Rabbi Levi Avtzon grew up in Crown Heights and lives today in Johannesburg, South Africa where he is a rabbi at the Linksfield Synagogue.

In this episode we continue the conversation in recent episodes about the tension between the soft and demanding voices in our community.

We discuss the changing narratives in the Lubavitch community and how past demand for conformity has now given way to a therapeutic mindset, and we debate whether or not this change is in fact a true change at all.

Mrs. Tzivia Jacobson grew up in in the 1930s in a Lubavitch family in Kutaisi, Georgia under Soviet rule. Nobody in her family had ever seen a picture of the Rebbe at that point, let alone met him, but every night her mother would put her to bed with a blessing that one day they would see the Rebbe. Her family would eventually escape the USSR and make their way to Brooklyn where Mrs. Jacobson would be one of a handful to see the beginnings of the Lubavitch story in Crown Heights and up to this very day.

Along the way, Mrs. Jacobson and her husband, Mr. Gershon Jacobson a"h, would found the yiddish newspaper, The Algemeiner Journal, and pioneer a new way of communicating the Rebbe's ideas with the broader world.

In this episode, we discuss her growing up in the Soviet Union, what changed for her family and community when they moved to the United States but also what stayed - and always stays - the same.

Reb Yossel Mochkin grew up in Crown Heights in the 1960s and 1970s, living in the cloistered world of his immigrant parents and their friends but surrounded by a fast changing and exciting world around him.

Never finding it easy to fit in to the milieu around him, Yossel had to ask on his own questions about the direction his life was to take.

These questions were never fully resolved, but a yechidus with the Rebbe gave Yossel a blueprint his is still continuing to implement.

In this conversation we discuss the never ending journey of finding one's place, the private wrestling with one's faith and the ability to grow through it all.

Rabbi Berry Farkash is a Shliach in Issaquah, Washington and director of Chabad of the Central Cascades.

Several years ago, a local crisis led Berry into the world of psychotherapy where he became a certified clinical psychotherapist and practices Hypnotherapy and other Transpersonal modalities. Today all of his clients are fellow Lubavitchers, many of them shluchim.

In this conversation, we discuss his own journey toward finding the Rebbe’s softer voice and the need for forgiveness and compassion.

We also discuss the importance of companionship - especially highlighted by the Rebbe’s “bakosho nafshis” to find a mashpia, or in other words, to talk about real and weighty issues with someone else.

Mrs. Toby Hecht is the director of Shabtai, a global Jewish leadership society at Yale University in New Haven.

Toby grew up on shlichus in Seattle and was finishing up her senior year in Beth Rivka High School in Crown Heights when she and her friends were swept up in the collective grief of Gimmel Tammuz.

In this conversation, Toby reflects on the feelings of that time, the emergent awareness of needing to move forward and the responsibility we have today to take decisive ownership of the future.

Rabbi Dr. Shmary Brownstein is a shliach in Davis, California where he also wrote his doctoral dissertation, "Voicing the Shechina," on the famous series of maamorim, Bosi Lgani.

In this episode, we discuss Shmary's growing up in Crown Heights in the early 90s and his decision to leave for Brunoy.

We discuss how the conception of past changed over those years and how some of the ideas of Bosi Lgani might inform how we ought to approach staying connected to the past without becoming lost in it.

Thank you to Rabbi Ari Kirschenbaum and Chabad Heights for location.

Rabbi Peretz and Chanie Chein both grew up in Crown Heights and are the shluchim today at Brandeis University near Boston, Massachusetts.

They have also recently founded M54, a program founded on the relational connection between learners as they embark on shared yet individual explorations, resulting in profound outcomes.

In this conversation, Peretz and I discuss his growing up in Crown Heights in the late 80s and early 90s and his pivotal decision to leave Crown Heights to study in a yeshiva in Israel, only returning after the Rebbe's stroke two years later.

We discuss the power narrative holds over us and the need to ground oneself in narrative, but also the need to notice the narrative and to pay attention to one's own thoughts and experiences.

Rabbi Pinny Andrusier lives in Cooper City, Florida where he is a shliach for more than thirty years.

Growing up, Pinny found his place less in the structure of yeshiva and more in the adventure of shlichus, which is where he hoped to find his place after marriage.

But when the time came, he struggled to find a place in shlichus and almost gave up on his dream, until a note from the Rebbe a few days before 27 Adar changed everything.

In this episode, we discuss the challenge of fitting in, both back then and today, and how believing in the other is often the biggest gift we have to offer.

Rabbi Shmuly Avtzon is a Mashpia in the Yeshiva of 770 and director of Sichos In English, an organization founded by his late father and my uncle, Rabbi Yonah Avtzon a"h.

In this episode, we compare and contrast our childhood experience and recollection of 27 Adar and 3 Tammuz, him growing up in the thick of the Rebbe's neighborhood of Crown Heights and me growing up across the world on shlichus in Hong Kong.

