Earlier this year, author Rabbi Levi Shmotkin gave a talk in Fresno, Calif., about the approach of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—to mental health and emotional wellness. Shmotkin had recently published a book on the subject, Letters for Life, and his talk drew on it. After most of the crowd had left the hall, a man stayed behind to speak to the young rabbi.
He told Shmotkin that he had not attended a Jewish event in many years. He had grown up in a typical Jewish family on the East Coast, attended Yale, and then spent years searching for the deeper meaning of life. During his journey he became immersed in Eastern spiritual traditions, eventually becoming a Buddhist priest.
Something about the Rebbe’s words on inner wellness had drawn him into the room that evening. Before he left, he asked the author if he could help him put on tefillin. It was the first time he had done so in decades.
The book which so deeply touched this Jewish soul in a small town in California, culls the Rebbe’s guidance towards peace of mind from the Rebbe’s countless correspondences on the subject, using that wisdom to provide modern readers an actionable guide. Since publication in 2024, Letters for Life has become an international bestseller.
What is it about letters written decades ago by a great rabbi to individuals in private pain that is resonating among people from all walks of life?
The First Person the Letters Reached
Rabbi Levi Shmotkin is a Chassidic scholar based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Long before he wrote a book about the wisdom in the Rebbe’s letters, he had developed his own personal relationship with them.
The Rebbe’s correspondences started being published in organized form in the 1980s in a Hebrew collection titled Igrot Kodesh. The collection of volumes now number well over 30 books, with years more of material set to publish..
During his teenage years, a time when many struggle emotionally, Shmotkin experienced a period of emotional numbness and disillusionment. He began studying the Rebbe’s letters with a particular eye towards guidance the Rebbe offered to individuals facing similar doubts and struggles. Quickly, the Rebbe’s correspondences became something more than just texts. They became tools for living.
One letter in particular stayed with him. It had been written to a college student in distress. The Rebbe guided the young man away from his excessive self-focus and towards looking outwards. By giving of himself and focusing on others, the student would find that his own worries would lose some of their hold, and most would eventually melt away on their own. Shmotkin later said that he cried when he read the letter. The idea remained with him for years before the project that became Letters for Life began to take shape.
Eventually, he reread nearly 20,000 of the Rebbe’s published letters and focused on roughly 2,000 of the ones that dealt with emotional and psychological struggles. Over five years, he studied, organized, and distilled them, highlighting recurring patterns in the Rebbe’s advice. Instead of a comprehensive anthology, he used their throughline to build a thematic guide to the Rebbe’s approach to emotional wellbeing.
The result was Shmotkin’s first book, Letters for Life: Guidance for Emotional Wellness from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, published in July 2024 by Kehot Publication Society and Ezra Press in connection with the Rebbe’s 30th yahrtzeit. In many ways, the first person the book reached and deeply impacted was the author himself.
Guidance Meant to Be Lived
Letters for Life is organized by theme rather than chronology, with chapters addressing common challenges of the inner life through excerpts from the Rebbe’s letters, explanations, stories, and brief “Takeaways” designed to help readers apply the ideas in their own lives. It is divided into two broad sections: “Essentials for a Healthy Life” focuses on preventative mindsets and habits such as turning outward, building spiritual stability, recognizing Divine providence, and developing a sense of mission, while “Overcoming Darkness” addresses more acute struggles such as worry, sadness, self-criticism, isolation, and despair.
Throughout, the Rebbe’s guidance is presented as deeply practical and pragmatic, but never simplistic. The book is careful to note that it is not a substitute for professional mental-health care, nor does it present every letter as universal advice for every situation. Rather, it seeks to draw out the repeating principles that appear again and again in the Rebbe’s private correspondence.
One of the practical suggestions Shmotkin now shares at events came from a reader who had already been going through the book and wanted to know how to live with its ideas more fully. Shmotkin suggested focusing on one chapter every two weeks. Too many ideas at once can remain abstract. One idea learned slowly and applied repeatedly, on the other hand, can begin to shape a person’s day, and eventually their lives.
Since the book’s release, Shmotkin estimates that he has spoken at roughly 200 events in some 150 cities across five continents, with a total attendance of approximately 15,000 to 16,000 people.
But the numbers are not what he emphasizes in his description of the book tour. He speaks instead about what happens after the lecture, when individuals come over to talk. Sometimes, they come with tears in their eyes, others, with a look of relief. They all share one story, one line, or one idea that was exactly what they needed to hear.
The book’s reach has stretched far beyond the usual book touring circuit. Shmotkin has now spoken in Chabad houses, synagogues, schools, college campuses, Jewish community centers, and private gatherings around the world. In Dubai, several months after Oct. 7, he encountered a community still processing the shock of that day. In schools and on campuses, teenagers and young adults have turned to the book and asked questions about anxiety, confidence, identity, and living a meaningful life. In larger communities, hundreds have come to hear how the Rebbe’s letters to individuals, written decades earlier, address the pressures of Jewish life today.
Early on, many people came simply because the topic sounded important, interesting, or novel. Increasingly, Shmotkin says, people arrive having already read the book. They come to deepen their approach to the Rebbe’s advice, to practically apply the advice from the letters, or help bring it into their own families and communities at large.
