The topic tonight is, as we all know, prayers in our public schools. Now, one might ask, being that this is a Torah lecture, it's a series of Torah study, not just of political things and different diplomatic and politics, but this subject actually has a lot of Torah ideas behind it, because when the question came up whether there should be prayers in public schools, there was a lot of debate about it amongst the frum yidden to see what is the Torah view. The way the question turned out was not whether to say prayers in school, but whether to have a moment of silence, a silent prayer, where we would ask, the schools would ask the children that before the day starts they should, for a moment, meditate and think about God, about Hashem, and think how Hashem is watching over them, etc., etc., every child, he or she, in their own form, in their own way, in their own words. And there was debate whether this is a right thing or not a right thing. Many people were against it, claiming it's against the constitution, and why should we allow religion into the schools? We know there is supposed to be a separation between church and state. And there was also discussion amongst the religious Jews, what is the halachah point of view concerning this question. And even amongst the frum yidden there were many that thought that it was wrong to allow it. They said that we should, as frum yidden, fight the idea of having a moment of silence, a silent prayer in school, in public schools, with different reasons that they had. But then the Rebbe came out and viewed his opinion very strongly that he is 100% for it, and we should push for it, and encourage the government to allow a moment of silence, a silent prayer in school every day. And the Rebbe had a lot of backing in halachah, and therefore this turns into a Torah subject, because the question is what does the Torah say about it. But the truth is that even those ideas that the Rebbe expressed, which are not directly from halachah, but the way the Rebbe described and explained what the meaning of the constitution is, and whether this is against the constitution, or what the Rebbe explained it based on psychological inyanim and things like that, is also Torah. Because we know that when a tzadik, a Rebbe gives his opinion, even if it's in secular matters, it automatically is Torah, because it comes from a person that his whole life is Torah, automatically it becomes Torah. I remember once Rabbi Elberg alav hashalom visited the yeshiva, and he spoke to the bachurim, and it happened to be Parashat Yitro, and I remember what he said. He said to them that in Parashat Yitro we learn that וישמע יתרו כל אשר עשה השם לפרעה ולמצרים, Yitro heard, Yitro, the father-in-law of Moshe, heard everything that Hashem did to Paro and to the Mitzrayim, and that's why he came to the desert to Moshe Rabbeinu to study Torah. That means that he not only heard it and was doubtful in his mind, he really believed it, and he believed it so much it actually penetrated into him that he decided because of that to come to the desert to learn Torah. Nevertheless, it says later on, when he came to the desert, and he met Moshe Rabbeinu, his son-in-law, it says ויספר משה ליתרו, Moshe told Yitro everything that had happened, ויחד יתרו, Yitro became very happy. So he said, he doesn't understand. Yitro already heard before everything that had happened. Why did Moshe have to repeat it? And even if Moshe did repeat it, why did that specifically cause him to become happy when he knew about it before? And he said the difference is, when he was home and he heard about it from the news, it was just hearing fact of what's going on in the world, but when he heard it from Moshe Rabbeinu, it became Torah. The fact that Moshe Rabbeinu told him, it was Torah, that itself is holy and that itself is Torah. And it has a complete, different meaning. This is secular, and this is Torah! It might be the same thing, but if it comes from a Rebbe, from a tzadik, from a גדול בישראל, it becomes Torah. It's interesting that the Rambam, in Hilchot Kiddush Hachodesh, when he describes the laws of how to calculate the calendar, and how to whether to make a leap year or not, etc., etc., so there are many, many פרקים, many chapters that deal with pure, pure astronomy. Pure astronomy! And at the end of the whole Hilchot Kiddush Hachodesh, the Rambam writes like this: why did he write all this astronomy in his sefer? So he writes like this: so that the people who want to know this should not have to go and find it in secular books, they should be able to learn it from the Torah. Now, the question is, it's the same thing! What he wrote in his sefer is exact same thing, it might be a copy of what it says in the astronomy books. The difference The difference is, if you open an astronomy book and you study it in there, you're studying secular studies. If you study the same thing from the Rambam, you are studying Torah and it's the word of Hashem. And the same is with every subject. It might be a secular subject, but if there is a view that's given, an opinion that's given by a tzadik, by a גדול בישראל, that itself becomes Torah. And therefore in this subject too, not only the things that the Rebbe explains based on halacha is Torah, but also the thing that the Rebbe explain as far as psychology or other types of things, it's all to us Torah and therefore it belongs in a shiur of Torah that as we have now.

