By the Grace of G-d
Purim Koton, 5746
Brooklyn, N.Y.
To All Participants in the Third Anniversary Banquet Chabad Community Center Anaheim, CA
Greeting and Blessing:
I was pleased to be informed of the forthcoming Anniversary Banquet, taking place at the end of the current month Adar I, on the eve of Rosh Chodesh Adar II. Both these months are particularly auspicious and joyous for our Jewish people, which makes the date of the event doubly favorable.
Purim has a special relevance to the cause for which you are gathered on this occasion. Purim emphasizes the vital importance of Torah education. The Midrash tells us that Haman met Jewish children coming from school and asked them what they had learned that day. In reply, they quoted verses which eventually were included in our Siddur. One verse particularly inflamed Haman: "Contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot, but it will not materialize, for G-d is with us" (Isaiah 8:10). He vowed that when he puts his decree into effect, the children will be his first target.
Haman knew then that as long as the Jewish people remembered and adhered to the secret of their survival, namely - in his words -
