Response to rabbi’s speech against school prayer based on misunderstanding of the Rebbe’s position; duty to strengthen religion among youth; Soviet progression from “religious freedom” to total ban serves as warning.
B.H.
7th of Kislev, 5723
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Rabbi [Rabbi K. Klappholtz]
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sholom uBrocho:
It is not my custom at all to react to newspaper reports, for this would be an endless chore; much less to reports attributed to persons unknown to me; reports, moreover, which may not even be accurate. I am making an exception in this case, however, because of the importance of the issue involved.
I refer to the news item in the N.Y. Times of Dec. 2, 1962, reporting an address by you at your synagogue, which has come to my attention.
But before coming to the subject matter I wish to point out several inaccuracies, which suggest to me that you probably did not have the full text of my statement before you, or did not read it carefully, or that you have been misquoted.
You are reported to have declared: “The opinion expressed [by me] that no parent can object to prayers in the public schools is misleading because we feel that conscientious parents — in full awareness of their religious heritage — would not want their own religious convictions to be watered down by a state-sponsored prayer.”
If you will read my statement carefully, you will see that (I did not speak of “prayers in the public schools” in general and what is more essential in this case —) I did not speak of parents “in full awareness of their religious heritage.” On the contrary, I emphasized that I was primarily concerned with parents lacking any religious awareness, those who not only do not send their children to day schools, Yeshivoth, etc., but do not even send their children to afternoon Talmud Torahs and many not even to Sunday schools. These are the majority by far of parents whose children attend the public schools. They display so little awareness of religion that for their children the Regents Prayer was the only opportunity to say any kind of prayer in their daily life. You will surely agree that very few of these children recite the whole Shmone-esrei every morning before leaving for school. For them, far from being a “watered down” prayer, the Regents Prayer was a valid prayer from the viewpoint of our halocho (as I explained at length) which, in addition to the mitzvah of tefillah contained other positive mitzvos.
You are further reported to have said: “The allegation... that those who identify themselves with the opposition to the prayer are quite naturally to be placed in the same camp with the secularists, shows little respect to the integrity...” This objection contains a misquotation and a misconception. I did not say “are to be placed,” but “are placed” and the difference is obvious. But the important thing is that this “allegation” comes in my statement under the caption of “Kiddush HaShem and Chilul HaShem.”
In the matter of Chilul HaShem the personal integrity of the people, or their best intentions, is irrelevant. What matters is the public effect and the impression created in the mind of the observer, regardless whether or not the conclusions are justified. This after all is the whole concept of Chilul HaShem. I was therefore careful to begin this part of my statement by the introductory remark: “Whatever justification there may be for it,” etc. Your opinion or mine will not alter the fact that broad sections of the American people and of people all over the world, make what seems to be a natural conclusion. This “allegation” has unfortunately been amply borne out.
As indicated in the beginning of this letter, I would have been prepared to forego the above reactions. What impels me to write to you is the issue itself and I will not deny that I also cherish the hope that you and others in similar positions will earnestly reappraise the whole situation, from a broad perspective. As I suggested in the conclusion of my statement, we ought to view the situation against the background of our time. On the one hand, hundreds of thousands of children recite a prayer to G-d every day of their school year. On the other hand the corroding forces of juvenile delinquency, secularism, communism, etc. are demoralizing American youth. Textbooks used in the public schools on geology, anthropology, history, etc. are often in conflict with religious tenets because theories and hypotheses are misrepresented as established truths, etc. the eternal values and virtues are relegated to a secondary place. In such a situation it is not hard to visualize what the impact of the banning of the non-denominational prayer would be on the minds of the children far removed from constitutional technicalities.
I believe it is the sacred duty of everyone, especially of spiritual leaders, to do everything possible to strengthen the religious and moral fiber of our youth, Jewish and non-Jewish, and non-denominational religious expression such as the Regents Prayer offers a positive contribution in the right direction. It is also most vital that the Yeshivoth and Day Schools be supported to the utmost and given every help to expand their facilities, both on the communal level as well as by Federal Aid to their secular departments. (I have dealt with this question separately).
In conclusion, I would like to tell you of my personal experience in Soviet Russia at the beginning of the Bolshevik revolution, when the Czar was toppled and the communists were still in the minority. The attitude to religion started out by the insistence that children should not be “coerced” in religious matters and the choice should be left to them. But they were logically more consistent than those who preach freedom of religion in this country. In Soviet Russia they banned religion from the schools, to ensure that no teacher would indoctrinate the children with religious ideas. From the school it was but one step away to religious “coercion” at home, or in private Chadarim and Yeshivoth, limiting group instruction to 3 or 5 — and religious schools only after the children come of age, at 18, and can decide for themselves whether or not they wish to be instructed in religion. The consequences need not be described.
I hope and pray that this should not happen here, but anyone who can see the situation in our world today with open eyes will not make the reckless assertion that it cannot happen here for in the world of ideas the balance hangs precarious in our present day and age. Everyone must do his utmost to minimize the real dangers.
May G-d grant that you too utilize your position and capacities to the utmost in strengthening and disseminating Torah Yiddishkeit, not forgetting those who are not as [of] yet in the position to learn and accept more than an “aleph”, without, of course, compromising or watering down our Torah and sacred heritage.
With blessing,
