A Chassidic Discourse by Rabbi Shalom DovBer Schneersohn of Lubavitch

The great underlying principle of the Torah, as R. Akiva taught, is to “love your fellowman as yourself.” And indeed, Torah literature in general, and Chassidus in particular, overflows with instructive and inspiring advice on how one may bring oneself to truly love one’s fellow. Reading this literature, to be sure, is far more cheering than dwelling on disharmony and baseless hatred. But the reality of the human condition cannot be ignored — and the present discourse addresses itself to that all too human problem.

Borrowing the mystical terminology of Kabbalah and Chassidism, this book deals with the spiritual roots of baseless hatred, its cosmic repercussions, and its attainable remedies.

This in-depth discussion of the spiritual seeds of divisiveness and dissension did not sprout in a vacuum, nor was it meant to be studied in a vacuum. It was meant to be used. In response to its call, anyone who calls himself a chassid will surely concede that whatever his spiritual stature, there is still room for making his own interpersonal contacts less judgmental and less abrasive, a little mellower and a little humbler.