By the Grace of G-d22 Cheshvan, 5711November 2, 1950

Dear Mr. . .

I am in receipt of your letter.

With regard to the question of instituting the reforms you mention in your letter, I cannot agree to same. When Rabbi H. was here and informed me of the circumstances and sought my advice, I gave him my opinion and reasons and asked him to convey same to you and others. There is no need for me to repeat myself now.

However, I wish to set you right on several points in your letter.

First, as to your reference of my “overriding” your views, etc., I want you to know that it is not my habit to give orders. Besides, the central management of Yeshivah matters belongs to a different office. However, when people come to me for advice, I express my opinion and my views. In this particular instance I am all the more confident that my views are correct, since in my many years’ association with my father-in-law, the late Lubavitcher Rabbi of sainted memory, I have had occasion to learn his views on similar problems and my views correspond to his.

At any rate, my opinion is only offered as counsel and is by no means an order. Consequently, your ultimatum and warning that Lubavitch will be the loser, etc. are completely out of order.

My advice is based on the firm belief and experience that it is the only way which will lead your institution to progress and that the other alternative leads in the opposite direction. (I do not wish to express my prediction in so many words as to where it would ultimately land your institution).

As to your insistence upon the condition that the Board of Directors and not New York determine policy, etc., I need hardly tell you that I have no ambitions of power and dictating policy for the enjoyment of it. I am certainly not less interested in the welfare of your institution than you, and my views are based on the primary consideration that the [city's] ... Yeshivah is for the benefit of the [city's] ... children and not for anybody in New York.

I can well understand your desire to separate the mundane from the spiritual in the management of the institution, for they seem to be two distinct provinces. But in the final analysis you will surely agree that no material gains can be made at the sacrifice or to the detriment of spiritual principles and considerations. This should be obvious in the case of any educational institution and especially a religious one and more especially a Jewish religious educational institution, and even more so in an institution where the underlying philosophy is the predominance of the spiritual over the physical. Indeed, Jewish life had two aims in the constant world struggle between the physical and spiritual forces, namely the victory of the spirit over matter, and further, that the physical world itself be sublimated and “spiritualized” as much as possible. Hence the basic slogan of the Jewish credo that the important thing ultimately is not the theory but the practice,¹ that is to say, that the Torah and mitzvos should be dominant in every section.

Applying the above to our case under discussion, it is clear that not only the spiritual management of the Yeshivah should reflect the nature of the institution, but the financial policy, too, should bespeak the warm spirit and wholehearted determination to save Jewish children, for which purpose it is necessary to overcome certain financial difficulties which, in institutions of lesser stature, would be disposed of otherwise, that is, regarded as unnecessary.

Concerning the complaints about the Hebrew staff, I trust that in the light of the above, cooperation and harmony will be strengthened, even if in certain respects it was not at its best heretofore.

For your statement that in carrying out his duties, Rabbi H. brings upon himself sacrifice and self destruction — I have a brief answer: All those who have the privilege, past and present, to participate in the work of the institutions which were and still are under the auspices and guidance of my father-in-law of sainted memory, such participation, they know, does not entail sacrifice and self-destruction G-d forbid, but rather the contrary, it helps both those who are engaged in the spiritual side as well as those who are helpful financially and actively, since such participation is a source of blessing for them and theirs, spiritually and materially. And while I do not know you, but based on experience, I am sure that from the time you took over the leadership in behalf of the Yeshivah, you must have noticed an extra measure of success in your own affairs, material and spiritual. I trust that before long I will hear good tidings of you and a confession that my advice, far from being detrimental, has brought your institution success and progress.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Mendel Schneerson