebbe says, "Im venagele ad din halacha meisa nichla b'pasuk amar tuchlis v'adam rabi sriva sa im kapranti venani meisa." If you want to know the dinim of what you can draw, what you can't draw, what you can sculpt, what you can't sculpt, these are dinim. You ask a Rav, you don't ask the Rebbe. He says, "Ask your local Orthodox rabbi." That is, ask a Rav in your area, and he'll give you all the details. "Ve'rak ese," but I do want to add something, says the Rebbe. "Mikuri karish tzira tze'eres yesh lam shetach achika dol lenatza kishreines ehav meluyim belinim ge'ebedina Torah." There is a way to, uh, to really seize your kishreines and fulfill your talents completely within the realm of Torah without violating any, without violating any Torah laws when you draw. Drawing is one of the best ways to express your true talent, and it doesn't need to violate halacha. "Shetoresh chaim," which is, of course, the living Torah, which you would not be violating. "Perish," what do I mean by this? "Hara b'chaim p'shut b'alma zeh." That is a simple hara

06:25 in your life in this world. "Shehu chaim roim lishmam b'chol ha'bonim." What it means that the Torah is a Torah is chaim, is that the Torah is the thing that teaches us how to live a regular life in this world and a life that is worthy of being called, uh, of being called life in the first place. "Va-ad Rebbe," anyway, the Rebbe is telling her in, in so many words, "You will not have to violate Torah to do this." This is a good thing that you're drawing, and you won't have to violate Torah to do it well. Torah is Torah is chaim. "Va-ad Rebbe," to the contrary, "b'kayach hatzir," it's not just-- I guess what, what she's asking in this letter near the beginning is she's sort of saying that she's worried about, uh, worried that she might be avidav ha-zohar if she draws certain things, might be making, might be making idols. The Rebbe's saying, "Your talent, your, your gift for art is not something that's a stir to the Torah, and there's totally a way to do it within a normal life." And he says, "Don't think of it as a negative thing." "Va-ad Rebbe," to the contrary, "b'kayach hatzir efshar lehesif chayis ve'havana ve'asaga b'emek yesivina ne'edem ha'chlal." Using your power of being able to draw things, your power of art or whatever art she was using, your art is something that you can use to increase chayis and to increase, uh, uh, energy and havana and asaga and understanding in the

07:22 depth of what Hashem made in this world in the first place. Though I do think that a lot of people either hesitate to go into art or are hesitant about art in frum circles, in Hasidisha circles, because it's, it's one of those fields that sort of has hanging around it the possibility of doing things that are aser, either drawing things that are aser or being involved in things that are aser. There, there, there's concerns around art, and the Rebbe's saying, "I don't, I don't understand the concerns around art." "Ad Rabba," to the contrary, in art is the power to do a lot of things we can't do without art. "Uvmi uchana vana pnimis b'divrei nayim izmiris Yisrael." You can really understand the divrei nayim izmiris Adonai Elokeinu Hashem, that, that is David HaMelech talking, that when David HaMelech says, "How great are your wonders, Hashem. Ma rabu masach Hashem. How many are your wonders, Hashem." Uh, this is something that can really be expressed perhaps best through somebody who knows how to capture it in art. "Vaydekach ve'kavo ha-ha'aratz ve'chaved yviras ve'lemos ve'beri sparach ve'fanifla." And by looking at certain works of art, if somebody's really good at drawing a certain scenery or, uh, I don't know, the ocean or the sky, they can inspire somebody to really come to understand the greatness, the exaltation of Hashem in a fanifla, in a wondrous way. So the Rebbe's saying here, "I think that art can be used as a kind of hisbonenos. If you do it

