By the Grace of God
20th of Iyar, 5712
Brooklyn, NY.
At the 11th Annual Dinner of
Committee for the Promotion of Jewish Education
I am pleased to learn periodically about the growth and development of your activities. I trust that this growth is both in quantity and quality.
Clearly, one hour a week of free time for religious instruction does not provide a proper education. This free time should be considered an incentive for both children and parents, encouraging children to seek a proper Jewish religious education in yeshivas, Talmud, Torah, and other institutions. I am pleased to see you are working along these lines, and I wish you much success in this endeavor.
His is a young organization dedicated to Jewish youth.
Youth possesses special qualities of untapped energy and enthusiasm. Furthermore, even though they are on the threshold of life, young people have a greater degree of kindness and purity, having had less contact with life's negative aspects.
All these qualities of youth are extremely important in all activities of young people, especially those related to the education of growing children. Young people respond more readily to others and are more easily influenced intuitively through reason. Consequently, the character, feelings, and idealistic approach of instructors and teachers are decisive factors in children's education.
I wish you to use all your youthful energies in this most important cause of human life -- the education of a new generation on firm and appropriate foundations.
I send you my wishes and blessings so that your enthusiasm and efforts may be crowned with unlimited success.
I want to remind you of the words of my saintly father-in-law, the founder of your movement, because although the religious hour is primarily for the benefit of the children who attend, at the same time there is an additional purpose for the benefit of male and female instructors, since their work in the free hour program elevates them spiritually and morally, and guides them on the path to perfection.
I would like to extend this thought also to those who support the movement, who undoubtedly derive personal inspiration from their association with this sacred work.
Interpreting a saying of our Sages, one could say that just as they help the movement, the movement helps them even more, allowing them to rise to a higher spiritual level. It also gives them an opportunity to transform quantity into quality, since their generosity, both in money and effort, enables the movement to grow not only in the number of children in the program, but also in its expansion and the extension of its curricular activities. Furthermore, their work for such a noble cause will surely bring them and all their loved ones abundant Divine blessings, both materially and spiritually.
With blessing,
(Signature)