This week on Street Farbrengen, Zacharya pushes back on something Reuven brought to the farbrengen that many may feel but rarely say out loud: Is the Rebbe the mission? We go straight for the jugular: What happens when the Rebbe — or “being Lubavitch” — quietly becomes the goal instead of the path? When wearing the right slogan, screaming the right lines, doing Chitas and Rambam, or learning the maamar becomes the destination… but nothing actually shifts inside — not my emotions...

As we approach our 100th episode, Zacharia and Reuven turn the mic inward — to the Chabad community itself. We began nearly a year ago, with a simple question: Has Chabad’s leadership been living with unspoken post-traumatic stress since Gimmel Tammuz? Now, a powerful anonymous letter has surfaced - in response to the recent suicide of a young man — one that accuses Chabad of a generation gap so deep that it’s left some young people unseen, unheard, and in pain. In this wee...

Opening the Windows and Doors This Week’s Street Farbrengen When Chassidus stays in the head, it turns into philosophy. The mind is dazzled, but the heart and soul remain hungry. Prayer, seen through the lens of dirah betachtonim—making a dwelling place for G-d—means inviting Him into the tachtonim: the world of distraction, anxiety, and daily pressure. The dirah, the dwelling, is built when we let G-d speak into that very place. Instead of escaping emotion, we bring it inside—like Noach brin...

“Hey friends, welcome back to Street Farbrengen. We’re in that first quiet week after the many holidays of the Tishrei month, stepping into Mar-Cheshvan, where the calendar goes from fireworks to ordinary but Dynamic . And a real question hits: did anything actually change? Is my sigh of relief for the return to the same old rhythm an indication of an answer of "No"! ? In this episode we unpack teshuvah in the context of —fantasy vs. dream, narrative vs. goal, and how havi...

At Starbucks this week, Reuven’s daily journaling yanked him back 50 years—to a 3 AM café in Vancouver, same pen, same seeker. From Vancouver nights to the Rebbe’s court: am I the “same guy,” or did I just change what I’m looking at? What if that’s exactly what Selichos is—teshuvah not as self-replacement, but re-aiming the lens. Hear the convo on Street Farbrengen.

Americana glorifies the lone cowboy, the self-made man, the myth of total independence. But what happens when the Rebbe redefines independence — not as isolation, but as a deeper kind of freedom within Jewish life? In this farbrengen, we wrestle with the tension between American individualism and the hidden power of Chai Elul. Can you be truly independent… while still connected to something outside and higher?

In this week’s Street Farbrengen, Reuven shares a gripping “Hasidic geneiva” Yechidus story that an elder chossid confided to him—how, at his brother’s bar mitzvah, he slipped the Rebbe a three-page letter about a toxic mashpia, his confusion, and the urge to leave yeshiva. The Rebbe’s response was razor-clear: in Lubavitch there are always two mashpiim—find the one you connect with; then “forget the past—have Kabbalas Ol—and your job is to learn.” From there, the conversation dives into Elul...

There”s an old joke about the man shipwrecked on a deserted island who builds the shul he goes to and the shul he'd never step into"? But what happens when both of those shuls live inside the same room, or in the same heart and mind?? In this episode, we dive into the “two shuls within one shul” phenomenon—where some come to daven and others come to schmooze, and the tension it creates in Chabad communities worldwide. Why does this culture of tolerance exist? Is it ...

The awesome and wonderful month of Elul begs participation. It asks for something new from you. A " cheshbon hanefesh” What is it, this "tally of self? Street Farbrengen looks at the control and chaos of making good for a full year by peering into the self from the past year

Are We Living Our Spirituality Dynamically? In this week’s episode of Streetfarbrengen we dive into a thought-provoking question sparked by a morning shul conversation: Do we live our spirituality symbolically, practically, or dynamically? Using the famous Talmudic scenes of Rabbi Akiva at the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, we explore how two different moments — seeing the Temple’s ruins from afar and witnessing a fox emerge from the Holy of Holies — reveal distinct ways of experiencing r...

