Needless to say, the layman cannot be familiar with all the sources and has no way of verifying the facts. But what does a layman do in other areas, medical science for example? A patient may well have his doubts about the efficacy of a drug prescribed by his physician. Will he refuse to take it until he has been able to attend medical courses and learn all that his doctor has learned in his lifetime studies and experience? Will he not rely on the authority of the medical specialist? If he has doubts about the expertise of one doctor, he can obtain a second opinion, and a third; but when all agree that he needs that medicine and the prescribed medical regimen, would he refuse to take that expert advice even if he still has "strong doubts" about it?
By the same token, if you will ask any "specialist" in Yiddishkeit -a person who has dedicated his life to the study of Torah and actually lives by the Torah and Mitzvos in his everyday life and conduct, what is the right thing for you to do, the answer will be the same, because Jews have only one Torah and one Halachah. Indeed, if in matters of physical health it is logical that na'aseh must come before nishma - how much more so in matters of the eternal soul (which the wellbeing of the body is also intimately connected).
I have taken time out to write to you at some length, even though it is also common sense, and it is not original with me, for you can find it, and more, in such sources as the Kuzari and other works of our great Jewish philosophers, because I have in mind the saying of our Sages, "There is no point in bewailing the past." I trust that the wrong actions you are contemplating and have already initiated as a result of your woefully erroneous conclusion, may yet be reversed, and that this letter may help you see your way clear to do what is good and proper, good and proper also for you and your family; which is also why this letter is being sent, via Special Delivery.
Incidentally this letter is being written on the day before the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz. Commemorating the fateful breach in the wall of Jerusalem under siege, which eventually led to the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh. It reminds us, every one of us, to do our utmost to eliminate the cause that led to the Destruction and Golus, the sole cause being, as we say in our prayer Umipnei chato'einu - "Because of our sins we have been exiled from our land." It particularly reminds us how careful one must be not to let anything make even a crack in the wall that protects "Jerusalem" - "Yare Shalem" and the "inner Beis Hamikdosh" which is the most cherished possession of every Jew - the indestructible counterpart of the physical Beis Hamikdosh that stood in Jerusalem of old. This inner Sanctuary is what G-d desires most, as implied in His order and request, "Let them make Me a Mikdosh and I will dwell among (in the midst and within) them"; within them - within every Jew and every Jewish home.
