Important Issues
אודות ה שהרבי רצה לל להמקוה לפני מנחה עיוכ״פ תשכ״ה
A Hebrew-language account of the Rebbe seeking a halachic basis to immerse in the mikveh before Minchah on Erev Yom Kippur 5725, while sitting shiva for his mother.
בענין ליווי הבחורים את הרבי בלילה כשהלך לביתו
A Hebrew-language account of the bachurim assigned to escort the Rebbe home on foot at night in the earlier years, before he began traveling by car.
Shabbos of the Three Weeks
A class on observing the Three Weeks' mourning period on Shabbos, when overt mourning is forbidden, and how the Rebbe taught to experience those Shabbosos differently.
סיפור
A story about an encounter with a young Lubavitcher whose son, a talmid chacham in a non-Chabad yeshiva, refuses to engage with the Rebbe's teachings.
Midrash Pli'ah (Hebrew Class)
A Hebrew-language Midrash Pli'ah class working through a gematria-based decoding of four divine names hidden in a verse, including why one name appears reversed.
אודות ה שהרבי רצה לל להמקוה לפני מנחה עיוכ״פ תשכ״ה
A Hebrew-language account of the Rebbe seeking a halachic basis to immerse in the mikveh before Minchah on Erev Yom Kippur 5725, while sitting shiva for his mother.
בענין ליווי הבחורים את הרבי בלילה כשהלך לביתו
A Hebrew-language account of the bachurim assigned to escort the Rebbe home on foot at night in the earlier years, before he began traveling by car.
Shabbos of the Three Weeks
A class on observing the Three Weeks' mourning period on Shabbos, when overt mourning is forbidden, and how the Rebbe taught to experience those Shabbosos differently.
סיפור
A story about an encounter with a young Lubavitcher whose son, a talmid chacham in a non-Chabad yeshiva, refuses to engage with the Rebbe's teachings.
Midrash Pli'ah (Hebrew Class) [duplicate]
A duplicate recording of the Hebrew-language Midrash Pli'ah class on the gematria-based decoding of four divine names -- see the other copy of this class for the full description.
Why Judging Others Favorably Starts With Loving Yourself
A chassidic class built on Rabbi Chaim Vital's study under the Arizal, using the model of natural self-love and rationalization to teach how to judge others favorably, illustrated by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak's stories.
The Four Sins That Really Cause Exile
A chassidic class on the Rebbe's teaching that galus only follows the four most severe categories of sin -- avodah zarah, forbidden relations, murder, and neglecting shemittah -- and how each affects the soul's essence.
Why Techiyas Hameisim Is Compared to a Jew's Current 'Death'
A short chassidic class drawing a parallel between the future resurrection and the present spiritual dormancy of the soul, and the hidden light of creation reserved for the Messianic era.
Why Didn't Adam and Eve Need Rabbinic Safeguards?
Explores the origin of the seven rabbinic mitzvos, why the generations closest to the Beis Hamikdash needed fewer protective fences, and the deeper purpose of elevating everyday physical acts like eating.
Why We Keep Two Days of Yom Tov Outside Israel
Explores the historical reason for the two-day Yom Tov observance in the diaspora, why Mashiach will restore a single day everywhere, and the Alter Rebbe's surprising wish to keep two days even in Israel.
Why We Bless Rabbinic Mitzvos the Same Way as Torah Ones
A Rashi-based class on the covenant of kindness, why punishment severity reveals a mitzvah's halachic weight, and the chassidic idea of 'the heels of Mashiach' connected to lightly-regarded mitzvos.
Why Only Four Specific Sins Cause Exile
Continues the theme of the four root causes of galus -- avodah zarah, forbidden relations, murder, and neglecting shemittah -- with deeper analysis of how each uniquely damages the soul.
Why 'Turn From Evil' Comes Before 'Do Good'
A short class on the Torah's two safeguards against sin, why the correct order leads to a true Divine dwelling, and the value of a complementary chavrusa.
Why the Wise Man 'Sees the Future' in the Present
Continues the theme of judging favorably, contrasting the ordinary person's view with a chacham's deeper perception, and when it's actually permitted to praise someone publicly.
Rabbi Yochanan's Choice: Torah Over Trade
Explores why Rabbi Yochanan gave up business for Torah study, the story of Nachum Ish Gamzu, and why delaying tzedakah can cost dearly -- illustrated by the Baal Shem Tov's teaching on losing Olam Haba.
