By the Grace of G-d15 Adar, 5742Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

I was amazed to receive your letter, containing such astonishing statements as:

1) “I am almost certain that his letter will never be permitted to come to your attention."

2) “...seeking guidance but never receiving a reply.”

3) “Rabbi, your failure to answer I believe was the direct cause...”

4) ...he taught me humility...”

5) “I am sure that Rabbi... with whom he corresponded will help to shield you...”

To answer the above seriatim:

1) l am amazed that you could make such categorical statements. Let me assure you, equally categorically, that my mail is not, repeat not, intercepted, nor does it have to be “permitted” by anyone to come to my attention. I personally and I alone open my mail.

2) Having known Rabbi... personally, after many intimate conversations and frequent collaboration, I am certain that he was not a person to share personal and confidential correspondence with anyone else and he could not have informed anyone whether he had or had not received a reply.

3) No person, certainly not a Jew and least of all one who happens to be an attorney should make any such reckless accusations. An attorney, in particular, should be most cautious in his “beliefs” or conclusions, which have no basis in fact and are only fanciful flights of the imagination.

4) In light of the above, it is a very strange kind of “humility” that you have learned from him and your claim is not much of a credit to his memory.

5) This one has already been answered (1). You can rest assured that I am not, and do not have to be, shielded by any person or persons.

Having said the above, the question begs itself: what point is there in answering a letter that contains such irresponsible statements (to describe them mildly)? And what purpose is there in writing to its author? The answer is that a reprimand without instruction is only a half a job. I asked myself, how is it that a presumably responsible person can make such irresponsible accusations? I came up with only one possible explanation, based on the teachings of the Torah: it has to do, first of all, with the observance of the laws of kashrus in regard to all foods and beverages consumed. These laws have an impact on a Jew’s intellectual and emotional faculties — as have all mitzvot. But of all the mitzvot there is one very important mitzvah which emphasizes this impact even more pointedly. It is the mitzvah of putting on tefillin (every weekday morning, at the beginning of the day), with the Hand Tefillin placed on the left arm, facing the heart — the seat of the emotions and the Head Tefillin placed on the head, the seat of the intellect. Thus, this mitzvah has a special quality of helping the Jew who observes it without fail, to achieve a high degree of refinement of feeling and thought and their proper balance in the actual performance of the day to day activities — a balance which is so essential to inner harmony and peace of mind in all aspects of the everyday life and conduct.

This then, is the purpose - the only purpose of this letter: To call your attention to the strong likelihood that you ought to upgrade the level of observance of the said two mitzvot, within the general frame of adherence to the way of the Torah, especially as, in any case, there is always room for advancement in all matters of Yiddishkeit, Torah and mitzvot.

With esteem due,

P.S. I trust you will not misread the intent of this letter as an invitation to write to me further, with explanations and the like. It would be a pity to waste precious time.