We discuss the shockwaves these events had on our childhood, and whether or not they can be traced to earlier events in Lubavitch history and specifically the history of Dor Hashvii.

Before becoming a full time life coach, Fitz Rabin was a master sofer for over a decade.

Over the years, Fitz struggled to identify with some of the practices seen as basic to being a Lubavitcher, namely the study of Chitas. Today, he celebrates 1000 days of learning chitas before shkiya.

We discuss the feelings of alienation from mass practice, the search for individual connection and the general tension between being true to yourself within a broader community.

Rabbi Yossi Morozov grew up in Brooklyn and was on shlichus with his family for twelve years in Ulyanovsk, a city one thousand kilometers east of Moscow.

After being forced to leave Russia, Yossi moved with his family to the Pomona area in New York and became a life insurance agent.

In this conversation we discuss his choices to go on shlichus and then into business and the challenges these choices posed to his own Lubavitch identity.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson is known today as a bestselling author and founder of the Meaningful Life Center.

But for many years he was one of the transcribers and editors of the Rebbe’s Farbrengen.

In this conversation we discuss some of the paradoxes he observed over the years, both regarding the Rebbe’s use of technology in sharing the Farbrengen around the world but also in how the Rebbe empowered his chassidim to think for themselves.

Rabbi Ruvi New grew up in Melbourne, Australia and is a shliach today in Boca Raton, Florida.

In this conversation, we discuss the changing dynamics of Lubavitch identity in the decade between his and his oldest's brother, Moshe New, cross Pacific journeys to 770.

We also discuss how over those years there seemed to be a tipping point of an "arum," or atmosphere, that brought more and more of Lubavitch into a powerful core, and where that leaves us today.

Eli Nash is a businessman and philanthropist who grew up in Crown Heights and lives today in South Florida.

Starting with his efforts to raise awareness about sexual abuse and then porn addiction, Eli has become very active in different causes surrounding mental health in the community.

In this episode, we discuss his own journey away from (and back to?) Lubavitch, the individuals who pointed him back to his roots, and the challenging work of finding the good from the bad.

R' Chaim Itche Drizin was one of the first shluchim to set out in the late 60s, directing Chabad of Northern California from his Chabad House in Berkeley.

Today he works as a therapist who in the course of his work speaks with many young men and women in the Lubavitch community.

In our conversation, we speak about his growing up as the youngest son of the famed chossid, R' Avrohom Maayor, the gap between him and his father's generation, a how this "gap of translation" persists to this very day.

Rabbi Moshe Gourarie grew up in Detroit and is shlichus today in Toms River, New Jersey. He is also the co-founder of Project Likkutei Sichos.

Growing up, his plan was always to complete mesivta in Detroit and then "get to Heaven" in Crown Heights next to the Rebbe. These plans came to an abrupt halt at one evening in mesivta where the boys were told that the "Rebbe had fallen."

In this conversation, we discuss how a teenage Bochur processed the "rug being pulled from beneath him" and how his feelings about holding on to the past and moving into the present have evolved since.

Mrs. Sandy Weinbaum lives in London, England where she, together with her husband, Dr. Bunim, directs the London Jewish Family Center.

Mrs. Weinbaum's story begins sixty years ago with a shliach knocking on the door of her father's office and comes full circle today with her having raised fourteen children, many of whom are themselves shluchim.

Over the years, the Weinbaums have been involved in many of Lubavitch's initiatives in London, even if they never assumed official titles or positions.

In this episode, we discuss her journey from traditional London family to becoming a Lubavitch matriarch, how she managed to raise a large family and be involved in her many activities, and above all how she thinks about living up to what can sometimes feel like the Rebbe's impossible expectations.

R' Mendel Duchman lives in Los Angeles and is a businessman, business coach and motivational speaker. He is also, to my mind, one of today's most outspoken motivators and cheerleaders for shluchim and Lubavitch around the world. But while R' Mendel very much lives in "today," he is also a staunch defender of the idea of "gezhe," or the value of holding on to one's past that can be traced to the old home back in Russia. While "gezhe" has come to mean all kinds of things today, in our conversation we discuss how the past is an important part of today's story and something that needs to be better understood, even celebrated.

Rabbi Mendel Zirkind has taught for over a decade in the Wilkes-Barre and Jets yeshivas.

Not having planned to become an educator, Mendel shares the lessons he's learned from his time spent in these so-called "outlier" yeshivas and how the discussions and questions taking place there have so much to teach everyone.

We discuss the seeming changes in Lubavitch regarding the asking of introspective questions, what may have led to these changes and where they leave us today.

Zevi Slavin is a student of philosophy and mysticism and host of a YouTube channel on this topic, ‪@SeekersofUnity‬ .

