Letter & Spirit: Artificially Raising Crop Yields

In this week’s edition of Letter and Spirit, we present a unique letter written by the Rebbe in 1968, in which he explains the concept of holiness/kedusha as it relates to the Holy Land and to other areas. In the P.S. of the letter, the Rebbe touches on the subject of increasing land productivity through artificial means, and makes some interesting comments about the safety of doing this. The letter was written in English through the Rebbe’s trusted secretary Rabbi Nissan Mindel, and was made available by the latter’s son-in-law, Rabbi Sholom Ber Shapiro.

This weekly feature is made possible by a collaboration between CrownHeights.info and Nissan Mindel Publications. Once a week we publish a unique letter of the Rebbe that was written originally in the English language, as dictated by the Rebbe to Rabbi Mindel.

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Mr. ________                                                             5728

Chicago, Illinois

Greeting and Blessing:

It was an unexpected pleasure to receive your letter after this long interval, and to read in it that all the members of your family are well, thank G-d, and that you are expecting new additions to the family, in a happy and auspicious hour.

As it is customary among Chassidim to be remembered at the holy resting-place of my father-in-law, of saintly memory, it would be well to receive the Hebrew names of the expectant mothers, together with the mother’s Hebrew name, to be so remembered in prayer. The zechut of the tzedakah will additionally stand you all in good stead.

I read with special interest about your visit in the Holy Land. I trust that you brought back with you some of the holiness of the land, as a source of lasting inspiration. For, although Jews are a holy nation everywhere, there are various levels of holiness, and this is also quite understandable, inasmuch as the source of kedusha is in G-d the Infinite, hence kedusha is infinite too.

A special point that Eretz Yisrael teaches us in regard to kedusha is that it is not the case that kedusha belongs only in the realm of emotion and intelligence but not necessarily in that of ordinary day-to-day affairs, least of all in the daily routine, as some erroneously think. Even though many will admit that eating matza on Pesach is a mitzvah, they cannot see what holiness there can be in eating their daily food. Yet, Eretz Yisrael itself can well illustrate the point. For, although at first glance it is a country like any other country, not particularly distinguished from its neighbors insofar as fauna and flora are concerned, it is nevertheless called the Holy Land–not only in respect to the area of the Bet Hamikdash and the like, but also in respect to its soil and plant life, for which reason there are the special mitzvot of Shemitta, Trumot and Maasrot, which do not apply to other countries.

Similarly, the Jews are a holy nation, because a Jew is expected to sanctify all his actions, including his daily routine of eating, drinking and even sleeping, etc.1–all of which should give evidence of a person who lives a sanctified way of life: starting off the day with Modeh Ani, putting on tzitzit, reciting the daily prayers, and so on. In your case it is surely unnecessary to elaborate on this further.

I trust that when you visited the Western Wall, you observed the Lubavitcher men engaged there in the tefillin Campaign. In this connection, you will be interested to see the enclosed material on the subject.

You will no doubt suspect of me, and rightly so, that it is my hopeful expectation that you will not limit yourself to merely reading this material, but will also endeavor to bring it to the attention of the widest possible circles where your influence reaches, in order to impress upon our fellow Jews the vital importance of the observance of the mitzvah of tefillin…  Moreover, in addition to its own significance, it can well serve as a starting-point for the observance of many other mitzvot, given the assurance of our Sages that “One mitzvah brings another in its train.”2

I also note that you, and especially your wife, took the occasion to further the cause of the visually handicapped, and I trust that there have been practical accomplishments in this area.

I regret to say that my efforts some time ago in this regard, when I wrote to Eretz Yisrael after talking with you, did not bear fruit at the time, and consequently did not lead to anything permanent.

In conclusion, I send you my prayerful wishes always to have good news to report, and only good news, in regard to yourselves and each and every one of your family, and also in regard to your activities in the shul, about which you wrote to me and which I hope have been productive in the right direction, namely towards an ever greater adherence to the traditional way–and may you continue to do so with joy and gladness of heart.

With blessing,

[Sign.]

 

P.S. With reference to the matter you raise in your letter, relating to the endeavor to increase soil productivity by means of electrical currents, etc., I wish to make the following point, (though, technically speaking, this is not my field). It is that it surprises me that no one has yet suggested doing basic research in the nutritive aspects of those plants and crops whose manner of growth has been artificially interfered with, whether by means of electricity or radiation, and the like, not forgetting developments in hydroponics. I think it is high time that a study were made of the effects of such foods upon humans in general, particularly those who are still going through physical growth and development, namely children and youths. Even to a layman like myself it seems incredible that the methods of speeding plant growth by means of techniques which are quite abnormal to it should have no effect on the food in relation to humans, who for thousands of years have been accustomed to eat only naturally-grown foods–all the more so since such effects would be cumulative.

As already mentioned, this is entirely unconnected with my field, but that a problem exists here seems to me so plain and logical that surely even a layman may call attention to it.

 

  1. Lev., 19:2 (see Ramban).  See Rambam, Hil. Deot., begin. of ch. 5.
  2. Avot, 4:2.

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The above letter is from The Letter and the Spirit by Nissan Mindel Publications. The letters are 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.

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.

2 Comments

  • Dovber

    Interesting that the Rebbe omitted genetic engineering, granted that wasn’t so common (or even in existence) in 1968.

  • Making the case for Organic

    This clearly makes the case for organic food which is free of pesticides etc. Especially for a parent with young children.