לימודי חול

00:01 This is our English here and yesterday, if you were here yesterday, even if you weren't here yesterday, we talked about how the Rebbe's rallying cry for this season, the summer, Shavuot, all of these months, is basically . That's the, that's the Rebbe's theme this time of year. He talks about it in a lot-- He talks about it a lot over Shavuot, a lot over the summer. And in our year of the letters that we're reading, just about all of his letters from this time and this season are about . He specifically spoke yesterday in the letters that we saw, the Rebbe spoke about how in the summer months, there's no particular requirement to engage in the or any kind of influences, and that he kind of said that the summer is the worst time for things like learning sports or math enrichment or things like that. That's really for the school year if you're going to do such things. It's not for the summer. The summer, the Rebbe said, is a great time to transport our kids to the shtetl. I'm using my own words here, but that's kind of how the Rebbe describes the summer. He goes, "Look, during the year, uh, obviously there are secular influences that are required either by law or by the fact that they're in your home, by the fact that they're on the school bus. There is a need for the children to be somewhat surrounded by secular influences during the year, but over the summer, nobody forces

01:02 them to be surrounded by anything but Torah. So it'd be great to cloister them for the summer in an environment of Torah." And the Rebbe wants if there be any time of the year where the children are entirely absorbed in Torah and mitzvahs, he'd like that to be over the summer. So, uh, we talked about immersing our children in Torah over the summer. We also mentioned in a letter near the end last time that the Rebbe suggests that all schools that have a secular studies track also open a Kaddish-only track within the school. This is something that I haven't seen done practically in very many places, but the Rebbe says in the letter that we read that it should be publicized in his name and that every school, every school should give it a try, and that those who truly desire good will enroll their children in it. So although the Rebbe does have many cases where he allows, and in some cases even encourages secular studies in certain schools for certain reasons, he would like those schools-- First of all, he'd like children enrolled in those schools not to be doing that over the summer. And second of all, would like children in those schools to have the option, or parents in the schools to have the option of enrolling their kids in a Kaddish-only track. The thing that we wanna talk about today, and I think this probably will end our Chinuch series, just make it a two-parter. No one wants to be

02:00 here forever, uh, on Chinuch Al Ta'aras Kaddish, especially since a lot of these inyanim are somewhat familiar to us. Uh, I wanted to spend this second half of this series on the Rebbe's take on Chinuch, talking about if we are going to have a school with secular studies, how to do it right. I don't wanna get into the question of whether, uh, of, of, of whether we're allowed to or not. I think that that's, uh, covered well in other places. The pluses and minuses of secular studies are covered well in other places. But something that I haven't seen done very well anywhere is that if you have a school that has secular studies, how exactly does the Rebbe want you to do it? And that's what we're going to discuss today. For reference on this, there is a fantastic Der Ha'ar article from Elul fifty-seven eighty, Tav Shin Peh, um, and I pulled a lot of what I'm going to tell you from there. I feel it necessary to give some credit because, man, did they do a good job. Anyway, starting at the very top, if we're doing it, how exactly do we do it right? That's the source sheet you have in front of you. And I have here two letters where the Rebbe talks about when we're allowed to establish a dual curriculum in a school, when there's allowed to be secular studies in the afternoon. Both of these are to Shmuel Abba Senig of Munich. This first one is the most

03:01 instructive of the letters. The second one more or less repeats what the first one says, just in slightly different words. Let's really focus on this letter today. This is from Tav Shin Chaf Alef, and he's writing to Shmuel Abba in Munich. The Rebbe writes, . You can see it on your screen. I don't think we really need to read this top paragraph. He's giving him a berakhah and saying, "I received your letter." Okay. You wrote to me about your school. In this school, they have secular studies and Jewish studies. Says, generally speaking, this is dependent on the place and on the people involved and on the two sides of it. There are certain situations under certain circumstances our Rebbeim fought against secular studies with all due power. They really fought against them hard. But in other cases, even though the Rebbeim didn't necessarily involve themselves in establishing such schools, sometimes behind the scenes, the Rebbeim helped establish such schools. So we have situations where the Rebbeim opposed them and situations where the Rebbeim may not have openly supported them, but secretly supported them. said the Rebbe says it should be understood that when the Rebbeim worked behind the scenes to help found schools that have dual curriculums, this was a very rare occurrence. But nonetheless, it did happen sometimes. Therefore, he says to Shmuel Abba of, Shmuel Abba of Munich, that it is up to him to make the decision based on the circumstances. He says, you should, based on the circumstances of your place,