08:24 well, it can get you into tefillah, can help you understand, uh, begin to understand the greatness of Hashem." Uh, it's a, it's a positive thing that can be used positively. "Yesh kama sichas m'kav ha'kudushim meirach amain meir." The Rebbe says there are many sichas from the Friediker Rebbe. "Adavi tzaddash mus ve'amaka shehayu etz ha'kav ha'kudushim aviv k'sheratz yoreh ma'aseh de'uman." There's many sichas where the Friediker Rebbe talks about how impressed his father, the Rebbe Rashab, was every time he saw artwork, that he would go to museums, and he would look at, uh, he would look at paintings, and he'd be very impressed by certain paintings. "Vatki dekach lemen hashech y'kidu ad kamei hai yakir lai kol rega." It was very dear to the Rebbe Rashab every single moment. Nonetheless, "Bechol zeh, b'Yes b'Paris," when he was in Paris, "Hiktish kamei shais b'baca b'Louvre." He went to visit the Louvre. He went-- How do you say that in English? Louvre? The Louvre? Louvre? Louvre? I know what it is. Louvre. Louvre, Louvre. I think you have to, like- Louvre ...roll the R at the end, right? Lou-- I, I know the word. I'm just not pronouncing it- Louvre ...well. The-- Where the Mona Lisa is, the Louvre, the very famous French museum. So when the Rebbe Rashab was in Paris, he visited the Louvre. That's-- Even though every moment to him was precious. "V'yachad ma'achlak ha'tziyurim," and, uh, "v'yachad ma'achlak b'tziyurim," ma'acha-- He also went to the section that was, uh, dedicated to painting, so he

09:25 wasn't just there for, like, research purposes. He was there to look at paintings. "V'achach si fa le'binayom ma'aleh mekameh." Then he told his son, who would one day take over for him, "Hu kav ha'kudushim meirach amain meir," which is the Friediker Rebbe. "Yidanim be'chasidus sh'natsanu be'eres ve'staka b'tziyurim." The things he pulled out in chasidus, the chasidus that he taught based on the things he saw. It's very interesting. You gotta wonder how much chasidus of the Rebbe Rashab we owe to the fact that he visited a museum one time. It's, uh-- He said that he pulled in yadanim chasidus out of this. Obviously, he published them, right? He spoke them. We might be learning chasidus nowadays that came, uh, that was inspired initially from paintings that the Rebbe Rashab saw in a museum. So the Rebbe's really pushing again-- pushing back against this idea that you need to shy away from art because it has problems of "Le'sas la'chapes of chol t'munah." Obviously, ask a Rav how to do it right, but to be afraid of the entire discipline, the discipline, it's an, is an avenue toward chasidus. The Rebbe Rashab was inspired in chasidus itself through his artwork. "V'kvas yishuv am etzata ha'pasuk ha'amor, shuvat tilas haseras ha'dibris," Shem you said, "Kol terakula ad ha'psuk pisuka halacha b'terish ba'peach ki ach reinis. Marashim ve'saderes chayayesh timid le'hadas halacha zeh u." The Rebbe says, "I hope that your concern with violating one of the Ten Commandments, as you mentioned at the very beginning, reflects the fact

10:27 that you are concerned with halacha in general and leading a halachic life." "Ve'ezem pnimis amitias," and I'm hoping you're doing this in an internal way and in a true way. "Uvraj zeh ma'sfim temetafkidah shatziya le'chlayit unser pnimis ani onesh metzayer," especially since the job of an artist is to capture the innermost dimensions of something that they are drawing. "V'ad leifin shafil uzesh en atzayer gam ken yargish ve'pnimis hadavar," and so a person needs to, "V'ad leifin shafil uzesh en atzayer." Gam ken, ya gisha panei basar. Even somebody who's not painting, somebody observing, will be able to understand the pnimius of a thing. So the Rebbe's i-identifying here what an artist is, saying what an artist does is they capture what something really is, the truth of a thing, the internal, the internal status of a thing, and then paints it in such a good way that even somebody who's not an artist and not doing the drawing can also see the truth of this thing, which is of co-of course, incredibly powerful. But the Rebbe is saying, "I hope you're teche kibari. I hope you're, uh, you're the real deal, because it can be real hard for you to capture the reality of things and convey it to people if you're not real." Veyuda tzetash behevas divav kivan amar. I hope you're able to, it should be God's will, says the Rebbe, that you'll be able to have an impact on your surrounding area in the way that we've discussed, obviously in spreading Torah and

