Free Translation—Unedited
5740 (1979), Sabbatical Year, Shabbos LaHashem
Brooklyn, New York
To the Honored Participants in the Sixth Great Assembly —
Headed by the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah[96] of the World Agudath Israel[97]
in Jerusalem, the Holy City, in Our Holy Land which will speedily be rebuilt by our Righteous Moshiach.
Greetings and Blessings!
It was with great pleasure and gratitude that I received your invitation, along with the attached agenda of the Central Committee of the Great Assembly,
May it be G-d’s Will that you take advantage of the Great Assembly with all its possibilities for spreading Judaism, Torah, and mitzvos everywhere — to the most forsaken places,
And most especially — the main thing, being action — through clear decisions based on Torah which even effect affairs of daily life.
Among them, obviously, should be decisions having to do with current events — publicizing as much as necessary the resolution of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Elul, 5697 [1937], which states:
“The Holy Land which G-d established according to its borders in the Holy Torah was given to the immortal Nation of Israel, and any concession regarding the Holy Land — which was given to us by G-d according to its borders — has no intrinsic value.”
Particularly since the situation regarding this has fundamentally worsened, and any concession of territory only endangers lives,
As the clear ruling of the Code of Jewish Law, Orach Chaim, Ch. 329 regarding the Laws of Shabbos states, Heaven forbid, lest —
“The land become easy to conquer.”
G-d, Who watches over His nation Yisroel, will protect each and every individual, whether in the Land of Israel or outside of it,
And speedily in our days will He put an end to the darkness; the increasingly dense darkness of the generation of the footsteps of Messiah,
Who will redeem us from our bitter exile, when
He will fight the battles of the L-rd and succeed, and will build the Holy Temple in its place and ingather the dispersed of Israel and the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d.[98]
With deep respect and with blessings
for much success in all these matters;
Awaiting Good News,
/Signed:/ Menachem Schneerson
Notes:
- (Back to text) The Rebbe had received an invitation to attend this conference in Jerusalem and this letter was the Rebbe’s response to that invitation.
- (Back to text) An umbrella organization representing various Chassidic and non-Chassidic groups which was established prior to the First World War. The Council of Sages were requested by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to reiterate a resolution made by the Council of Sages in 1937 when partition of the Land of Israel was at stake. Partition clearly involved ceding border towns, which is forbidden. The significance of a border town is such that one is obligated to desecrate the Sabbath in order to protect its sovereignty. As it states in Chapter 329, “Lest the land become more accessible to conquer.” For years the Rebbe stood on his own proclaiming this indisputable law, and it was only when the stark reality of the Oslo disaster became obvious, did hundreds of other Rabbis from all walks of life commence quoting this critical law. Ironically it is the logic behind this law, that all previous Israeli Chiefs of Staff employed, in order to ensure minimal loss of Israeli lives, whenever the Arab nations threatened Israel. The Yom Kippur War was the exception, where the Israeli Military Intelligence was tragically overruled by Golda Meir. As a result a few thousand young boys and girls needlessly lost their lives on the first day, when a pre-emptive strike did not go ahead as they had called for.
- (Back to text) Cf. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, ends of chs. 11-12.