That is part of the broader story of Letters for Life; the tour is only one part of it. Multiple translations, media interviews, book clubs, podcasts, communities, classroom discussions, workbooks, and educational efforts have sprung out of the Rebbe’s letters. For many, it has become not just a book to read, but a framework to live your life with.
Everyone Has Something on Their Mind
At one event, in Abington, Pa., Shmotkin told a story from the book about Jerry Grafstein, a Jewish member of the Canadian Parliament. In his 60s, Grafstein shared with the Rebbe that he felt his best years were behind him. The Rebbe asked Grafstein whether he knew how old Moshe Rabbeinu was when he led the Jewish people out of Egypt. Grafstein did not know. The Rebbe told him that Moshe was 80 years old.
How, the Rebbe asked, could Grafstein speak as though his life of contribution was behind him? He was much younger than Moshe had been. He was only beginning.
After the talk, an 82-year-old man raised his hand and began to cry. He had been a criminal lawyer throughout his career and had recently retired. The same fear had been weighing on him: What now? Was his meaningful contribution behind him?
The story had reached him precisely where he was. He realized that he too could begin a new chapter, volunteer, serve others, and continue giving. Life was not over for him; in many ways, it was just starting.
In California, a coach who works with mothers developed a year-long program and workbook based on Letters for Life, helping groups of women study the ideas slowly and apply them to their lives. In Alaska’s Mat-Su Valley, a podcast series was created, with episodes dedicated to the chapters of the book. College students have responded to the Rebbe’s message with poems, videos, and personal reflections. Chabad emissaries have used the material in local classes and book clubs.
The book has reached people not only in moments of intense pain; it has reached mothers trying to parent with greater presence, students reflecting on identity, older adults entering new stages of life, and communities seeking a Torah language for emotional strength.
At one event in England, Shmotkin shared a story about the Rebbe’s guidance to someone in despair. A local rabbi later told him that one man in the audience had been listening with particular intent. Only the rabbi knew why: just days earlier, the man had come to him in a moment of acute crisis, and had just now heard the right message at the right time.
“We never know what people are carrying,” Shmotkin reflects.
The Rebbe’s approach, as presented in the book, consistently addresses the whole person rather than isolating the problem. One recurring theme is the need to turn outward: to become involved with others, contribute, participate in society, and avoid becoming trapped in self-entanglement. Another is the recognition of hashgachah pratis, Divine providence: that G‑d is actively engaged in every person’s life, regardless of where that person stands in society or how successful or unsuccessful he may feel at a given moment.
That message, Shmotkin believes, helps bridge the divide many people experience between their spiritual and emotional lives. Some have been taught to value their spiritual lives while giving little attention to emotional health; others see their emotional lives as divorced or even entirely unrelated to their spiritual lives. The Rebbe’s approach shows how interrelated they are.
Spiritual life, he says, is not in opposition to psychological health. When properly understood and internalized, it can become one of the strongest supports for “strength, fearlessness, confidence, joy, and emotional stability.”
From Book to Framework For Life
In Argentina, the Spanish edition of Letters for Life reached bestseller lists, reaching #5 in the country, introducing the Rebbe’s guidance on emotional wellness to a new audience and in a new language. The book has also been translated into Russian, Portuguese, German, and Italian, with other translations and editions in various stages of publication.
The book has also become part of a broader educational ecosystem. Chabad.org has featured video programming and live discussions based on its themes. A ChabadU course, “The Rebbe’s Private Counsel: Letters That Change Lives,” has helped bring the material into a structured learning format.
Now, Shmotkin says, one of the next major steps is creating a curriculum.
High schools and campuses have reached out asking for a classroom version of the material, one that can introduce young people to foundational Torah principles for emotional health before confusion or pain sets in. The effort, he says, is being developed with veteran educators and professionals.
It is, in his view, a form of preventative medicine: giving students language and tools for resilience before they need them urgently. This was at the core of the Rebbe’s approach to emotional wellbeing.
Another major project is a Hebrew edition shaped for the reality of Jewish life in Israel after Oct. 7. As the original manuscript was completed before the attacks, the book does not directly address the pain, trauma and upheaval that followed that terrible day. Shmotkin says the Hebrew edition is being developed with that reality in mind, with introductions by leading figures and with a desire to reach soldiers, bereaved families, families of hostages and others carrying the weight of the moment.
In Olympia, Wash., an elderly man listened to Shmotkin speak. After the event, he told him that for decades he had carried a dark thought: perhaps he was meant to be somewhere else, perhaps he should have become someone else. After hearing the Rebbe’s guidance, something shifted. “G‑d wants me here,” the man told him.
Shmotkin has not remained in touch with him. The tour moves quickly, from one city to the next. But the words stayed with him because they captured something he has seen repeatedly since Letters for Life began traveling.
The Rebbe’s letters were written to individuals, often in moments of crisis. Decades later, they have not stopped arriving. Again and again, they find the people that need them most, because though they were addressed to one person at a time, their message is a timeless one.
Start a Discussion