By the Grace of G-dBrooklyn, N.Y.

Blessing and Greeting:

I am in receipt of your letter with enclosures.

Needless to say, I read your letter with special interest, since it displays a sincere concern for Jewish youth in our Holy Land and the problems besetting the younger generation there, as indeed everywhere else.

As for your idea that the situation could be radically improved by the arrival of one or two or three persons, who would devote themselves to the problems of the younger generation in Eretz Yisrael - surely there are outstanding persons and groups on the scene who are already active in this direction. At the same time, since the problem afflicting Jewish youth is not peculiar to Eretz Yisrael, but is prevalent in all other countries as well, there is the question as to whether it is justifiable for persons in other countries to abandon Jewish youth there, in order to help Jewish youth elsewhere. By what yardstick does one measure the importance of some Jewish youths relative to others? After all, every Jewish person is a “whole world”¹ and a top priority. Moreover, if we are to go by numbers, then surely Jewish youth outside of Eretz Yisrael far outnumbers that in Eretz Yisrael, and if their leaders were to leave them while hoping to continue to be an influence over them from afar, the results could not be the same. Add to this the principle which our Sages established, namely, “The poor of thy city have priority.”²

While on this subject, I would like to add that it is an injustice to the younger generation to blame them for their present state. After all, the young have not grown up in a desert, without parents, and without an environment. Therefore, while doing everything possible to exert a good influence on the younger generation, it is necessary at the same time to call to task both the parents and the environment, in order that they take a good hard look at themselves and find out where they have failed. This is not a matter of “crying over the past,”³ for unfortunately there are many parents who have not learned anything from the past and who continue in the same old way. Similarly, society at large has apparently not taken steps to correct its mistakes. Thus this negative situation is perpetuated and is, in fact, going from bad to worse. However, the subject matter is too painful to go into in greater detail, especially in a letter.

Let us hope that sooner rather than later the parents will fulfill their duty, which is to bring up their sons and daughters in the way of truth and the way of life, which is the way of the Torah, called Torat Emet and Torat Chaim. Then, not only will every Jewish boy and girl proudly carry and justify their Jewish name, as children of Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah, but their parents will also have true nachat from them.

With blessing,