He is also the son of shluchim in Sydney, Australia and a proud chossid.

On this episode, we discuss if and how Zevi manages the tension between his intellectual pursuits and his Lubavitch identity.

We also discuss his thoughts on the collision of Lubavitch with modernity and where it leaves each of us.

Mrs. Fradel Sudak was sent on Shlichus to London sixty years ago with her late husband, Rabbi Nachman Sudak, a”h.

She is also my great aunt, and I’ve wanted for years to hear more from her about my great-grandparents, Rabbi Benzion and Esther Golda Shemtov, who also lived in London after they escaped the Soviet Union.

Over the course of several hours, I heard all kinds of stories and insights about my great-grandparents, where they came from, what drove them, scared them, inspired them, and held them together.

I learned more about where I come from, of course, but also what their dreams had been, and in that sense learned about where we are all going.

Rabbi Dr. Reuven Leigh is a shliach and affiliated lecturer at University of Cambridge.

His recent book, “The Philosophy of Rabbi Sholom Ber Schneersohn: Language, Gender and Mysticism,” endeavors to bring the famous maamorim of 5659 (RaNaT) into dialogue with postmodern thinking.

We sat down in his Chabad House in Cambridge to discuss what led him to focus on these maamorim, his relationship with Reb Volf Greenglass and other personalities in Montreal, and his lessons about Chassidus and the Chossid persona he carries to this very day.

Leibel Gniwisch is a lawyer and Ivy League graduate. He is also a good friend who lives in the neighborhood over.

Over the past year we've had many discussions about Lubavitch identity, the questions worth asking and avenues of inquiry worth pursuing. More a conversation than an interview, this episode is one of those.

We talk about Leibel's growing up in Montreal, what led him to pursue a profession in law and what lessons he has learned along the way.

Dr. Tali Loewenthal is a renowned fellow at UCL where he lectures on Jewish Spirituality. But he is also a chossid, whose continued life in academia and philosophy is strictly at the behest of the Rebbe.

We sat down to discuss his own reflections on the costs and benefits of engaging in the world of philosophy, if it can be reconciled with the life of chassidus and Emunah, and what he suggests for those who find themselves attracted to the knowledge the "outside world" offers.

Going deeper, we discuss the isolation that leads many to look elsewhere in the first place, and his very attainable suggestions that may help people feel less isolated and less nostalgic.

Yanki Tauber is a writer who lives in Woodmere, NY where for over a decade he has been working on his newly released Chumash, the OpenBook Torah.

What makes his Chumash different is the confidence it has that the reader can be brought into the process of commentary, and the more the reader knows about the process the better.

We discussed his upbringing in Crown Heights and his special relationship with his grandfather, the famous poet and chossid Zvi Yair, and how this led to the manner in which he approached his Chumash.

Rabbi Levi Greenberg is a shliach in El Paso, TX which is also where he grew up as a shliach himself.

Continuing the discussion raised in previous episodes, we discuss the challenges of leaving home for schooling at a young age, the cost of raising children in faraway cities, and the metrics of a successful shlichus.

Along the way, the conversation veers into familiar territory of the "chassidishe maase," how it has or hasn't changed over time, and what it means to realize some of our heroes, the early shluchim, were also human.

Rabbi Moshe New is the senior rabbi of the Montreal Torah Center and a shliach for over forty years.

In this episode, we discuss his upbringing in Australia and the changing Lubavitch landscape he observed as he travelled to the United States and finally to Montreal.

We also discuss how the landscape continues to change and how it might point in a more positive direction, namely with a more specific focus on empowering the individual.

Rabbi Shmully Hecht is the senior Chabad rabbi at Yale and co-founder of Shabtai, the global Jewish leadership community.

We discuss how everything changed this Simchas Torah and where we might go from here. Not only the world around us but also Lubavitch.

Sholom Jacobs grew up on shlichus in Glasgow, Scotland and is today a successful real estate developer in Long Island where he lives with his family.

In this episode, we discuss his journey into business, how the Lubavitch perspective around business has changed over the years, and what he has carried with him from his days growing up on shlichus.

Leibel Mangel is an IDF veteran who grew up on shlichus in Blue Ash, Ohio.

In this conversation, we discuss his perspective on the recent events in Israel as an IDF veteran and how one might respond in these uncertain times.

Rabbi Shmuel Wagner is a teacher at Lubavitcher Yeshiva Ocean Parkway.

We discuss the changing attitudes towards teaching and becoming a teacher.

We also discuss how one of his own teachers had a profound impact on how he dealt with his six year journey through infertility.

Eldad Drori is a Lubavitcher dentist who grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is also an avid powerlifter who has been working on his strength and fitness for more than thirty years.

We discuss how he reconciles his gym identity with his Lubavitch identity, and how the identity that comes out of it is something both traceable to his family's past and yet entirely his own.