THE MONEY FOR THE MOSDOS IS ALREADY IN THE BANK!

From the life of R’ Yehoshua Shneur Zalman Serebryanski a”h

Prepared for publication by Avrohom Rainitz

In R’ Zalman’s letter from 11 Av, he wrote to the Rebbe at length about his two meetings with Mrs. Hertz. She slowly became amenable to R’ Zalman’s position, but still was unwilling for the girls’ school to belong entirely to Chabad.

In their first meeting, when R’ Zalman suggested that she be the principal and teacher in the school which would be entirely on Chabad property and under his exclusive responsibility, she rejected the idea. A few days later though, R’ Zalman received a message from her family that they were willing to discuss it.

THE DOCTOR RECOMMENDS: REDUCE THE LOAD

In Australia, the month of Av is in the middle of the winter and Mrs. Hertz came down with a severe cold. Her doctor said that her illness came from being overburdened with work and that for the good of her health she needed to reduce her responsibilities. This made her have second thoughts about R’ Zalman’s offer, and at their second meeting she agreed to work in partial cooperation with the yeshiva, i.e. the school would belong to her, and the yeshiva would pay her for each girl, but the yeshiva would establish the curriculum. The name of the school, she suggested, should be a combination: Hertz’s preschool and school and a school for girls under the Chabad yeshiva.

R’ Zalman, of course, did not agree and only said that he would consult with Anash, but obviously the idea was rejected. He also planned on writing about this to the Rebbe.

Then R’ Zalman received another phone call from the Hertz family and was informed that she was willing to concede in some other areas. Once again, it was her doctor who urged her to reduce her workload even more, for her health.

This time, she agreed that the Chabad mosad would be the only one responsible for the girls’ school but on two conditions: 1) that she could continue running the preschool in her house privately with no connection to the yeshiva, and 2) that the learning take place in the classrooms that she built in her house and the Chabad mosad would pay for them.

The latter suggestion was quite reasonable and had a great advantage in that it would not be necessary to arrange an entire school building, administration and secretaries, because Mrs. Hertz had already arranged it all and she was willing to put the entire administrative infrastructure at their disposal. In addition, Mrs. Hertz had already hired suitable teachers which was very hard to do in Melbourne in those days.

However, there were some problems with this plan. First, if the learning would take place in her home, the ability to supervise the curriculum would be limited, and when it would be necessary to change something, it would run into difficulties. Second, with the money that Mrs. Hertz wanted as rent for the classrooms for two years, they could build classrooms in the yeshiva’s yard, which would forever remain in the yeshiva’s possession. Third, if the school was successful, Mrs. Hertz was liable to think that it was all thanks to her and she could run the school independently, and then she would drop their agreement and run the school herself with all the students in her house.

R’ Zalman reported all this to the Rebbe. Regarding the fear that Mrs. Hertz would drop the agreement after a few years, he wrote that he thought they should have her sign a contract which said that in the event that she did not want to continue with their agreement, the school would be transferred to Chabad and she would not have the right to open a girls’ school for eight years.

R’ Zalman wrote that if the Rebbe thought they had to open the school on the yeshiva’s property, it would be possible to build a few classrooms in the yard and to put up a fence that would completely separate the boys and the girls. The entrance would also be separate, either from the side or from the back. This would work for the first year or two. After that, they would need the space for the boys’ school which was growing, and the girls’ school would grow too and it would become necessary to build a separate building for the girls.

THE REBBE: YOU HAVE THE KOCHOS AND THE MONEY

Regarding all his questions and uncertainty, the Rebbe responded in paragraphs four through seven in a detailed letter to askanei Anash in Melbourne, dated 18 Av 5716:

Paragraph 4 said, obviously they could not partner with a private person. The Rebbe said the school for girls should not be in a private home. A separate entrance as well as a fence should be built at the yeshiva so the girls could start out in the same building as Yeshivas Oholei Yosef Yitzchok. The Rebbe viewed this as temporary, for even building a fence was not optimal and he hoped that the number of male students would increase so they would fill the building.

Paragraph 5 said that it was also obvious that a private home should not contain both a private school as well as classes of the yeshiva. The Rebbe did allow for the possibility of this arrangement on a temporary basis if at least the oldest class would be in the yeshiva building.

Paragraph 6 said that the main thing was to explain to her that since she sees that she does not have the strength to run a girls’ school, she should recognize the great privilege she was given from above to be one of the heads of the hanhala of the Chabad girls’ school and she should throw herself into it. This would be good for her, from the perspective of finances and the growth of the preschool, and mainly in preserving the spirit of yiras Shamayim and loyalty to Torah in the chinuch of the children, from the oldest class to the preschool, because a communal entity could better supervise than an individual. The Rebbe hoped they would find the right words to explain this to her and she would understand the divine hint.

Paragraph 7 said that if she absolutely refused, then they could grudgingly agree to the possibility mentioned in paragraph 5, but then there had to be a guarantee along the lines of what R’ Zalman had written in his letter. The Rebbe said it was difficult from afar to get into detail about this because a lot depended on the personality of the woman, the conditions in that country, etc.

In concluding this letter, the Rebbe encouraged askanei Chabad and said that not only were they given the kochos but they also had the requisite funds in the bank except that it wasn’t in the yeshiva’s bank account but in the account of the wealthy person whose job it was to donate it to the yeshiva, and who was only given the money to hold in escrow for the yeshiva. When he would be explained how important it is to support the yeshiva, he would immediately transfer the money from his account to the yeshiva’s account.

