By the Grace of G‑d
In the Days of Selichoth, 5721 [September, 1961]
Brooklyn, N. Y.

Mr. Chaim Jacob Lipchitz
168 Warburton Ave.
Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y.

Greeting and Blessing:

With the approach of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the New Year, may it bring blessings to us all, I send you and all yours my prayerful wishes for a good and happy year, materially and spiritually.

With the traditional blessing of

כתיבה וחתימה טובה

Cordially,
M. Schneerson

Thank you for your letter and good wishes for the New Year, and receipt is enclosed for your kind donation, which will surely stand you and yours in good stead.

I was very sorry to hear that you contemplate (?) to donate your sculptures for exhibition in a museum in Jerusalem, the Holy City, as I have had occasion to write to you in the past. However, on the basis of our friendship — and a true friendship calls for frankness and sincerity — I trust you will not take it amiss that I return to the subject. For you know the attitude of the Torah toward any kind of sculptured or graven images, and with what tragedy our people viewed the Roman attempt to turn the Holy City into an Aelia Capitolina. Of course, no one will suspect you of disregard for the sanctity of our Holy City, G‑d forbid. But in such matters, good intentions do not alter the impact and consequences of an action on the public mind. Even if one could be sure that the majority of public opinion would not be shocked, and that is by no means certain, one cannot ignore the unfavorable influence in a matter that concerns a fundamental principle of our faith, even on a section of public opinion, and that should be adequate reason to avoid such an action. Certainly, all sections of Orthodox Jewry, not only in the Holy Land, but also in the Diaspora, would be quite chagrined, to say the least, although some quarters may suppress their reaction because of external pressure or other reasons. The whole question is much more serious than it may appear, and the few lines above, which have been couched in moderate and restrained terms, do not fully reflect the full depth of this question.

Having entered the New Year, may G‑d grant that the renewed Divine blessings for this New Year, will include also the happy solution of the above problem.