Chabad Rebbes

Imagine the ruckus that would ensue if the President of the United States were spotted taking out the White House garbage! Yet something similar occurred daily in the Holy Temple...

Advice to ministers, counselors and advisors: change your clothes

Introduction In one of the midrashim to which Chassidus refers very frequently, our Sages Shmos Rabbah 12:3. describe the new development brought about by the Giving of the Torah: To what can this matter be likened? To a king who decreed, “The inhabitants...

Introduction When explaining the phrase, Tehillim 16:8. שִׁוִיתִי ה' לְנֶגְדִי תָמִיד, “I placed G‑d before me at all times,” the Baal Shem Tov See Tz’vaos HaRivosh, Hosafos, p. 110. focused on the word שִׁוִיתִי, noting that it shares the same root as th...

Introduction The Baal Shem Tov once taught his disciples that everything they see or hear should serve as a lesson in serving G‑d. On their way home after hearing this teaching, they saw a non-Jew carving a cross out of the ice on the river. They were ast...

The second section of the Book of Leviticus is the continuation and completion of the preceding section, and opens as G-d tells Moses to command (Tzav, in Hebrew) Aaron and his sons to follow the procedures for offering up sacrifices. The second half of t...

This Torah reading contains the verse: “This is the law of the burnt offering... [It shall remain on] the altar’s hearth throughout the night.” Rashi explains that the verse teaches that although the sacrifices had to be offered during the day, burning th...

The story is told that the Baal Shem Tov once told his students that everything that they see and hear should serve as a lesson in their service of G‑d. As they left the Baal Shem Tov’s study, they passed a frozen river and saw a gentile hewing a cross ou...

As he was passing by a shul in a small village, the Baal Shem Tov heard a chazan practicing for the Yom Kippur services. Appreciating his pleasant voice, he listened closely and heard him intoning the confessional prayers in a joyous, cheerful melody. Cur...

Continuing the theme of Vayikra, the Rebbe traces further parallels between the Sanctuary that was built by the Israelites in the wilderness, and the Sanctuary which every Jew has within himself. This Sidra mentions the continual fire that was to be kept ...