Why is happiness so difficult to achieve?  We certainly have all heard the advice: focus on the good and on the blessings you have and you will become happy.  That definitely has a profound lesson in it: we do need to focus on our blessings, to acknowledge the good, feel gratitude and be happy. But […]

We can never attempt to find a reason for a tragedy. Reasons are known only to the Creator of the world. But we can sometimes look at a situation as a reflection of things going on in the world or in society and take action to correct certain things in order to avert future tragedies. What

Thanking Hashem for what you have…and what you don’t have. Jews are always thanking Hashem. We wake up every morning and the first words we utter are modeh ani, thanking Hashem for restoring our souls to us after our sleep. So we do have this awareness that we need to thank G-d constantly for all

So many of our youth are confused (actually not only youth….many mature adults as well). WE are in a very deep galus, a very dark spiritual situation where people are looking for happiness from external sources. People are not happy deep inside. People have lost that enthusiasm and simcha that chassidim have always had. Why

Today is Yud Shevat,marking 70 years of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s leadership after the passing of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak. The Rebbe was a leader, a nassi, for the entire Jewish nation, and in fact for the entire world. And he still continues to lead us, albeit on a more spiritual level. What

IMPORTANT MESSAGE: The Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote a beautiful letter , part of which is below, explaining how even when a Jew sins, he still retains his G-dliness. “The whole Creation and all the worlds have no reality of their own, for there is only one Reality—G-d, inasmuch as a spark of G-dliness animates and keeps

Although every day should be a day of thanksgiving to God, nevertheless, since today is considered a thanksgiving holiday, where we sit down and take time to actually thank God for His blessings , it is a good holiday to observe.  Thankfulness, gratefulness, is a very important part of life. If we are unable to

The 14th of Iyar is Pesach Sheni, “the Second Pesach,” the second chance for those Jews who were unable to bring the Pesach Offering on the original date. We learn from Pesach Sheni that nothing is ever lost – we can always rectify the situation. No matter what condition a person is in, he can

As we learn this weeks Torah portion (and actually the previous portion and the next one as well), we see how much the Jewish people suffered in Egypt and how Moshe, the Redeemer, announced the redemption but then he had to leave Egypt only to return many years later…..but the Jews never despaired of being

We are now entering the Hebrew month of Mar Cheshvan. Every month has a particular sense associated with it. The sense of the month of Cheshvan is the sense of smell.  We are taught in Torah that Moshiach will judge with his sense of smell. Chassidus explains the sense of smell is sensitivity to the