Dovid Shraga Polter

In my father’s farbrengens (chassidic gatherings) of bygone days, every word is a pearl. As time goes by, one comes nearer to an understanding of an old vort, a memorable dictum from long ago, and it becomes clear and luminous in quite a novel way. Each w...

During his long years in a Soviet prison, Reb Mendel Futerfas observed that after the spider has spun its web, it watches and waits for the exact moment that an insect is trapped in it. Once it is caught and it surrenders its own survival, the spider then...

The skunk is a most intriguing species. Because of the powerful odor it emits when cornered, it is often described as disgusting and despicable. Being an animal, however, it has no control over its behavior and instincts. When it comes to man, on the othe...

The Rebbe writes: Concerning your decision as a spiritual leader to uproot yourself and move to another community, I want to alert you to the reality that, especially in North America, community leaders impact the lives of their respective congregations s...

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, known as the Alter Rebbe, once observed a street-cleaner at work. Pushing a large broom, the man first swept the garbage, strewn randomly about the street, into small piles. These were then swept together into a smaller numb...

The rhinoceros is known to be a short-tempered animal and, being an animal, follows its instincts and innate character by nature. The Hebrew word af, אף, can be used to describe two extremes in temperament: in the negative, it can refer to anger; and in t...

In the 1960’s, Rabbi Nissan Mindel, close secretary of the Rebbe, often found himself traveling to various communities. The Rebbe urged him to utilize the opportunity and speak at the different shuls he would visit and thereby spread words of Chassidus. R...

One of the activities prohibited in the Gulag was card playing. It was considered a severe crime, and harsh punishment was imposed if one was caught violating this prison rule. Somehow, the inmates managed to smuggle in a deck of cards, and would wile awa...

Rabbi Dov Ber of Lubavitch once told someone to become an onion. This was a person who had been traveling from town to town spreading chassidic teachings. But now he had stopped. All the fuss over himself and his talents, he claimed, had been feeding his ...

In addition to the purpose of one’s trip, there is something to be learned from a cruise on a ship. The normal domicile of man is on firm ground; sailing off to sea is something new and different, a bit out of the ordinary. Since the sea is not the normal...