Emotions are not formed by situations.

They're formed by how we interpret situations.

If we want to be happy people, we will want to learn the skill of interpreting even our most painful situations in a positive way.

We see this way of thinking in the Rebbe's teachings about the Three Weeks - from the 17th of Tammuz being called "Tov Tammuz" to the idea that the Third Beis HaMikdash is the culmination of a process, not merely a replacement for what was lost.

Being a victim of circumstance is NEVER an effective way to live. The opposite - taking ownership - is ALWAYS an infinitely better way.

This simple distinction can be an absolute game-changer in many areas of our lives.

In honor of the Frierdieker Rebbe's Chassidim and their absolute refusal to be "victims" of the communist regime, let's take a look at how this distinction can be applied to the challenges we face in chinuch today.

This quick shiur summarizes the Rebbe's famous maamar one "ois" at a time, before focusing on making very clear the practical takeaways from the very tricky ending of the maamar.

Recorded 7 Adar, 5778.

Please forgive the audio quality. We think the content quality will make up for it!

Summary sheet given out at the time of the shiur:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DwGVDzjLtriDiDd3qHSVZ5jahZDYVQYJ/view?usp=sharing

Any time someone does a job, there are various levels of performance at which they might do it. They could do a lousy job, a decent job, a very good job, a great job, or ... the absolute most amazing job that anyone could have imagined!

Well, our lives are a job given to us by Hashem, and it's our job to choose what level of job performance we'll commit to.

Recently, I've been realizing that making a deep commitment to settling for nothing less than the ULTIMATE version of our shlichus in this world can give us a lot of clarity in every aspect of our lives.