6624 —חובת הרבנים להשיב על שאלת רישום ילדי נכריות ("מיהו יהודי")

B"H, 4th of Teves, 5719
Brooklyn, N.Y.

To their eminences^[1], the dayanim of the gate,
members of the Beth Din Tzedek of the holy community of London and of the country^[2],
may G‑d be upon them, may they live long

Shalom u'Vrachah!

I hereby acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 27th of Kislev, in connection with the letter now sent from the Holy Land, may it be built and established^[3], on the matter of the registration of children of non-Jewish mothers, etc.

Now it is understood and also obvious that you are right in saying that it would be very, very desirable for the position of the rabbis being asked to be uniform and of one character in its foundation, etc.; but you, honored sirs^[4], are surely aware of the difficulties in such a thing in general^[5].

And with regard to the matter in question: it appears that several of those asked have already answered and sent their replies there; if so, there is no room for the suggestion you mention in your letter, that perhaps it would be worthwhile to refrain from answering altogether^[6].

But I must add that even if the matter were still at its outset, my opinion is clear that one must answer the question. Apart from my general approach that "sit and do nothing"^[7] in such matters can lead to entirely undesirable results – and if only those who fear the word of G‑d^[8] would take an open stand on every phenomenon in the religious life of our people, the Children of Israel, wherever they are, many absolutely undesirable things would then be prevented – besides this there is another essential point in connection with the above matter: the very approach to the Jews abroad^[9] negates, from now on, the claim heard in many circles that the Jews abroad are not to express an opinion on the affairs of our Holy Land, may it be built and established^[10].

May it be G‑d's will that from now on the avodah of every single one, within the whole of Israel, be not necessarily the correction along the line of "turn away from evil," but along the right-hand line of "and do good"^[11] – to increase light; and "light" means only Torah^[12] and its mitzvos, as it is said, "For a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light"^[13]; in keeping with the lesson of the days of Chanukah from which we are going forth^[14], in a manner of "continually adding"^[15]. And although we are in a generation of the setting of the sun, and "darkness covers the earth"^[16], a doubled and redoubled darkness^[17], we have been promised that these lights will never cease^[18]; ours is the victory^[19]. And instead of the situation of those who "make darkness into light and light into darkness"^[20], "the night shall shine as the day"^[21] – and in the language of the Zohar, "darkness is transformed into light and bitterness into sweetness"^[22] – and the Children of Israel go forth openly, with heads held high^[23], to defend the Torah and its mitzvos, until even "the people that walk in darkness shall see a great light"^[24], the light of G‑d^[25].

With respect and with blessing.

As you requested, the letter is being sent promptly, special delivery^[26].

Publisher's notes

With the letter now sent from the Holy Land (עם מכתב הנשלח עתה מאה"ק): See below, letters 6714–6715.

Notes

1. To their eminences, the dayanim of the gate (הדר"ג דייני דבבא): הדר"ג = הדרת גאונם, "their eminences". דייני דבבא, "the judges of the gate", is the expression of the Yekum Purkan prayer (Siddur, Yekum Purkan): "to the heads of the academies, the heads of the exile, the heads of the yeshivos, and the judges of the gate," i.e. the judges who sit at the gate, the dayanim of the community. ק"ק = קהל קדוש, "holy community".

2. Beth Din Tzedek of the holy community of London (בית דין צדק דק"ק לונדון והמדינה): The court of the Chief Rabbi of Britain, the London Beth Din. It was among those who answered the registration question described in the next note; according to the report of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (4 August 1959), the entire five-man board of the London Beth Din signed the reply in accordance with halachah.

3. The letter now sent from the Holy Land (מכתב הנשלח עתה מאה"ק ת"ו): אה"ק ת"ו = ארץ הקודש, תבנה ותכונן. This is the letter of Israel's Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion (dated 27 October 1958), to some fifty "Sages of Israel" in Israel and abroad, asking how to register the religion and nationality of children of mixed marriages where the father is Jewish and the mother is not Jewish and has not converted, and both parents wish the child registered as Jewish: whether their good-faith declaration suffices. The question arose from a registration directive that caused a government crisis, and on 15 July 1958 the government resolved to set up a committee to consult the Sages of Israel in Israel and abroad. The Rebbe too was among those asked; his formal reply is letter 6714 (8 Adar I 5719), and the next day he added a personal letter to Ben-Gurion, letter 6715. The London Beth Din had written to the Rebbe suggesting that the rabbis being asked coordinate a uniform position, or even refrain from answering.

4. You, honored sirs (לכת"ר): לכת"ר = לכבוד תורתם, "to their honored Torah selves".

5. The difficulties in such a thing in general (הקשויים שבדבר כזה בכלל): The difficulty of coordinating a single position among many rabbis, spread over different countries, each of whom was asked separately.

6. To refrain from answering altogether (להמנע מתשובה בכלל): If some rabbis refrained from answering while others had already answered, the result would not be a uniform position, only the absence of their voices.

