Hadassah Kaplan wrote the following letter to her father in Hebrew during her stay in Jerusalem in 1933, in response to his question of whether she recommended his relocating there 

Dear Father,

When I received your [Hebrew] letter, I understood it without any help – but what I read did not make me happy! It’s actually good that you’re working a lot, because when you’re busy, you don’t have time to worry. But the same question arises again: What pleasure is there in work if you cannot enjoy light entertainment? I know our life philosophies do not agree – because I’m certain that all knowledge and work are necessary for someone only to make him happy – and what do you think? Does not the best creation arise when one is free of worries? If you try forgetting the spiritual state of our people (because certainly a single person or a few people can do nothing to revive it) and start a different kind of work just for a change – you’ll surely find a more productive topic to rejuvenate your spirit.

And this is more important now than other people’s spirit, both for you and for Mom and the kids. After all, haven’t you worked your whole life on the same thing? And didn’t you only encounter disappointment and despair? And why?

You asked me about life here. Yes – if you spend your time with the professors and doctors from the university, you will be happy – because you will be able to speak and work with them. But how will you be able to live here – on what income? They say here that it’s a cheap place for people who get their money in America. But to earn money here – how? It’ll be better for you to come here for a visit and see things. You know that now Eretz Israel has changed a lot since you were here. The emotion and excitement felt before the disturbances [the Arab riots of 1929]  are not apparent now. And you will also see that religion and [religious] laws are absent here. In my opinion, this is the least religious place in the world – because the Jews think that now that they have their own country, they need not stick to the mitzvot they fulfilled previously in foreign countries just to remind them they are Jewish.