יום רביעי, ו׳ אלול תשפ״וWednesday, August 19, 2026
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Rabbi Shmuel M. Butman is director of the Lubavitch Youth Organization. He can be reached at Lubavitchyouth@gmail.com.
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Everyone is aware of the Rebbe’s great leadership and his vast effort to revitalize and elevate the prestige of Judaism among Jews everywhere. However, not everyone is aware of the Rebbe’s greatness as a Torah scholar.
As we are approaching vacation time, this is a letter by the Rebbe to the children of the graduating class and their parents. It was sent to various Jewish educational institutions throughout the United States.
Some demographers, including Pew and other federations, have created a new line of questioning designed to analyze Chabad involvement. Instead of asking them what type of Jew they think they are, the surveys encourage participants to express their Jewish identity in more depth.
The question of why there were no questions about Chabad involvement in the UJA-Federation survey is even more perplexing when you consider Chabad’s growth.
The Three Days of Preparation and the Festival of the Giving of our Torah indeed come once a year, but there is a small-scale version of this preparation and of Matan Torah every day.
The service of teshuva, however, requires us to reach beyond our limited, worldly frame of reference and express the unbounded potential of the godly spark within us.
One of the goals of Judaism is to draw holiness into this world. A more important goal, however, is to elevate the world and the worldly aspects of man.
I must admit that the simcha and tuv leivov (joy and gladness of heart) do not come that easily, if at all. Nevertheless, the directive of the Rebbe is to continue our mission with joy and with gladness of heart that baruch Hashem we are zoche to do what the Rebbe wants.
The Rebbe wanted us to make a Sefer of Hadronim from the siyumim that had taken place.
I was a bit involved in the first siyum. I had a connection with the New York Hilton, where the siyum was held. So I had a little, but not much, involvement.
We can’t wait for him to knock on our door and say he wants to be at the Seder. What if he’s not going to knock? And if we are going to wait for him to knock, it may take a very long time.
Every participant will receive this matbei’a shel eish, a coin of fire, representing the fire of the Rambam and the fire of the Rebbe. Ure’isem oso uz’chartem – whenever one sees the coin, he or she will remember what the coin stands for; the daily learning of Rambam.
This presents a grave challenge, which should command our attention long before Passover and the Seder night. For no Jewish child should be forgotten and given up.
A policeman noticed the crowd gathered around the Rebbe and listening to him, so he came over and asked the Rebbe, Haben Sie eine erlobinish? (Do you have a permit?) When the Rebbe did not produce a permit, the officer arrested him.
Even when he was already advanced in years, Reb Zalman himself, with his flowing beard and joyful, shining face, would rush around the fields like a young man, with scythe in hand. His simcha carried him.
Though we dress up in holiday finery, Purim doesn’t feature holiday work restrictions. Nonetheless, all the better if you can take the day off from work and focus on the holiday and its four special mitzvos.
Even though it is a custom, we recite a bracha on the communal lighting just like we make a bracha for the custom of reciting Hallel on Rosh Chodesh. The Rivosh adds that one does not fulfills his obligation with the menorah lighting in shul but that everyone must light again at home.
Although the Rebbe does not have to explain the reason for his directives, on Shabbos, the Rebbe spoke about it and explained it in a way that even we can understand.
All her life she fulfilled the ideal of the Psalmist, The entire honor of a king's daughter is within.
Cognizant of her wisdom and strength, her father involved her in much of his work.
After the Holocaust, the Jewish community was left broken, licking their wounds, mourning their dead. The Rebbe set out to strengthen and rebuild the Jewish world.
During the war between France and Russia, Rabbi Schneur Zalman espoused the Russian cause, and through the cooperation of his followers proved of great service to the Russian High Command.
A man of lesser stature as a Talmudist could not have undertaken such a mission, for the opposition included some of the most illustrious scholars of the time.
This saintly man became the founder of Chabad chassidism, a movement that developed into one of the strongest and most dynamic branches of chassidism.
If you see a person who has love of G-d but lacks love of Torah and love of his fellow, you must tell him that his love of G-d is incomplete.
The Rebbe stressed that the court’s ruling that the library belongs to Chassidei Chabad was a reflection of the Heavenly court’s decision that the Rebbe’s chassidim were doing what was required of them.
Over the years, the Rebbe sent him to me several times to help him with what he needed. Baruch Hashem, I had the zechus of helping him and of getting to know him up close.
Torah teaches us that time is extremely precious, and every moment must be used to its fullest advantage. Why then do we use time to repeat things already known?
Rabbis reported that people are lighting Shabbat candles, purchasing and donning tefillin – some for the first time – saying the Shema prayer daily, and baking challah.
In connection to the Kinus HaShluchim HaOlomi, the global conference of the Rebbe’s emissaries, the following is a selection of freely translated priceless letters and answers from the Rebbe about the greatness of shlichus.