And now let's get to the point of what is the idea, what is behind whether it is okay and we should encourage that the public schools should have the moment of silence at the beginning of the day, when the children have to think every morning about God before they start the day. And the question is, why does it belong in the schools? Why should we mix religion with education? It belongs in the shul, in the shul they talk about God, but why in the schools? Lehavdil lehavdil the goyim, their churches, but why should it belong in the schools? But the truth is, in order to understand this, we have to understand the whole concept of education. The whole idea of a school is to educate the children. What is the idea of education? Now education is not just a gathering of information, that you get the children together and you teach them, you give them all kinds of information and ideas, so they will have a lot of information in their minds. That's the smallest aspect of education. The more important part of education is what they call the molding of the character. Which means, according to the way we learn in Torah, that every person is born with certain traits, certain good traits that are only in a potential form. And it is the job of the educators to develop those traits and to bring it out into the open, to be megaleh it, to reveal it, that it should come out into the open. And that applies to every part of the person, whether it's to the sechel, to the understanding, to the intellect or to the emotion or to the behavior, everyone has the potential of good traits, but we have to develop it. If it wouldn't be developed, then the person will be mamash like a wild animal. Imagine if a child would be born in the jungle, and there will be no other human beings there to show this child what to do and to show the child to behave, the child will grow up in every aspect mamash like a wild animal out in the in the jungle. In concerning understanding, concerning even talking, he wouldn't even be able to talk. And even other things, simple things, wouldn't even know what it means how to behave, the idea of going to the bathroom, things like that, you have to develop it. It's there, it's in every person, but you have to develop it. Plus, the way a child is born, naturally the child, the person is selfish. Every creature is basically selfish, superficially. That means if every person and every creature even cares about itself, about himself, but potentially, are able to develop that it shouldn't be that way and you should also care about other things, that things which are more important. And if it's not developed, the person is like a wild animal. There's a pasuk that says, עיר פרא אדם יולד. A person is born like a פרא אדם, like a wild animal. And you have to develop that. And that's what we call molding of character. It's up to the educators to mold the character of the child that when he grows up, all these positive traits that he has should come out into the open and be revealed. But in addition to that, there is something else also. Every person is born with the potential of recognizing the truth, of recognizing the truth. Now this is not a trait the person has. It's not like the ability of thinking, the ability of talking, the ability of seeing, the ability of feeling. This is something outside of the person. But nevertheless, the way Hashem created the world that every person has the potential of recognizing the real, real truth. Now why Hashem didn't make that the person should recognize it without having to work on it, I guess because Hashem wanted there should be free choice, and if the person would be born that automatically he sees the truth, then there wouldn't be free choice. So He made it so that it's not there in an open way, but potentially every person has within him the ability to recognize the truth. What is the truth that every person is able to recognize? That is the real, real truth, the real The real truth is one thing. There's a pasuk that says, ואמת, which is truth, ואמת ה' Le'olam. That the truth of the world is Hashem. That Hashem is the higher authority and the superpower of the world and controls everything. And that's a fact. We know as Yidden that that's a fact. And every person has the ability of recognizing that fact. But we have to educate the child to reveal that potential feeling and potential recognition, and to make the child understand that. Then, we really will develop the true, good traits of the child, because otherwise, even if we say that we could develop good traits in the child, but who knows what is good and what is not good? Everybody could have a different description, different explanation of what good is. What's good to one is not good to the other. And even if there will be the real good, but if it's not based on this recognition of the truth of a higher authority, of Hashem, then today he might understand that this is good, and tomorrow things might change, and might not understand it's good, and therefore his behavior might change also because he doesn't think this is good. And as we know that if the behavior of what is good and not good will depend only on the person's logic or on what society says, then we know what it could lead up to. Like Rachmana litzlan what happened, the Germans, Yimach shemam vezichram, they were the most cultured people, and because they they based everything only on logic, then they came to a decision, Chas veshalom, this is what they did. But if it's based on the recognition of Hashem, who is the ultimate truth, and it's based on the recognition of Hashem, who is the ultimate infinity, therefore, it's not limited. The understanding of the good is not limited to the person's mind, not limited to the person's whatever feeling, is the real, real, true good. And therefore, if a person is trained to recognize that there is a higher authority, which every person has the potential to recognize that, then the behavior of the person will really be good, and all the good traits will be there a 100%, and it will be everlasting. And using the terms of the way it says in Pirkei Avot, that we have to remember an עין רואה, there's an