Aspirational Chabadniks

I was once asked by a litvisher guy who was involved in outreach: "What is Chabad's secret sauce? What are the tactics that make Chabad so successful?" This question is coming from someone who is also in the outreach business, sees an outstanding example and aspires to be similarly successful.

In the global philanthropic community, similar questions are asked by those interested in finding ways to help young people engage with their Jewishness. This is something being addressed by some of the largest and most innovative foundations in the world,

Cleanliness is next to Chassidishkeit

Our shul recently marked the yahrzeit of Reb Nochum Zalman Gurewicz, on Tisha b'Av. Many people in the community have a diversity of memories about Reb Nochum, whether it was watching him say tehilim in almost every free moment, or his kadish and davening at the amud. In a great reflection, Isaac Balbin reminded us of a few of his attributes and lessons we can learn.

One that stuck out for me was that Reb Nochum was always impeccably dressed, with never a thread out of place.