October 26, I960

Re: Project of Offset Printing School and Plant, in Kfar Chabad, Israel.

The Project calls for the establishment of an Offset Printing School In Kfar Chabad to train students in the art of offset printing, as well as to serve as a plant specializing in the republication of Rabbinic and Chassidic literature to meet urgent demands In Israel and for export.

The wholesale extermination of Jewish books and the destruction of Jewish printing houses in Central and Eastern Europe in the holocaust of the last war is one of the great tragedies which is still acutely felt by Jewish communities all over the world. Many sacred books in the field of Rabbinics and Chassiduth, which are standard requirements in the Jewish home and educational institutions, are out of press. The need for them is felt all the more by survivors and refugees from the said areas who are anxious to keep alive the continuity of the traditions and values of our people which had suffered such a telling blow.

Thus, a project whereby the republication of those sacred and scholarly books would be made possible, would in itself be in the nature of an urgent public service.

We propose to make this a two-in-one project by combining it with the establishment of an Offset Printing School, to train young men in a useful trade which would provide them with an economic basis and also be an asset for the State at large.

We consider ourselves particularly qualified for the implementation of this Project, for the following reasons:

(1) We already have in operation in Kfar Chabad a Printing School (without offset equipment), which has highly justified itself. The Project of the Offset Printing School and plant could therefore be easily integrated with the existing Printing School, and the two departments would complement each other and spur each other's progress.

(2) We have the facilities in terms of locale and instructor and administrative personnel, so that we would need only the funds for the machinery and equipment.

(3) Offset printing, as publishing in general, requires in addition to the mechanical skill a background of knowledge of the literature printed. We have the student body that would be highly qualified for the task.

(4) We have every reason to believe that if you would make available 50% of the cost of the equipment, we would be able to raise the balance from our own ranks.

(5) Aside from the above practical considerations, there are also moral ones. The center of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement before the last war was first in Russia and subsequently in Poland, with a network of Yeshivoth, synagogues and other institutions in these and adjoining countries, most hard hit by the war. The Chabad immigrants in Israel, especially those settled in the Chabad Village, are the spiritual legatees of the victims who perished so tragically during the last war.

The cost of the equipment to implement the Project is conservatively estimated at about $50,000.00. Inasmuch as we have a contingent source for 50% of this amount, we ask you to subscribe to the amount of $25,000 in order to enable us to proceed with the implementation of this Project without delay.

We sincerely hope that you will consider the project on its merits, and we thank you in anticipation of your favorable action.

Respectfully submitted

SECRETARIAT OF THE LUBAVITCHER RABBI