Q:
You said before that there are certainly Jews who fall into the category of reshaim. What are our obligations towards a Jewish rasha?
A:
The first obligation is to attempt to get him to change his ways. And I want to tell you people that there are so many good ways you can do things like that; it’s remarkable that it’s not being done.
Imagine there’s a family that doesn’t observe. You’d like to walk in there and speak to them but of course you wouldn’t do that. To write letters? They’ll throw it in the wastebasket.
Suppose you pay three dollars to the Lubavitcher for a subscription to “Talks and Tales.” It costs three dollars a year. Every month they send a little magazine in English with stories with some admonitions. It’s a good influence. It talks about the wonders of Hashem in nature; other things. Every month it comes.
Now it could be they’ll throw it in the wastebasket the first time, but if it’s a printed thing, sooner or later they’ll pick it up in an idle moment and read it. It may have an effect. If you’ll keep it up year after year – it’s only three dollars – imagine how much you can accomplish! A three dollar subscription to “Talks and Tales.” It comes every month by the mailman and in the course of time, it piles up. Children might read it. Parents might read it. Who knows what it could do? It might make a revolution!
There are many other ways. Subscriptions to Orthodox newspapers in English. Sometimes it’s so easy to put your foot in the doorway and it’s a pity that people don’t even think of these methods.
Now another method may seem to you extreme. It’s possible to pray for Jewish resha’im. You can pray for people. Of course your prayers have to be sincere. If it’s possible for you to do something in action and you relegate it to the realm of prayer, it shows a lack of sincerity. However, prayer is important. We pray for our fellow Jews, the lost sheep that are straying away and going lost everywhere. Some of them are today in the Himalayan mountains. Some are in the dens in India smoking hashish.
All over the world, Jewish boys and girls are going lost. They strayed away, looking for something that they’ll never find. And how important it would have been if somebody would have stepped in the right moment and send in some literature to them. It would be delivered by the mailman – you can’t tell the mailman, “Don’t bring it,” and it could have affected them. Who knows? It could have changed their lives.
TAPE # 625