eye that sees, ואוזן שומעת, there's an ear that hears, and וכל מעשיך בספר נכתבים, everything that you do is written down, this is there is Hashem who's a higher authority who watches you constantly. If you base your life on the fact that there is Hashem, then automatically, the person's life will be much more moral than if he would base it even on the person's understanding of logic. In other words, like this: education, it's not enough to just gather information, it's not enough even the molding of character. If it's only based on intellect or on feeling and things like that, the only time we are guaranteed that the person's behavior will be a 100% the way we want it to be, and it'll be a 100% good, is if it's based on the understanding that there is a higher authority. And even in simple terms, if a child knows that there is always somebody watching, somebody he doesn't see, but there is always somebody watching, somebody listening to what he does, and everything he does is written down, even though he might not see it, but then, his behavior will be different. And the Rebbe explains: why is it that we see so much crime amongst the youth? It's because the whole lifestyle is not based on this higher authority. And if we instill in them this idea that they always have to recognize that there is somebody higher and somebody watching, this will automatically hold them back from doing things they shouldn't be doing. And that's the idea of having a moment of silence in school before the day starts, to give them a chance just to get this feeling that there is a Hashem, there is a God, a higher authority, that is beyond this world, and is always watching, and based on what He wants and what He considers good, that's what we have to do. Then, they will be different. Because the only way we could develop this feeling, this recognition of good, of right, the recognition of truth, is only by us pushing it upon them. We know that the whole concept of education, whether we like it or not, is brainwashing. That's really what it is. But it doesn't matter. We're brainwashing to the right thing. And how do you brainwash? How do you do it? By constantly telling them, making them think about it, and then automatically your mind starts working that way. And that's what we want. We want that the people should start recognizing and thinking about a higher authority, about Hashem. And it's not like some people think, that if you will not push it upon them, then they will be in the middle. If you push it upon them, then you'll push them to the right. If not, they'll stay in the middle. It's not true. If you don't push it upon them, then they're going to stay to the left. Because like I said before, naturally, the nature of a person, if you don't develop that potential recognition of truth, is to be selfish. It's to do everything what's good for me. And if it means to steal, and if it's good for me to steal, I'll steal. If it's Chas veshalom, if somebody says good to kill, he'll kill. Because that's the way the person was born naturally, if you don't develop the inner kochot, the inner abilities and traits that he has. And even if you will develop it, but if it's not based on Hashem, it's also not going to be 100%. So what we have to do is push it and push it, and then we hope it'll be in the middle, and maybe towards the right. But if you don't push it upon them, you'll definitely be towards the left. It's similar to what we talk about Jewish education, that I know I once spoke to somebody, this lady, she wasn't frum, and a third cousin of mine, whatever, from America she lives, so I tried to tell her about, well, you have to send your children to school, to a Jewish school, so you get a Jewish education. She says, \"Well, I guess I don't want to force anything upon the child. I'll leave it up to him. When he'll become bar mitzvah, then let him choose. Let him choose on his own. Why should I force? He's a human being, so let him choose. If he'll want to choose to go to a day, to a Hebrew day school, if he'll want to choose to be religious, fine. But at least let him have the choice.\" And what I told her was, what you're doing by not sending the child to school, you're not giving the child a choice. You're forcing the child to the other direction. Because even if you send a child to a day school, the other direction of not being religious and doing things of the world is always there. You always have this pull to that side. By giving the child a Jewish education, you're balancing out to a certain degree that now the child has a choice, because he sees this side, he sees this side. But if you're not going to give it to the child, you're not giving the child a choice. Then all you're doing is allowing the child to have the other side. And why should a child, all of a sudden, when he's 13 or 15, wake up and decide, maybe I should become religious? On what basis? Naturally, there is no instinct superficially to become religious. So you are not giving the child a choice. And that's the same thing with us, when what we're talking about now, when we say that we should instill in the children, even in the children in school, in public school, this idea that they have to remember constantly there is this עין רואה, this eye that watches, and an ear that hears, and there is this higher authority, the higher power that's there, then we're giving a child a choice. Because the other side, we call it the yetzer hara side, the evil inclination, is always there to pull. At least we're giving some balance that there is now the other side to pull to recognition that there is Hashem. But if we don't do that, then we're not giving the child a choice. All we're doing is giving the child some information maybe, trying sometimes to mold the character based on what's good for me. And then what happens? Then the child will grow up to do what's good for the child, what's good for the person, and not caring about anybody else, not caring of what's right and what's wrong. But if it's based on the foundation that there is a God, that's a higher authority, then at least there is hope that the child will grow up to be the way he should be.

