Community, Society & Environment

Rather than thinking of the religious and social as belonging to two distinct realms, chassidism posits a more complex interrelational model that encompasses the entire cosmos, and in which G-d too is a responsive participant.

A fresh reading of the “Holy Epistle” of Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov—a founding document of sorts that has been much discussed both in internal Chassidic discourse and in academic studies of Hasidism—yields six elementary principles of what Wexler calls "t...

To what degree should markets be regulated? To what degree must the community cater to the needs of the destitute? These questions are already debated in the Talmud. An interesting ruling by Maimonides, together with Philip Wexler's recent discussion of t...

We’re all drawn to light. Physical light – daylight, candle light, sunshine – and to those people who seem to give off a luminescence. Do we need to be around certain people or environments to create light for us? Learn how to shine your own light and nev...

“Distance yourself from a bad neighbor, do not cleave to a wicked person, and do not abandon belief in retribution.”

A reexamination of chapter 32 of Tanya and of the centrality of social questions is Chabad teachings.

Do your goals shape your environment or does your environment shape your goals? A Jew creates his environment.