Igrot Kodesh · Letter 5010 — Chinuch

B"H

7 Teves* 5717

Brooklyn, New York

To all participants at the annual banquet,
in the United States, of the central Yeshivos*
Tomchei Temimim* Lubavitch*,
may Hashem grant you long life,

Greetings and blessings,

On the occasion of your annual banquet, which will take place on Sunday of Parshas Shemos* 5717, I extend my greetings and blessing to all who take part in this Torah* celebration of the central Yeshivos* Tomchei Temimim* Lubavitch*, in America.

Basing myself on the well-known teaching of the Alter Rebbe* (see note 1), author of the Tanya* and the Shulchan Aruch*, founder of Chabad* Chassidus*, that "a Jew must live with the times," and in the spirit of the weekly Sidra* (see note 2), I would like to briefly comment on its first Parshah*, "These are the names of the Children of Israel," since this is the Torah* time corresponding to this celebration.

In this Parshah* of the exile, it is told that a few Children of Israel — seventy souls — arrived in a foreign land, among a numerous and different people, that of Egypt. Yet they were not dismayed by this, nor affected.

Indeed, the first Jews, during the first exile, understood that Yiddishkeit* was the secret of their existence, their identity, and their continuity. They therefore observed it strictly, without compromise. And our Sages explain that they were liberated from this exile precisely through the merit they acquired by not changing their names and their customs.

Not only did this strong Jewish identity protect them from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but even more, through it were fulfilled for them the words of the verse: "Thus they multiplied and prospered" — multiplied numerically and prospered morally — until they merited the deliverance and the giving of the Torah*, which illuminated the entire world and revealed the purpose of creation.

In this Parshah* of our holy Torah*, Torah* of life, a fundamental teaching is conveyed for all Jews, at all times, in every generation of exile — and especially in ours, when this exile has taken on its harshest form, that of suffering and oppression, physical and moral. Everywhere, Jews are but a small minority, in a foreign and hostile environment, a world where the most elementary human rights and morality are violated, where clarity is obscured by darkness and darkness by clarity, a world that lives in dread of an atomic conflagration, heaven forbid.

In this period of dark exile, we Jews must keep present in mind the teachings of the divine Torah*, Torah* of life, according to which only our distinctiveness and our moral permanence, based on Torah* and mitzvos*, only a true Torah* education without compromise, provide the assurance of the moral and physical survival of our people.

It is for this reason that the existence of the Yeshivos* Lubavitch* is a fundamental point of Jewish life. In these institutions, imbued with the spirit of their founder, my father-in-law, the Rebbe, whose merit protects us — the spirit of Torah* Yiddishkeit*, without concessions, of self-sacrifice, of love of one's fellow, of love of the Torah*, of love of Hashem — thousands of children receive their education, may Hashem multiply them.

Those who receive their education there are Temimim* — Jews of integrity, possessing a sense of responsibility toward their fellow and their surroundings. Consequently, each person must consider that it is his duty, that of his family, and that of all the people of Yisrael*, to support the Yeshivos* Tomchei Temimim*, with a generous hand, and to help them in their development.

Through this merit, the promise will be fulfilled for each person individually and for all Jews in general: "Thus they multiplied and prospered," and we will merit the complete deliverance, through "a man descended from Peretz*" (see note 3), with kindness and mercy, very soon and in our days.

With my respects and my blessing for all good,

Menachem Schneerson,