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The Role of Yeshivos in Our Generation. Remarkable Letter of Guidance by the Admor Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Chabad 12 Adar II, 1951 * This remarkable and well-known Iggeres Kodesh is one of the most famous of the Rebbe's letters, in which he sets forth clear guidance regarding the essential mission of the Chabad yeshivos. It was written at the very beginning of his nesius, and in it he outlined the goals and path of the yeshivos of Tomchei Temimim, as well as the proper order of study to be instituted in the yeshiva. Chabad yeshivos have conducted themselves ever since according to these words. In his letter, the Rebbe clarifies and defines a fundamental distinction between the role of yeshivos in earlier generations and their role in the present era. He writes: “In earlier times, the primary function of yeshivos and Talmud Torahs was the study of Torah and its growth. The actual observance of mitzvos and the safeguarding of Jewish customs were understood as self-evident for every Jewish son and daughter, through the education they received in their homes and through the environment in which they lived during the hours they were not within the walls of the beis medrash and yeshiva. The times, however, have changed nowadays. The role of the yeshiva and the Talmud Torah now is also, and primarily, to first and foremost make the student a Yerei Shamayim, a Jew who observes Torah and mitzvos, and only afterward to make him into a Torah scholar, and in the yeshivos founded by our Nesi’im, also to make him a chassid.” The Rebbe emphasizes that ”the most important thing of all, is that every Talmud Torah and yeshiva in general, and the yeshivos founded by the Nesi’ei Chabad in particular, must concentrate all efforts in order to achieve first and foremost the essential goal: that the students should be frum, upright Jews, warm Jews, chassidishe Jews.” Following this, the Rebbe establishes the proper framework and order of study that should prevail in the yeshiva. He concludes with words that remain just as relevant today to the fate and future of the yeshivos: “And if there are places where, through overt decrees or through deceptive tactics, there are attempts to seize synagogues and batei medrash in order — Heaven forbid — to cause the children of Israel to forget the Torah of Hashem and His commandments… one must know that precisely at a time of decrees, when concealment and hiddenness have multiplied to the point that light is labeled darkness… it is precisely then that strength is granted from Above to transform darkness into light.” The letter was sent in response to the members of the administration of the Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva in Lod, founded in 1949 by the first Chabad immigrants from Russia, who succeeded in fleeing from the Iron Curtain and immigrated to Eretz Yisrael at the directive and under the guidance of the Rebbe Rayatz. The Rebbe concludes his letter with a blessing of “A Happy Purim” and with regards to all the members of the group. Brooklyn, 12 Adar II 1951 , approximately two months after accepting the nesius. Two typed leaves, with corrections in the Rebbe’s handwriting and with his signature. Condition: Good; holes from an office hole-punch in the margins. Printed in Iggros Kodesh, volume IV, letter 549, pages 213–215.