04:39 make a decision as to whether or not, as to whether or not secular studies should be in your school. It's not a blanket iser, it's not a blanket ban, but sometimes the Rebbeim supported it, sometimes not. When exactly? Well, we don't know exactly. The Rebbe didn't give us the circumstances in any letter that I'm aware of exactly how to make that decision, but he does kind of give Rav Shmuel Abba some guidance in this letter over here. So this next letter on your screen is from the year Tav Shin Tes Vav, an earlier letter. But in this letter, he implies what those circumstances might be. I don't know where that is, but Machon Hatorah maybe. Here's the difference. Is making a school with secular studies going to pull people from the right to the left or from the left to the right? I believe what the Rebbe means here is that it's going to make them more frum or less frum. If without this school that has secular studies and Jewish studies mixed, the children would not receive any Jewish education. Then any kind of saving them counts as saving them. So the Rebbe is saying that if you, like, if you can by establishing a school with a dual curriculum, enroll kids who otherwise would not be involved in any Jewish education at all, obviously that's hatsala pork then it's still called a hatsala. That is saving these children. But if it's the opposite situation, that you're the guy-- If you're the one coming

05:56 to town where everybody's learning Torah all day and opening a dual curriculum school, then you're part of the problem. So the Rebbe doesn't want anybody opening dual curriculum, secular studies schools in a place where everybody's learning Torah anyway, but in a place where it can potentially save some Jewish souls, he does want it. So there are certainly circumstances that the Rebbe allows us to open schools that have, that have, uh, secular studies. And in Der Ha'ar, I couldn't find a source for this, so I assume this is an oral tradition, but I wrote it on the source sheet for you to know Apparently, Rav Nachman Sudak and Rav, and Rav Avraham Korp both said that when they started day schools in their communities, the Rebbe gave them specific to include a secular studies program to attract students from a broader crowd. So this is a that Rebbe gave on some occasions, if we're going to be able to, to attract more students, it's certainly under some circumstances, okay to open a school that has secular studies. However, there are a couple rules. I'm gonna give you three of them here, and that's pretty much, I think, the Rebbe's biggest rules when it comes to opening a school with secular studies, besides the one we discussed last time, that in these schools there should be a Kaddish track available. Next rule. Never, ever, ever under any circumstances, really never. Let me tell you. You see all the letters from the Rebbe. Never will the Rebbe allow

06:58 secular studies in the morning. He is so firm on this, that the secular studies must be in the afternoon. There was one school, this is not brought in the letter, but I saw this in the Der Her article. There was a school in Australia, I believe, where the government was really hitting them hard and would not let them do the Jewish studies in the afternoon and demanded secular studies in the morning. And the Rebbe said, just to make a point that Jewish studies come first, do ten minutes of Jewish studies followed by secular studies, but the Rebbe does not want them opening with secular. In order to really understand the Rebbe's opposition to this, I wanted to show you a letter from the Frideh KeRebbe that is absolutely astounding. Uh, really because the Fride-- nobody writes like the Frideh KeRebbe. He really writes better than anybody. He writes beautifully. Look at this letter. This letter was written in response to a gezera ayuma veneira, a terrible gezera that had been decreed upon the Jews of America. which would desecrate the holiness of our Torah. It is floating above the heads of the entire Jewish people. who live in Greater New York. They wanna force us. may it never happen. The Frideh KeRebbe uses this language of a terrible, horrible decree hanging over the heads of the people of New York that they might make us learn secular studies before Jewish studies in the school day. Just the order of things, not that they're forcing secular

08:13 studies, but they're forcing secular studies to appear first before Jewish studies. The Frideh KeRebbe calls this a gezera ayuma veneira. In addition to the fact that this is a desecration of holy yearnings, I suppose, you know, it will also completely destroy It's gonna destroy all of the, the entire situation of the yeshivas that are in Greater New York and those in its wings. It will bring terrible things, immeasurable horrors, immeasurable terrible things to put the secular studies before the Jewish studies. So you're getting from this, uh, letter an idea of why the Rebbe's so harsh about making sure that Jewish studies come first. The Frideh KeRebbe speaks in very strong terms. Uh, and here I just brought the second half of the letter mainly because it is so poetic that you can't miss it. The Frideh KeRebbe writes, "Every time and every place, nobody has permission. Even governments don't have permission to violate anybody's religious feelings." And here he's not just talking about Jews. The Frideh KeRebbe says, "No one has a right to take it to violate anybody's religious feelings. Certainly in our free country, certainly not in this country and certainly not when our brothers and sisters overseas are in the areas that have been conquered by Hitler." That's what he's saying when he says, "are being murdered and being slaughtered and being, uh, butchered with, with, uh, with with terrible, uh, with terrible evil, with terrible, uh, anger." What's a good ? Whatever. You know what means. Also at this

