The Rebbe’s Concern About Summer Vacation

Welcome to our weekly program, the inside story of Chabad in America through the Mindel archives.

I found in the archives papers of my father-in-law, Rabbi Mindel, and this is written in Hebrew [?]: a conversation with the Rebbe. It doesn't say who wrote this. Usually it says: if he wrote it, it says he wrote it, or if Rabbi Hodakov wrote it, it says Rabbi Hodakov. But here it doesn't say. But apparently, probably, this was the conversation that Rabbi Hodakov and Rabbi Mindel had [unclear], and we'll see what I'm going to read soon. So I'm going to translate this into English, and I'm going to read exactly the way it says. And this is about solving the problem of vacation in the life of the students.

Now, throughout the years, there were meetings between Rabbi Hodakov, Rabbi Mindel and the Rebbe, oral or written. And from the beginning, when they established what they're supposed to do, everything is written. I'm sure Merkos probably has them. I don't know if they have, but I'm sure probably they do. But Rabbi Mindel wrote down everything from the beginning, and im yirtzeh Hashem in the future I'm going to share it with you.

But today I want to share: the Rebbe gave this responsibility to Merkos. He wanted that they should be involved, they should be on top of the yeshivos and the chadorim of the [unclear], to see, to organize, to teach melamdim how to be good mechanchim. And this should be the responsibility of Merkos. I don't know today if they still do it or they don't do it.

And I will tell you that when Merkos started, they were thinking about having a dinner once a year, like a yeshiva. The Rebbe didn't like the idea. I'll share with you another time. So Merkos never had a banquet or a dinner. But they did have meetings with him. And the meetings that he said, and I'll share with you another time, that every meeting that the mechanchim [?] have with teachers, there should always be a follow-up. And the follow-up means they should always be involved. It's not just a meeting once a year and that's all, but it should be a follow-up, not only lectures, but a follow-up in [unclear], how they should conduct themselves and how the whole should be. They should be involved with these yeshivos, put it that way.

Now, as a side thing, I just want to mention, I do want to say that in the back of the siddur Tehillas Hashem, the Rebbe wanted that there should be a page, and it always was there, of the guidelines of what Merkos is supposed to do. Now, lately I saw the printed siddurim and it's not there. I don't know why it was taken out. Maybe if they have a horaah [?], if they have a horaah from the Rebbe, different story. But if they don't, I can say that the Rebbe didn't want that that page should be taken out.

And besides, there's other things I see in the siddur that was printed, a lot of things, and it's not the same as the Tehillas Hashem used to be. The Sefiras HaOmer is in a different place; it's more in the front. And the back also, the Shema [?] [unclear], it was small on the left side, now it's on the right side. And there's many, many more things which I don't want to go into. But if there is a reason why it was done, fine. If it comes from the Rebbe, everything that comes from the Rebbe is fine. If it doesn't, then we want to know why it wasn't put in.

Now, by the way, I want to say something else here. When the Rebbe worked with Rabbi Mindel on the Talks and Tales, and also the [unclear], the Rebbe [?] told Rabbi Mindel, and I mentioned that once, that since Rabbi Mindel was very good in English, he was an English person: "If you find a mistake in my spelling, please correct me." The fact is that the Rebbe corrected Rabbi Mindel. And when the Talks and Tales now was printed, in the spelling, the Rebbe had an old-fashioned English and [unclear] modern English, and they put the spelling the way Rabbi Mindel put it, and they should have put it the way the Rebbe put it. It [unclear] crossed out. So I don't know why they didn't put the spelling the way the Rebbe put it. So there's a lot of... I can show it to Merkos, if [unclear], if they want to see certain things.

Anyway, so now I'm going to read inside and translate what the discussion was as far as the summer, since we are in the summer now, the beginning of the summer: what is the responsibility of the mechanchim, the teachers, with the students.

