Sixty years ago today the author of this work — the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn נ״ע — was released in miraculous circumstances from incarceration, torture and capital sentence in the notorious Shpalerka prison in Petersburg, today’s Leningrad. (Indeed, the Rebbe’s own graphic description of his imprisonment and liberation, and his reflections at the time, constitute a dominant theme of one of the later volumes in this series.) The date of that historic release was Yud-Beis Tammuz, 5687 (1927).

It is therefore with a keen sense of gratitude to the Almighty that we now celebrate this date by publishing the first volume of the English translation of his Likkutei Dibburim. This series is an anthology of the Rebbe’s talks ranging over the years 1929-1950, and first delivered in Latvia, Poland and the United States.

This unique work — by turns expository, philosophical, narrative and nostalgic, a cherished treasure-chest of the Chabad-chassidic heritage — was translated and annotated by Uri Kaploun, and prepared for publication by Rabbi Yonah Avtzon, director of Sichos In English. It is one of several works of the Previous Rebbe appearing in translation by various hands under the auspices of the undersigned publishing house, which itself was founded by him.

Kehot Publication Society

Yud-Beis Tammuz, 5747 (1987)