Every Jew was counted before receiving the Torah for each has a share in it; from Moshe to the ordinary Jew, all count as ‘one’; never give up any Jew as lost; Jewish education for every child as Torah's guarantor
FREE RENDITION
By the Grace of G-d
1st Day of the Week of Bamidbar, 5726
Brooklyn, N.Y.
To All Participants In the Annual Dinner of the Oholei Torah Institute
G-d Bless You - Greeting and Blessing:
This year’s Dinner is taking place on the day after Shabbos Bamidbor, within a few days of Shovuos, the Festival of the Giving of Our Torah. There is in this circumstance a special timeliness and significance for the annual undertaking in behalf of the Oholei Torah Institute.
According to the Geonim, the Sedra Bamidbor is always read before Shovuos. This Sedra begins with the numbering of the Jewish people in the wilderness of Sinai, from which the whole Chumash —the “Book of Numbers”—derives its name.
One of the teachings which is indicated by the connection between the Sedra of Bamidbor and Mattan Torah is this: In order to receive the Torah, it is necessary that all Jews should stand up and be counted, and that every individual Jew should be included into Klal Yisroel, because each and every Jew has a share in the Torah, and every Jewish soul is intimately connected with the holy Torah.
Every Jew, from Moshe Rabbenu to the most ordinary individual, must be counted as “one”, neither more nor less; because by virtue of the root and source of all Jewish souls in the Living G-d, “All are of a kind and all have One Father” (Tanya, chapter 32 - בל).
It follows from the above that one must never give up any Jew as "lost”, regardless of his religious and spiritual state in matters of Torah and Mitzvoth.
The recognition of the sublimity of the Jewish soul, and that our soul is a part of the whole of “Klal Yisroel”, and that G-d is the “One Father of all” — this is a necessary preparation for receiving the Torah with joy and inwardness.
Considering also that the Torah was given only after we made our children the guarantors that the Torah would be studied and observed, as our Sages tell us, it is clear how vital is the Torah-true Chinuch, and also what the approach to Jewish education must be: on the part of the teachers and educators - a determination to implant into the tender hearts of the children the love of the Torah and the fear of Heaven, together with love of G-d and the love of our people Israel, in the spirit of “They are all of a kind and all have One Father”; and on the part of Baalei Battim - to recognize their responsibility, matched only by the Zechus and privilege, to create the necessary facilities for this Chinuch Al Taharas HaKodesh, and to see to it that not a single child should be left out, G-d forbid.
It is to be hoped that all the participants in the Annual Dinner for the Oholei Torah Institute will fully appreciate their responsibility and privilege towards this worthy educational institution, to ensure that the Dinner should fulfill all its expectations, in every respect, and in the fullest measure, and that the success of it should be felt throughout the year.
With esteem and blessing for success,
/Signed/ Menachem Schneerson