09:56 time, we have a terrible danger that is floating above the holiness of May God have mercy on it and on us. Also at the time the people who live in our country here are where our brothers who are our brothers living in America are risking their lives on the field of battle at land and sea and in the sky. Also in a time when people living in this Medina people living in America right now, they need incredible incredible mercy from Hashem. That the enemy will not come to this land at the time. America was worried that we would get invaded. The other countries had gotten invaded. It was always on the table. or to the areas close to us. That they're looking for God's help so that every single person should be able to-- should, should, should-- They're looking for help so that God will assist them in their fight, uh, for justice and for-- and justice and uprightness. And in a time like this, when the President of the United States, President Roosevelt, that this president is inspiring faith among all people. That Roosevelt is calling on every religion to dive into their God, that the light will beat the darkness at a time like this. It occurred to some people to try to make a gezera, may it never occur, which touches the very center of the eye of the Jewish people, to desecrate that which is holy to us. This is the way the Frideh KeRebbe talks about the idea of putting

11:32 secular studies first in the schedule. So definitely, rule number one, if we are going to establish a school that has secular studies, by no means can the secular studies be in the morning. I don't think the Frideh KeRebbe could be any more forceful. And as I said, the Rebbe in every letter on the topic was equally forceful, if not as poetic. I mean, man, that's really something. Okay. Next thing is something that, uh, that- I'm reading into a sicha, and you can tell me in our discussion afterwards if you disagree, but I think it's an interesting point. Uh, in this sicha, this sicha is in Teris Menachem, volume nineteen, page one-sixteen. I'm giving you just a small excerpt, but we'll read it together. The Rebbe says, We see when it comes to our we have some things that Lubavitch never used to allow. There was no such thing in Lubavitch. But nowadays, since the times have forced us, we need to be involved in such things. in order to save the holy sparks that are found down here. Basically, Lubavitch sometimes does change. Here is an instance. One such example The Rebbe says, "We no longer fight secular studies in schools." This is very interesting. This is our shita. We used to fight secular studies in schools in all cases. We don't do that anymore. Uh, we don't fight it entirely. As long as initially it is embedded in the students an additional strength and an additional revelation that they already have a background in

13:02 things that are the opposite of Limudei Chol. And what is the opposite of secular studies? Which brings love and fear of God. If that has been done, then there's no reason to fight a war anymore against Limudei Chol. Because we do need to save these sparks. Okay, so . They still need to remember that whatever this is, this allowance for secular studies, it is temporary. It is a based on the situation that exists now . There's two things that we're pulling from this sicha if you're reading carefully. The last thing is very obvious. That is, the Rebbe says we shouldn't see secular studies as a, as an ideal. We should see it as a . Temporarily, given the situation in the world right now, we are allowing it, but in theory, we do not like it. And this other thing that I think is a much subtler point is that he says that he only is allowing-- we only allow secular studies when the children are also receiving a education in Chassidus, because this education in Chassidus is going to bring to Avon, Yira, and that counterbalances the negative influences of secular studies. The Rebbe never says what I'm about to say anywhere as far as I know, neither does any mashpia, but I'm just reading a letter, so I'm gonna say something. Feel free to attack me and throw fruit from your Zoom call. But I think what he's saying here is that this does not look like a heter to enroll your child

14:18 in a school that has secular studies and not a Chassidus curriculum. This looks to me like the Rebbe is saying that we only allow a secular curriculum if it's counterbalanced by the study of Chassidus, which would mean, in theory, that the idea of enrolling a child in one of our local schools that has secular studies that is not run under the auspices of Chassidus, where the-- where they're learning, I don't know, Gemara in the morning and then secular in the afternoon, or Halakha in the morning and then secular in the afternoon, would not be permissible. It sounds like from the Rebbe's letter that if there's no Chassidus in the curriculum, that you're not allowed to put them in a Limudei Chol program at all, which is quite a chidush, and also is something that may have practical implications for some of us. Um, I will add that at the end of the sicha, the Rebbe just says this interesting line here I wanted to throw in, that if they're doing it right, if a school is keeping the hiraz of the Rebbe regarding secular studies, we should not hesitate to p- support them financially. I think I certainly have this rattling in the back of my head sometimes. I go, "Okay, if I have a chance to donate to a cheder, to a, to a yeshiva, do I wanna donate to one that has secular studies or not?" The Rebbe says if they have secular studies and they're doing it the way the Rebbeim want,