11:27 tzedakah. Hashba b'vin matim ayedi dibur matimim. You will have an effect in a way that is productive, in a way that is healthy, uh, in a, i- using things that are matim, using things that match the situation, that are healthy themselves. Vikar ayedi yeser dug machayah. And the main way by being a good example, and he gives her a bracha. So I think we actually get from this one letter a, a ton on how the Rebbe sees art, the potential of art, and what art can do. And the Rebbe is of course right. He, he doesn't need my haskama. The Rebbe is of course right that the Friediker Rebbe mentions in writing a lot of times the power of art and the power of painting. I pulled one up on the screen just 'cause it's the shortest one. It's by no means the most thorough one. This is, uh, in Yigris from the Friediker Rebbe. He says, "Me'ad varam gorim einag nefesh v'al tziluseh hir'as tzir nah." He says, "One of the things that can create a true einag nefesh, a true spiritual delight, is seeing a good painting." This is the Friediker Rebbe talking in a letter. One of the most amazing things you can do for your neshamah is to see a painting done well, a drawing done well. Klini dinama shermetayah v'alkishra nayis niflah hukasha yakmaseh tamid lebezir ezir taveh. We know how somebody who's talented in this area is able to really express themselves, and he describes what he's talking about.

12:28 He's not talking about paintings of, like, Jewish stars or this, uh, or this Kabbalah stuff you get in spas where it's supposed to be, I don't know, names of Hashem. Like good, good Jewish paintings. He's saying when you see a sadah zruah, when somebody paints a planted field, a tuasa, when they paint landscapes, uh, that is being, uh, karas ve-ve-ve-ve-berech l'ruach hayyam. He's-- writes so poetically. When it's bending in the wind of the day. Ayem achaz galey hayyam. You see the, the crests of oceans on the s- at the sea. The Friediker Rebbe is not describing, you know, traditional, uh, traditional-- He's not describing paintings of the Alter Rebbe. He's saying here that when you see a beautiful landscape, it's one of the most en- one of the most enjoyable things that the soul can have. Or shekiyas hashemesh, or the setting of the sun, or zrichas yareach, or the rising of the moon. These are the things that the Friediker Rebbe is describing as the most beautiful paintings in the entire world. So to give you an idea of the fact that the Rebbe did not initiate this interest in art, this goes back to the Friediker Rebbe, the Rebbe Rashab, Aderabbeyim, have a real appreciation for a good-- for a, for a well-done landscape. There are a couple, uh, English letters that I wanted to show you. Uh, this one is originally in English. It was written by the grace of God on the fifth of Kislev in fifty-seven twenty-eight. So that would

13:30 be what? Nineteen sixty-eight. Sixty-eight. Yeah, I think sixty-eight. Eighteen would be fifty-eight. Sixty-eight. So it's written to Mr. Dot dot dot in Detroit, Michigan, and the Rebbe says, "Greeting and blessing." Gonna skip down here a little bit. He says that the-- this person just became the chair of an exhibition of Hasidic art and, uh, "I was pleased to note that you were enthusiastic about accepting this task." Wanna go down to the part that we want. He tells him to make sure that he impacts his surrounding area and makes everybody closer to Yiddishkeit. Okay. "I would like to take this opportunity to make a further point, which I had occasion to mention to our very distinguished friend, Mr. Chaim Yaakov Lipshitz, who I'm glad to note is going to open the exhibition. I have known Mr. Lipshitz for many years. I know of a sincere interest in all good things. The point is that those who have been divinely gifted in art, whether sculpture or painting and the like..." Note here, the Rebbe allows sculpture. You can imagine that, uh, I, I, I mean, I-- there was no real reason to believe that he wouldn't, but if there's anything that's sort of idol-ish, it would definitely be sculpture, not painting. So the Rebbe says, the Rebbe says here, "Those who have been divinely gifted in art, whether sculpture or painting and the like, have the privilege of being able to convert an inanimate thing such as a brush, paint, and canvas or wood and stone, et

