Chabad Rebbes

Chabad's public image adapts to the times, but what singular core teaching serves as the basis for diverse activities such as meditation, underground schools, and public menorahs?

The journey of the Jews through the desert recounted in the Torah provides us with many fundamental lessons to apply in our own Divine service. Among the unique features of that journey was the manna that sustained our people throughout this 40-year trek....

After the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, Moshe led the entire Jewish people in a song of celebration. Our Sages differ in their understanding of the way the people responded to Moshe’s initiative. Rabbi Akiva maintains that the people responded like a cho...

There is a classic adage, “It took G‑d one moment to take the Jews out of Egypt, but 40 years to take Egypt out of the Jews.” That saying is certainly relevant when describing the scene as the Jews arrived at the Sea of Reeds, with their experience as sla...

The fourth section of the Book of Exodus begins as Pharaoh “sent forth” (Beshalach, in Hebrew) from Egypt. The Jews proceed toward Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, but are pursued by Pharaoh and the Egyptian army. G‑d splits the Sea of Reeds, allowing th...

This week’s Torah reading mentions the manna, the food that fell from heaven which sustained the Jewish people during their journey through the desert. The manna was a training process, teaching the Jews to develop faith and trust in G‑d. For forty years,...

This Torah portionis always read close to the 22nd of Shvat, the yahrzeit of the Rebbe’s wife, Rebbetzin Chayah Mushkah. She was a very private woman and few people had the opportunity of knowing her, but those that did were struck by her elegant and nobl...

In the 1950s, there was a Reform Rabbi who carried on an extended correspondence with the Rebbe and would visit him from time to time. Once he told the Rebbe, “I envy the peaceful happiness and calm that radiates from the faces of your followers. I feel, ...

I. The Tur statesOrach Chayim, sec. 1; see also Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 1:5. that it is desirable to recite the passage concerning the manna every day.See the Perishah (based on the Talmud Yerushalmi, Berachos*) which states: “Whoever recites the pas...

Pinchas Torah Likkutei Sichos, Vol. VI, p. 86ff. I. On the verse:Shmos 14:27. “And towards morning, the sea turned back to its power,” the MidrashBereishis Rabbah 5:5; Shmos Rabbah 21:6; Zohar, Vol. II, p. 198b. states that when G‑d created the sea, He es...