By the Grace of G-d 10th of Teves, 5725 Brooklyn, N. Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

A Fast Day may not seem the most auspicious day to address a message to so auspicious an occasion as the Annual Banquet. However this is so only superficially. For all our precepts and observances derive from the same Source, from our loving Father in Heaven, and have to be carried out with joy. If we are commanded to fast on certain days of the year, it is not for the purpose of inflicting pain upon us, but in order that we should acquire a deeper appreciation of the event which is the cause of our fasting, so that we should do our share for the removal of that cause.

The Fast of the Tenth of Teves (when this letter is written) recalls the beginning of the tragic siege of Jerusalem, which eventually led to the fall of the City, the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash, and our going into exile. The cause of this great calamity is, as we say in our prayers, "Because of our sins we have been exiled from our land."¹ For the fate of our Jewish people, both as a nation and on the individual level, is inseparably linked with our adherence to the Torah and Mitzvos. Hence, since the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash came in consequence of neglecting the observance of the Torah and Mitzvos, therefore the restoration of Jerusalem of Old and of the Bais Hamikdash is conditioned upon our return to G-d and to His Torah and Mitzvos.

This return must begin with a Torah-true Jewish education at an early age, for all Jewish boys and girls without exception. To this cause the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch is dedicated.

Twenty three years ago the central organization of the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch was created by my father-in-law of saintly memory, in order to carry on a broad and ramified program for the strengthening of Torah-true Jewish education in all its phases. Since then the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch has branched out into many cities and countries, for the aim is absolutely the same everywhere, and the Torah is one and the same too. Your community is privileged to have its own branch of the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, which has already done much, and has still more to do, to strengthen and expand Torah-true Yiddishkeit in Miami Beach and environs. Surely it is unnecessary to enlarge upon the merits of this great cause, or the duty and privilege of supporting it.

I extend greetings and blessings to all participants in the Annual Banquet, and particularly to the worthy chairman, committee members and, not least, the Guest of Honor, With combined efforts, and with resolute determination, you are bound to be successful. And with these endeavors duplicated in many communities, we may indeed look forward to early fulfillment of the prophecy that the days of fasting will become days of feasting and rejoicing with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu.²

With blessing

M. Schneerson