14:33 cetera, into a living form." That's quite a, uh, quite a descriptor of what it is to do art. He's saying that they can take inanimate things and give them life. Sounds a little bit like what Hashem does. In a deeper sense, it is the ability to transform to a certain extent the material into spiritual. What they're really doing is they're taking something that is material, that is gashmius, and they're turning it into ruchnius, 'cause there's a life to a painting and there isn't a life to ink. Even where the creation is still life-- is still-- is in still life, excuse me. Even where the creation is in still life, that is even when you're not making something in motion, you can draw a painting of, I don't know, a horse running, and it looks like the horse is moving. But you can also draw the classic still life painting is a, is a bowl of fruit, right? And the fruit's sitting still. It's a still life. It's not supposed to move. Nonetheless, you're taking something that isn't alive, which is, I don't know, ink, canvas, and turning it into a piece of fruit that looks living, looks real. And certainly where the artistic work has to do with living creatures and humans, certainly when something's in motion, even if it-- when it's not in still life, certainly you're taking something, uh, that is, uh, that is deimem, that is gashmius, and turning it into something that is, uh, that is ruchnistik and that, uh, has

15:25 a chayus to it. How much more so if the art medium is used to advance ideas, especially reflecting Torah and mitzvahs, which would raise the artistic skill to its highest level. So any artist, even if they're not doing frum things, they're just making art, they're sort of doing magic, the Rebbe says. I am paraphrasing of course. But there's a certain magic to art all by itself. But when that art is meant to express ideas and Torah and mitzvahs, this raises it to a super kind of magic, to an artistic skill to its highest level. And he says, indeed, this is the ultimate purpose of the exhibition. This is a random art exhibition. I guess it's a Hasidic art exhibition, but this is, uh, the, this is the ultimate purpose of the Hasidic art exhibition, which hopefully will impress and inspire the viewers with higher emotions and concepts of Yiddishkeit imbued with the spirit of Hasidus and make them two vehicles of disseminating Yiddishkeit in their own environment, and particularly through the educational institutions. So here the Rebbe is saying that I hope that that's what this exhibition does, that it brings people closer to Yiddishkeit. He gives a bracha. May God grant that the exhibition be a complete success in all its stages, preparation, duration, lasting effectiveness. May the merit of it stand to you and all concerned with this effort in good stead. And he gives a lot of brachas and says-- And we have at the end the Rebbe's signature. I wanna show

16:23 you one more letter. This letter is actually originally in Yigris, and the reason why I'm showing you their English translation is because the letter in Yigris is, like, twenty-five pages long, and on chabad.org here, they pulled just the part that I wanted, and it was easier than going through and pulling the parts out myself. So we are going to read an English translation of a letter that was originally written in Yiddish in chaf daled adar beis of yud alef, if you want. Actually, now even if you don't want, I will believe that they've put the original letter in the, uh, in the In the group so you can read the original. So the Rebbe writes here to an artist. This is to an artist who's depressed, somebody who's not happy about their art. So up until now, we've been talking to, uh-- We've seen the Rebbe talk to artists and tell them how important their work is. You probably know that all great artists are broken inside or else they can't be very good at what they do. So here the Rebbe writes to a depressed artist. He says, "I was extremely happy to read that you're working with your artistic talents and preparing to hold an exhibition, and you've already received favorable reviews in the press. Surely you will progress in the utilization of the talent that Hashem has granted you toward the strengthening of Yiddishkeit and God-fearing behavior." So first of all, classic Rebbe when it comes to art. I'm glad you're using

