In honor of Beis Nissan, I wanted to highlight a Hayom Yom that’s close to my heart. It’s a clear, concise statement of two areas in which the teachings of Chassidus - even the deep and abstract parts - are intended to drive our growth.

In today’s world, mental health is a major topic, and for good reason. We must remember that the Torah assures us that we can learn to be, as the Baal Shem Tov’s followers were once called, די פרייליכע - the happy people!

The Torah tells us that the Land of Israel is a land that always has the “eyes” of Hashem upon it. What does this mean? The classic commentaries seem to indicate that it means Hashem is always judging the land, whereas the Rebbe during the threat of the Gulf War cited this verse as proof that Eretz Yisroel is the safest place one could be. In this episode I suggest a possible reconciliation of these seemingly opposite explanations, based on the idea of Bitachon in Hashem.

In addition to G-d’s promise to give the Land of Israel to the Jewish people, the Torah—in this case, not the Bible, but the Halacha—also gives us a separate, tactical reason why we are forbidden by G-d to give up territory, as the Rebbe pointed out. (Disclaimer: I am not issuing any halachic instructions, only sharing the general information on the topic on a basic level.)

Hashem promised the Jewish people the land, but wasn’t that a long time ago? Maybe we already had our chance? What is the Torah response to this question?

Establishing our Divinely guaranteed relationship with the Land of Israel is reason for the world’s most famous book (Chumash Bereishis) to exist!

Here’s an invitation to do a simple, 30-second exercise to get in touch with what you already know about Eretz Yisroel.

In this time of war between our brothers in Eretz Yisroel and the barbaric terrorists of Hamas, spiritual success takes on a little different form. Here’s a quick announcement about what it means for the upcoming episodes of this podcast.

This talk is a continuation of my previous one for the men's division of Living Chassidus, given on Chol HaMoed Sukkos. In this one, I share insights into how to become sensitive to the spirituality of the Sukkah as described in Chabad Chassidus, and thereby deepen our experience of this special time. Although this class focuses on Sukkos, it includes important concepts of Jewish spirituality that remain relevant throughout the year.

In this talk for the men's division of Living Chassidus, I share my personal journey of learning to actually feel that Hashem is truly here, there, and everywhere--and how you can do it, too. My message is that an emotional relationship with Hashem is available to all of us if we just learn how to build it. Then, once you've learned to feel that on a regular day, you can come to a much deeper appreciation of what's really happening in Elul and Tishrei, or really, of any aspect of Yiddishkeit.