By the Grace of G-dChanukah, 5734Brooklyn, N. Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

This is to acknowledge with thanks receipt of your book Emergent Man. I appreciate the thoughtfulness in sending me a copy. It came at an appropriate time, just before Chanukah, when we have the Mitzvo of lighting the candles, symbolizing the light of the Torah and Mitzvoth. Moreover, this Mitzvo has the distinctive quality of having to be placed in a way that it would illuminate not only the home inside, but also the outside. The implications of it in terms of practical instructions are obvious.

Incidentally, if one may wonder how effective a single act of an individual can be, not only in the immediate environment, but also in the world at large, modern science has dispelled such skepticism. For, precisely in recent times, science has come to the conclusion that although there is such a multiplicity of things in the world, the entire universe, as the name implies, is actually one whole, wherein every particle is correlated and interrelated with every other particle, to a lesser or greater degree. If this is true of the physical world, how much more so in the spiritual world.

I trust you will not take it amiss if I make so bold as to suggest to you something which might seem somewhat strange to you. You will surely believe me that I have no extraneous motives, but only to suggest to you something that I consider a good thing. What emboldens me to make the suggestion is the fact that I have had the pleasure of meeting with you and talking with you on several occasions, both personally and through correspondence. Hence, I trust, no further explanations are necessary. The suggestion I wish to make to you is that you should take time out from your busy schedule, say ten to fifteen minutes daily, to study some subject of Torah, such as the Chumash (Pentateuch), or Mishna, or Talmud and the like, all of which is available in English translation. For, in this case, the important thing is the subject matter rather than the language. 

If you ask me what is the purpose of it and what will you gain from it - the answer would be that a thinking person does not necessarily look for immediate personal benefits from everything and anything he does. But the essential thing is that a Jew can function fully and in the best possible way only in an atmosphere that is in harmony with its true essence. And just as a fish can function properly only in water, and it is not necessary for the fish to understand this, so for the Jewish people the Torah is what water is for the fish, as emphasized in the Talmud by the well known parable (Ber. 61b).

I trust that no further persuasion is necessary in your case, but if the above is not sufficiently convincing and there is no other way, I would ask you to accept my suggestion as a personal favor. For, knowing your spiritual affinity with my father-in-law of saintly memory, and whom you had occasion to meet more than once, I feel that it should be a source of great gratification for his soul if you acted on my suggestion and dedicated a brief period of time to Torah study every day, and a little more on Shabbos and Yom Tov which are on a higher level of holiness.

It is not my custom to put anyone on the spot, or cause any embarrassment, and I risk this in your case only because I believe the risk is warranted.

Wishing you a bright Chanukah and a growing measure of light in all your affairs,

With blessing,