Letters

An excerpt from the first "public letter" issued by the Rebbe

There is more to a journey than its destination, insisted the Rebbe in this characteristic letter, written several months after his official assumption of the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch

How does a painting compel us to see its subject in a new light? And how is this to be applied to the art of life? A letter to a depressed artist

Pain, gain and their rate of return

Can there be such a thing as an outraged atheist?

If he needn't actually do anything, what's the honor?

In Torah, as in nature, there are exoteric and esoteric forces; one hundred and ninety-eight years ago, one of the latter electrified Jewish life

What an education can and cannot do

Perfect harmony and full acceptance of a central authority might be the ideal, but ideals are usually the greatest obstacle in getting anything done

Parallels that are worlds apart

in which the means are an end in themselves

What, exactly, is a Rebbe?

What motivated the Rebbe? What drove his unceasing labor and unprecedented achievements?

And where they converge

If G-d trusts them, they have earned our respect

is more bearable--and its recovery more certain

On Rosh Hashanah, we reiterate our commitment to G-d as our king. But isn't kingship a metaphor whose time has passed?

Medical advice to a young educator

In Judaism, the deed is the primary thing. But sometimes the primary thing gets in the way

When a Jew finds himself in a distant corner of the world, far from his homeland, far from any established Jewish community, this is certainly not by chance

As early as 1963, the Rebbe offered this analysis of the “return to roots” movement and proposed a plan of action

To the Rebbe, all criticism was self-criticism. As he saw it, finding fault with others was simply an avoidance of one’s own responsibility to rectify whatever was amiss

There is an element of that tumultous time that should be preserved..

In and of itself, the most apparent function of the commune is to equalize individuals of greater and lesser stature -- something that runs contrary to human nature

One of the characteristics of the deer is that “Its hide does not constrain its flesh.” In other words, the extremely taut skin of the deer does not inhibit its growth but, on the contrary, adapts itself and conforms to it

Entering into the interior of the pharmacy, one notices a section marked: Warning! Deadly Poison! One may wonder, what is poison doing in a place designated for cures and balms

Clothes and linen, before we put them on, are clean and smoothly pressed---everything in its proper place. But after wearing them for a while they become creased, dusty or stained.

There were certain statements that the Rebbe could not, and would not, tolerate

When Jews are united as one body, a Jew in a free land can provide life to a Jew living under oppression

There are certain things, wrote the Rebbe, for which a chasssid simply does not have the time

If when taking stock of our lives the pile of wrongdoing seems higher than the pile of goodness, there's one critical factor we must take into account

The Rebbe’s prescription for a troubled marriage

The man wagered that the Rebbe would never make a public fool of himself and announce his belief that the sun revolves around the earth...

The Rebbe on literature, ulterior motive, and the Jewish soul

Have you ever regreted a good deed?

Having already discussed the intellectual reasons for belief in G-d, the Rebbe spells out the other reasons for leading a Torah-true life

The singular unity within Judaism