I have received your book of Torah thoughts on the weekly portion, called “In the Footsteps of the Flock.” The name is befitting, as it derives from the scroll of Song of Songs (1:8): “If you do not know, O most beautiful of women, then go in the footsteps of the flock, and pasture your kids among the dwellings of the shepherds.” Rashi explains, “If you, My people, who are the most beautiful of the nations, do not know where to go to pasture your flocks safely among the threatening nations of the world, follow the imprints of the footsteps of the flock: study the ways of your forefathers in previous times, who accepted My Torah and kept My charge and My commandments, and walk in their ways, for only by virtue of this will you be able to pasture your kids among the nations.” How painful it is to see precious boys and young men who are lacking the knowledge about the battles fought by Gedolei Yisroel and their views on the trials of our time, modernism and Zionism and all the other isms. And they also lack training on how to approach these subjects with the gentiles among whom we live. There are many heads of yeshivas and rabbis of congregations who, in order to avoid arousing the anger of their members, keep quiet – but in the meantime a generation of Torah learners and keepers of the mitzvos is growing up without any knowledge of the truth, or of what their forefathers did in times like this. What will these rabbis answer on the day of judgment? Therefore, what you have done, to publish stories about Gedolei Yisroel of the past generation in simple language will do much to strengthen the people who are thirsty for words of encouragement, especially in places like Los Angeles that are far from the Torah centers; your reward is very great. And I know and have seen that your work bears fruit, but we still need much more. Certainly, your organization, called Natruna, will grow, and may all those who help it be blessed, for the righteousness of the masses depends on you.