"The problem with vacation is [unclear], and my intent is mainly the long and extended summer vacation, as is well known, for a period of 10 to 12 weeks in the United States. The students of the school are neglected. Some of them, the younger ones, manage by going to camp for the entire summer or part of it. Some of them, the older ones, manage with some sort of occupation, full-time or part-time, to make money. But many students remain in the city and roam around in all sorts of places without Torah and avodah [?] and without any supervision, and the danger is great. Idleness, as is well known, brings various unwanted results in regards to behavior and ethics. Removing the [unclear] yoke..." You know, I'm translating this from Hebrew. "...of school results in throwing away all discipline in general. And the extended break from studying causes the learning to be forgotten. The transition from an active period to an idle one and then back to an active one causes a great disturbance in the state of mind of the student. And the main issue: wasting time for a quarter of each and every year is an irretrievable loss.

"It is easy to understand that this is not the intention of the summer season and the purpose of the vacation given to the students. And if this is so regarding students in general, how much more so with regards to students in Jewish schools, and especially yeshivos kedoshos. The problem of the vacation time was raised in the days of [unclear]. This problem is especially in the United States, considering the harmful influences of the street and one's surroundings in the United States, but it is still relevant more or less in every place and every time.

"Now, at the Rebbe's suggestion, Merkos..." he writes, "...has gone to correct the situation and has proposed a certain program for the summer days, which has found a good echo in the broad circles of religious education."

Now he is saying the points, what the Rebbe said, the points that are supposed to be done. "The following are the main points in this program:

"Number one: First of all, it is incumbent upon the teachers to instill in the hearts of the students the correct understanding of the role of the summer season and its purpose, in order to evoke with the students the will to arrange their vacation in accordance with this understanding." And then in parentheses he writes: "In other words, to explain to the students the real reason why there is a summer vacation, which is surprisingly not discussed [unclear], and based on that the students will arrange their vacation in a way that they could accomplish what the summer is meant to accomplish."

In many other sichos, he writes, Rabbi Hodakov writes over there, or Rabbi Mindel writes, and letters that explain many different reasons for the summer vacation and the mission. And one of the things they wrote over here, I don't know if this was the discussion that he had with the Rebbe, but this is what they wrote, Rabbi Hodakov, I think: "The summer gives the children an opportunity to learn mah shelibo chafetz, what they desire, because there is no set curriculum of what to learn. And number two, being in a summer camp gives the children an opportunity to be 24 hours a day in an environment of Yiddishkeit, whereas throughout the year they are only in school a few hours a day."

They continue writing: "It must be explained to the students with words coming from the heart, devarim hayotzim min halev, that the problem here is not just that time is being wasted, even though this reason alone should be enough to evoke serious contemplation. Rather, it must also be stressed that such a long break without any mental and academic preoccupation is bound to dumb the brain and dull the talents, so that much of what was learned in the past year will go to waste, because forgetfulness is always present, and especially in a time of idleness." In other words, the problem is not only that during the summer they are wasting so much time, but that the summer actually ruins the whole previous year. It is not just that they are not going up, but they are going down. "And this long break will also make the entry into the cycle of learning in the new year much more difficult, and it will destroy any possibility of greater advancement in the new year of learning, which could have been ensured had this time in the summer been used in the proper way."

Now going back to what the Rebbe said. "Number two: It would be befitting that in every school there be at least one staff member, and two or more would certainly be good, who will take upon themselves the responsibility to stay in touch with the students, whether it is through meeting them or writing to them, to see how they are doing and what is going on with them throughout the whole summer." I mean, [unclear] is giving the teachers a job to do here. Apparently it's not just teaching 10 months; they have to be involved all the time with the students. "And it would be good if the teacher who is in charge of each class or division, who acts as the guide or advisor of the class, if there is such a thing, and if not, possibly to appoint someone like this, should interest himself in the students of his class, to see where each student is, what he is doing, who his friends are, and so on." So the Rebbe cared about each one. "This will also let the students know that they have who to turn to for advice or help if needed." And Merkos should appoint, or be involved with the schools. This is what the Rebbe said.