What does it take to go against the grain? How do you defy the gravity of culture of 'this is the way things are' and lift off into your intended orbit? “Zacharia, I am almost twice your age ", remarks Reuven in this week's episode of Street Farbrengen! "People insist I should slow down and "act my age". Chill out they say! But, I am in a renewal and on a number of new journeys. Today and tomorrow are not yesterday. And, I am just getting going!" What does it take to go against the str...

The 12th of Tammuz highlights courage and sacrifice in the fight for your values and truth - no matter the size and authority of your opponent! In this episode of Street Farbrengen let's tackle how to bridge with the Yud Beis story and ask "Is the behavior of the Rebbe leave me inspired or aspiring!?

Chassidic circles stress the story of the spies' reluctance to enter Israel as the choice for spiritual isolation and comfort over the task of grappling with the physical realities of turning a land ( of Israel) into a heavenly oasis. How is it possible not to be eaten alive by the time consuming and emotional rollercoaster of making a living, raising a family, fighting wars, or the pulling the weeds between the vegetable rows? Street Farbrengen ...

We often call success winning, like when you cross the goal line. We look to the end of the line, to know the end game, and to finding our cherished goal at the “end of the rainbow.” There is the “ end of days.” When Zechariah and Reuven last met they pledged to contemplate for 30 days the scene of Rabbi Akiva by the river seeing a constant drip of water on a rock by the side of the river making an impression on the stone. What is our rock to making an everlasting imprint? W...

A Street Farbengen is a focus on the road; on the path to take after all the talk and exchange between friends. Reuven and Zacharia continue the focus on Rabbi Akiva by the river. A constant drip on a rock burrows an indent. So too, thinks Rabbi Akiva, can the Torah drill a hole in my heart. Sometimes the rock is the dream unheeded and met. Sometimes the water is the dream that shall hit the rock. This episode of Street Farbrengen ends with a surprise; a pact between Reuven and Za...

Rabbi Akiva saw drops of water falling on a stone making a deep hole. What power there is in a drop of water,” thought Rabbi Akiva. “Could my stony heart ever be softened up that way?” Lag B'omer is the Yom Halula of the Holy Rashbi. His teacher Rabbi Akiva gives us the picture of how to approach the 'stones and boulders' along the path's we walk. What are your boulders blocking the road? What is the water that can make a dent in them? Are you willing to embrace the lo...

The letters of the month Iyar are an acronym for “I am G-d your healer.” What is your attitude towards health? Do you believe that good health is a gift from heaven, our days are numbered anyway and health is not your issue; or, is health a gift package from heaven which must be opened, user - manual read, then put in the batteries and press “On”? No surprise, Reuven votes for the latter, he is the founder of Natural Food Certifiers after all. But in the end, are sprouts, veggies ...

What did the Rebbe mean when he said on Nissan 28th “I have done what I can do ... and now I give it over to you?” Was he intimating retirement, or even 3 Tammuz? Reuven suggests that we had it all wrong. The 28th of Nissan is not a lesser relationship between Chassid and Rebbe, but a stronger one more than ever. “ Most of us sat at farbrengens at the feet of the Rebbe like “ the scullery maid at the splitting of the Sea!” It comes down to the pilates spirit of being Chassid...

“If you don’t apply yourself in Avodah ( to grow spiritually) then you are an atheist!” This needs explanation. This segment of Street Farbrengen struggles with the period of Sefiras Ha'omer. Intertwined with the counting of the Omer is the kaleidoscope of emotional traits that make up who we are. How do we take Sefira out of the dark basement and shine a light we can see? It starts with Avodah - (working for inner transformation) otherwise you are like a...

Be it in business, sports, and even in health, there is an emphasis on “The Target”, where is the bullseye, what’s your target? Reuven asks what is the target of a Chassid? We read that a Tzaddik is not the goal, and halavay, it should be a Benoni for an hour! So then do we conclude we have no target?! What’s the target you have in mind for yourself?