Now this is all more if we're dealing with Jewish children, because when we say that every person has this potential of recognizing the truth and all we have to do is develop it, is more by Jewish children. Because a Yid has a neshama, a neshama is a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, is part of Hashem. So therefore, every single Yid has part of Hashem within himself, within herself. And therefore, the potential of recognizing this Hashem is 100% there. But even by a Jewish child, if no one will develop it, if a child, a Jewish child, God forbid, is raised amongst goyim, won't know it either, because it's only there potentially. But it's there. There's an expression we find in Gemara a lot of times, in Shulchan Aruch, תינוק שנשבה לבין העכו״ם. If a child is captured amongst goyim, he grows up like a goy, he has no idea that there is Hashem, he has no idea of תורה ומצוות. But the potential is there. But by every Yid, we understand the potential is there. What about goyim? We're dealing here with public schools. Now we have many, many hundreds of Jews, thousands of, tens of thousands of Jews who learn in the public schools. So we could say the reason we feel that it's important to start the day with a moment of silence, to think about Hashem, and to instill Hashem in them, and to bring out the potential of the recognition of Hashem is because of the Jewish children, which is good enough. For us, that's a good enough reason. So many hundreds and thousands of Jewish children, at least for them. But the truth is, it's not so. It's not only for the Jewish children. It's also for the goyishe children. Because even the goyim have an obligation to believe in one God, in Hashem. And therefore, since they have this obligation, they also have this potential And we're talking about the Torah viewpoint. The Torah says they have this potential. Even a goy has a potential within him to recognize this truth, that there is this higher authority, there is Hashem. And we have to work on developing it and bringing it out into the open. It's one of the seven מצוות בני נח. We know that a goy is obligated to keep seven mitzvot. And it's easy to remember which the seven mitzvot are, because we have three main ones which we all know, and I'll mention in a moment, and then you have the next four is an abbreviation of א', ב', ג', ד'. It's easy to remember, and now I'll enumerate them. The first three we all know is עבודה זרה, גילוי עריות, and שפיכות דמים: idol worship, adultery, and murder. That's forbidden to them. And then we have four more: א', ב', ג', ד'. א' is אבר מן החי, starts with an א', which means eating a limb off a live animal. ב' is ברכת השם, which means blessing Hashem, which really means they're not allowed to curse Hashem, we just don't want to use that word so we say ברכת השם. That's a ב'. The ג' is גזילה, גניבה, stealing, robbing, they're not allowed. And ד' is דינים. They are obligated to set up a judicial system that there should be courts to judge the people who don't behave the way they're supposed to. So, we have these seven mitzvot. Now, in truth, they're generally seven, but there are more because each one of the seven has a lot of details. But the first one of these seven is to believe in one God, to believe in Hashem. Whether they are obligated to believe in Hashem and they're not allowed to have shittuf—shittuf means to believe that there is another being that Hashem gave some power over, there is a difference of opinions, and many say that goyim are allowed to—but they definitely have to believe that there is the higher authority, there is God. It's an obligation upon the goyim, too. It's one of the seven mitzvot. And the truth is it's not only one of the seven mitzvot, it is the most important one. And I'd like to elaborate a little bit in halachah on this idea that their obligation, the most, the most important obligation is to believe in one in in Hashem. Because, as I said, there are really seven mitzvot. In the time of the Beit Hamikdash, when we had יובל, there was a concept of a גר תושב. A גר תושב was a goy who accepted upon himself the seven mitzvot, and he would get an official title. He was called a גר תושב. Some even call it a semi-conversion. A גר is a convert, a גר תושב is a goy, but it's like a semi-conversion. He was still a goy, but if he accepted upon himself to do the seven mitzvot, to keep it, and he would keep the seven mitzvot, he had the title, he was in the status of a גר תושב. Now, in the Gemara, we find an