One of Rabbi JJ Hecht’s Greatest Accomplishments

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel Archives.

Today is Hamisha Asar B'Av, the fifteenth day of Av, and the Gemara says, can you imagine, Hamisha Asar B'Av is, our sages keep it, is the highest, is the holiest day of the year — Hamisha Asar B'Av is like Yom Kippur. And the Gemara gives a lot of reasons, one of the reasons is that's when the Shidduchim started. Anyway, we spoke about it already, we had a few programs a year ago, but today I want to say something else.

Today is the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda — he was called Rabbi J.J. Hecht — and I want to share with you a letter that someone wrote to the Rebbe. He was concerned about Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda, and the Rebbe appreciated that. But before I read to you this letter, I want to say, since his Yahrzeit is today, Rabbi Hecht was an ish ma'aseh — he was a doer. He accomplished in his lifetime many, many things, and one of his biggest accomplishments, what he accomplished in this world and for many, many Baalei Teshuva, is because he was the head of the Released Time, the Wednesday Hour, and I'll tell you soon what it is.

When the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America in 1940, the first thing the Frierdiker Rebbe put a lot of focus on — he went to Washington and Albany to pass the law to have religious instruction one hour a week. And the Frierdiker Rebbe, coming to the United States, had a connection with President Hoover. Later on, the Rebbe also had a rapport with President Eisenhower, President Truman, Nixon, President Kennedy — correspondence. And Rabbi Mindel, we have all the correspondence which we are going to share with you, maybe in the future, between the presidents and the Rebbes. Rabbi Hecht went to Washington and Albany to pass the law of the Wednesday Hour, and Baruch Hashem they were successful.

What is Wednesday Hour? Public school children go to public school every day till three o'clock. On Wednesday, with the permission of the parents, by law, they can leave an hour earlier, at two o'clock, and go to what's called religious instruction. So the Catholics, they take them to church. So we take the children — these are children that have no connection to Yiddishkeit, they have nothing, they have no yeshiva, no Talmud Torah — just one hour a week we give them something, to know, by the Rebbe this was very, very important.

I had a very close relationship with Rabbi — I lived in Long Beach, so in the late 1970s, early 1980s, Rabbi Mindel asked me, since there are so many Jews in Long Island, in Long Beach, that don't know anything, maybe you can speak to Rabbi Hecht to open up a Released Time, go to public schools. A lot of work. And I went to Rabbi Hecht right away, he said of course, he helped me out, and we opened the Released Time. Then we had a camp — hundreds of children. So Rabbi Hecht, and we have a lot — through this, many volunteers from that Released Time live in Crown Heights, many of them have already children and grandchildren that came from that Released Time that we had in Long Beach. And this is the koach of Rabbi J.J.

So since today is his Yahrzeit, so what I will say over now is what the Rebbe was saying, and we should — we should be like him, amazing, and we should, together with Rabbi — when the Frierdiker Rebbe in 1940 began advertising the Wednesday Hour, some of the Rabbanim in those days were against it very much, and they were saying that it's bitul Torah to take the bochurim away on Wednesday, take them off from learning and go teach children — they take them away from their own learning. They said, you're not allowed to do it, that there was a whole thing, and I don't want to go into it now, but I do want to say one word, and I think that everyone mentioned that, but I heard it from my father: whatever the Rebbe does is sichas hinenu, and this is what the Eibishter wants. Whoever goes against that — I will quote the Gemara — this is from the Shulchan Aruch. So nowadays there is no such a thing, almost, like them, but they were misnagdim, that there was again a whole shailoh whether they're — not even against it, neglect — anyway, I thought I would bring that word from the Shulchan Aruch.

And now we see how many values came out from this Released Time, and it continues until today, and this is the koach of Rabbi Hecht. I want to give one example before I finish of my Released Time — what happened, one example how important what Released Time accomplished. We had about 175 to 200 children come an hour. We used to divide the hour into four parts: fifteen minutes we taught them about the Parshas Hashavuah, fifteen minutes we taught them Halacha — they knew nothing — fifteen minutes was prayer, and fifteen minutes a story. This is how we divided our Released Time hour.

