Igrot Kodesh · Letter 5357 — Faith & Bitachon
Volume 15 · Letter 32
B"H*
11 Nissan* 5717
Brooklyn, New York
To our brethren, the children of Israel, particularly
those who engage in educational activity, wherever
they may be, may Hashem* grant you long life,
Greetings and blessings,
Pesach* begins with: "When your son will ask you... you shall tell him." And there are different kinds of questions and answers, according to the categories of children — the wise, the wicked, the simple, and the one who does not know how to ask.
These children are different and even opposite to one another, but despite this, they all share a common point. The wicked one himself participates in the Seder*. There, he encounters those who observe it, who put into practice the Torah* and the mitzvos*. He lives with them and all share a common interest.
In such a case, one can clearly hope that not only the simple one and the one who does not know how to ask, but also the wicked one, will become wise — fully conscious Jews, observing the Torah and the mitzvos.
However, there also exists, particularly in our era of profound darkness, another category of children — the one who does not attend the Seder, who does not even ask questions, for he is not concerned with the Torah and the mitzvos, with the true laws and customs of Judaism. He does not know the act of service of Hashem that is the Seder of Pesach, the Exodus from Egypt, and the receiving of the Torah.
Indeed, one must devote oneself to these children well before Pesach and the night of the Seder. One must apply oneself to this with self-sacrifice and love of one's fellow.
For one has no right to forget a single Jewish child. All forces must be mobilized to save him from his situation and bring him back to the Jewish table of the Seder.
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When one wishes to repair a painful situation, one must first determine the causes that brought it about. And so it is in this case.
First of all, one must acknowledge that, almost systematically, the parents bear a share of responsibility for the situation of this category of children.
Arriving in a new country, one finds oneself in an environment where one constitutes a small minority and one is then confronted with difficulties, as is always the case when one is transplanted from one place to another. Some parents therefore convinced themselves that the only way to overcome these difficulties was to identify themselves, as quickly as possible, with their surroundings, by casting off the yoke of the Torah and the practice of the mitzvos.
And even when it was difficult for these parents to convince themselves that this was necessary, even when this abandonment on their part was not total, they decided that their children should not be confronted with all of this. They nevertheless wanted to make the children accept, to persuade them that Judaism, the Torah, the mitzvos, are not suited to present-day life, particularly in this new place. They therefore sought only the shortcomings of a fully Jewish life and ended up "finding" them. The environment in which one lives, on the other hand, has nothing but qualities.
It is therefore on the basis of such reasoning that these parents wished to ensure the existence of their children in this new place. Thus, they forgot that a person cannot live in the proper manner if he abandons his soul and his spirituality in favor of his body and materiality.
Likewise, they did not take into account the fact that an imitation is necessarily counterfeit and that it provokes the suspicion of those one wishes to take as models and flatter. For if the surrounding majority does not adopt justice and righteousness, they will in any case oppress the weaker and more minority group.
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This erroneous conception — which consists of resolving the problem of the minority living in a hostile environment by adopting such conduct, by making oneself disappear or at least by diminishing oneself — was not merely the doing of a few individuals. Entire groups of Jews, united by shared conditions and experiences, gave rise to the various currents, overt or concealed, that declared war on the Torah that Moshe* commanded us, which he received from the one Elokim*, for the Jews who are a unique people on the earth. These currents, though antagonistic among themselves, are all built on one idea (Yechezkel* 20:32): "Let us be like the other nations, like the families of the earth, serving trees and stones."
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The results of this long process of errors and false conceptions have been as follows. Thousands of souls have been torn from the true source of their existence, from Judaism and from Jews, and have been spiritually eliminated. Children have grown up who are now parents and grandparents, who are not wise, simple, or those who do not know how to ask — moreover, who are not even wicked ones.
They have gone astray and they wander, may Hashem protect us, detached from Jews and from true Judaism, which amounts to the same thing.
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The Exodus from Egypt and the festival of Pesach therefore come to deliver to us multiple teachings, applicable to daily existence, and highlighting in particular that one cannot hope for redemption and freedom by imitating one's surroundings — quite the contrary.
The children of Israel in Egypt were a small minority, living in the most precarious situation. Yet, our Sages relate, they distinguished themselves from their environment and proudly preserved where they lived, their traditions, and their habits: "The distinctiveness of Israel was marked in clothing, food, and language" (see note 1). It is precisely in this way that they ensured their existence and obtained true redemption — physical and moral.
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One of the fundamental accomplishments of our era consists of mobilizing all forces to transmit to the young generation — and even to those who are aged in years but young or even children in their knowledge — a correct perception of true Judaism, faithful to the Torah, neither distorted nor diluted, the awareness that upon this depends the existence of the Jews, of every Jew, the permanence of this world, in every place and at all times.
In this way, all will return to the tradition of our ancestors — Avraham*, Yitzchak*, and Yaakov*. With pride, they will strengthen and preserve the Jewish way of life, based on the teachings of our Torah, Torah of life.
A Jew never has the right to despair and no one must be left behind. With a proper approach, made of love of one's fellow, one will integrate this category of children among the other four and even, in due time, among the wise.
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May Hashem grant that all the children gather at one table for this act of service of Hashem, to celebrate the Seder in the proper manner, to put into practice "the Testimonies, the Statutes, and the Judgments that Hashem our Elokim has commanded" (see note 2).
This will be a beginning of the ingathering of the exiles — the dispersed children gathering around a Seder of the Torah. This will hasten, very soon and in our days, the redemption, and will lead to the true and complete redemption, through our righteous Moshiach*.
With my blessing for a kosher and joyous festival of Pesach,
Menachem Schneerson