Letter and Spirit: No Compromise in Education

In this week’s edition of Letter and Spirit, we present a letter the Rebbe wrote to famed Orthodox Jewish author Herman Wouk, which shows the critical importance the Rebbe attaches to a pure and uncompromising Jewish education for all our children. The letter was written through the Rebbe’s trusted secretary Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and was made available by his son-in-law Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro.

When Mr. Wouk asks for the Rebbe’s opinion about establishing a joint communal Hebrew day school in his city – which would mean partnership with a movement that does not accept Torah M’Sinai – the Rebbe gives his clear and detailed answer based on halacha, with a reference to Reb Moshe Feinstein and some fascinating historical details. The Rebbe also thanks Mr. Wouk for his consistent support on the issue of chinuch, a cause Mr. Wouk feels passionately about.

In next week’s edition of Letter and Spirit, we will feature the letter which Mr. Wouk wrote to the Rebbe in response to this week’s letter, in addition to yet a second letter of the Rebbe in answer to Mr. Wouk’s letter.

This new weekly feature is made possible by a collaboration between CrownHeights.info and Nissan Mindel Publications. Once a week we will be publishing unique letters of the Rebbe that were written originally in the English language, as dictated by the Rebbe to Rabbi Mindel.

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By the Grace of G-d
4th of Iyar, 5745
Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr.
Palm Springs, Ca. 92262

Greeting and Blessing:

This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter.

It seems that there has been some confusion about the issues involved in the matter of establishing a joint communal school in your city. I will attempt to clarify the issues.

1) The problem has nothing to do with personalities, or whether this or that individual has the necessary credentials to take a leading part in chinuch. The problem is the movement with which such person or persons are identified, and ‚which they represent.

2) This being so, one has to consider the situation most carefully ‚ particularly as it concerns chinuch of our young generation, children of school age, during their most sensitive years, that will leave an impact on their whole life, as it is written: חנוך לנער על פי דרכו גם כי יזקין לא יסור ממנה

Of course, there can be no question of compromise in the area of chinuch, and every precaution has to be taken to ensure that it be consistent with Torah in every respect.

In view of the enormous responsibility, there is only one Jewish approach to such vital questions, namely, to be guided strictly by the Torah itself, which is the Jew’s true guide in life (TorasChaim and Toras Emes). And we have indeed a clear ruling by the Rambam and other poskim. The halacha declares:

האומר שאין התורה מן השמים אפילו תיבה אחת כו’ וכן הכופר בפירושה והוא תורה שבעל פה כו’ כל אחד משלשה אלו כופר בתורה (הל’ תשובה ג:ח)

(see it there, also preceding and following halachot).

Needless to say, the halacha absolutely precludes a partnership with a movement that comes under the above category.

3) Nor is it acceptable to rationalize that a concession in the beginning may pay off in the long run. The Torah has not been given to humans to be traded in. Similarly no one has the right to sacrifice one Jewish child now, in the hope of saving another child, or more, next year. Such and similar calculations are simply irrelevant in the face of the clear-cut halacha cited above.

4) At the same time, the Torah is quite clear and definitive on the subject of teshuva – insofar as an individual Jew is concerned, namely,

אין לך דבר העומד בפני התשובה. לא ידח ממנו נידח.

This includes, of course, Jewish individuals who identify themselves with, or belong to the said movement. But so long as one has not renounced or rejected the …….(Hebrew – shitta))and ideology of the movement, not to mention one who is a prominent representative of it, there is no way for a partnership on any religious aspect, least of all chinuch, however well meaning the intentions are.

5) Even if the halacha permitted an exception in a special situation (which it certainly does not), it would have been impossible for Lubavitch to make an exception, because it would not remain an exception long, but rather a precedent that would become the rule in every place where Lubavitch is engaged in chinuch operations. Besides, it is neither the way of the Torah, nor the way of Lubavitch to conceal a directive, or to interpret the halacha differently from city to city, depending on circumstances.

Thus any concession or compromise made in any area of Torah, is bound to be widely interpreted as a (בנין אב), and extended into every other area of the religious life, since communal workers, as well as laymen, usually consider themselves free to draw their own conclusions, without bothering to investigate the special extenuating circumstances, or the halachic grounds on which the exception was made.

This is one more reason why in my reply to Rabbi D. I reminded him of the well known psak din by the leading Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshivah, one of whom, by the way, is also HaRav Moshe Feinstein shlita, who had for many years prior to coming to the U.S.A. held the position of Rav in a Chasidic community in Russis as a Chasidic Rav. When he came to New York, the members of his community included Chasidim and mitnagdim and a variety of other Jewish groups. When it came to minhagim, he has directed members of a particular group to follow their particular customs. But when it came to matters that touched upon Kiddush Hashem, or the opposite, there could be neither flexibility nor exception, especially in view of the fact that it would be widely interpreted, as mentioned above.

More could be said on the subject at hand, but I am certain there is no need for it in discussing it with you. You can readily understand why my hands are tied by the halacha, precluding any other course than the one I have taken.

To conclude on a highly gratifying topic, I wish to take this opportunity of again expressing my heartfelt appreciation of your consistent support to Rabbi D. and his work in your city; and not merely a “supporter” but as a real partner. This is consistent with your participation in the work of Lubavitch in other parts of the U.S.A. and in the Holy Land, as well as other places – always readily responding to a call, whenever the opportunity presented itself.

May Hashem grant that you should continue to go from strength to strength in spreading and strengthening Torah-true Yiddishkeit, and Torah-true chinuch in particular, and thus increase still further the great zechus of what our Sages of the Mishnah extol so much, namely (זכה וזיכה את הרבים זכות הרבים תלוי בו.).

And may you do so in consistently good health and with Hashem’s blessings for prosperity in all your affairs, in keeping with the rule of Torah, which is also a (נתינת-כח), namely, (מעלין בקודש).

With esteem and blessing,

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The above letter is from the archives of Rabbi Dr. Nissan Mindel, a personal secretary to the Previous Rebbe and The Rebbe, whose responsibilities included the Rebbe’s correspondence in English.

Many of the letters are now being published in The Letter and the Sprit, a series of volumes by Nissan Mindel Publications.

We thank Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro, director of Nissan Mindel Publications and the one entrusted by Rabbi Mindel, his father-in-law, with his archives, for making these letters available to the wider public. May the merit of the many stand him in good stead.