Alter Rebbe
We have to live with the times. Every moment is energized by a moment of eternal truth.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi was born on the 18th of Elul 5505 (1745) in Lithuania. The Alter Rebbe was a disciple of the Maggid of Mezrich and founded Chabad Chassidism, articulating the most sublime in the most concrete. The Alter Rebbe authored the seminal Chassidic text, Tanya, as well as writing a Shulchan Aruch, Code of Jewish Law, and compiling the Nusach Ari Siddur. The Alter Rebbe elevated his soul on 24 Tevet 5573 (1812).
Heartwarming Chassidic Stories and Melodies
Join Rabbi Jacobson in this intimate setting and experience the warmth and soul expressed — like nowhere else — in Chassidic stories and songs.
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If You Want to Change Your Life, Meet This Man
Over 200 years ago lived a man who revolutionized spirituality and psychology. Quite strangely, most people have not heard of him.
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Someone Is Thinking About You
A tribute to Yossi Alexander, given by Rabbi Simon Jacobson at Aliya in Crown Heights, Brooklyn on November 24, 2015.
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Are You Emotionally Intelligent?
Discover the secrets to resolving our emotional dissonance, finding inner peace and gaining true emotional intelligence.
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Enigmatic Esther: Pre-Purim Workshop
Discover how Esther allows us to access the mystical side of ourselves. Unleash your innermost resources and transform your life this Purim.
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The Kabbalah of Curses
To understand the deeper meaning of these blessings dressed up in the “garments” of “curses” requires a penetrating look into the forces that lay beneath the surface of existence in general.
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Yud Tes Kislev: The Psycho-Spiritual Revolution of Our Times
A bit more than two centuries years ago Rabbi Schneur Zalman presented us with an invaluable model of life that can be appreciated now more than ever. It would be wise to explore his teachings, which provide us with a most comprehensive blueprint for modern life, uniting faith and reason, spirit and matter in our struggle with physical life.
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Messenger or Matchmaker
Ultimate commitment is when an independent thinker chooses to dedicate himself to a cause greater than himself, to be a messenger and extension of it.
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Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?
The great gift of Torah is that it provides us with a Divine blueprint on how to live our lives. Your unique mission statement is embedded within you.
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19 Kislev: How the Alter Rebbe Changed the World
Over two centuries ago Rabbi Schneur Zalman presented us with an invaluable model of life that can be appreciated now more than ever. Freud and his colleagues may be the fathers of psychology today. But the Alter Rebbe is the true father of the psychology of tomorrow.
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The Alter Rebbe
The Alter Rebbe, also known as Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, is the founder of Chabad Chassidus and is considered to be one of the great Jewish mystics.
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Vayeishev: Psychology Today
The Alter Rebbe’s take on popular psychological opinion- tackling Freud and Darwin from a Torah perspective.
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Holy Hand, Warm Heart
If a single motion from a righteous hand can change a life, how much more so his memory can change the world.
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Whose Moshiach?
We continue to wait for Moshiach, but do we even know what we are waiting for?
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The Third Wagon
A story of Rabbi Shneur Zalman as he flees from Liadi in the third wagon of an escort procession from the Czar.
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The Oven Stokers of Mezerich
A story of the ‘Oven Stoker’s of Mezeritch’ and how each of them described their degree of self-sacrifice attained in their service of the Almighty.
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The Prisoner
An old chassidic story that exemplifies the awe chassidim have for their Rebbe.
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The Bottom Line
Discover how the unity of G-d can infiltrate even the most mundane of activities.
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The Prodigy Under the Bed
An honest appraisal of your own character will show you how much there is for you to emulate and learn from those who are supposedly ‘inferior’ to yourself.
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Electric Light
The elementary principle of Chassidism: to draw down and connect the ultimate heights with the lowest depths.
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The Disposable Self
The closer one comes to G-d, the more one realizes one’s own insignificance in the face of the divine infinity.
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The Noseless Mirror
Rabbi Shneur Zalman taught that the way to deal with the corporeal world is not to repress or crush it but to gently extract the holiness from it.
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A Tale of Two Cities
Rabbi Shneur Zalman, an accomplished scholar and mentor to many disciples, teaches us the significance of Prayer.
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The Oven Stokers of Mezerich
An overheard conversation of the Oven Stokers of Mezerich. Chassidic story about self-sacrifice and Divine service.
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The Natural Jew
The example of Abraham’s circumcision demonstrates, a mitzvah extends far beyond its momentary act of fulfilling the divine will.
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Newfound Manuscript From the Mitteler Rebbe Gives Hope
This manuscript was penned by the second Chabad Rebbe’s (Rabbi Dovber Schneerson, the Mitteler Rebbe), and it includes the conclusion of a discourse delivered by his father, Rabbi Schneur Zalman on Shabbat Parshat Va’eirah 5568.
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Remember What Amalek Did to You: Symbols of Wine and Vinegar
A Chassidic discourse on “Remember what Amalek did to you on the road when you were going out of Egypt.” The symbolism of wine and vinegar.
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Spiritual Coldness vs. Spiritual Heat
Nothing positive and holy can ever spring forth from spiritual coldness. When a person is faced with icy indifference he must reassess his spiritual life.
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G-d Runs the World
The youngest of the Maggid’s disciples, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, then spoke. “If I were in G-d’s place,” said he, “I would run the world exactly as He does.”
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Vaeira: Why is Paris Burning?
Inside “secrets” provide perspective to current events in France — and the world — illuminating for us: why is Paris burning? Why is France, of all places, at the forefront of today’s upheavals?
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Why The Alter Rebbe Went to Mezeritch
The Alter Rebbe went to Mezeritch to learn how to pray.
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The Art of Suspension: The Divine Miracle of the Alter Rebbe
The Alter Rebbe experienced a clearly divine miracle, the ultimate triumph of victory.
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Electric Light: The 19th of Kislev
The 19th of Kislev is celebrated by the Chabad community as the “Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism.”
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The Prisoner
This is the story of the Shabbat that the Alter Rebbe spent on the side of the road as a prisoner of the Russian government in 1798. This is an excellent story to read at a Shabbat or holiday gathering.
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Erev Sukkot: Energize Your Sukkot
Enhance your stay in your sukkah with ideas and stories from The Meaningful Life Center.
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How the Alter Rebbe Changed the World
Over two centuries ago Rabbi Schneur Zalman presented us with an invaluable model of life that can be appreciated now more than ever. Freud and his colleagues may be the fathers of psychology today. But the Alter Rebbe is the true father of the psychology of tomorrow.
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Vayikra: The Tzaddik
Based on the insight of the Alter Rebbe and the Rebbe Rashab, the concept of a true tzaddik is explored in the context of the nature of this world.
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Tzav: Believers
Using personal anecdotes as well as Chassidic stories, Rabbi Jacobson examines the different types of believers in light of his previous article on atheists.
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Vayeishev: Kislev 19 in Babylon
History is a continuum. Peace in our lifetime will only be possible if we make peace with the rifts of our past, acclimating the world to our own souls.
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