17:23 your talent. It comes from Hashem. I hope you use it for Yiddishkeit. "But to the point of your letter, you complain about your circumstances, your depression, your despair, et cetera, and express the wish that we should meet so we can discuss the matter face to face." So the Rebbe says, "What does a..." You guys have been in this, so we, we, we've done this together for long enough. When someone says they're sad and wants to meet the Rebbe face to face, what does he always say? "You don't need to meet me face to face." This is across the board. You never get to... I, I've never seen a letter where somebody says to the Rebbe, "I need to meet you. I, I have something to discuss," and the Rebbe says, "Please, come right over." You just never get those, even in the early years. The Rebbe says, "This can be handled, this can be handled, uh, through, uh, this can be handled through, uh, through letters." Uh, "For two good friends to get together is always a positive thing and a spiritual pleasure for them both. But to put off the resolution of your problem until then, in the meantime, remain in a state of despair, who can allow such a thing?" So the Rebbe says, "Fine, meet me whenever you want, but we can't wait to solve your problem until you meet me," which I think is a, is, is, uh, is a bigger lesson here. I think you couldn't fabric about this. Is

18:13 the Rebbe's advice here is that, "Yeah, I will solve your problems eventually, but you can't wait to solve your problems until you get to me. It'll be nice to see you, but don't expect me to clean up your messes. Clean up your messes now, and then I'll meet you, but go catch me, and we'll, we'll two g-- two friends getting together will be a positive thing and spiritual pleasure. But I'm not here to clean up your, um, to clean up your act. You clean up your act." "You don't write of the causes that bring you to this state of mind, so I can't go into the details to show you that these causes are imaginary and stem from the Yetzer Hara." I love this. He says, "You're not telling me what's wrong, so I can't demonstrate that it's always the same thing, which is imaginary and from the Yetzer Hara. If you have a problem, it's made up and it's from the Yetzer Hara, but I can't tell you exactly how because you're not telling me exactly why you're so upset. That is, even if there's some substance to them, the fact that they lead to despair and depression is always folly. It's always wrong if they're leading to depression and despair, so it must be that, uh, that they're coming from an evil place and that they're not real. But I can't prove that until you give me the details." Just every line of this is a, is a, is a novel approach to

19:04 problems. You see that? This, this one's crazy. Crazy in a good way, of course. "I must therefore confine myself to general comment, which I hope will illuminate your particular situation. My comment is based on the saying by the Baal Shem Tov that the Frieda Knebe would repeat that a person can derive a lesson from anything he sees or hears," and here we come back to art. "As you are surely aware, the primary talent of an artist is his ability to step away from the externalities of a thing, disregard its outer form, and gaze into its innerness and perceive its essence and be able to convey that in his painting." This is very much what the Rebbe said to our prior artists. Remember, the Rebbe said this to, uh, to this Russ Radner over here too-- Ratner over here too, that what an artist primarily does is they notice the excuse me, not that one. It was down here. Uh, but it was that. It was that they see the pnefius of a thing, that they can see the internal aspect of something. They don't get caught up in the outside part, and they're able to convey that to somebody else. Where was that idea? Down here. The Rebbe says down here, That is that the tafkid of a person who draws is to convey the pnefius of it until the fact that the, uh, that even somebody who's not an artist can, can, can understand the pnefius of a thing. So he-- the Rebbe says

20:08 here almost the exact same thing, which is that the talent of an artist is to step away from the chitseinius of a thing, disregarding its chitseinius and looking at its pnefius and perceiving its etzem, its essence, and to convey this in his painting. Thus, the object is revealed as it has never been seen before. You understand an apple the way you never understood an apple if an artist does a good job on an apple since its inner content was obscured by secondary things. Normally, what something really is is covered over by all the chitseinius of it. An artist finds the pnefius of it and draws it so that you don't notice the chitseinius that was getting in your way. You can see what something really is. The artist exposes the essence of the thing he portrays, causing the one who looks at the painting to perceive it in another truer light and to realize that his prior perception was deficient. This is what an artist is according to the Rebbe, somebody who gazes the inner form, pulls it out, and shows people what they were missing the entire time. And this is one of the foundations of man's service to his creator. This is one of the main things we do with Hashem. As we know from the Torah, particularly from Chassidus, that the entirety of creation stems from the word of God, and the word of God is what brings it into existence and sustains it at every moment in time. We know this,

