2991 —הונאת עצמך לעומת יושר רוחני אמיתי בחינוך

B"H, 2 MarCheshvan, 5715.

Brooklyn.

Greetings and blessing!

I received your letter in due course, and because of the preoccupations of the month of Tishrei I was unable to answer it until now...

As to what you write about the distressing question... what is the use of the consolations with which they console themselves and others with trifles, at the very time when the souls of the boys and girls cry out bitterly in an inner voice that is not heard? Their plea is: Our desire and wish is to study in an institution founded by my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, of blessed memory, conducted specifically in his spirit and according to his intent. Instead, there are several classes that study by the method that the maskilim introduced in their war against all that is holy to Israel, and our precious time is squandered on it (even non-religious educators agree that, from the educational point of view, the Ivrit b'Ivrit method wastes the students' time), while we could have been studying the Torah of Moshe, its mitzvos and the customs of Israel, which are also Torah, and there is not enough time, because of the stubbornness over that method, the multitude of secular studies, etc. What is more, in several classes secular studies come before holy studies, and the saying of the Tzemach Tzedek is known, that the beginning affects all that follows. What is more, boys and girls study together even at an age when this is not at all desirable. And what is more, among the teachers there are some who do not fear Heaven, etc., which then affects the boys and girls too.

All the answers and excuses for this, whose general content is that there is a place that is worse still, and that for each of the above matters someone else is to blame, so that the complaint should not be against me, etc., etc.: it is clear that the boys and girls are not at fault in any of this. It is also clear that "חיים כולכם היום" ("you are all alive today") comes through "ואתם הדבקים בה' אלקיכם" ("you who cleave to the L‑rd your G‑d" — Devarim 4:4). It is also clear that cleaving to the L‑rd your G‑d comes specifically through His Torah and mitzvos, and there is no other way to it. And the parable is well known, that slight damage to a seed or a tender sapling matters far more than great damage to a tree already old in years. May G‑d grant success to each of us, that there be engraved in his memory the saying of the Rebbe Maharash: "G‑d you cannot fool, and people you cannot fool either; you can only fool yourself." May this come about in actual practice, as soon as possible, so that true success will be drawn down in the work and in communal activity, and so in your private affairs as well.

With blessing.

Publisher's notes

The saying of the Tzemach Tzedek (פתגם הצ"צ): See also above, letter 2984, and the references in the notes there.

The saying of the Rebbe Maharash (מאמר אדמו"ר מוהר"ש נ"ע): See also below, letter 3052.