By the Grace of G-d 15th of Cheshvan, 5733 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Blessing and Greeting:

I am in receipt of your letter in which you write about matters relating to your studies, profession, etc.

Generally speaking, when a person has an inclination and the talent for a specific field, it is clear that that should have priority, and the person should strive to follow it up. On the other hand, I rather doubt whether it is worthwhile to make it the cornerstone of one's ambition and life to the exclusion of all other alternatives. After all, a human being is not the master of the world. Besides no human being can really know what is truly good for him.

Consequently, insofar as you are concerned, it would be my suggestion that you should try to follow the road which is after your heart, but you should not make it the only or most important thing in life. This is to say that you should also allow yourself to consider other possibilities and alternatives.

Referring to the subject matter of the conclusion of your letter, which is even more essential than the beginning, to which you refer in passing also at the beginning of your letter, namely that you do not know how to pray, etc., this is rather surprising to hear from a young person. It is surely the ambition of young people to learn about all the things that are worth knowing, and to acquire all the knowledge that is important to their life and identity and fulfillment. For later, in the years of maturity, the task is to put the acquired knowledge into practice, while the years of adolescence are the period of preparation and the acquisition of knowledge.

Needless to say, merely to acknowledge “I do not know how" is not a solution, but such a recognition can and ought to increase the challenge to do everything possible to rectify the lack of knowledge, and to do this with all the energy and enthusiasm with which youth has been endowed, so that not only will the young person accomplish it for himself, or herself, but will also serve as a shining example to inspire others. Moreover, youth has also been endowed with the wonderful quality of not being afraid to face a challenge nor discouraged by any difficulty, including the difficulty of one’s own inertia and natural inclination to take an easy way out.

May G-d grant that you should have good news to report in all the above.

With blessing,