By the Grace of G-d17th of Teves, 5744Brooklyn, N. Y.

Blessing and Greeting:

Your letter of Dec. 16th, over two additional signatures, has been received. As requested, I will remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart’s desires for good.

There is surely no need to point out to you that since all blessings come from G-d, and the channel to receive them is through the everyday life and conduct in accordance with His Will, every additional effort in matters of Torah and Mitzvoth, though a must for their own sake, widens these channels.

This is especially important in the case of a young couple, who must be sure to establish their home on the foundations of the Torah and Mitzvoth, so that it will be truly a Binyan Adei Ad.

The above will also be helpful to your parents who are still behind the Iron Curtain, especially bearing in mind the sacrifices which Jews make there to keep up Yiddishkeit as much as possible. Therefore, children of such parents who are in a free country and are able to observe freely and fully all that is required and expected of a Jew, should do even a little more also in behalf of their parents and other Jews who, unfortunately, are restricted or prevented from doing it themselves.

There is a further significance in the above, because one of the propaganda claims that the authorities in that country make is that the reason there are so few synagogues and other Jewish institutions in that country is that the Jews there do not require them and are not interested to have them. In support of this "argument" they cite the fact that in the free countries not all Jew[s] are observant, and even some of the Jews that come out from the Soviet Union do not become strictly observant. In view of this, every Jew who comes from behind the Iron Curtain who observes the Torah and Jewish way in the everyday life, and does it with pride and joy, gives the lie to that argument, while also inspiring other fellow Jews to follow their example.

May G-d grant that you should have Hatzlocho in all above, and have good news to report.

With blessing,

P.S. For technical reasons, it is easier in our office to reply in English rather than in Russian, but you may continue to write to me in Russian also in the future.