[After Nissan, 5724]

Greeting and Blessing:

I am directed by the Rebbe Shelita to acknowledge receipt of your letter, and to convey to you the Rebbe’s response.

The Rebbe read your letter with astonishment, and concluded that apparently you have not read — or read only superficially — his recent letter,¹ as well as the previous one,² which was made public, in which his stand on the question of prayer in the public schools has been clearly outlined.

Daily prayer in the public schools is seen only as a first — and essential — step in impressing upon the child’s mind that there is a Supreme Being, the Creator and Master of the Universe. But the religious training of the children must, of course, be continued and developed outside the schools. (Incidentally, the war which has been declared by atheists and their cohorts against even a twenty-two word prayer, is in itself a strong proof of the importance of such a prayer).

The Rebbe was gratified to see your concern lest the children will learn to pray only non-denominational prayers. Surely you will not suspect the Rebbe of being less concerned for the religious education of the children. Nor will you suspect the Rebbe of being an advocate of a minimum program of religious training, such as limited to Sunday school, or an afternoon school, much less to a short non-denominational prayer in the public school. You can readily understand that the Rebbe can have no opinion other than that of the Shulchan Aruch, according to which Jewish children are required to study the Torah by day and by night. And inasmuch as the Torah is Min Hashomayim, this obligation is valid in the U.S.A as elsewhere, and in 1964 as well in 5724.

However, in regard to education there can be two different approaches: a) all or nothing. b) a step by step approach, as was the case with the conquest of the Holy Land under Joshua’s command, in accordance with the Divine promise, "Little by little shall I drive (the enemy) out of the land" (Exodus 23:30). The Rebbe follows the second method, namely a gradual conquest of the "Holy Land" in a spiritual sense. Needless to say one has to take care that a partial accomplishment should not serve as a basis for a compromise to be accepted in lieu of the total objective. One must constantly stress that the partial achievement is only a minimum, and only a first step to further advancement towards the ultimate objective, namely total commitment to the Torah and Mitzvot in the everyday life.

This is a far cry from those who clamor for compromise in the religious life, for the benefit of those who would not accept all the 613 Mitzvot, and are ready to settle for the compromise as an end in itself. This is only a falsification of the Torah, Torat Emet, since in Truth there can be no compromise.

The Rebbe is obviously following in the footsteps of his father-in-law of saintly memory. As you may know, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, on arrival in this country, established the Central Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Brooklyn, and subsequently many branch Yeshivot elsewhere. However, realizing that there are circles where a Yeshiva education will not be accepted, he encouraged the establishment of Yeshivot Ketanot, and where that was also too much, he encouraged Talmud Torahs and so forth, to the extent of even initiating a Release Time program in N.Y.C. and elsewhere. Under the Release Time program, as you may know, tens of thousands of Jewish children from the public schools receive one hour’s religious instruction outside the public school premises. Anyone who knew the late Lubavitcher Rebbe of saintly memory, either personally or by reputation, knew of his self-dedication to Torah and to one hundred percent Yiddishkeit, and also knew of his vast experience in Chinuch. No one, therefore, could make the charge that by initiating and developing the Release Time program, consisting of one hour a week, he would undermine the religious character and the future of the children (though there was some bitter opposition due to ill-advised or misguided reasons). If, when the program was initiated over twenty years ago, there could be room for a difference of opinion as to whether it was a wise approach, everyone must now admit that the program has been highly successful in that it has been instrumental in producing Rabbis and Torah-observing laymen, through the stimulus which that single hour a week has given to many children to pursue their religious education in Talmud Torah Hebrew Day Schools and Yeshivot.

As for your fear that children would learn to pray only in English, the Rebbe has declared quite emphatically that, in his opinion, it is better to pray in English than to be an atheist. Eventually, the children will learn that English is the spoken language of the country and not the Holy Tongue, while the Jew’s very essence is holiness, as it was made clear at Mattan Torah, “And you shall be unto me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.”³ Hence, the Jew can never attain complete fulfillment until he prays in the Nusach instituted by the Anshei Kneset HaGedola, and fulfills all other Mitzvot.

Finally, the Rebbe added the following point, which for understandable reasons, he did not wish to include in his general letter:

It is amazing that those who oppose a constitutional amendment to permit prayer in the public schools, in the belief that such an amendment would open the way to all sorts of abuse, and would undermine the practical implementation of the separation of Church and State, seem to ignore the plain reality that throughout the U.S.A. there are actually conducted even now, as has been for many years, various Christian activities, clearly sectarian prayers, etc. in the public life. In the Rebbe’s opinion the situation is such that if an amendment for a non-denominational prayer is implemented, there is a good chance that Jewish children would not be compelled to participate in Christian prayers and other Christian activities in the public schools; where as if a position is taken against any kind of religious expression, and even the mention of the G-d’s name in the public schools, it is hard to see how the de facto situation in regards to religious activities in the public schools, a situation which has existed for many years, can be radically changed.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Nissan Mindel

Secretary