This letter was addressed to R. Moshe Shapiro, a communal Rabbi in Atlantic City.

B”H, 3 Menachem Av, 5708

Greetings and blessings,

Our friend, the excellent educator R. Yaakov Hecht, one of those involved in Jewish education and the director of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education which is a branch of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, is intending to visit your community on behalf of Sheloh (Shiurei Limud HaDas — Wednesday hour).1

You are certainly familiar with the work of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch as a whole and this branch in particular. Through it, tens of thousands of Jewish boys and girls who attend public school receive Jewish education at no cost. This project has, thank G‑d, grown and expanded greatly and thus requires ample resources. The pressing financial situation compels him to visit your community to raise substantial support so that this great and unique institution in the field of Jewish education will not flounder, Heaven forbid.

For this reason, I am approaching you and asking you to greet R. Yaakov Hecht warmly and extend a helping hand to him as befits your great influence. I can surely appreciate your great preoccupation because of your communal work. Nevertheless, I am certain that your heart is open to the great import of this educational effort and you will not refrain from granting assistance to this great and lofty mitzvah that touches the hearts of thousands of Jewish children. From the outset, I offer my thanks.