44 —עידוד חינוך הנוער וכוח ההשפעה החיובית

B"H, Zos Chanukah 5703.

Lehanikhbad vehana'aleh, iy"a chov"b etc. Mahar"i Sheinfeld, Roxbury, Mass.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

In accordance with your instruction when you were here, we sent your esteemed daughter, may she live, printed materials published for youth by the Central Organization for Education. Surely, with her great energy and influence, your esteemed daughter will strive to ensure that the magazines and so forth reach the boys and girls, thus meriting the many—upon whom the merit of the community depends.

Our strong hope is that in the future as well, you will do your utmost to provide for the circles of youth under your influence the materials published by the Central Organization for Education, whose sole desire is to bring Jewish boys and girls closer to Torah and mitzvos and ancestral tradition.

If there are no kids (gedayim), there are no goats (teishim), and today's children and students are tomorrow's sages; upon this depends the resting of the Shechinah on Israel, as stated in Yerushalmi (Sanhedrin 10:2).

In these days—days of harsh decrees like those of Haman—as our Sages said (Sanhedrin 97b), the advice given by our Sages (Bava Metzia 85a) is to teach Torah to the children of the unlearned and to bring back sinners in repentance. As Targum and Rashi explain on the verse in Yirmiyahu there: then the decree is annulled.

And everyone must see himself as if half of the world is meritorious and half liable; through his good deeds he tips the world toward merit and brings salvation and deliverance.

With blessings for immediate repentance and immediate redemption,
Rabbi Menachem Schneerson

Summary

The letter stresses how every effort in Jewish education impacts not only individuals but all of Israel. By teaching Torah to youth and inspiring positive change, one can annul negative decrees and bring merit to oneself and others.