When the Rebbe came out with the takana that girls should light candles, that hour of Halacha I spent on the importance of girls lighting candles. These were girls and boys together, but I spoke to the girls about the importance that from three years old they should light candles, to renew that old minhag. Really, the Rebbe — it was nothing new, this is an old minhag, but that minhag had stopped, and the Rebbe renewed that minhag again: every girl, not when they married, even before marriage, they should light candles. So I gave the girls the brachas, the paper, so they were happy. Every Friday they used to come to me — used to come to me Wednesday, oh, Friday — "we lit the candles, my mother was happy," fine.

One girl, her name was Susan, she came to me crying. "My mother doesn't let me light the candles, my mother wants to take me out of this program on Wednesday, because she only sent me to know Jewish history." She was about twelve years old. "She doesn't tell me what I should do at home, what should I do?" And I saw her honesty, so I told her, listen, you have to listen to your parents, this is — it's not a chiyuv that you light candles, and if your parents don't want it — it says in the Ten Commandments, honor your parents, so listen to your parents, that's all I can tell you. If your parents don't want, so what can you do? G-d knows the truth. Maybe, I said, maybe there will come a time where your parents will change their mind.

Anyway, she went, without me knowing, without her parents knowing, she took two dollars, she went on Park Avenue in Long Beach, she went to a store, and she says, "Can I have holy candles" — you know, holy. So the store, the man says, "I never heard of that, go ask your mother, what do you mean, I never heard of holy candles." She didn't know, she didn't say Shabbos candles, she said holy candles. And standing there, then he went to the back, he says, "Oh, I think I know what you mean." So he took out a Yahrzeit candle glass and he gave it to her.

She went home — she lived in Long Beach — this was in the winter, and she said to her mother she wants to go to sleep early. She took the candle in her room — she had her own room — she lit the candle, the Shabbos candle, eighteen minutes before sundown, and she went to sleep under the blankets. Can you imagine the picture — that she is lying there under the covers and there's a Yahrzeit candle, the room is dark. And it was in the middle of the night, or in the morning, her mother opened the door and she saw this whole thing, that there's a candle. So I don't know whether she fainted or she started to scream — her husband got up, and she woke her up. Soon she said, "Susan, when my mother passed away I had this candle, why did you do this?"

So Susan said, b'peshitus, "I don't know why it came out like that," she says. "Mom, you didn't want to — you didn't let me light it for my own sake, so I decided to light it also for your sake" — something like that. The mother heard how sincere she was, she was also taken by it. In the end, because of this story, this girl was sent to the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach — the mother sent her to Hebrew school. She went, she went to a camp later, I think it was Camp Gan Israel. She's married, she lives now in Israel, she has children. And they all — this is the example of a child from Released Time, and this is the koach of Rabbi Hecht.

So I want to tell you that what the Rebbe does, what the Rebbe says, even though this is only one hour a day, you never know what the effect — what the Rebbe gives for this Released Time, and b'ezras Hashem, next week we will continue our program.

But I just want to finish off with this letter that I mentioned, just the two paragraphs that somebody wrote about Rabbi Hecht, and the Rebbe's answer. This is the answer:

"Greeting and blessing. This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter. Needless to say, I was quite impressed with your personal concern for the health of Rabbi J.J. In the present day and age, it is particularly heartwarming to see such concern of one Jew for another, to the extent of taking the trouble to write a letter about it. And although our sages declare that every person is like a whole world, it is certainly so in the case of a person whose whole life is dedicated to the education of numerous Jewish children, each one of whom is also a whole world.

For the situation itself, I trust that things will improve, inasmuch as the matter of taking care of one's health is one of the basic mitzvos of the Torah. Since it is customary among Jews to try to make good things even better, I will take this opportunity of expressing my sincere hope that you and all your associates who are working for the Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education will be able to do even more than in the past, which will have a salutary effect on Rabbi J.J. Hecht as well as all who are associated with the outstanding work of the community committees.

I extend prayerful wishes to you for a growing measure of hatzlacha in all above, which will also widen the channels to receive G-d's blessings for you and all yours in all your activities."

And the Rebbe signs this letter.

It's a beautiful letter, and so, b'kitzur, next week, since I started here about health, I will have one more program from the Rebbe about healthy mentorship. Next week. Thank you very much.