7. "Sit and do nothing" (שב ואל תעשה): A halachic term: refraining from action, which in some matters is considered preferable to "rise and act". The Rebbe says that in such matters it is precisely sitting with folded hands that can lead to undesirable results.

8. Those who fear the word of G‑d (היראים לדבר ה'): After the verse (Shemos 9:20): "He who feared the word of G‑d."

9. Abroad (בחו"ל): חו"ל = חוץ לארץ, "outside the Land".

10. The affairs of our Holy Land (בעניני ארצנו הק' ת"ו): In various circles in Israel it was claimed that Diaspora Jews have no right to involve themselves in the affairs of the State. Now that the Prime Minister himself turned to the Sages of Israel abroad and asked their opinion, he has conceded that they have a place to express it; to refrain from answering would waste this opportunity. So too the Rebbe wrote in his reply (letter 6714, section a): "no one is able to set up a partition between the Jews of Eretz Yisrael and the Jews outside the Land."

11. "Turn away from evil" ... "and do good" (סור מרע ... ועשה טוב): After the verse Tehillim 34:15: "Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." The "right-hand line": in Kabbalah and Chassidus the right is the line of chesed and revelation, the left the line of gevurah and negation. The avodah should not be chiefly a fight of protest and negation against evil, but the adding of good and light, through which the darkness is pushed away of itself.

12. "Light" means only Torah (ואין אור אלא תורה): After Megillah 16b: "'For the Jews there was light, gladness, joy and honor.' Rav Yehudah said: 'Light' – this is Torah."

13. "For a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light" (כי נר מצוה ותורה אור): Mishlei 6:23: "For a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life."

14. From which we are going forth (דאזלינן מנייהו): Aramaic, "from which we are going": the days of Chanukah that have just ended (this letter was written on 4 Teves, the day after Zos Chanukah).

15. "Continually adding" (דמוסיף והולך): Shabbos 21b: "Beis Hillel say: on the first day one lights one; from then on one keeps adding." The lesson of the Chanukah lights is to add in light from day to day.

16. "Darkness covers the earth" (והחושך יכסה ארץ): Yeshayahu 60:2: "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and a thick cloud the peoples; but upon you G‑d shall shine, and His glory shall be seen upon you."

17. A doubled and redoubled darkness (חושך כפול ומכופל): The Tanya's expression for this world (Tanya, ch. 36): "there is none lower than it in the concealment of His light, and a doubled and redoubled darkness."

18. These lights will never cease (נרות אלו אינן בטילין לעולם): After the Ramban (Bamidbar 8:2), who cites the Midrash (Tanchuma Behaaloscha 5; Bamidbar Rabbah 15:6) that G‑d told Aharon "but the lights are forever," and explains: "they alluded only to the lights of the Chanukah of the Hasmoneans, which continues even after the destruction, in our exile."

19. Ours is the victory (דדידן נצח): Aramaic, "ours has won". After the story in the Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 24:3) of Abba Yosi of Tzaysor, who told the townspeople to strike with iron tools and cry "Didan natzach" to drive an evil spirit from the town's spring: "they struck with their iron tools and said, Ours has won, ours has won."

20. Those who "make darkness into light and light into darkness" (ששמים חושך לאור ואור לחושך): Yeshayahu 5:20: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who make darkness into light and light into darkness, who make bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter."

21. "The night shall shine as the day" (לילה כיום יאיר): Tehillim 139:12: "Even darkness is not dark for You, and the night shines as the day; darkness and light are the same."

22. "Darkness is transformed into light and bitterness into sweetness" (אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא ומרירו למיתקו): בל' = בלשון, "in the language of". The words of the Zohar cited in the Tanya: Tanya, ch. 27, ואתהפכא ממרירו למתקא ומחשוכא לנהורא ע"י הצדיקים, "transformed from bitterness to sweetness and from darkness to light by the tzaddikim"; Tanya, ch. 36, "and darkness is transformed into light." Not only will the difference between darkness and light be made plain (the opposite of "making darkness into light"), but the darkness itself will be turned into light.

23. Openly, with heads held high (בריש גלי): Aramaic, "with uncovered head": openly and without fear. As Onkelos renders Shemos 14:8, "and the Children of Israel went out with an upraised hand" – ובני ישראל נפקו בריש גלי.

24. "The people that walk in darkness shall see a great light" (העם ההולכים בחושך יראו אור גדול): After Yeshayahu 9:1: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." The Rebbe writes "shall see", in the future, as a blessing.

25. The light of G‑d (אור הוי'): After Yeshayahu 2:5: "House of Yaakov, come, let us walk in the light of G‑d."

26. Special delivery (מהיר דחוף): Express ("special delivery") mail, as they had requested.

Summary

The London Beth Din proposed that the rabbis asked by Ben-Gurion about registering children of non-Jewish mothers coordinate a uniform reply or perhaps not reply at all. The Rebbe answers that since many have already replied, abstaining makes no sense, and that in any case one must answer: passivity in such matters causes harm, and the very request refutes the claim that Diaspora Jews may not speak on the affairs of the Holy Land. He closes with the Chanukah lesson of adding light, so that darkness itself is turned into light.