To contemplate a Chassidus idea is by definition not a methodical activity. Often, when bochurim asked the Rebbe’s advice in this area, the Rebbe emphasized this.

At the Friday night seuda of the first International Kinus Hashluchim, one of the shluchim declared, “Eved avrohom anochi,” that a shliach must only subjugate himself to Avrohom of the generation. Surprisingly, at the next day’s farbrengen, the Rebbe clarified that this was not enough.

When elder chossid Reb Berke Chein aged, he could no longer collect maamad funds as before. When some chassidim suggested handing it over to someone more capable, the Rebbe rejected the idea since it could hurt his feelings.

While encouraging all to be involved in spreading the mitzva of lighting Shabbos candles, yet bochurim, the Rebbe told Reb Zusha Wilmovsky, shouldn’t be directly active in influencing women.

When a student from Oholei Torah of Kfar Chabad came into yechidus with his father, the Rebbe began talking to the boy in Yiddish. When the boy responded in Hebrew, the Rebbe expressed surprised that he didn’t speak Yiddish. After that, the Cheder changed their language to Yiddish.

In 5721, the Rebbe encouraged Reb Yitzchok Dovid Groner to transform Australia into “Bnei Brak, Williamsburg, and Crown Heights.” As an American born, without an accent, the Rebbe explained, he had the power to influence people.

While spending an uplifting Tishrei 5736 with the Rebbe, Reb Naftoli Kraus, an Israeli journalist, wrote up his experiences in the famous Maariv newspaper. But his writing that chassidim drink “vodka” displeased the Rebbe.

Nechama Lifshitz, a Yiddish language arts performer behind the Iron Curtain, became a key representative of Soviet Jewish culture and a world-famous refusenik. In a letter to her, the Rebbe drew a key distinction between a Yiddishe and a secular holiday.

In explaining the reason for the Shabbos candles campaign, the Rebbe explained that today’s streets were becoming “dark and wild” and that was seeping into the homes. The Rebbe then told a story of the incredible transformation of one home as a result of Shabbos candles.

After midnight on the night before Rosh Hashana, Reb Leibel Bistritzky was saying Tehillim upstairs in 770, when the Rebbe walked in. After inquiring whether he would be blowing shofar, the Rebbe gave him a maamar and a special bracha.

Addressing a group of bochurim and mashpiim on Erev Rosh Hashana, the Rebbe spoke, with his eyes closed, about the lost potential for ‘uforatzto’ throughout the previous year. As he ended, tears streamed down his face.

After a joyous song, during a farbrengen about teshuva with joy, a chossid shouted “Nasha biriyot!” – “We won!” The Rebbe accepted and added that soldiers going out to war march with a victorious song, giving them strength of heart.

Some time after being told by the Rebbe to learn avodadike maamorim, Reb Bentzion Stein‘s mashpia felt that it might be time to upgrade. In his next yechidus, the Rebbe advised him to continue learning what affected him most, but learn haskala maamorim on Shabbos.

As a bochur, Reb Shlomo Zarchi asked the Rebbe for guidance in cheshbon hanefesh. The Rebbe drew a distinction between avoda at Krias Shema She’al Hamita, which is done at specific times, and a basic calculation at the end of a day.

When a bochur complained to the Rebbe that his contemplation of Chassidus was crude, the Rebbe reassured him that with time it would become refined. But then the Rebbe told him something even more relevant.

Reb Aharon Yaakov Diskin was exiled to Kasil-Arda, a village not far from Alma Ata, and he made acquaintance with Reb Levik. When he shared some stories during a farbrengen, the Rebbe became very emotional.

When a couple came to the Rebbe for a bracha for one of their children who got engaged, the Rebbe asked why they didn’t mention the other children, highlighting how they might feel neglected.

In an early yechidus, bochur Berl Yunik complained of his highs and lows in his avodas Hashem. The Rebbe reassured him that fluctuation is normal and then went on to outline the problem of many bochurim which can be easily resolved.

When a 16-year-old girl from Melbourne begged the Rebbe to help her convert, the Rebbe guided R’ Chaim Gutnick to reveal that she was already Jewish. When asked later how he knew, the Rebbe said that it was obvious…

When the Bergstein family entered yechidus, the Rebbe asked young Chaim Moshe how many strings he had in his tzitzis. When the boy didn’t know, the Rebbe taught him a lifelong lesson from money.