argument between Rabbi Meir and the Chachamim, what is a גר תושב? Now, Rabbi Meir says a גר תושב is somebody who accepts upon himself not to worship idols. That's all. The Chachamim say he has to accept upon himself all seven mitzvot. And as I said, the halacha is that Rambam paskens like the Chachamim, that he has to accept all seven mitzvot. And it's interesting that this idea of a גר תושב is mentioned in the Rambam many times. There are very few halachot that Rambam keeps on repeating, but this idea of a גר תושב is mentioned many times in the Rambam. One place, in Hilchot Issurei Bi'ah, which comes in connection to the laws of conversion, Rambam says, who is a גר תושב? A goy who accepts upon himself not to worship idols and all the other mitzvot that a goy is supposed to do. And the question is, why does the Rambam mention this one separately? If we pasken that a גר תושב is only if he accepts all seven, so why does the Rambam say not to worship idols and the rest of the mitzvot? He should have said he accepts all seven mitzvot, like he does in all the other places. But the peshat is that the most important one of the seven mitzvot of the goyim is not to worship idols, which means to believe in Hashem and not to believe in an idol, to believe in this higher authority, which is similar in truth, lehavdil, to the way it is by us Yidden. By us also, the foundation of all mitzvot is to believe in Hashem and not to worship idols. It's taken from a Midrash. The Midrash says in Parashat Yitro, the עשרת הדברות started with the with the first, אנכי השם אלקיך, השם said, I am God your God. So, the Midrash says a mashal, a parable of a king who conquered a country. And now he's their new king. So, the people came, like a delegation came to him, and said, now you are our new king, please give us some decrees, give us some commandments, some laws. What do you want us to do? So, he says to them, listen, תחילה קבלו מלכותי, ואחר כך אגזר עליכם גזרות. First accept my kingship, first accept me as king, make sure you know I'm your king, and then we'll go into the details. So, the Midrash says the same thing is with Hashem. By the by מתן Torah what Hashem said first was, first of all, אנכי השם אלקיך, I am Hashem your God, accept Me, and automatically it comes along with the second one, לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני, do not have other gods together with Me. That's the first thing He said. Then He continued to tell them different mitzvot. So the first thing is to recognize that there is Hashem, and that's, by the way, the reason why out of all 613 mitzvot, only two did we hear directly from Hashem. Even the other eight of the Ten Commandments we didn't hear from Hashem. Only אנכי ולא יהיה לך, these two, the first two, I am God your God, and do not have idols, we heard, מפי הגבורה שמענו, we heard from Hashem. The other eight, Moshe heard from Hashem and Moshe repeated it to the Yidden. That's why it says תורה צוה לנו משה, Moshe gave us the Torah, commanded us the Torah. The word Torah, the Gemara says, is 611. The word Torah, the numerical value of the word Torah is 611, because Moshe told us 611 mitzvot. What about the other two? We know we have 613. The other two were told to us by Hashem Himself. Why were these two chosen to be by Hashem Himself? But there are technical reasons for it, because the Yidden were afraid, but the main thing is, because these two is the foundation of the whole Torah. The first thing is, before you come to mitzvot, is to believe in one God, and not to have idols. And the same is lehavdil with the goyim. The goyim have seven mitzvot, but the first one, which is avodah zarah, not to worship idols, which comes from the idea of believing in one God, is a mitzvah upon the goyim. Not only that, it's a mitzvah upon the goyim to keep these seven mitzvot because Hashem told it to the Jews by Har Sinai. Hashem told us at Har Sinai that we should make sure that the goyim should keep their seven mitzvot. So the reason they have to keep their seven mitzvot, the Rambam says, is because Hashem told it to the Yidden at Har Sinai. And that's understood, because the Yidden is, their whole purpose of the creation was because of the Yidden, so even the goyim with their mitzvot, it all comes through the Yidden, and therefore the Yidden have to do it. But the first and foremost of all the seven mitzvot is to believe in one God. And that's why it's important even for the goyim to start off their day by keeping in mind that there is this one God.

