Rabbi Shmotkin brings message of inner health to Australia

When Rabbi Levi Shmotkin first began reading the letters of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, writing a book was the furthest thing from his mind.

It began quietly, with a notebook filled with personal reflections. Several years later, those notes have become ‘Letters for Life: Guidance for Emotional Wellness from the Lubavitcher Rebbe’, a book that has now sold over 25,000 copies.

Shmotkin, a young Chassidic scholar from a family deeply rooted in the global Chabad movement, visited Australia this month as part of an extensive international tour. He has already spoken in the US, as well as Europe, Israel, South Africa, and Canada, sharing the Rebbe’s message of emotional resilience and spiritual empowerment. Here he spoke at events and religious services in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.

This book distils guidance on emotional well-being from over 2,000 of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s published letters, selected from a collection of more than 20,000. It is structured thematically, rather than chronologically. Each chapter focuses on a specific emotional challenge, such as anxiety, self-criticism, loneliness, doubt, or identity, combining excerpts from the Rebbe’s correspondence with explanations and practical tools.

Despite its wide appeal, Shmotkin is clear the book is not a replacement for professional mental health support. “The Rebbe often clarified that his advice to one person may not apply to another,” he writes in the preface.

For Shmotkin, the project is intensely personal. As a teenager, despite having supportive parents and friends, he found himself struggling with unexplained emotional turmoil. “I started feeling this negative energy, like black water flowing through my system,” he recalled. “It wasn’t because of a loss, a tragedy, or a crisis. It was the tension of life itself.”

At first, he tried to distract himself socially, but that only deepened his isolation. During his time in Yeshiva, the feelings grew into what he describes as “emotional numbness and disillusionment.” It was then that he rediscovered the Rebbe’s letters, reading them not as distant philosophy, but as relevant, grounded advice.

“I was reading letters written to real human beings going through real experiences,” Shmotkin said. “Some of those lines were coming off the page and speaking directly to me.”

One letter, written to a university student overwhelmed by personal challenges, became a turning point. The Rebbe wrote: “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.”

Shmotkin remembers crying as he read the words. “Slowly, when you think more in that direction, that’ll unwrap you from yourself.” The insight stayed with him for two years while his notebook sat untouched. Only after returning to New York did he decide to formally compile the material into a book.

The writing process proved far more challenging than expected. “I learned very fast that I didn’t know how to write,” he said with a laugh. “But I’m glad I didn’t know that at the beginning. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have started.”

Preserving the Rebbe’s authentic voice while making the book accessible was a constant challenge. “It was about allowing people to first imagine the person the letter was written to, to find themselves in the story, and only then read the letter,” he explained.

The result is 209 pages of insights, with more than 100 pages of endnotes and extended references, reflecting Shmotkin’s thorough research. Ironically, COVID-19 lockdowns turned out to be a blessing, giving him uninterrupted time to finish the project.

Even so, the writing process often left him feeling isolated and filled with self-doubt. Raising funds for the project added another layer of stress. “There were nights I thought, ‘Nobody reads anymore, I’m wasting my life,’” he admitted.

But the response has been overwhelming. Readers from all backgrounds, Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and secular, have embraced the book. “People tell me they’re reading it for the fourth time,” Shmotkin said. “I didn’t realise people still read that way.”

One story from the book that has resonated globally is that of Taibel Lipskier, a Holocaust survivor who, after losing her father to the Soviets and surviving the war, wrote to the Rebbe for advice. His response was unexpected: “Go to as many weddings as possible, dance, and inspire others to dance.”

Taibel, known for her vibrant energy, took the advice to heart, becoming a fixture at Brooklyn weddings for decades and lifting countless people with her joy. Even a shy teenager from Worcester, Massachusetts, recalled being swept onto the dance floor by Taibel’s enthusiasm.

“Sometimes the best way to overcome darkness is by lighting a flame of joy,” Shmotkin said. “You lift others, and that light melts the darkness inside you.”

This theme of action leading to healing, rather than passive introspection, is central to the book. The Rebbe’s consistent message, Shmotkin explained, was to awaken people’s inner strength, not define them by their struggles.

“We’re bigger than our present state,” Shmotkin said. “We’re stronger than the darkness we’re facing. And if we stop saying, ‘This is who I am,’ and instead say, ‘This is where I am right now,’ that’s already a big step towards health.”

During his tour, Shmotkin has seen the message resonate in surprising places. Speaking in Washington about individual providence, the belief that Hashem actively wants each person to exist, an elderly man approached him after the event. “It took me over 80 years to realise Hashem wants me here,” the man told him, describing decades of insecurity. “It was transformative for him,” Shmotkin recalled.

The book’s relevance has only grown as many Jews grapple with renewed antisemitism and the tension between blending in and preserving identity. “A lot of people told me, ‘I worked so hard to integrate, and then I get singled out anyway,’” Shmotkin said. “The Rebbe’s letters argue the real strategy is to double down on identity, especially through mitzvot.” For Shmotkin, actions like lighting Shabbat candles or putting on tefillin remain powerful foundations for emotional resilience.

His upbringing reflects the global scope of Chabad’s outreach. His parents, sent by the Rebbe to Wisconsin in the 1960s, built a Jewish community in Milwaukee. His grandfather opened the state’s first Jewish centre. Despite his young age, Shmotkin has travelled extensively, working with Jewish communities across six continents.

He remains cautious about being seen as an authority on the Rebbe. “I never received a letter from him. I never met him,” he said, acknowledging that the Rebbe died in 1994, four years before he was born. “But people aren’t asking me to say something earth-shattering. They want to hear something from the heart that I’ve learned from the Rebbe.”

And, he added, sometimes people simply need to be reminded of the truths they already know.

“We get lost in our own world,” Shmotkin said. “Sometimes we just need to be reminded of who we really are.”