By the grace of G‑dErev-Shabbos-Yisro, 5722Brooklyn, New York

Greeting and Blessing:

I trust that all present who have come to associate themselves with the United Lubavitcher Yeshivoth on this important annual occasion, have brought with them the spirit of the weekly Sidrah – the Sidrah of the Ten commandments and Mattan Torah, read on Shabbos, the day before the Dinner.

* * *

The Ten Commandments unite within them laws of two, apparently quite different orders: The first Commandments express and reveal the deepest truths about G‑d's Unity (true monotheism); the others, on the other hand, contain such elementary injunctions as “Thou shalt not murder” and “Thou shalt not steal,”¹ which seem self-evident even to the average human intellect.

However, the truth is that even “self-evident” moral precepts, if left to human judgment alone, without the binding force of Divine Authority and Sanction, can out of self-love be distorted so as to turn vice into “virtue.”

Indeed, interpreting the moral precepts of “Thy shalt not murder” and “Thou shalt not steal,” from the viewpoint of selfish gain, many a nation in the world, as well as many an individual, have “legalized” their abhorrent ends, not to mention that they have “justified” the means to those ends — as has been amply demonstrated, to our sorrow, particularly in recent years.

If by rejecting the Commandments of “I am G‑d” and “Thou shalt have no other G‑ds,”² or even by dissociating them from “Thy shalt not murder” and “Thy shalt not steal,” the safeguard against bloodshed and theft, even in their most brutal forms, were removed from humanity's conscience, it is certainly hopeless to expect safeguards against “Thy shalt not murder” and “Thy shalt not steal,” in more “subtle” ways, such as the “bloodshed” of character assassination, or the “theft” of the mind (gnevas da'as) and the like.

The Ten Commandments emphasize, and experience has fully and repeatedly borne it out, that even the simplest precepts of morality and ethics must rest on the foundation of I am G‑d and Thy shalt have no other G‑ds — and only then can their compliance be assured.

This is one of the basic purposes of Torah-true education; to inculcate in our children the true way of life (Derech Chayyim) in accordance with The Law of Life (Toras Chayyim) — a way of life in every-day living, on the solid foundations of the Torah and Mitzvoth. For the Torah and Mitzvoth alone provide the true content of Jewish life, and are at the same time the fountains of life for every Jew and for all Jews.

* * *

The saintly founders of the United Lubavitcher Yeshivoth, especially their founder here in the United States, my father-in-law of saintly memory, have made certain that the Lubavitcher Yeshivoth would at all times and in all places fulfil this vital condition, with a deeper understanding and a deeper feeling as inspired and illuminated by the teachings of Chassidus. This is what has endowed the Lubavitcher Yeshivoth and the Lubavitcher students with a special quality and special merits.

It is therefore a special Zechus to have a personal share in the Lubavitcher Yeshivoth, through supporting them, not only to enable them keep their doors open and maintain their present standards, but also to enable them expand and branch out further, according to the earnest needs and demands of our crucial years.

I send my prayerful wishes to all friends and supporters of the United Lubavitcher Yeshivoth, to be blessed by G-d, they and their families, in all their needs, the material as well as the spiritual.

With esteem and blessing

/signed/ MENACHEM SCHNEERSON