By the Grace of G‑d
Rosh Chodesh Kislev,
5743. Brooklyn, N.Y.
To All Participants in the
Mortgage Repayment Celebration of
The Rabbinical College of America
Morristown, N.J.
Greeting and blessing:
I am very pleased indeed to extend heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to the distinguished Dinner Chairman, Honorees and all participants in this memorable event.
Most significant in itself, the occasion is also highly symbolic in its ramifications.
The repayment of a mortgage signifies that the mortgagee has fully discharged his obligations and debt to the mortgager and is now in complete possession of the property.
Parallel with this type of financial mortgage there is another kind - a spiritual and moral “mortgage” incumbent upon every human being, in terms of obligations to the Creator and Master of the world as well as to fellow humans. For Jews, this “mortgage” encompasses every aspect of the daily life, as our Sages expressed it succinctly: “I was created to serve my Creator." This “mortgage” goes back to our first Patriarch, Abraham, of whom G‑d said: "I have known (chosen) him because he will command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the L‑rd, to do righteousness and justice.” (Gen. 18: 19). This means - to put it quite simply - that we, all of us who are descendants of the First Jew, have mortgaged our children and our whole future in the said covenant. It obviously follows that everyone who is actively engaged in Jewish education, the kind of education that teaches our children and youths, and their children after them, to "keep the way of the L‑rd" —is doing a very good job of “mortgage repayment.”
Now that, thanks to the dedicated efforts of each and all of you, the mortgage of the Rabbinical College has been paid off, it will surely enable you - personally and jointly - to do even a better job of “mortgage repayment”, by helping the Rabbinical College expand still further its facilities, increase its enrollment and generally upgrade the scope of its activities, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
May the Creator and Master or the World, the Source of All Blessings, grant you Hatzlocho in all above, and bless each and all of you, and yours, in all needs, materially and spiritually, in a generous measure.
With esteem and blessing
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