בידספיריט | מכתב חתימת הריי”ץ

מכתב חתימת הריי”ץ - מכתב חתימת הריי”ץ  Dr. Jacob Smithline, a heart and lung physician who was very close to the Former Lubavitcher Rebbe , Rabbi Yossef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the Rayats Rebbe . In fact, there are many letters from the Previous Rebbe to Dr. Smithline in the volumes of the Previous Rebbe 's published letters.  In one of these letters to Dr. Smithline, the Previous Rebbe asked the doctor to make every effort to spread the message of taharat hamishpacha – the laws of family purity. The Doctor. Smithline undertook this mission from the Previous Rebbe and took every opportunity to write and speak publicly on the subject. He also published booklets in English explaining in detail the laws of this mitzvah and sent many copies to the Previous Rebbe in Riga at the Rebbe's request. Whenever Dr. Smithline spoke to women's groups on matters of medicine, arranged to ”smuggle in” the subject of taharat hamishpacha. On one occasion, Dr. Smithline asked Dorothy Schiff if she would like to have a group of friends over, all of them wealthy and influential, most of them Jewish, to her house so he could talk about ”women's affairs.” Mrs. Schiff agreed and Dr. Smithline was the guest speaker. He began the evening with a discussion of advances in medicine in women's affairs, followed by taharat hamishpacha. The doctor made room for questions and there was a lively discussion. A few minutes passed and Mrs. Schiff asked the doctor and the guests to follow her to the other part of the house, as she had something she would like to show her. Mrs. Schiff led the guests through the house to a lower floor. She stopped in front of a beautiful wooden door. When Mrs. Schiff opened the door, Dr. Smithline gasped. Much to everyone's amazement, behind that door was a kosher mikveh (a mikveh is a specially constructed swimming pool essential to the observance of the laws of taharat hamishpacha ). Mrs. Schiff related how she came to have a private mikveh at home. Her father, Jacob Schiff, was a mainstay of the American Jewish community. He tirelessly helped Russian Jews, especially during World War I. During his lifetime, Mr. Schiff did everything in his power to preserve Judaism in the United States, although he was not strictly orthodox. He never thought that the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvot would flourish, due to the climate that existed during his lifetime. He saw only the decline of Judaism here, may God forbid. He very much wanted his children to remain committed to Judaism. He therefore encouraged the three daughters to perform the mitzvah of taharat hamishpacha . To that end, he helped each of them build their own mikveh at home. Dorothy Schiff concluded by saying that this is how she came to have this beautiful mikveh at home and fulfilled the laws of taharat hamishpacha.