When a Jew loses his own self-respect, when he no longer knows how a Jew thinks, speaks or acts, he adopts non-Jewish attitudes.
The entire people of Israel are like one body, and the actions and well-being of one limb assist in the health and strengthening of all other limbs.
When all Jews, including small children, learn Torah and do mitzvos, this raises the level of security of iron and copper are your door bolts for the entire Jewish people.
When all Jews, including small children, learn Torah and do mitzvos, this raises the level of security of iron and copper are your door bolts for the entire Jewish people.
As the Rebbe finished one segment of his talk, the crowd looked to the new widower to begin a song. What happened next was one of the most dramatic experiences in the lives of those who attended that gathering.
Rabbi Schneerson was sitting opposite me, speaking pearls of wisdom, and above his head floated the seven holy guests, the ushpizin who visit every sukkah.
Yom Kippur has the power to purify because on this day the bond between the essence of the soul and G-d’s essence is revealed.
It is expected of every Jew, man or woman, young or old, that he (or she) bring in Shabbosdikeit (the spirit of Shаbbos) into all his toil, including also the mundane activities;
The liturgy for the High Holiday Selichos is not found in most siddurim; rather, it is found in a special Selichos sefer, with a different selection for each day.
A Jew must escape from his egocentric existence and embrace a new life founded on the conclusions of true soul-searching and repentance.
When the farmer sees the king in his field, does he keep on plowing? Does he behave as if this were just another day in the fields? Of course not.
In Chassidic tradition, it is said that during this month, “the King (G-d) is in the field,” smiling and accessible to all. On the other hand, once the holidays are upon us, G-d is, so to speak, in His palace. The experience during the holidays is that much more powerful and majestic, but now is the time when anyone can approach G-d with requests and be received.
As we know, tznius is a sensitive topic, and it has to be approached in a very sensitive manner. We see from this story how the Rebbe Maharash approached this topic.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and Rebbetzin Chana endured those heartbreaking days with exceptional strength and fortitude.
Already from a young age, his extraordinary talents were discovered.
The Rebbe spoke of the need to shine a beacon of light into these days of darkness through participation in a siyum during each one of the nine days.
The Rebbe speaks quickly and with a singsong. The chassidim stand around the table with closed eyes, trying to concentrate and hear every word. He speaks of the secrets of the Torah.
The atmosphere is completely different than the one out in the street. Everyone converses in Yiddish. They all understand Yiddish.
Their first Rebbe, Reb Schneur Zalman of Liadi, was a student of the Baal Shem Tov. He was able to blend the teachings of Chassidus from the Baal Shem Tov with the teachings of the “misnagdim” and the Vilna Gaon.
Today, many who criticized the Rebbe emulate the Rebbe and do the work of kiruv.
Summer is the ideal time to catch up on spiritual matters that were overlooked throughout the year.
Everything that happens in camp is fun, including the learning. Learning in camp is full of fun and excitement, part of a large program.
The guiding factor is that Hashem did not make anything without a reason. If a certain reality exists, then it must be another opportunity to add in avodas Hashem – the service of G-d.
The Three Days of Preparation and the Festival of the Giving of our Torah indeed come once a year, but there is a small-scale version of this preparation and of Matan Torah every day.
The Jews reckoned that the giving of the Torah, the fiftieth level, was so sublime and beyond their reach that the best preparation would be to sleep and thus enable the soul to be unfettered by the physical body.
The Previous Rebbe explained that “Pesach Sheni teaches us that Nito Kein Farfallen – Nothing is ever lost: it’s never too late!
When everyone studies the same thing on the same day, their learning is united across continents.
The Mishneh Torah was not written only for great Torah scholars. The Rambam writes that he composed it in a clear, unambiguous style for all Jews – k’katan k’gadol – for the small as for the great.
Iyar represents the return to the mundane – going back to work after Yom Tov. At this point, it becomes difficult to infuse our Torah learning and mitzvah doing with warmth in a cold and mundane world.
The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the chassidic movement, was the first one to celebrate this meal, with an open door, allowing anyone who wished to partake.
In every generation, a person is obligated to regard himself as if he personally left Egypt.
The Rebbe cared for each and every person of the generation, regardless of their background or upbringing. The Rebbe didn’t label any Jew. To the Rebbe, a Jew is a Jew; there is nothing more and nothing less.
G-d took us out of Egypt in Nissan. After 210 years of suffering in exile, G-d took His nation out of Egypt.
In the case of Purim, Jewish womanhood showed that where Divine Providence places her in a position of prominence and influence, she uses it wholly for the benefit of her people.
What Haman did not know was that Moshe Rabbeinu was also born in the month of Adar, and that day, the Talmud relates, helped avert the evil decree.