Now, some people would claim that, who knows, if you allow the prayers in the schools, they're going to mix in other religions. They're going to mention Yashke, who knows what they're going to say. But the truth is that's why we're not talking about a set לשון of a prayer, we're talking about a moment of silence that everyone should quietly, in their own mind, think about it. Now, some might, at that same time, think about narishkeit, about baseball, about other things, but there will be some who will think what they are told, and even those that will not, sometimes they will, sometimes they won't. So this is definitely a way of instilling in them the belief in a higher authority. And I remember the way the Rebbe expressed himself: the parents should feel that when they send their children to school, they're giving him the best they could, they're sending him for education, they send along a sandwich, I remember the Rebbe used this word, and they send along a sandwich, and they also send along the belief in Hashem, that they should believe in a higher authority. The question is, does this fit with the Constitution? Now I'm just saying this, what the Rebbe said: did this fit with the Constitution where we have to have the separation of church and state? So you can't mix religion into the public school system, which is state, mix the church, mix religion. So the Rebbe says it doesn't make any sense, because the whole reason why the Constitution says that we have to separate church and state is in order there should be the freedom of religion. The whole country was based, and the Rebbe used the word, the Founding Fathers based this whole country on religion. The whole reason they came here was because of freedom of religion. So therefore, if you come to to pressure a certain religion, that's wrong, that's what we don't want. But the general idea that there should be a religious feeling, that's part of what the Constitution wants. That's why there should be freedom of religion, people should be able to practice the religion. And he says, how come on the money it says In God We Trust? What about the separation from church and state? But the truth is this is not a contradiction to the Constitution because it doesn't say which religion you should accept, all it says is In God We Trust. And the Rebbe said it's something special that in the in on the money of of a government, a secular government that you should have mention of God. Imagine years before, would there be such a thing possible? But in the United States we have it. So why shouldn't we have in the schools this moment of silence that the children should have to, in their mind, think about this Higher Authority which will instill in them the feeling that there's always somebody watching over them. Now, the question is, what happens if one of them or some of the goyim are going to think about Yushke? How do you know they're going to think about Hashem? Maybe they're going to think about Yushke? Now, we will have then encouraged goyim to think about their, which according to the Rambam is actually avodah zarah. Now, why should we've done that? And that was the reason, by the way, of some of the religious people who said that we should not have, we should not encourage, we should discourage, and they even fought against prayers and or a moment of silence in the public school system because they said we are encouraging goyim to think about their Yushke. So the Rebbe said that first of all, many of them will not think. They think generally about Hashem. And we find even in halacha that most of the goyim have no idea what their religion is all about anyway. They don't. Idea, they talk about Trinity, shminity, they have no idea what it is themselves. There is even a halacha in Shulchan Aruch, there is a din like this, I'll mention the din. There is a din that ושם אלהים אחרים לא ישמע על פיך, which means you're not allowed to mention on your mouth name of other gods. And the din is not only you can't mention it yourself, לא ישמע על פיך, that through you others shouldn't you shouldn't be a cause that a goy should mention other gods. And therefore there's a halacha that a Yid is not allowed to do business with a goy. Imagine. Why? Because if you do business, sometimes you come into a dispute. If you come to a dispute, one of the ways of solving a dispute is you make him swear. You'll make him swear, he'll swear by his god. So you're going to be a cause that the other gods' names should be mentioned through you. So the Rema says in Shulchan Aruch that nowadays this din doesn't apply. Because even when they swear by their god, they have no idea what they're talking about. The goyim don't. There are a few goyim who really understand their religion, so most of them don't. So there when they say God, as much as they might mention the name of יושקע, have no idea what it is. So really basically they all go back, meaning God the Creator of the world. But the truth is even more than that. What are the options here? The options are he should not mention it, but what should be? They should not have this moment of silence, and they should not think about God at all. Let them be atheists. What is better? Is it better for a goy to be an atheist or is it better for a goy to worship idols? Even if we'll consider Christianity, which is the religion of our country, as an idol, because according to the Rambam Christianity is called עבודה זרה, it's not called שיתוף. שיתוף means when they believe that there is one God, and under Him He has others who He gave over power, which we are not allowed to believe in that, because we know Hashem gave nobody the power, everything is only a tool in the hands of Hashem. But if a goy believes in שיתוף, like I said before, that's allowed according to many poskim. But Christianity, where they believe that they are both the same, that's עבודה זרה. So even if we'll accept it's עבודה זרה, what is better, a goy should believe in עבודה זרה, worship an idol, or a goy should be an atheist and not believe in anything at all? It's definitely better for a goy to worship idol, to be עבודה זרה than to be an atheist. The Baal Shem Tov said that an a kofer ba'ikar, a kofer, somebody who denies completely and doesn't believe in any God is worse than a person who's an עובד עבודה זרה, who worships idols. We have the famous story told about the Chafetz Chaim, that once the Chafetz Chaim was riding the wagon and he had a goyishe wagon driver, and when on the way there was a place where they had a big cross, and the custom of the goyim was that whenever they would come to that place, whoever would pass by, would stop the wagon, go out and bow down to that צלם, to that cross, and continue. And the Chafetz Chaim was riding in the wagon with this goy, and he came to that cross and the guy drove by. As soon as he drove by, the Chafetz Chaim goes, \"Stop, stop!