Dear Friend,

With the hot summer weather coming, it’s likely that racial tensions will continue to simmer in the United States, as they have most recently in the city of Baltimore. From Missouri to Mississippi to Maryland, the frustration, violence and deep-seated grievances remain remarkably similar.

On both sides of the issue, people struggle to make sense of those holding diametrically opposite views. “How can they not see how wrong they are?” they fume. “Don’t they realize how destructive, violent and narrow their approach is?” they declare self-righteously.

And therein lies the problem. As long as we see two sides—with competing worldviews and goals—peace cannot be achieved.

Rather, as the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—told New York City mayor David Dinkins following the Crown Heights riots in 1991, “Forget both sides; it is one side, one people united . . .”

“All of them were created by the same G‑d for the same purpose,” the Rebbe said to the mayor during an earlier meeting, “to add in all good . . .”

When we truly realize that we are all descendants of a common ancestor, created in the image of G‑d, everything else will fall into place.

With wishes for a safe, healthy and peaceful summer,

The Chabad.org Editorial Team