One of the chief ways to frustrate the Hamans of our time, bring about their downfall and bring light and joy to our people is to gather Jewish children and teach them Torah and Yiddishkeit!
Everyone has a good word to say about Reb Shimon, good words that come from the truthfulness of their heart.
Even when she relayed advice to those seeking his guidance through her, she would repeat his wording with precision, making sure that it was understood exactly as the Rebbe intended.
Cognizant of her wisdom and strength, her father involved her in much of his work
There were those who opposed the Rebbe’s point of view. How can we invite ‘them’ to our table, with their Nehru jackets and long hair? They’re going to ruin our children.
The Alter Rebbe is probably best known for his systematic exposition of Chassidic Jewish philosophy as set forth in the Tanya.
The Alter Rebbe founded the Chabad movement stressing the requirement of Da es Elokei Avichoh, Know the G-d of your Father, with your intellectual faculties and abilities.
On the first anniversary of the victorious verdict, the Rebbe said in a sichah, a public talk, that to know the appropriate way to celebrate this auspicious day we must consult the seforim themselves.
It is these Chanukah candles that we light all over the world that will usher in the light of Moshiach and the great Hakhel of all “Jewish candles” – all Jewish men, women and children throughout the world in the great geulah coming speedily in our very own days.
It is, therefore, safe to say that the one who opened the “First Chabad House” is Avraham Avinu, as Chabad Houses today are modeled after Avraham Avinu’s work and his activities.
In 1994 there were 737 shluchim. Today, there are 5,700 shluchim all over the world.
In the face of the Rebbe’s fortitude and steadfast refusal to go to the hospital, the doctors attending him were unsure what to do.
Also while in exile Jews must not ignore their task, nor underestimate their capacities, however limited their material powers may be, inasmuch as a Jew’s material resources, as already noted, are bound up with the spiritual, and in the spiritual realm there are no limitations, also during the time of exile.
As a suggestion to our readers, let us visualize that the Rebbe is sitting at a farbrengen in 770 on Parshas Vayakhel 5752. The Rebbe knew what we did not – that this would be the last Shabbos farbrengen for a while – until we meet again.
It was the only event that required the attendance of every Jew, reminiscent of the historic moment when our nation stood at Mount Sinai, when every member of our nation was present when G-d lovingly gave us the Torah.
Although at all times we are commanded to bring up our children in the way of the Torah and mitzvos, the mitzvah of Hakhel, coinciding with this season, impresses upon us our duties towards the children with special force and timeliness.
As we see from experience that a person can lift and carry a much larger load when another person helps him lift it.
Nowadays, there is no Jewish king, and there is no Beis HaMikdash. But the essence of this mitzvah, gathering together with fellow Jews for Torah study and inspiration, is something each and every one of us can do.
Today, Chai Elul, one can fill one’s buckets generously.
There is always a chochom deep inside our child, our student or our friend, but sometimes we have to extract it from its concealment into reality.
The art and position of chinuch in our generation, explained the Rebbe, is greater even than the position of rabbonus, because we are talking about educating the new generation.
The school’s leadership should concern themselves even about the time when the child is not within the four walls, so to speak, of the school environment. They should ensure that the child be occupied with the right things.
Everyone saw how the Rebbe would make sure to visit his mother at her home every single day. Even when he had the burden of Klal Yisrael resting upon him, the Rebbe found time to go by foot from his office to his mother’s house.
He needed to get a minyan of ten Jews. By now it was after midnight. The streets were empty, deserted; not a living creature could be seen. Where would it be possible to get another eight – aside from the rabbi and groom – to complete a minyan at this hour?
Reb Yoel’s uniqueness was that not only did he have an exceptional memory, remembering everything that the Rebbe said, but he also understood what the Rebbe said.
The Rebbe also explains that every Shabbos is a me’ein of L’osid Lavo – a reflection of the time of Moshiach, when it will be Yom shekulo Shabbos, a continuous and perpetual Shabbos.
Regarding the coming summer, special emphasis must be placed on the idea of modesty.
Bring light and holiness into your vacation time, by remembering always that it is the time of preparation in order to improve the quality and quantity of your studies during study-time to follow.
Aside from other practical considerations, the best way of implementing your intention and to achieve even incomparably greater results than can be imagined, is to apply your contribution in the area of Torah-Chinuch for children.
From the many stories told by various people in private and in public, it is clear that learning Rambam helped them in everything: children, health and livelihood.
Because one of the principal goals of learning Rambam is to unite all Jews, women and children should also participate. – The Lubavitcher Rebbe
When a person learns Mishneh Torah, he fulfills the mitzvah of studying and knowing all the Torah’s laws. – The Lubavitcher Rebbe
The issue at hand isn’t that the Jews didn’t serve G-d. They did serve G-d, but the joy was lacking.
August 14, 2026 
