B.H.8th of Nissan, 5726 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sholom uBrocho:

On the occasion of the forthcoming Yom-Tov Pesach, I send you my prayerful wishes that Zman Cheiruseinu bring you and yours true cheirus, freedom from anxiety material and spiritual, from anything which might detract from Avodas Hahem with joy and gladness of heart, and to carry over this cheirus and simcha into the whole year.

Wishing you and yours a kosher and happy Pesach,

With blessing,

P.S. I take this opportunity of referring to your letter. To be candid, I had some doubts as to whether I should reply to it, for, generally, one may be justified to express strictures regarding a Jew, especially a group of Jews, only where one may expect to achieve a truly useful purpose. Hence, same should be addressed to the one who could do something toward that purpose. As matters stand, I doubt very much whether you could do anything - in the natural course - to bring about rectification in the areas upon which I touched in my previous letter to you. Therefore, I need not renew the discussion. Nevertheless, I wish to refer to certain points wherein I can fulfill "Vihiyisem n'kiyim mehaShem umiYisroel,"¹ namely:

It surprised me very much that you assumed that the views which I expressed in writing about a whole group of Jews, views containing adverse criticism, were based on unsubstantiated hearsay, without having taken the utmost care to check the actual facts. Such conduct would be contrary to the Shulchan Oruch. However, since apparently someone had made such an allegation, I wish to assure you that my remarks were based on completely reliable information, except in some details where I immediately emphasized their uncertainty, and the like.

Why am I so certain about my information? Because I am in direct contact with persons who are members of the general hanholo of . . . and also with . . .

In addition to the above sources, my information was based in part, on first-hand reports from Chabad representatives who were present at deliberations and personally talked to individuals who are responsible in their spheres.

You express concern about the statement in my previous letter "I must admit that it has been a source of considerable pain to me to note the way the ... was going in the last few years." The reason I mentioned "the last few years" was not to set a limit in time. As a matter of fact, the tendency began much earlier than that. What was added in the last few years was only this, that whereas before the p'tira of R’ A. (olov hasholom) he used to voice periodically his own and his followers' protest against the way the ... was going, I have heard no more such protests; at any rate, none has reached me.

The “pain" of which I spoke is due to several aspects. By way of example: The platform of the ... should have made it a movement not limited to a certain place or country. Unfortunately - and this is precisely what Mr. G. so strongly took issue with, but apparently without any success — in the past 20 years or so, the ... has shrunk and contracted to matters of Eretz Yisroel, while the main activities of the ... branches elsewhere have been reduced to fund-raising. Needless to say, I am aware of the activities of the late Mr G. beyond the sphere of Eretz Yisroel, and of the activities of (yibodel l'chayim) Dr. Y. in the U.N. and the like. I am also, of course, aware of the activities of the ... in New York and the USA in general, and similarly of the ... activities in England, France, Belgium, etc. But it is surely unnecessary to emphasize to you that all these activities are of a limited local nature, even if carried on in a number of cities lacking cohesive expansiveness. Moreover, true to the principle of our Sages that, "Mitzvah gorreres Mitzvah”² one more result of having reduced the ... to an almost exclusive orientation upon Eretz Yisroel is the further development that, instead of becoming there, at least, one cohesive force, it has become a conglomeration of several splinter organizations, called euphemistically ... . But since each has its own interests, their mutual attachment is a loose one, and it is difficult to foresee whether it will become any stronger in the future, if the tendencies which have brought about the narrowing down of the ... to an Eretz Yisroel centered organization, and in Eretz Yisroel itself — to splinter groups, prevail, one can only expect in the natural order of things that the forces stimulating those tendencies will lead to further divisiveness rather than unity.

As already indicated, there is no point in elaborating this painful situation, since I do not see what the British ... can do [to] reverse the trend. What has been said above is only in accordance with “vihiyisem n'kiyim,” to preclude any misinterpretation of what I mean.

For the same reason I shall not dwell here on the matter of the ... policy in Eretz Yisroel, since the British ... has no say in the matter. I should likewise withhold comment on your evaluation of the results of the elections, since neither you nor, for that matter, the . . . in Eretz Yisroel can do anything to change those results, However, inasmuch as sooner or later there will be elections there again, and it is impossible to know when, it is important that no illusions should be entertained about the results of the recent elections. I will therefore make the following observation:

According to my information, and according to my evaluation which leaves me without any doubt whatever, (though I do not wish to publicize it), the . . . suffered a defeat, and one may even say substantial defeat, in the election. For the results must be weighed against the efforts. A tremendous effort was made this time to mobilize the support of the Torah authorities, and those who did not come out openly for the ..., at any rate did not come out openly against it, and merely withheld their signatures from the kol-kore; and the kol-kore itself was couched in such glowing terms, and lavished such praise upon the ... candidates, that it would be difficult to find a parallel in any of the laudatory statements in the Torah or Shas about the greatest Tzadikim; the financial resources were also mobilized in a greater measure than for previous elections, and fund were drawn upon which had not been earmarked for the election campaign, the repercussions of which are still felt by the ... the campaign workers took unusual liberties in their methods, to the extent of sending out telegrams in Jerusalem a couple of days before the election date, claiming that it was my wish that the votes should be cast for the ... this, after my letters had already been made public. One such telegram has been forwarded to me, such that this is not just rumor or hearsay. And after all this tremendous effort, you know what was the number of votes which had been scraped together for the list. The greatest defeat was in Jerusalem, precisely there where you claim a victory, despite the fact that after Bnai Beraq, Jerusalem has the greatest number of yeshivos, is the seat of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, and the families of the . . . candidates enjoy there immense prestige, where prestige counts more than in any other city in Eretz Yisroel.

As for the role of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah regarding the issue of technical religious bloc, my information was based, as already mentioned, on the personal discussions of the Chabad delegation with some of its members and what they heard directly from them in the way of arguments against the proposed technical religious front. The delegation were also present at the final conference where the proposed religious bloc was rejected, witnessing all the proceeding at that conference, including the press release for the Hamodia which was immediately published, followed the next day by another one contradicting the first, both authorized by the ... luckily one appeared in the newspaper, while the first one was withdrawn.

Following precedent, I am sending a copy of this letter to our friend Mr. E., who is entitled to it in view of his being in on this whole discussion from the start.