Changing Winter to Spring
1 Iyar, 5711 [1951]
This is to acknowledge your letter of Nisan 13, and to thank you for your good wishes for Pesach [Passover]. I trust you had an enjoyable and inspiring Yom Tov.
Pesach ushers in sunny and warm springtime. In nature, spring brings forth to the surface the natural forces which were hidden during the winter, and out come the blossoms, which turn into ripe fruits later on.
Applying this idea to the human element, there can be a state of "winter" of apparent unproductivity in the life of a person. But no Jewish man or Jewish woman should consider themselves -- and certainly should not be considered by others -- as having terminated their usefulness, even though a long time of fruitlessness has elapsed.
Given the proper inspiration and stimulus, the state of "winter" can easily and suddenly be changed into "spring" and blossom time, which will eventually ripen into good fruits for G-d and man.
The significance of "springtime" in Jewish life is suggested by the festival of Pesach which we have just celebrated, as indicated in the Torah: "You are going forth (from Egypt) this day, in the month of spring."
For two hundred and ten years the children of Israel lived in Egypt, in physical and spiritual slavery, stagnating in the abominations of Egypt. It did not seem that there could be a revival of Jewish life. Yet, there came the Exodus in the middle of the month of spring, and the children of Israel were quite free, so free in fact that in a very short time they became worthy of receiving the Torah -- the zenith and completeness of the entire universe.
