I received your essays / A healthy soul affects the body / utilize vacation to strengthen the soul
By the Grace of G-d
28th of Iyar, 5734
Brooklyn, N.Y.
To the Students of Grade II
Oholei Torah Day School
500 S.W. 17th Avenue
Miami, Fla.
Greeting and Blessing:
Your teacher sent me your note-books in connection with your assignment, “My plans for the Summer,” which I looked through with much interest.
I wish you a happy and healthy summer, and since every person has a body and a soul, a healthy person is one who is healthy both in body and in soul. As a matter of fact, the soul is the more important part of a person, and when the soul is healthy it helps the body to keep in good shape.
Since you are fortunate to be students of the Oholei Torah Day School, you surely know that the soul, like the body, needs constant nourishment, and the nourishment of the soul is the Torah and Mitzvos.
During the school period you spend time partly in the study of Torah and partly in the study of other things, like English and arithmetic etc. However useful these other things are, they do not make the soul healthier, for, as mentioned above, the soul receives health and strength only from Torah and Mitzvos. But during the summer vacation, when you are free from other things, you have an opportunity to learn more Torah and do more Mitzvos, and in this way to give your soul a chance to get really strong and healthy, and to gather strength also for the coming school-year.
I have written more on this important subject in a special message to all students, which your teacher will surely read and explain to you.
So I will conclude with the prayerful wish that you should, with G-d’s help, make the most of your summer vacation along the above lines, and G-d will surely bless you to have a truly healthy summer, healthy both in soul and in body.
Wishing you a happy and inspiring Yom Tov of Mattan-Torah, and may the joy of this great Festival be with you throughout the summer and always,
With blessing,
M. Schneerson
