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Publisher's Foreword

The Mitzvah

Ahavas Yisrael And Ahavas Hashem

Achdus Yisrael: Jewish Unity

A Way of Life

Without Limits

To All Israel

Hillel And Rabbi Akiva

Outreach

Our Generation: The Tinok Shenishbah

A Preparation For Torah And Prayer

Seven Stories

Ahavas Yisrael And Mashiach

Appendix

To Love A Fellow Jew
The Mitzvah of Ahavas Yisrael in Chassidic Thought

Publisher's Foreword

by Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov

Published and copyright © by Sichos In English
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 The Mitzvah  

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At the farbrengen on the 10th of Shevat 5711 (1951), when the Rebbe officially accepted the mantle of leadership of the Lubavitch movement, he opened with the following words:

Thus the Rebbe began his leadership with a declaration of ahavas Yisrael, and continued throughout his leadership to demand and nurture ahavas Yisrael throughout the Jewish world. By setting up over two thousand Chabad centers worldwide to bring Yiddishkeit to the wider Jewish community, he took ahavas Yisrael from an abstract concept and made it a reality.

In this spirit, it is significant that in the last sichah heard from the Rebbe's mouth before 27 Adar I, 5752 (1992)[1], he urged us to reach out to all our fellow chassidim and to all our fellow Jews with unconditional love and with a sense of achdus.

From the very beginning and throughout his leadership, the Rebbe stressed ahavas Yisrael. This then is our task, until the clouds of galus finally lift, may it take place immediately. We have the Rebbe's assurance that making this effort will disperse them.

Chai Elul, 5759

Author's Preface

Numerous articles and books have been written about the subject of ahavas Yisrael. Significantly, on a number of occasions, the Rebbe distributed to the chassidim copies of the maamar Heichaltzu, a Chassidic discourse by Rabbi Shalom Dovber Schneersohn of Lubavitch. This maamar has been translated into English by Sichos In English,[2] and is an in-depth discussion of the spiritual origins of divisiveness and dissension.

Rabbi J. I. Schochet, in his three-volume book The Mystical Dimension: Volume III, Chassidic Dimensions, has a section on the "Dynamics of Ahavat Yisrael" in which he deals with the halachic and philosophical aspects of the subject.

In this volume, we present the reader with an adapted version of Kuntres Ahavas Yisrael, a collection of sayings and teachings about ahavas Yisrael first published in booklet form by Kehot Publications on the 15th of Elul 5736. Incorporated in this volume are related aphorisms, and the section on ahavas Yisrael printed in the encyclopedia of Chassidus, Sefer HaErchim Chabad. Particular attention has been paid in this volume to the subject of outreach and the proper manner in which ahavas Yisrael should be practiced towards non-observant Jews. The intention is clearly to clarify the approach of Chabad in this matter.

There is obvious overlap in content between this and previous works, but it is the hope of the publisher that the material presented in this volume in its concise form, together with copious footnotes, will be of benefit both to the scholar and the layman.

It is also our fervent hope that the study of the subject matter will enhance in a practical way the observance of this mitzvah which in turn will hasten the coming of Mashiach.

Acknowledgments

A warm word of gratitude to Rabbi Yonah Avtzon and Yosef Yitzchok Turner of Sichos In English for their loving attention to every detail, to Ms. R. C. Schilder for editing, and to my wife and children for their constant support and encouragement in our joint shlichus.

Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov
Wimbledon UK
18th Elul 5759

   

Notes:

  1. (Back to text) On Shabbos Parshas Vayakhel, 5752 (1992). An English adaptation of this sichah entitled "Togetherness: Between Individuals and Within Individuals" appears in Sound the Great Shofar (Kehot, NY, 1992), p. 157ff.

  2. (Back to text) Second printing, SIE, the 2nd of Nissan 5756.


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