\" Stopped, the Chafetz Chaim, \"I'm getting off. I don't want to continue further.\" So he said, \"Why?\" There were a few people there, so the his people, talmidim or whoever was with him asked him, \"Why do you want to get off?\" \"I'm I really, I'm afraid this goy is going to kill us.\" \"Why all of a sudden?\" \"When I saw he passed by he said this cross and he didn't care that means he did not at all care about his spirituality. That means he doesn't believe that there is any power that higher than him, he could do anything, he could kill. I'm really afraid. But it means is that even though you're not allowed to worship an idol, but if you don't believe in God at all, you don't believe at all in that there is such a thing as a power which is higher than you then there is nothing that you control of a person and therefore he said I'm afraid that is he's going to kill us because he could do anything. You look in the Rambam, when the Rambam goes through a list of different things of persons apikorsim so the worst is a person doesn't believe at all. That's number one, that's the worst. So at worst, if a person is going to think some things which are forbidden and we should not encourage and it's forbidden for the goyim to think, but if that's the choice better than to not think at all and not to believe in any higher authority at all, that's worse. It's similar to what the Rambam says in the end of Rambam when he talks about Mashiach. And this is actually a strange Rambam, strange thing in Rambam, in our print it's not there it was taken out by the censors, but in the later print, now already they've been putting it back because now we have nobody to be afraid of. The Rambam says they are like this. But Mashiach coming and they want to recognize Mashiach, and then he says you know why Hashem brought אותו האיש, יושקע to the world and you know why Hashem brought Muhammad to the world? And I'll tell you what he says, it sounds strange, to pave the way for Mashiach. And he explains, they paved the way for Mashiach? He says yes, at least they started believing in some spiritual power, they got the wrong one, they have the wrong power, but at least now when Mashiach will come, they will it'll be easier for them to accept it because they know there is such a thing as a spiritual power. So, it's wrong, 100% wrong, and all the tzarot that we have throughout all the this time of exile is all based from Yoshke and Muhammad and all this, but nevertheless, it is better than if they would just believe in a plain idol like they used to believe before, bowing down to a piece of rock, not believing in a spiritual power, even though in the halachah Christianity might have a halachah of avodah zarah, but the way they believe is that there is something more spiritual, is already better than to believe that there is also nothing spiritual. That's the worst-case scenario, which anyway like I've been told is usually will not even come to it because most of them don't even understand it, they don't think about it, so if they will have this moment of silence, what they will think about is that there is somebody higher than us that is always looking. That will not just mold the character, but that will make them recognize the truth of this spirituality of Hashem and that it'll change their behavior, and the Rebbe said if we do that, in a short time the country will be different, the crying rate will go down, people will behave differently, the whole problem is that we took out God from the school, we chased them out of the school, that's what we did, so therefore, education has nothing to do with spirituality. So they're educated in just, you know, information or even what's good for them and that's it. That's why the Rebbe says it's very important that we do encourage the prayer or the moment of silence in the schools. It is not easy, but even when we do it, we have to work on it very hard, but that's general education is not easy, we all know that from our own children, it's not easy to educate children. That's why the Haggadah it says ואת עמלנו אלו הבנים. עמלנו means our hard toil, our hard work, is the children. That's very hard. But if we don't do it, then what's going to happen to that generation? So, generally speaking, for the Jews it is mamash an obligation, plus those Jewish children that will think about Hashem, and if they even add a few words with their mouth, they will have fulfilled a mitzvah, the mitzvah of prayer, of tefillah. Even though they didn't do it in the way the chachamim put it, they didn't use the wording of the chachamim, but they did do the mitzvah of davening to Hashem. So, that's by Jews where there is a mitzvah of tefillah, and certainly this will instill in them the understanding of Hashem and it will awaken their neshamah, and you never know what this will lead to, because we know the rule mitzvah goreret mitzvah, one mitzvah pulls another mitzvah, and if they will have this mitzvah of tefillah, they will have this feeling of closeness to Hashem, then this will start them off, and you can never know this could be the beginning of them becoming from way to run. And there are stories of people who claim that they became became baalei teshuvah, all started because in school when they were younger, they told them you have to think about God. And they started think God, and automatically they they they related it to their religion, so they went to ask their parents, what's the religion? And that's how it turned out, and later they became baalei teshuvah. But that's concerning Jews. But even concerning goyim who don't have a mitzvah of tefillin, but they definitely have a mitzvah of emunah in Hashem. And this will instill in them אמונה בהשם. Which religion, you see, that's no good. But the Rebbe felt very confident that if we're going to encourage the moment of silence, there is nothing to be afraid of that this will turn into a a certain that they will pressure or they will make it practice, God forbid, a certain religion.

