5737
Morristown, New Jersey
Greeting and Blessing:
Your letter reached me with considerable delay, and the pressure of duties regretfully delayed my reply still further.
With regard to the question of adoption, about which you write, I am not generally in favor of it, in view of the many complications that it involves from the viewpoint of the halachah. Indeed, my advice is to apply the efforts and costs that an adoption entails to matters that will bring G-d’s blessing for additional natural and healthy offspring.
If, however, you think that in your situation there are weighty factors that warrant considering an adoption, I would suggest that you consult an orthodox, practicing rabbi. He can then explain to you in detail what complications are involved from the viewpoint of the Shulchan Aruch, as well as the additional complications that can arise when the adopted child grows up, quite apart from the emotional aspects of the situation - whereupon you will carefully weigh the matter and decide whether or not to go ahead with it.
With blessing,
Notes and sources
Published: The Letter and the Spirit, Vol 1 (Nissan Mindel Publications, 1998), 437.
Note: Letters printed in "The Letter and the Spirit" are from the Archives of Rabbi Nissan Mindel A"H, the Rebbe's personal secretary entrusted with writing up the Rebbe's orally dictated responses. The “Nissan Mindel Archives” are comprised of secretarial copies, including first drafts, and may have subsequently been published with editorial changes. Therefore the letters as they appear in the book may not be the final signed version.