15:15 you have to pay for it. If according to Torah, there's need for such a mesad, then you have to do everything possible to open and to strengthen such a school. Because they are saving Jewish souls, and every Jewish soul is a complete world. So if you do happen to know of a school that is doing secular studies properly, you should not hesitate to support them. Uh, ad derabba, specifically, we should be spending our money opening them and supporting them. The last thing that I wanna point out here as a rule from the Rebbe is that secular studies must be done with limited enthusiasm. This is another must-have in the Rebbe's letters, in the Rebbe sichas. Uh, the best example of this is a classic and strong sicha from Teris Menachem volume thirty-three, page two-twenty-six through two-thirty-four, where the Rebbe talks about Seudas Achashverosh. Talks about the meal of Achashverosh. And there he says that what we got in trouble for, I'm just-- I'm, I'm cutting like a, like pages and pages of sicha to make this faster for you. But you really, really, if you get a chance, if you have only one thing you read today, read this entirely. It's just, it's so-- The words are so powerful, and the Rebbe actually edited this portion of the sichas. This part is mugan. Right. The Rebbe says that the whole reason we got in trouble in the Purim story was not because we went to Seudas Achashverosh, or even because we necessarily ate treif at

16:25 Seudas Achashverosh, because we didn't. The real problem was that we enjoyed it. We got hanah. We benefited and really enjoyed. We got a geshmack in Seudas, in Seudas, in Seudas Esrosh. We got geshmack from the, the Seudas Achashverosh. So the Rebbe then writes, "If you think that's just academic and we don't do it nowadays," he says, "we absolutely do it nowadays, and we see it in secular studies programs." We're looking in the sicha. The sicha says, the Rebbe goes, "People claim that there is a law that children need to learn secular studies." And the Rebbe says, "Fine." And since we can't find teachers who fear heaven to teach these subjects, dot, dot, dot. Therefore, we need to-- we need to settle for teachers who are called something. I, I mentioned to some people at the beginning of this year, I was searching Likutey Dibburim to find the phrase, and I didn't find it fast enough. But apparently, the Rebbe has a nasty name for these teachers. Anyway, even according to people who say that there's no choice and that we are absolutely forced to teach secular s-studies in schools, the question still comes up, why are you enjoying it so much? And your joy that you're having is not from the great talent of the child. The real joy you're getting is that the Roshoim, the Kofrim, they invite our children to the Seudah and sit our children at the head of their table. They give them a, a badge of honor, I believe is

17:52 a good translation for that phrase. That they give out prizes. The Rebbe's gonna explain what he means. Everybody knows logically. We all know that a child who succeeds in their secular studies does not come up to the knees of a child who has memorized one hundred dakumara by heart. Take that, New York Times. Huh? Take that, New York Times Yeah, that's right. Hear that? Ella, sheven limudei kodesh lehem tziyanim. But when it comes to limudei kodesh, when it comes to our s- when, when it comes to our Torah subjects, there are no s- there are no grades, there are no scores. Gam idu haya kem tziyanim. If there were scores, yesh lanich, it's obvious she melamed haya yederesh v'yelu l'shana masayim da. That the, that a good, a good, a good melamed would demand two hundred dapim ba'peh. Kach t'mishpil meah dapim ba'peh lehai monich leitziyun g'vei akim tziyun hamuch. If somebody learned only a hundred dapim, they would get a low grade in our classes. The Rebbe says our standards of kodesh are incredible. Our students are only given high marks if they know, uh, two hundred blatt Gemara ba'peh. Nu matzeis, the Rebbe says, on the other side of this, kasha yeled lemud chol. But then they learn secular studies. U'plat, yam meira, hu eyn emamin. Sometimes from a teacher who does not believe in Hashem. Azayesh me'inyon, denen b'sudasa shel eys hadasha. We're considered somebody who is benefiting from the suda of that Rasha. V'davar hachamar b'yeiser, he says the worst thing,