In accordance with what the Rebbe wrote in his letter to askanei Anash, R’ Zalman spoke to Mrs. Hertz and tried to convince her to agree to run the girls’ school in the yeshiva’s building. Mrs. Hertz refused since her youngest son wasn’t old enough for school and she did not want to leave him with a babysitter all day. She also said that if she had to be at the school, she would not be able to supervise the preschool in her home. Even when the idea that the Rebbe mentioned in the letter was raised, that only the oldest class would be in the yeshiva building, she said she could not take responsibility for students in the oldest class since she would be home all day and could not visit the yeshiva building.

R’ Zalman made his final offer that both the preschool and the school would be run from her home, but it would be under the yeshiva’s auspices and Mrs. Hertz would be completely devoted to the yeshiva’s matters without any private enterprises on the side.

As the Rebbe said to do, R’ Zalman mentioned what the doctor said on a number of occasions, that she could not undertake the burden of running the mosad. If she would accept his offer, she could run it without the financial burden and she would be respected for running the Chabad school which was associated with the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

FUNDRAISING

One of the most difficult things R’ Zalman had to deal with was fundraising for the mosdos. Although the Rebbe had promised to pay all the expenses of the first two months, the continued maintenance and development of the school required a lot of money, especially if they were going to buy and build a new building for the girls. 

In the same letter of 11 Av, R’ Zalman reported that Anash were beginning to get involved in fundraising for the new school and he expressed his hopes that R’ Moshe Zalman Feiglin would donate 1000 pounds in addition to his usual contributions that totaled 1000 pounds. He wrote that he planned on traveling to Sydney to fundraise where he hoped to raise another 1000 pounds, and together with what Anash would raise in Melbourne, they could start building the girls’ school.

THE REBBE SPEAKS ABOUT CHINUCH FOR GIRLS IN AUSTRALIA

In the third paragraph of the Rebbe’s letter mentioned above, the Rebbe referred to R’ Moshe Zalman Feiglin’s donation and wrote that when he met with him together with his son and daughter-in-law, the need for a girls’ school was one of the main points that the Rebbe raised in their conversation.

Two days after writing the letter to askanei Anash, on Shabbos, 20 Av, R’ Moshe and R’ Dovid Feiglin attended the farbrengen that the Rebbe held to mark his father’s passing. At this farbrengen, the Rebbe said a special sicha about the importance of founding a girls’ school in Melbourne.

The Rebbe began by talking about the influence women have on building a Jewish home and said that this is the reason why the Rebbe Rayatz did a lot for girls’ education, “because in order for there to be Jewish women, there first needs to be Jewish girls, and in order for there to be Jewish girls, there needs to be chinuch for girls. When they will properly address the chinuch of girls, they will be able to say to Moshiach, who ‘stands behind our wall,’ he is ready to come already but is waiting for the Tzivos Hashem to stand and be ready for his coming – ‘see what I have raised,’ we have established for you Tzivos Hashem, Jewish boys and girls, as Hashem desires, Jews who are healthy spiritually and consequently healthy physically and then Moshiach will lead them to a good and spacious land in the complete Geula.”

After this introduction, the Rebbe began talking directly about Australia:

“The Rebbe, my father-in-law, founded a mosad for boys in Australia and through the divine mercies aroused by him, the mosad is being run with outstanding success by R’ Moshe Zalman and his son, R’ Dovid and the entire Feiglin family, who play a leading role.

“Since the education of girls is no less important than the education of boys and is even more important, they will start a school for girls and the Feiglin family will play a leading role. There will surely not be any financial obstacles for we have already concluded that ‘Mine [G-d] is the silver and Mine is the gold.’

“Then they will say to Moshiach that he can come already… for even in Australia there is already a school for girls; Beis Rivka and Beis Sarah, so Moshiach can come already and take the Tzivos Hashem to a good and spacious land.”

The Rebbe concluded, “Since they just laid the cornerstone for Beis Rivka and Beis Sarah in Australia, the entire assemblage should wish them mazal tov.”

WELCOME THE FEIGLIN FAMILY WHEN THEY COME

Ten days later, R’ Zalman received another letter from the Rebbe’s secretary, R’ Quint, which expressed the hope that after the Feiglin family’s stay in Beis Chayeinu, including attending the farbrengen, they would be even more inspired to help Chabad matters. But to ensure that the inspiration would be translated into practical terms, every effort should be made to meet them immediately upon their return to Australia. A farbrengen/kabbalas panim should be made for them and they should be asked to repeat what they heard in 770. That would be a golden opportunity to re-inspire them about what the Rebbe told them in yechidus. 

IT IS ESSENTIAL TO IMMEDIATELY START A CHABAD GIRLS’ SCHOOL

R’ Zalman also received a copy of the letter that the Rebbe sent that same day to R’ Yaakov Eliezer Hertzog who was a maggid shiur in the yeshiva. The letter spoke about the fact that a lot of work was still needed to develop and expand the yeshiva and the need to act immediately as the opportunity may not present itself at a later time. This was especially the case regarding the need to establish a girls’ school. Therefore, the Rebbe concluded, it was his view that R’ Hertzog and all of Anash had to throw themselves into this work and that they would surely see great success.

The next day, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul 5716, the Rebbe sent another letter, this one to R’ Menachem Mendel New who was a member of the hanhala of the yeshiva, in which the Rebbe mentioned that in the conversation with the Feiglins they had indicated that his involvement in the proposed girls school would be of great benefit. The Rebbe went on to express the hope that he would do so on his own, and that he was only writing to him to encourage an increase in both quantity and quality in the above as well as in all matters of Anash. Additionally, the Rebbe emphasized that investing personal effort had a far greater impact than just money alone, and that since they had already passed the initial phase of “all beginnings are difficult,” things should go more easily than in the past.