April 1, 2025

Levi Y. Shmotkin didn’t set out to write a book when he began poring through the correspondence of the Rebbe,Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994). He started with a notebook. The notebook eventually became “Letters for Life: Guidance for Emotional Wellness from the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”

“I started reading his letters, written to real human beings going through real experience in life,” Shmotkin told the Journal. “I’m not just reading letters to someone else. Some of these lines are coming off the page and becoming alive to me.”

He described the research and writing phase as “much harder than expected.” Shmotkin first read the Rebbe’s letters years ago, before his Bar Mitzvah—it would become a daily habit. 

During his time in Yeshiva, Shmotkin had gone through a period of emotional numbness and disillusionment. It was then that he started rediscovering the Rebbe’s letters — not as lofty philosophy but as grounded guidance —he began jotting down insights that felt practically useful. Shmotkin re-read all 20,000 of the Rebbe’s published letters. During the next dive, he focused on about 2,000 that dealt directly with emotional struggle.

“I started taking down notes in a notebook, just literally notes of themes,” Shmotkin said. “I had about 10 or 11 themes that I had for myself, and then I started acting on them.”

Rather than organize the letters chronologically, “Letters for Life” is structured by theme. Each chapter centers on a recurring emotional or spiritual challenge — such as fear, doubt, identity or anxiety — and includes excerpts from the Rebbe’s letters, explanations, and suggested tools for action.

The turning point came when Shmotkin read a letter the Rebbe had written to a college student in distress. The Rebbe wrote back with a clear instruction:

“You are much too wrapped up with yourself, with your own emotions and feelings and aspirations. … The way to cope with such an emotionally charged situation is to stop trying to cope with it. You must get away from yourself and begin to think of others. It is time to begin an active participation in society; to give, and to give generously. The opportunities are many, and the need is great.”

Shmotkin told The Journal that he was “actually crying when I read this letter. The way to deal with such an emotionally charged situation is actually to not become more entangled … You’re part of a society, you have a responsibility to society. And slowly, when you think more in that direction, that’ll unwrap you from yourself.”

That insight sat with him for two years while the notebook sat dormant. Eventually, after returning to New York, he committed to finishing the project.

This past February and March, Shmotkin toured the West Coast, including stops in British Columbia, Washington, San Diego, and Los Angeles. He used the long drives to reflect on how the material was landing with readers. In Washington, he spoke about individual providence. There, Shmotkin said that the Rebbe wrote, “The belief that every individual Hashem looks after is isolated in the sense that it’s just about you — doesn’t matter your place in society, doesn’t matter your success, doesn’t matter your failure … he’s actively engaged in and present in” your life.

After that talk, an elderly man approached Shmotkin and said, “It took me over 80 years to realize this idea that Hashem wants me here.”

Shmotkin said the moment appeared to be transformative for the man. “He shared that for these decades he’d been possessed by thoughts like, ‘maybe I should be somewhere else, maybe I should become someone else …’ And it took him all these years to recognize this point: that Hashem wants him here.”

“He shared that for these decades he’d been possessed by thoughts like, ‘maybe I should be somewhere else, maybe I should become someone else …’ And it took him all these years to recognize this point: that Hashem wants him here.” – Levi Y. Shmotkin

Another idea that comes up in letter after letter is how people speak to themselves in difficult moments. Shmotkin said the Rebbe often reminded people that we’re not defined by our present state, and that potential is often buried beneath self-judgment.

“We shouldn’t assume that our capacity ends or is identified by whatever darkness we have now,” Shmotkin said, paraphrasing the Rebbe. “We’re bigger than that, we’re stronger than that … and if we only understand it and don’t say, this is who I am, but this is instead somewhere that I’m at now … that’s a big step towards health.”

In Chapter 10, he shares the Rebbe’s response to a woman struggling with agoraphobia and fear of flying. Shmotkin said most of her suffering came not from the fear itself, but from what he calls “the angst about the problem.”

He suggested she “try to think about it less, get active with other things, and consider that millions of people live with similar fears.”

That idea — addressing the person struggling with the problem, not just the problem itself — is one of the central themes of the book. Another, Shmotkin said, is learning to give people confidence that they can move forward.

“You have it in you, and sometimes that can bite, sometimes that can hurt,” Shmotkin said. “But if you care about the person and you’re saying it for their good … you don’t want to see them stuck and believing that they’re useless and they’re helpless and they’re powerless.”

The book also addresses the tension between Jewish identity and emotional wellbeing. After Oct. 7, Shmotkin said many Jews felt a rupture between their desire to blend in and the reality of being singled out.

“A lot of people said, ‘I worked so hard to integrate, and then I get singled out anyway,’” Shmotkin said. “The Rebbe’s letters argue that the real strategy is to double down on identity—especially through mitzvot.”

Shmotkin said the Rebbe grounded mental health not in vague belonging, but in repeated action — like lighting Shabbat candles or putting on tefillin.”

Shmotkin is quick to clarify that “Letters for Life” isn’t a definitive collection, but his own attempt to surface recurring themes. The book is 209 pages, with over 100 pages of endnotes and extended excerpts. While it draws deeply from thousands of letters, it is focused on practical solutions.

The book is careful not to present itself as a replacement for seeking professional help for mental illness. “Indeed, the Rebbe often clarified that his advice to one may not apply to another,” Shmotkin writes in the preface. Shmotkin is still getting used to being treated as an expert on a man who he never met nor received any letters from. But after half a decade of researching, and now driving 1,400 miles down the west coast to hear from readers directly, Shmotkin realized that readers don’t expect him “to say something earth-shattering.”

“I just need to say something from the heart that I’ve learned from the Rebbe,” Shmotkin said. Shmotkin described himself as someone with a tendency toward self-deprecation. But over time, he said that reflex began to feel like avoidance.

“When people are investing in you, with your ability to say something meaningful… they’re giving you the chance to say something that might actually help,” Shmotkin said. “Sometimes we need to be reminded of the basic, most fundamental truths. The things we know in our hearts—but get lost in our own world.”

“Letters for Life: Guidance for Emotional Wellness from the Lubavitcher Rebbe” is available on Amazon. More information about Levi Shmotkin’s book tour can be found on the book’s Instagram, @lettersforlifebook.