By the Grace of G-d 25th of Nissan, 5735 Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

Your letter reached me with some delay, and the intervening of Pesach further delayed my acknowledgment.

Needless to say, you are quite right that a person, especially a Jew, should keep his word. Although I do not know who the person was, I gathered from your letter that he too holds to the principle, but perhaps there was some compelling reason why he could not keep his word.

Since everything is by Hashgocho Pratis, I must take a stand in regard to the other matter in your letter, which you mention in quite a casual way, without seeing anything being wrong with it. I refer to the matter of a Jew suggesting to another Jew to put on Tefillin and the latter agreed on condition that the person suggesting it should do something in return. This is rather surprising and painful, especially in our time when the Jewish situation in general is a difficult one, and when the observance of Mitzvot, particularly the Mitzvah of Tefillin, is even more important than ever. We live in a time when all the “isms” have gone bankrupt, and it has become obvious that there is no other way for Jews but to identify with authentic Torah Judaism through the commitment in the daily life to the fulfillment of the Mitzvot. This has been the only constant factor which has preserved our Jewish people and Jewish individuals throughout our long and difficult history. Other factors, which are vital to the existence of other nations, such as political independence, a territory of their own, language, culture, etc., have not been constant factors in the preservation of our Jewish people, and have changed from one extreme to another, as is well known. Only such things as putting on Tefillin, which is already written in the Chumash and goes back to the giving of the Torah at Sinai, remain the same and unchanged, as has also been proven archaeologically (as the Tefillin that have been found in Massada). It is also well known that in every generation there have been persons or groups who deviated from the way of the Mitzvot, but before long they either returned to the fold and began to observe the Mitzvot again, or they were assimilated and lost completely to our Jewish people. There should therefore be no doubt in anybody’s mind at this time that the real mainstay of our people and the secret of its survival, which is no secret at all, is adherence to the Torah and Mitzvot in the daily life. For this reason, it is shocking to hear that when a Jew is asked to put on Tefillin, he agreed to it only if he were paid for it in some way.

I trust it is unnecessary to emphasize that the above is not intended as preachment or admonition, all the more so when it concerns an individual whom I do not know personally. However, as mentioned above, I could not pass over this in silence, and I hope that the above lines will serve a useful purpose in the future.

With blessing,