Letters for Life inspired by Rebbe’s words of wisdom

When Rabbi Levi Shmotkin speaks about the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s letters, he doesn’t just relay their content, he inhabits them. Sitting across from him, it’s clear that he’s internalised every line, every response, every blessing. His words are deliberate, his thoughts deep, as though each question posed to him travels through the prism of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s teachings before forming an answer.

Shmotkin, 27, from New York, has been in South Africa to introduce his book, Letters for Life: Guidance for Emotional Wellness from the Lubavitcher Rebbe. But for him, this visit is more than a book tour, it’s the continuation of a deeply personal journey that began years ago, when he started poring over the Rebbe’s vast correspondence.

“I didn’t set out to write a book,” he says. “I just started reading – really reading – the letters, not as philosophical texts, but as intimate responses to real human pain and struggle.”

The book is based on thousands of letters that were written by the Rebbe to individuals from all walks of life grappling with loss, fear, depression, identity crises, and confusion. Over 40 years, the Rebbe answered countless personal letters – handwritten pleas and queries from people going through personal struggle, looking for advice and guidance. The multi-volume collection of letters, called the igrot kodesh (holy letters), covers a vast range of topics. Shmotkin focuses on those dealing with mental health and wellness.

Shmotkin immersed himself in this archive, identifying key themes regarding emotional well-being, and extracting timeless advice and tools rooted in Jewish spirituality.

A project five years in the making, Letters for Life has already made waves in the mental health community. Esteemed Holocaust survivor, psychologist, and bestselling author, Dr Edith Eger, described it as “powerful guidance, sure to enrich the emotional life of all who read it”.

Each chapter tackles recurring emotional challenges such as anxiety, grief, depression, insecurity, and loneliness, pairing carefully selected letters with practical tools and reflection. “What makes the work relevant is the emotional clarity the letters offer in an increasingly noisy and hostile world,” Shmotkin says.

When asked how the Rebbe guided people experiencing antisemitism, Shmotkin says, “The Rebbe encouraged people to double down on their Jewishness. To be proud. Do a mitzvah. Light Shabbos candles. Put on tefillin. Root yourself. That connection to your heritage is your anchor in a world that may feel like it’s turning against you.”

One passage from the book reads, “People of any minority, especially one that consistently faces prejudice and hostility, are prone to feeling small and inferior. The antidote to these toxic complexes lies in embracing one’s Jewishness by proudly practicing Judaism. When they are at peace with who they are, they are naturally at peace with the world around them.”

That message resonates deeply in the South African context, where many Jews, particularly since 7 October 2023, have felt exposed and isolated. Shmotkin believes that in such moments, the Rebbe’s letters become lifelines. “He wasn’t just responding to the situation at hand. He was always anchoring people in something bigger than themselves, something eternal.”

One of the most moving letters in the book was written to a university student battling emotionally. The Rebbe’s advice was blunt, but filled with love:

“You are much too wrapped up with yourself. The way to cope with such an emotionally charged situation is to stop trying to cope. Think of others. Give, and give generously.”

Amid the thousands of letters Shmotkin read, he focused on about 2 000 that spoke directly to emotional struggles. He found the Rebbe’s approach to mental health to be spiritual and practical. He didn’t minimise suffering. He met people where they were – in fear, in despair – and gently pulled them toward wholeness. “He often told people: you’re not the only one feeling this way. Others have been here. You’re not alone.”

This sense of shared human experience is at the heart of the book. “When people realise they’re not isolated in their pain,” Shmotkin says, “it creates a sense of belonging in a time of alienation. That’s vital for emotional health.”

Letters for Life also explores how self-talk shapes our internal world. One of the Rebbe’s core messages, repeated in letter after letter, is that people aren’t defined by their worst moments. “We’re bigger than our current darkness,” Shmotkin says. “It’s a place we’re in, not who we are.”

In one poignant exchange, the Rebbe wrote to a young woman expressing despondency and lack of purpose. “Understandably, I do not agree at all with the foundations upon which you construct your views of yourself. And your subsequent conclusions. By this I mean that I believe them to not be grounded in reality. Your current state of mind is only temporary, and the more effort you put in, the quicker it will change.”

The Rebbe urged her to continue her studies and channel energy into helping others, particularly through education and community involvement. Every person, he writes, has unique potential and talents meant to better the world. Step by step, through learning and doing, she can find meaning and fulfilment.

South African audiences had the chance to hear Shmotkin unpack these themes in person when he spoke in Johannesburg and Cape Town recently. Rabbi David Masinter, the director of Chabad of Johannesburg, called his visit “an honour”, and described the book as “an intriguing look into cultivating mental health, something so needed in these uncertain times”.

Though Letters for Life isn’t intended as a substitute for therapy or professional mental health treatment, it offers something uniquely profound: a Jewish framework for resilience, dignity, and inner peace. It’s a call to action, not only to feel better, but to live better. “And sometimes, that begins with something as simple as a mitzvah,” says Shmotkin.

In the book’s introduction, Shmotkin, who never met the Rebbe nor received a letter from him, makes it clear this isn’t a biography or a definitive collection. Rather, it’s a deeply personal and accessible compilation of “practical tools, culled from the Rebbe’s counsel, to regular individuals in real time, on how to walk through life with confidence and serenity”. His goal wasn’t to interpret the Rebbe’s words, but to distil recurring themes that speak directly to the heart of modern emotional struggles.

As he closes this chapter of his journey, Shmotkin hopes the book will continue to offer a quiet voice of reassurance in a noisy world, a gentle reminder that even in our most difficult moments, there’s strength to be found, direction to be taken, and a higher purpose to return to.