Adar II 11, 5703 March 18, 1943
Chaplain Abraham Goldberg1
A.A.F.T.T.C.2
Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina
Dear Chaplain Goldberg:
We are in receipt of your letter of the 14th instant and wish to thank you for the well wishes offered our organization.3
We also wish to acknowledge receipt of your kind donation of $5.00, your Purim contribution to Machne Israel.
We are taking the liberty of forwarding you 20 bencherlach (Manuals of blessings and Prayers) as our Purim gift to the Jewish boys in your camp. It is our hope that those manuals will be used by your soldiers to acquaint themselves with the various blessings and prayers recited by every Jew.4
Kindly feel free to correspond with us regarding your problems as an orthodox Jewish chaplain. We stand ready to serve, with all the facilities at our disposal, anybody seeking to guide and to educate in the spirit of our holy Torah.
With best wishes for a happy Purim to you and the boys of your camp, we remain
With greetings of L’Alter Litshuvoh L’Alter Ligeuloh
Rabbi Mendel Schneerson
Chairman, Executive Committee
by [Secretary]
P.S. We are forwarding you under separate cover an address given by the Lubavitcher Rabbi, [שליט"א],5 on the occasion of the Feast of Purim.6
Notes and sources
The above letter is sourced from a secretarial carbon copy bearing archival markings in the Rebbe’s handwriting. The letter was written on the stationery of Machne Israel.
1) Avraham Goldberg (January 22, 1913, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – April 13, 2012, Jerusalem, Eretz Yisrael) was a chaplain in the United States Armed Forces during World War II and later a Professor of Talmud in Eretz Yisrael. Rabbi Goldberg learned in Yeshiva Torah V’Daat and Chafetz Chaim. For additional letters to Chaplain Goldberg English letters dated 13 Shevat 5704, 26 Adar 5704; Igros Kodesh vol. 21, letter 7,780 (p. 31-32) dated 13 Adar I, 5703 (a month prior to this letter); vol 2, letter 187 (pp. 35-36) dated 13 Nissan, 5705; letter 251 (pp. 178-179) dated 9 Cheshvan, 5707 (congratulating his move to Eretz Yisrael to study Torah).
2) Army Air Forces Technical Training Command.
3) Machne Yisrael had then arranged for a Sefer Torah to be brought to his army base (Igros Kodesh, vol. 21, loc. cit.).
4) At this time the Rebbe Rayatz had penned a public letter to Jewish soldiers that was sent to them along with the Bencherl:
By the Grace of G-d
3rd of Adar-sheni, 5703
Brooklyn
To Our Young Brothers
Serving in the Armed Forces
G-d be with you!
Greetings and Blessing:
I send you my gift herewith -- a manual for Grace after meals.
I urge you to be loyal to our religion, to put on Tephillin and pray whenever it is possible for you. May God protect you wherever you may be, may victory come through you and may you return to your homes healthy and sound, physically as well as spiritually.
Blessing you,
Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn
5) The space was left empty in the secretary’s copy to be filled in with שליט"א in Hebrew.
6) An Address Delivered (by the previous Rebbe) on the Feast of Purim 5701. Translation published by the Machne Israel New York 1941.
Source: Secretarial Carbon Copy
Published: Rebbe Responsa Exclusive