By the Grace of G-d
Erev Shabbos Kodesh,
Nitzovim Vayelech,
25th of Elul, 5744
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr. [David Tuvia Chase]
W. Hartford, Conn. 06117
Greeting and Blessing:
I was pleased to receive your letter, enclosing copies of important correspondence which you wrote and received in connection with the forthcoming ground-breaking ceremony which you will conduct, to inaugurate the rehabilitation of the Bronx. [The project sought to rehabilitate a neglected section of the Bronx — an area long plagued by poverty and crime — and to construct a new public plaza, intended to revitalize the neighborhood, attract investment, and create employment opportunities.] I note that the idea was originally conceived by President Reagan and that you have had the cooperation and support of the appropriate government agencies in making it a reality.
To a person of your background, a survivor of the Holocaust, there is surely no need to point out that the idea of rehabilitation of any neighborhood, especially a borough of the City of New York with a considerable Jewish population, evokes the horror of the Holocaust. As a matter of fact, I too and my wife are survivors, though not to be compared to those who survived the Concentration Camps. For they, as has often been said, are living witnesses of G-d’s miracles — not only in their survival, but also in the remarkable rehabilitation of their personal lives and in the significant contribution — both materially and spiritually — they have made to society and country of adoption, as this has been exemplified so well by yourself and your family. The forthcoming groundbreaking is yet another eloquent expression of this personal rehabilitation.
There is an added dimension to it when this is carried out with strong religious motivation and with pride in one’s Jewishness — motivation, indeed conviction, that it is the duty and privilege of every Jew to work for the betterment of the society in which one lives.
What makes it more gratifying all around is that it is the direct answer and counteraction to the unmitigated evil of the so-called “Final Solution” of Hitler and his heirs that aimed at the total exclusion and elimination of Jews from the non-Jewish society, indeed from the human society altogether.
Moreover, and no less importantly, you have shown a profound concern for the innocent victims of another kind of “Holocaust,” a spiritual one. I refer to the countless Jewish youngsters who are in danger of being lost to our people for a lack of awareness of their Jewish identity, being deprived, for one reason or another, of their rightful Jewish education. Your generous support of Torah-true education on both elementary and advanced levels and your personal dedication to this cause, has been an inspiration to many others to follow your example.
I can only wish you a growing measure of Divine blessings to go from strength to strength in all these good endeavors, in vigorous health and to see the good fruits and the fruits of fruits of your labors.
I take this opportunity to reiterate my prayerful wishes and traditional blessing to you, your wife and all your family, for a good and sweet year, materially and spiritually.
With esteem and blessing of
הביתכ המיתחו הבוט , הנשל הבוט הקותמו תוימשגב תוינחורבו םג דחי
Cordially
Published: Mr. David Chase (1929–2016) was a polish-born Holocaust survivor, billionaire and philanthropist who developed a deep personal connection with the Rebbe. Chase headed many important Lubavitch charitable efforts and was a founding member of the Machne Israel Development Fund and served as Chairman of the Board of the Rabbinical College of America. In 1943, he was sent to Auschwitz and miraculously escaped the camp while on the way to the gas chambers, sheltering in the Polish forest for the duration of the war.