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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Rabbi Krohn emphasizes the urgency of bringing Jewish children back to Yiddishkeit, noting that saving this generation also saves future generations, and praises Chazaq's work; he concludes by encouraging support for Chazaq. Rabbi Paysach Krohn ties this to Pesach themes of compassion, reaching out to single parents and needy families, and never giving up on a child who has strayed.
Key Points
- Rabbi Krohn cites a figure of 9,500 Jewish children currently in public school, and argues that at two children per generation this could mean 76,000 descendants within four generations who know nothing about Yiddishkeit.
- Rabbi Lane's story illustrates the depth of concern: he refused to eat in the morning because he was pained that thousands of Jewish children were attending schools without religious education during the same hours that Yeshivas and Beis Yaakovs were in session.
- Rabbi Moshe Samuels, a student of Rabbi Shlomo Heiman and later a Rebbe at Torah Vodaath, taught during a snowstorm when only four boys showed up, telling a student who mocked him that he was teaching not just four boys but their children and children's children until the end of time.
- The Haggadah phrases "Ha lachma anya" and "Hashata hacha" are linked to the idea that every child is a blessing, and parents should not give up on a child who goes astray.
- The Pesach message is compassion: reach out to single mothers and single fathers, who have few organizations serving them, and invite them to share the holiday.
Details Worth Noting
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Concrete instructions: Do not give up on a child who has gone off the path; keep trying to bring them back, because you never know what will happen.
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Concrete instructions: On Pesach, reach out to single mothers and single fathers and invite them to your table.
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Concrete instructions: Ensure that needy families, including children, receive tickets or funds in advance so they are not left out of holiday activities. Rabbi Simon Salman's example involved envelopes with money and zoo tickets for the Bais Yaakov trip.
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The Babi Yar visit: the speaker noted that about 34,000 Jews were killed there on September 29 and 30, and that the site contains a rock with the verse Hashem said to Cain, "the bloods of your brother are screaming to Me from the ground" (a fact the speaker said surprised him since it wasn't shown online beforehand).
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The concentration camp story (possibly Bergen-Belsen) describes a woman who urged that scarce flour for matzah go to the children so that if they survived they would know what matzah meant, even though they wouldn't remember prior years; the Rebbe agreed, and later married her as his second wife.
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The speaker explained the name Pesach as connected to compassion and care, citing Rashi and the Targum on "Vefasachti" and "Pasach Hashem."
Bottom Line
Chazaq's mission is presented as urgent: the speaker argues that reaching children now protects generations to come, and that giving and outreach are the practical ways to act on that.