21:03 that the Dibbur Elion of Hashem, it, uh, talks the world into being at all moments, and only the divine power of Tzimtzum holds the Chayayus of the world in a state of concealment and obscurity, and we perceive only its outer form. But the Rebbe's saying in this paragraph-- Sometimes English is harder than every-- uh, harder than the original. What the Rebbe's saying in this paragraph is that everything is Hashem, of course, but there's a Tzimtzum, there's a constriction that's hidden. We don't always see because the chitseinius of this world, we don't always perceive the pnefius, the reality of this world, which is only God. Our mission in life, based on the simple faith that there is no one else besides Him, is that we should approach everything in life from this perspective. We are supposed to approach life seeing that there is a chitseinius and pnefius to this world, and looking away from the chitseinius or ignoring the chitseinius, sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently, so that we can perceive the pnefius of it, that we should each strive to reveal as much as possible the divine essence in everything and to minimize to the extent we're able its concealment by the externalities of creation. So what the Rebbe is telling him here is that the job of an artist and the job of a Jew are essentially the same. That is, a Jew's job is to notice the pnefius of a thing, to remove the chitseinius of that thing so people can note the pnefius of

22:01 it and recognize it, and not just pull out the pnefius, but make it accessible to somebody, even somebody who's not schooled in that particular art form. So one must take great care that secondary and external matters should not obscure the essentials of life and its ultimate purpose. And of course, the Rebbe's point, since this person is upset and this person says they're having problems, is you can't let the chitseinius get in the way, especially an artist can't let the chitseinius get in the way. Your job is to not let chitseinius get in the way. A person might experience difficulties, trials, and challenges in separating the good from the bad. These are but the means by which to achieve the purpose of life that a soul should elevate through positive deeds in this world. One must never allow the difficulties in observe-- in, in overcoming one's trials, or even the fact that one might occasionally fail and stumble, to overwhelm the joy that one must feel as a child of Hashem. So what we've looked at today is several letters from the Rebbe capturing what he feels about art. I didn't wanna focus today on the Rebbe interacting with artists specifically. That's its own shiur probably 'cause there's so much on that. But here the Rebbe's just talking about how he and the Frieda Knebe, how the Rebbe Rashab see art, and their p-- and their perception of art is incredibly positive. Uh, not just positive, but, uh, but giving a primacy to it that you

22:58 would not expect. The-- We learned that the Rebbe Rashab, uh, was inspired in some of the Chassidus that he composed, put together, taught from things that he saw in museums. We saw that the Frieda Knebe thinks that, uh, by staring at certain landscapes, you get an ultimate ein, ein nefesh. We saw really, probably most importantly, 'cause it shows up again and again from the Rebbe, that what a painter is doing is fundamentally what Chassidus is supposed to do, what a Jew is supposed to do, that our jobs in this world is to find the pnefius, the innermost part of something, reveal it to everybody and, and, uh, and make it accessible to everybody, and that that's what an artist is fundamentally doing. The Rebbe therefore encourages artists to continue in their work, of course. of course, after asking a Rav how to do it properly. But the Rebbe wants artists, especially people who have the talent to do art, to really throw themselves into it and to use it for Yiddishkeit and to use it to show the pnefius of all things. And of course, going back to our main letter, that is that if you're, uh-- our first letter of the day, if somebody is very good at art and they are being distracted by other interests, the Rebbe goes so far as to tell them, "I want you to drop those other interests and throw yourself into what you're really good at." As the Rebbe tells this, uh, checkers master who's traveling around

23:56 the world playing checkers, clearly quite good at it if they're flying him around to play checkers. And nonetheless, the Rebbe tells somebody who's going on international travel to do something that he's clearly good at that, uh, you can only do it if it's not gonna get in the way of your real talent, which is in art. So it sounds also like we might be able to pull out of this letter and certainly out of the Rebbe's great interest in art that somebody who finds themselves with a talent for art, at the very least, should not sit on it. It's not something that the Rebbe wants buried under or done on occasion, you know, between other things. The Rebbe wants you to throw yourself into art if it's something that you have. Okay, that's it. Thank you very much.