19:04 the gevalt, the absolute worst thing of this entire story, who? Sheyn pey tsepel mutzaftaf. No one's complaining. Eyn mishemel chal zeh. No one says-- no one's, no one calls it what it is. No one calls this an absolute, uh, an absolute travesty. Anchalos yeshivas v'noshay yeshivas. The people who are in charge of yeshivas, the noshay yeshivas. Be'ein tzalchem m'degel habalatim, and certainly balatim chali tenim acherayim. And all of the newspapers, you hear that? Including the New York Times. M'farasim, b'chatzetes, v'kol turah. They all publicize with horns and with a great shout. Sheyadu hakol so that everybody knows shelakchu bachur, that they took a bachur. Sheyayachal li'almad kal yam kul limudei kodesh. A bachur who had the talent and the ability to spend all day learning Torah. V'ach nisues eb b'suda shel eys hadasha, and they celebrate that they brought this child to the suda of the Rasha. Ah, v'im zeh, im, im zeh Shakespeare mishu acher. Whether that Rasha we're talking about is that they brought them to the suda of Shakespeare or the suda of someone else, when what did he do with that suda in those textbooks? Hu hitslich bazeh, he succeeded there. Ad deikach somach shosh namid alav goy, that a goy, a Yiddishe goy el havdal goyshe goy. You, you, you, you explain what that means. Shegigiaim inyan ad tachli. Say that he gets so good at Shakespeare that somebody is willing to, a go- a Yiddishe goy or a goyshe goy is willing to get up on a stage and

20:11 say that this young boy has mastered, uh, completely mastered the works of eys hadasha, the works of Shakespeare or someone else, the works of secular studies, and we are willing to celebrate that. Hin cham muchrach im bach meilah. The Rebbe goes, "The fact that you have to study secular, okay, I hear." V'al mah yay, i no- hanah b'sudasa shel eys hadasha. Why are you enjoying it so much? Ma duah hin cham nenim izeh sheyesh chachmah b'goyim. Why do you get so much joy from the fact that the non-Jewish nations have wisdom? T'hi she'terah meh zeh esh chachmah b'goyim tamim because the Torah certainly does agree that there is wisdom among the nations. Mah yay, i nam izeh shetamid yodea mashah kasuv Shakespeare. Why are you so excited that you have a student who knows what Shakespeare writes? The point isn't that we can't do it. We can do it. The point isn't that we don't have to do it. Maybe we have to do it. But the joy? He doesn't understand the joy. Na'amah ein hamafarsim bitin. Why do they not put in the newspaper shetamid plaini bach ki bach bach bach bach dapim ba'peh? Why do they not list in the newspapers when a child is good and when a child knows a certain number of dapim Gemara ba'peh? So to summarize everything, and then of course we'll open the floor, what we have here from yesterday and today about what and when the Rebbe allows secular studies and when he doesn't is first

21:14 of all, we have that, uh, there are certainly situations where secular studies are allowed in schools when schools keep these, keep to these rules, we are supposed to financially support them and even help open them. The Rebbe says there's precedent for this. Even the Rabam would sometimes-- even the Rabam going back when we used to really very vocally oppose secular studies, the Rabam would occasionally behind the scenes help open such schools when they were conforming to the rules that they wanted set aside. And we certainly have a lot of precedent from Shlokim and people in further flung areas that there is a, there is an, there are circumstances under which it makes sense to open a school of secular studies, specifically when it will enroll students who otherwise would not get a Jewish education. However, there are maybe four rules. Rule number one we studied yesterday, and that was that these schools should have a limudei kodesh track, and parents should feel confident enrolling their children in that instead of the secular studies track. The first rule w- w- rule number two, which is the first one we looked at today, is never, ever, ever can it be in the morning. We saw that long and poetic letter from the Tzemach Tzedek describing the travesty of having secular studies in the morning. Rule number three was that it can only be if there's also a curriculum of Chasidus and also, what was the other thing down here? Only with a curriculum of Chasidus and also

22:17 if... I forget. Oh, and also if we recognize that it's a hadasha and it's not meant to be a permanent thing. Uh, and finally, we said that it can only be done with limited enthusiasm. If it's the most exciting part of the day and the most exciting part of the curriculum, and we're putting in the newspaper that our children memorize Shakespeare and we don't tell that they memorized dapim Gemara, then once again, it's being done wrong. However, if all of these tanayim are kept, there is certainly room in the Rebbe's Torah for a school that has a secular curriculum, albeit specifically under the guidance that the Rebbe lays out. Okay, that's it for me. Please.