"Number three: It would be very good if there would be a few general meetings between the teachers and the students throughout the summer, whether in the city or in the summer camps. At least one such meeting is absolutely necessary. Perhaps the fitting day for this is the 15th day of [unclear], to make it a day of gathering for the teachers and the students." So apparently the Rebbe wanted that they should work with the camps also, that the teachers should be involved all the time. It shouldn't be just they teach and they leave. There's no such a thing by the Rebbe. I hope it's being done. This is what the Rebbe wanted.

"It would be good, number four, if possible, to arrange that several schools should collaborate in this, to predetermine where the staff members and teachers will be spending their time during the summer, in a way that each one in his place will interest himself in and supervise the students in his surroundings, not necessarily his own students." And [unclear], I know what that means. "And maybe it is possible to appoint a special coordinator for this collaboration. This supervision means also to make sure that the students will be careful about [unclear] and that they have fixed times for learning [unclear]."

"Number five: Last summer the Rebbe expressed his great wonderment..." I don't know what year this was. "...regarding the lack of interest in arranging for the talmidei hayeshiva, at least in the United States, a schedule to learn Torah every single night, at least for a little bit, in accordance with the commandment of [unclear], you should learn day and night. For in the winter, when the days are short and the nights are long, many yeshiva students have a fixed schedule to learn also at night in yeshiva," or, in other words, they extend also into the night. "This is not so during the summer, when the days are long and the nights are short. So how will they fulfill the obligation of learning by day and by night if a schedule to do so is not arranged for them?

"Taking all the above into consideration..." Rabbi Hodakov says, "...Merkos has begun a special operation on a trial basis, which is to recruit young men who will volunteer to gather the Jewish children in their surroundings, especially those who roam around doing nothing, and bring them to a local shul [?] in order to give them a Torah class for 15 minutes before davening Maariv. Obviously the class must be age-appropriate for the children." I hope this is being done. "The trial went well," he writes, "and in many neighborhoods such classes were arranged. The results were mainly fulfilling an important educational impact, and davening Maariv with a minyan. This is in addition to the good impact it had on the laymen who come to shul, who were inspired through this to also take part in public Torah classes, [unclear], and so on."

"It is worth noting..." This is in parentheses. "...that in this operation it was possible to make participate not only the volunteers amongst professional teachers and educators, but also young working people who were in the past students. These people too were happy with the opportunity to fulfill 'and you shall teach your children,' these are your students, veshinantam levanecha, [unclear], and they willingly volunteered to participate in this program. Moreover, such a program can be arranged relatively easily, not just in large cities but also in every place in which Jewish children are found, and it is only dependent on the will, ein hadavar talui ela b'ratzon."

Now going back, number six, what the Rebbe said. "A special and important matter in the whole issue of the summer season is the necessity to influence the students to keep the mitzvah of tznius in their clothes and in all their going about, something which sadly is extremely neglected. And here is the place to note the misconception which is widespread amongst many, and also amongst religious people, that the whole concept of tznius applies solely to Jewish girls and women, when the law is clear that there are many matters of tznius in which men and boys are obligated. It would be befitting that these too be publicized.

"Number seven: It is absolutely necessary to bring the problem of the summer season to the attention of the parents, and to inform them of the program and the actions which were done in connection with this issue, so that the parents will also be able to participate as much as possible, and mainly that they will be inspired to keep a watchful eye on their children."

Now number eight, this is the last thing. "Even though it is self-understood, the educational institutions must take an interest and know in which camps, and in general in which kind of environment, the children are preparing to spend this vacation, and guide them with advice and instruction on going to proper and kosher camps, and proper not only in regards to nutrition for the body but also in regards to nutrition for the soul."

This is written in Hebrew, and this is what I found. And I think that we see how the Rebbe put so much [unclear] into making sure that the teachers are always involved with the students, 24 hours a day, 12 months a year. And I hope that this is what they do. In the future I will share with you some other inyonim that Merkos is supposed to do, that the Rebbe, the Frierdiker Rebbe, gave them this responsibility. Im yirtzeh Hashem, next week we will continue our weekly program. Thank you.