Chabad Rebbes

Introduction Perhaps the most defining attribute of leadership is the ability to give others a sense of purpose and identity that transcends their individual selves. Although we all are naturally concerned with our own personal desires and wants, we are u...

Introduction Two Categories of Witnesses The sichah to follow is a classic example of the manner in which the Rebbe develops an intricate, abstract concept in nigleh, the revealed and largely legalistic dimension of Torah study, and then from it, extrapol...

Introduction After commanding the Jewish people to set aside cities of refuge for those who killed inadvertently, the Torah expands the scope of that command, promising Devarim 19:8-9. “When G‑d, your L‑rd, expands your boundaries, as He swore to your for...

The fifth section of the Book of Deuteronomy continues Moses’ second farewell address to the Jewish people. It opens as Moses instructs the Jewish people to appoint judges (Shofetim, in Hebrew) throughout the Land of Israel to try cases and uphold the law...

This week’s Torah reading includes the mitzvah of eglah arufah, a ritual act whereby the neck of a calf is broken to atone for the murder of a person who was slain by an unknown assailant. In ultimate terms, a Jew’s life is his connection to G‑dliness, as...

Jeffrey Kimball is a lawyer and an active member of the Lubavitch community in Springfield, Mass. When asked to describe his connection with the Rebbe, he tells a story that goes back several decades ago. Several of his associates came to him with what ap...

In the town of Pshischah, there lived a great scholar who, while personally friendly with Reb Yaakov Yitzchak, the saintly Yehudi, felt that the honor and prestige which the chassidim gave to their Rebbe should really have been granted to him. After all, ...

I. On the verse:Devarim 20:19. “Is a man a tree of the field...?” the TalmudTaanis 7a. reiterates the question asked by the verse and explains: [The verse states:]1 “From it, you shall eat; you shall not cut it down. [And the passage continues:]Devarim 20...

In our Sidra we read of the cities of refuge, to which a man who had killed accidentally could flee, find sanctuary and atone. The month of Elul, in which this Sidra is always read, is, in time, what the cities of refuge were in space. It is a month of sa...

The Torah portion Shoftim begins with the statement:Devarim 16:18. “Appoint yourselves judges and police” — “Justices who rule on matters of law, and police who insure that the judgments are carried out.”Rashi , Devarim, ibid. See also Tanchuma, Shoftim 2...