Igrot Kodesh · Letter 2685 — Chinuch

B"H

29 Iyar 5714,
Brooklyn.

Greetings and blessing,

I received your letter of 16 Iyar, in which you tell me that it is difficult to create a school or a cheder* for the more observant. In consequence, your children pursue their studies in places that oppose themselves to the Jewish faith.

I learn such news with dread. Previously, Yidden* gave of themselves to assure their children an education that does not oppose itself to the Jewish faith and adopts a neutral attitude — which could appear sufficient. And, what is more, they gathered all their forces so that this education be in conformity with the Tradition.

By the way, you tell me that you are the Rav of your village. Now, the mission of a Rav is not uniquely to reply to the questions that one comes to pose to him. He must, in addition, exercise a positive influence on his community, make it understand that one must pose questions.

In other terms, these persons must know that the soul of each Yid* found itself near Mount Sinai, that it accepted the Torah by proclaiming: "Na'aseh venishma," that it received from Hashem the Injunctions: "Anochi Hashem Elokecha" ("I am Hashem your Elokim" — wherein are included the two hundred forty-eight positive injunctions) and: "Lo yihyeh lecha elohim acherim" ("You shall have no other gods before Me" — which is at the origin of the three hundred sixty-five prohibitions).

May Hashem accord you success in this mission, in particular in these days when one prepares for the giving of the Torah, while all that took place in that era unfolds once again, each year, in this period.

With my blessing,