By the Grace of G-d29th of Menachem Av, 5718Brooklyn, N.Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

I read your letter, in which you write about the course of your thoughts and ideas. I trust you will not take it amiss if I will quote in this connection the words of the wisest of all men, King Solomon, "G-d made man straight, but they sought many accounts." In other words, man often confuses himself by delving, unnecessarily into inquiries and accounts of things which should be taken for granted and which do not really present any problems. Needless to say that the more intellectual a person is, the more he is inclined to seek "accounts" and, consequently, the more apt he is to get confused.

This reminds me of the episode which a professor of medicine once told me. On one occasion when he was learning anatomy, and particularly the anatomy of the leg, describing the various muscles, etc. amounting in the hundreds, all of which are so perfectly coordinated in the motion of the leg during walking, he became so engrossed in the details, all the more so being a man of great intellect, that momentarily he found his walking difficult and quite complicated as he began to analyze the working of each muscle and joint, etc. The moral is obvious.

However, inasmuch as the point which seems to confuse you most is the similarity which is to be found in the various religions of the world, and also in the various ethical systems, I will take this means to emphasize one aspect which might well clarify this matter.

From the point of view that there is only one true religion, as there is only one truth, and considering that there was a time when humanity recognized only this truth, but subsequently was split up and separated into groups and nations, in accordance with the teachings of our Torah, it is not surprising that in the course of time and by reason of geographical separation, certain teachings and tenets of the true faith assumed various forms and deviations. It is therefore also not surprising that the sub-stratum remained similar in most cases, which explains the similarity of the ethics and teachings of the various religions.

You will recall that when you visited here we discussed the question as to how is it possible to ascertain the priority of one religion over another, in order to know which is closest to the truth, or the truth itself. It is in reference to this that I quoted the scriptural text above. That is to say, there is no need to enter into a complicated research inasmuch as the truth is obvious on the surface, and all that is necessary is to use common sense, the common sense which a normal person uses in every aspect of his daily life. Making only one assumption that human reactions have not changed in the course of the centuries, I declare that the truth of the Torah, going back to the Revelation at Mt. Sinai, is obvious. For, suppose that 600,000 parents would today say to their children, "This morning you and we were all gathered at a certain place, and we all heard a heavenly voice pronounce the Decalogue," the children would not accept this, for they would say, "If we were there with you, why did we not hear or see anything?" I assume that such would have also been the reaction in the previous century, and two centuries ago, and so on, until we reach the generation whose parents witnessed the event. And let it be emphasized again that during this long chain of tradition there has been no break, nor has the number of transmitters at any time been reduced to less than many hundreds of thousands, for at no time were there less than one million Jews in the world, Jews from all walks of life, and had no personal axe to grind, etc. yet in each generation of the uninterrupted and unbroken history of our people this event was accepted as authentic history, and the text of the Decalogue remained exactly the same. This is certainly undeniable evidence, according to all the rules of scientific proof acceptable today.

The same cannot be said about any of the other religions of the world, which you mentioned, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam. In the case of all three of these religions, there is a definite break, or the tradition narrows down to a single person, such as Buddha, Mohammed or the Founder of Christianity, who transmitted his teachings to a group of 12 Apostles.

As you have dealt with applied science, and are familiar with the principles of deduction and induction, which are the very foundation of science, I trust that when you will reflect upon the simple proof mentioned above, you will obtain a deeper insight into this matter, and will stop worrying about things which are of no value.

I believe that I also referred to the question of the actual adherence to the daily precepts of Torah, in regard to which some would-be observers contend that they would be inclined to observe them in [if?] they understood them. Here again, if these people would apply common sense and logic, they would realize that such an attitude is not justified by weighing the odds involved. For, assuming that they first enter into lengthy research into the significance and value of the precepts and finally come to the conclusion that they are indeed vital and necessary, which means that they were so also before they had entered into their research; the result is that they have lost all that time which they spent in theory instead of in practice. On the other hand, assuming the other extreme, that they will come to the conclusion that the precepts are not vital, then, if they had, in the meantime, devoted the comparatively little time which is necessary to fulfill these precepts, such as putting on Tefillin, reciting the prayers, etc. or the small privations in exercising self-control in matters of food and drink, or in giving up certain pleasures of the flesh, or other similar restrictions, they will have made comparatively small sacrifices, and the loss involved would by no means equal the loss which is involved in the former case. Thus, even on the basis of the simple odds involved, any reasonable person should immediately begin observing the daily precepts, which does not, of course, preclude him from studying their deeper meaning and significance at the same time, or later.

May G-d grant that you will go from strength to strength along the path of our Torah, which is called the Law of Life, meaning that it is not only the source of eternal life, but also a guide in our daily life, and the source of life and happiness on this earth, and in the practice of the Mitzvoth whereby man lives, as the Torah assures us. This in itself will open your mind to a better understanding and appreciation of their vital necessity. I hope and pray also that you will inspire all the members of your family in this direction.

With blessing,