As we are approaching vacation time, this is a letter by the Rebbe to “the children of the graduating class” and their parents. It was sent to various Jewish educational institutions throughout the United States.
B”H
15 Sivan, 5711,
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Greetings and blessings,
I send my greetings to all the students of the graduating class who will be advancing to higher classes and programs in their holy program of education.
The summer vacation, the days of resting and refreshing one’s potentials, are beginning. They are used to marshal new energies for the next semester that is coming.
You, dear children, must know that vacation does not mean an interruption – cutting oneself off – from study and education. A Jewish child cannot be without Torah study or Jewish education for even one day, whether in the summer or the winter. On the contrary, taking into consideration the many hours of free time students have in the long summer days, you should use them to solidly review the material that you have studied already and to prepare yourself to [advance] further on your way, the way of the Torah and its mitzvos.
In this way, you will – together with marshalling new physical powers – generate fresh spiritual powers. The two together, and particularly the spiritual powers, will make a person complete and healthy.
To you, Jewish parents, who always carry the dual responsibility as parents and teachers, you must remember that, especially during the summer, the entire responsibility [for the child’s education] falls on you.
I send you my blessing that G‑d will grant you, dear children, [together with] your parents, teachers, and educators, material and spiritual health, with much nachas, Jewish nachas, amidst tranquility for the body and tranquility for the soul.
With blessings for a healthy summer – in both a material and spiritual sense,
M. Schneerson
In a similar letter to “Jewish Students and Schoolchildren Everywhere” the Rebbe wrote:
Shalom u’Brocho,
Vacation time is approaching, to release youth and children from Yeshivos, Talmud Torahs, Day Schools, etc., for a long summer recess.
The importance of a restful vacation is obvious. However, certain aspects of vacation time should be examined carefully. Is vacation time a stoppage of study, or is it a transition from one form of activity to another?
In all living forms, there is no such thing as stoppage of life, followed by a completely new start, for a stoppage of life is death and cannot serve as a temporary rest period. There can be a transition from one kind of activity to another, but not a cessation or stoppage.
For example: The two most vital organs of our body are the heart and the brain. The heart is the principal seat of “physical” life; the brain is the principal seat of “intellectual” life. Because the heart and brain have supreme control of the body, they are termed the “sovereigns of the body.” Now, these organs not only do not cease to operate in a living body, but they do not even undergo a radical change in their form of activity. The other organs of the body, though they may seem to be in a state of inactivity, as in the case of sleep, do not in reality stop working.
We find this in actuality – as during sleep, breathing is slowed down considerably, but is not stopped, for the “breath of life” must always be there.
Similarly in the case of students, boys and girls, studying our Torah, Toras Chayim – “the Law of Life,” restful vacation does not mean interruption and stoppage of Torah and mitzvos, G-d forbid. It means only just another way of furthering their course of study, a period during which they renew their mental abilities and increase their capacities for more intensive study later on….
Therefore, the summer vacation should be utilized to its fullest to improve your studies in both quantity and quality. Let not a day pass without the “breath of life” provided by the “Torah of Life.” Let everyone have appointed times for the study of Chumash, Mishnah, Gemora, and so on, each one according to his or her standard of Torah education.
At this time, I wish everyone who is resolved to use his or her vacation in this productive “living” way much success, both during their vacation, as well as on returning to normal activity in their studies thereafter.
With blessing,
M. Schneerson