Why a King Went to War Over a Rooster and a Hen
An aggadic class on King Yannai's wars and his six hundred thousand cities, the custom around blessings for a baby's gender at birth, and the meaning of the phrase 'the Land of the Deer.'
Serving Hashem With Joy, Even Through Apparent Contradiction
A chassidic class reconciling verses that seem to contradict on joy versus seriousness in Koheles, built around the Arizal's teaching in Tanya on the power of simcha shel mitzvah.
Why Koheles Says Nothing Is New, Yet Also Seems to Contradict Itself
Resolves apparent contradictions in Koheles about joy versus sorrow, tied to a story about the name Mashiach and the Rebbe's blessing.
Why Torah Study Needs Joy, Not Just Fear
Aggada on balancing joy and severity in teaching halacha, Hillel's patient response to a mocking question, and the Messianic-era visions of constant abundance.
Why Torah Study Needs Joy, Not Just Fear
Aggada on balancing joy and severity in teaching halacha, Hillel's patient response to a mocking question, and the Messianic-era visions of constant abundance.
Why the Wicked Don't Fear the Day of Death
A short piece on yiras Shamayim as the true measure of Torah, and why the wicked, blinded by luxury, ignore the inevitability of their own death.
How Keeping Mitzvos Protects You From Bad News
A short piece on sharpening each other in halachic debate, right-versus-left hand blessings, and a story illustrating that fulfilling mitzvos shields a person from tragedy.
Why Investing With the Poor Beats Giving Tzedakah
Explores the Rambam's advice to avoid irreligious neighborhoods, why a joint investment with a poor person outranks even lending, and the Dubno Maggid's parable of the dog.
Why the Half-Shekel Atones for the Sale of Yosef
A chassidic class linking the half-shekel census tax to Yosef's sale by his brothers, exploring how partial ownership of a slave works halachically, and why ten Jews together can nullify a cherem.
Don't Tell a Poor Man 'God Will Help You'
A short teaching on the obligation to personally help the poor rather than deflecting with religious platitudes, and how the same principle applies to leaders who rely on prayer instead of action.
How the Tzemach Tzedek's Wife Saved Him With Tehillim
A short story about the Tzemach Tzedek's simple but righteous rebbetzin, whose recitation of Tehillim protected him during a dangerous government summons in Petersburg.
Why Pride Cost Great Leaders Their Gifts
Stories of how arrogance caused Devorah, Shmuel, and Moshe to temporarily lose their prophetic or halachic clarity, alongside a halachic question on the status of a mamzer.
What Actually Changes in the Days of Mashiach?
Explores the distinction between Yemos HaMashiach and Olam Haba, the Rambam's view of two messianic periods, and the halachos of combining Melaveh Malkah with a Chanukah feast.
What Does 'Walking in Hashem's Ways' Really Demand?
A deep chassidus class on imitating Divine attributes like compassion, why this mitzvah has no fixed limit, and how proper kavanah transforms an act into a vessel for the soul.
Rabbi Akiva's Seven Pieces of Advice
A short piece on Rabbi Akiva's practical life advice to Rabbi Yehoshua, including the custom of knocking before entering a room.
Why You Shouldn't Live in a City Without a Doctor
A list of practical life-advice from the Gemara -- avoiding standing naked before a candle, not walking out alone at night, and the dangers of using Torah for personal gain.
Three Ways to Earn a Share in the World to Come
A list-style aggada of teachings from Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi on what Hashem loves and how to merit Olam Haba.
Three Types of People Hashem Can't Stand
Continues the list-aggada on character traits Hashem dislikes, when helping an enemy's donkey is still required, and the propriety of confessing a sin to one's own rebbi.
Four Kinds of People Nobody Can Stand
Aggada describing four unbearable personality types, six traits learned from a horse, and the daily obligation of tefillin.
Did David Write Every Psalm in Tehillim?
Explores Rabbi Elazar's view that all of Tehillim's songs trace back to David, the difference between personal and communal psalms, and why learning Torah needs both joy and seriousness.
The Orphan Weighed in Gold Every Day
A short aggadic story about a wealthy widow who measured her fatherless son in gold each day for tzedakah, until the family's fortune collapsed when enemies conquered Yerushalayim.
