Igrot Kodesh · Letter 5637 — Health
Volume 15 · Letter 314 · To: final
B"H
15 Menachem Av 5717
Brooklyn, New York
Greetings and blessings,
I have duly received your letter, in which you tell me about the difficulties you are encountering at home, particularly with your young children. It is, regarding them, a "question of life or death," according to the expression you employ. Consequently, you are considering placing them in a Christian mission school in Ramle, Heaven forbid.
I am certain that you did not reflect upon what you were writing when you stated all this to me. Indeed, even if it were, in the case of your children as you describe it, a "question of life or death," it is nonetheless entirely out of the question to place them in the mission, for this constitutes certain death, Heaven forbid, which you are considering inflicting upon them with your own hands.
All of this is terribly painful to the heart. After Hitler, may his name be erased, exterminated six million Jews, may Hashem avenge their blood, certain Jews can still consider — even if they would not actually do so — placing their own children in a Christian school, Heaven forbid. And we know what the clergy in Germany and in other countries did to Jewish children and to their parents.
As I said, I am certain that you do not truly think what you have written. Perhaps someone even advised you to include that phrase in order to make a strong impression upon me. Practically speaking, you must address yourself to the persons and institutions that handle such problems. It is certain that in Lod you will be able to find their address. Ultimately, without a doubt, something will come of it.
It is surely unnecessary to emphasize to you that children are a divine blessing, granted to parents so that they may raise them in happiness — and not, Heaven forbid, murder them with their own hands by planning to place them in a mission. How much more so when one needs a specific blessing from Hashem for the health of one's wife, for one's own health, and for one's livelihood.
May Hashem grant that you be able to inform me of good news regarding all that has been said.
With blessing,