Other people were afraid. There were other Jewish people, religious people, even, you know, certain form of leaders who claimed we have to be afraid, who knows what's going to happen. And the Rebbe said there is nothing to be afraid of. It only has positive, not negative. And even if there is a small chance of negativity, it has no value compared to the positive. And in this, the truth is, after the Rebbe came out, many of other rabbanim who before didn't have an opinion or before had a negative opinion, changed their opinion. Not because a 100% they really understood what the that the what the Rebbe said really was the right way in their own mind. Many of them did. But even those that didn't, the fact that the Rebbe said it, they understood that the Rebbe is the biggest authority, because when it comes to pasken a shaila like this, you have to have a lot of qualities. If you come with a shaila on a chicken, then you have to have a rav who learned Yoreh Deah and knows it. A question like this, you have to be a big gaon, you have to have a big yirat Shamayim, you have to be a big psychologist, you have to understand people's reaction, you have to understand what could lead to what, and for that you have to be a great mind. And most of them rely on the Rebbe, which is similar to I remember a different case when there was the whole discussion of whether to make protests for Russian Jewry, and Kahane made the protests then and they organized the 100,000 Jews, and the Rebbe spoke out against it many, many times. And I remember even then when they said after the protests, they started letting Jews out of Russia and they said, \"You see, we were right, not the Lubavitcher Rebbe.\" I remember by a farbrengen, the Rebbe spoke about it so sharp, he said, \"What? In spite of the demonstrations, hundreds and thousands yet of Jews are being let out. If not for the demonstrations, you would have many more out.\" And I remember then that the non-religious Jews, that was their and they made the demonstrations, and they so to speak showed that they cared about our brethren in Russia. And the religious Jews were at that time in, you know, put into a spot in a spot, what should we do? We have to show something. Should we make demonstrations? Should we make Should we not make? But I remember then Rav Moshe Feinstein said he doesn't really know whether it's right or wrong, because in halacha it is very hard to find should you make demonstrations, should you not. And he said, \"But because the Lubavitcher Rebbe said not to, he is the expert, and therefore we will not make demonstrations.\" But then there were there was pressure, so what they did was I remember they had all the schools gather together, I don't remember if it was Madison Square Garden or someplace, to say Tehillim for Russian Jewry, which I don't know if the Rebbe approved of it or not, I don't the Rebbe didn't say anything about it, but what they said was we will not make demonstrations because the Lubavitcher Rebbe said. And in this case too, many people changed their position because they heard that the Rebbe was very much for it, because in the beginning, when this whole issue started, I would say in truth, most of the religious Jews, most of the religious leaders were of the opinion that we should fight it, because we don't know what this is going to lead to, we're going to get pressure for a religion. And then the Rebbe was the only one, not to say mamash the only one, but from the only ones that saw the future, and saw that looked a little bit deeper into it, and he came out and he spoke about it many times that we have to encourage the prayers in the schools, but then he said not actual words, because that we don't know what they're going to say, but the moment of silence where they should think about a higher authority, every day. Unfortunately, it didn't since then I don't think it passed yet, and there's different discussions in different states, and they're still talking about it now. And even now, if it would be possible for us to push it through, that definitely would be a big תועלת. I'm sure the Rebbe would be very happy, and that means basically that Hashem would be happy that millions and millions of more people, even גוים להבדיל, would get closer to Hashem to keep at least the first of the seven מצות בני נח.