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The power of speech, both positive and negative is large part of our legacy as Jews. Guarding our speech is one of our foremost weapons in bringing blessing upon us or, G-d forbid, the opposite. We cannot underestimate the power of our words, as the following stories demonstrate.

What is unique about the covenant in Judaism is, first, that one of the parties is G-d Himself. This would have been unintelligible to Israel’s neighbors, and remains extraordinary even today.

If you take a moment to contemplate nature, you will find that almost everything in this world involves a cause-and-effect relationship. The world seems to abide by certain rules, with very few exceptions.

The family told him that they would not be burying Eran but cremating him, instead. The Chassid was of course horrified by this information and started trying to convince them to have him buried. He called repeatedly until the family threatened to call the police if he bothered them again.

According to Maimonides, the death of the High Priest has nothing to do with guilt or atonement, but simply with the fact that it causes a collective grief so great that it causes people to forget their own misfortunes in the face of a larger national loss.

The lesson is that Hashem’s judgment doesn’t reduce everything to qualities – good or evil – but pays close attention to quantities of good and evil.

Everything in this world is merely potential, waiting to be used. Evil, therefore, is the misuse of potential, when we choose to use an object for something other than its true purpose.

Without a moment of hesitation, he jumped into the water, reached out to the listless hand, lifted up the body and brought the little girl to the shore.

A leader who fails to work for change is not a leader. But a leader who attempts too much change in too short a time will fail.

We are each endowed with our own unique potential, and everything in our life – down to the smallest detail – is here to help us fulfill our unique role.

Although I sincerely asked for mechila on every subsequent visit, she refused to accept my money or my apology. Instead she unequivocally announced, I don’t want to talk to you! and proceeded to ignore me.

These are important fights, good fights, whose outcome will affect more than Jews.

When you look at a beautiful sunset on the beach, where exactly is the location of beauty? Is it the sunset? The reflection on the water? The contrast of the beach against the sunset? It’s none of them and all of them.

How many times does Hashem save us without our even knowing? Most of the time our bodies function, our appliances work, things go smoothly, and we aren’t even aware.

It is less reason than emotion that lies behind our choices, and it takes emotional intelligence to make good choices.

On the one hand, we all believe that we are unique and special. On the other hand, we sometimes struggle to experience our individuality, feeling almost lost in the crowd.

Needless to say, in true Murphy’s Law fashion, I somehow managed to tip over the half-prepared bottle, thereby spilling powdered baby formula and liquid semi-prepared formula all over the dining room table, and wasting most of the powder in the sectioned-off Materna compartment.

Leadership is a role. It is not an identity. It is not who we are. Therefore, a leader should never take an attack on their leadership personally.

When you see something, you experience it all at once; there’s no process, no surprises. When hearing, when taking a journey, there can be a long-winding path, twisting and turning in all directions, leading you on a seemingly endless quest.

The next morning when I woke up at dawn, the wind sounded fierce outside. I could hear frightening noises of destruction, but it was still too dark to see outside, and anyway as soon as I turned my phone on, there were all kinds of warnings to stay away from windows.

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.

People with the growth mindset react differently. They don't just seek challenge; they thrive on it. The bigger the challenge, the more they stretch.

The spiritual concept of seeing is the idea of observing something as it is, i.e., in a completely static state, lacking any movement. When you see a picture, you grasp the entire image instantaneously.

My mother insisted that I give this woman a hug. I refused. My mother continued to coax me to hug her and I resisted. Little by little my mother got me to go to her. I don’t exactly know how long it took but I eventually gave her a hug.

The noise was deafening! I had to find my way to the front of the shul to hear the reading of the Torah, and even then, it was still hard to hear every word. The Mussaf service was no better.

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.

Adaptive leadership is called for when the world is changing, circumstances are no longer what they were, and what once worked works no more.

When used properly, clothing mitigates the shame of our physical bodies and helps us express our higher, dignified selves in the world. When misused, clothing can hide our spiritual core, portraying ourselves as completely physical beings.

Let’s just say that I soon began covering the shortfall myself, and my group leader promptly stopped sending me the spreadsheets. And I countered by unearthing them anyway and continuing to fill the quota, most often without signing in.

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.