The Prohibition of Returning Territory
Opens from Parashat Chayei Sarah's account of Avraham's cash purchase of Me'arat HaMachpelah, one of three places in Eretz Yisrael no nation can honestly dispute, to lay out the two halachic questions behind the land-for-peace debate: the prohibition against ceding any part of Eretz Yisrael to a non-Jew, and whether pikuach nefesh overrides it. Applies the same halachic method used to rule on eating on Yom Kippur, deferring to the relevant experts rather than political considerations, and cites the Gemara in Eruvin's ruling that giving up border territory is treated as danger in itself, no expert opinion required. Closes with the deeper claim of ownership: Eretz Yisrael was granted to Avraham directly by Hashem at the Bris Bein HaBetarim, making it categorically unlike any other conquered land.
The Torah View on Astrology
Numerous sources across Gemara and Midrash — from Avraham Avinu's own skill in astrology to the spies' names and Rabbi Akiva's daughter's brush with death — establish that what the stars show is genuinely true, even as the Torah forbids turning to astrologers for guidance. Tracing the Rambam-Ramban dispute over whether astrology has any reality, and unpacking the deeper meaning of “ein mazal l'Yisrael,” the discussion explains how idol worship began from a true perception of the stars' power, wrongly credited to the stars rather than to Hashem who wields them. The resolution: a Jew can reach a level beyond mazal through teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah, overriding nature — including whatever is written in the stars.
The Torah View on Vegetarianism
Tzaar baalei chaim is a genuine Torah value with real halachic weight, yet the Torah never prohibits eating meat and even commands it on Shabbos and Yom Tov — a tension resolved through the Kabbalistic idea that eating, done with the right intent, elevates food the way a korban does. Working through the four categories of creation (domem, tzomeach, chai, medaber), the discussion explains how proper shechitah and eating l'shem shamayim lift an animal to a level it could never reach on its own, doing it a favor rather than a harm. Stories from the Tzemach Tzedek, the Baal Shem Tov, and Rebbe Maharash's two young sons illustrate that this elevation requires no extraordinary piety — only eating as a Jew is meant to.
The Power of Money in Judaism
Chazal describe money as capable of dragging a person to the lowest depths, yet also teach that a tzaddik's money is dearer to him than his own body — a contradiction resolved by a halachic distinction between the body, held only as a pikadon from Hashem, and money, which He actually gives away to be truly ours. Drawing on models of ownership from Yosef's Egyptian land tax to Rashi on the conquest of Eretz Yisrael, the discussion explains why parting with money cuts deeper than parting with almost anything else a person owns, and why tzedakah — giving away a piece of one's truest self — ranks among the greatest mitzvot.
The Tragedy of Intermarriage
A philosophical and halachic analysis, not a practical outreach talk, of why the Rambam singles out relations between a Jew and a non-Jew as an aveirah unlike any other in the Torah, even though it is not the most severe. Explains the difference between neshama elokis and nefesh habahamis as the gap between Creator and creation, why the Rambam's kol kadmon netzachi shows a Yid's soul to be eternal in a way a goy's is not, and why forbidden relations engage a person's whole essence rather than a single limb. Covers koach ha'ein sof, the infinite creative power expressed through having children, why Pinchas was rewarded with kehunah for stopping this specific aveirah, and closes by contrasting it with the holiness, kiddushin, of a Jewish marriage.
War According to Halachah
Opens by establishing that the Torah does not favor war even when it is fought at Hashem's command, then works through the Rambam's categories of milchemet mitzvah and milchemet reshut and the three conditions required for a discretionary war. Analyzes a Gemara in Sotah debating whether a preemptive war against a threatening enemy counts as a mitzvah, resolving it through the din of rodef and the halachic difference between risking one's own uncertain danger to save others from certain danger, individually versus as a community. Explains why halacha assigns the determination of what counts as an attack to security experts rather than diplomats, using the Yom Kippur-and-the-doctor analogy and a Shulchan Aruch ruling about a border town, and closes with the treatment of civilians and POWs, the Rambam's halachos for a soldier's courage in battle, and why yeshiva bochurim learning Torah is treated as its own front in the war effort.
Who is a Jew (recording A)
A class on the famous Israeli political question of Jewish identity, reframed through halacha and chassidus to explain the true definition of a Jew.