This year marks the 74th anniversary of the passing in 1950 of the Sixth Rebbe—Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory—and the day leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement passed on to his illustrious son-in-law, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory. In the decades that followed, the Rebbe revolutionized, inspired and guided the post-Holocaust transformation of the Jewish people that continues to this day.
Commonly referred to as 10 Shevat, or “Yud Shevat” (the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat)—and corresponding this year to Friday night, Jan. 19, and Shabbat, Jan. 20—the day has become a time of introspection and inspiration for Jewish people everywhere. They will focus on learning the Rebbes’ teachings; reflecting on the Rebbes’ love for every Jew; and rededicating themselves to the Rebbes’ directives of personal and communal growth through Torah study and Jewish practice.
Following are 10 extraordinary works by and about the Previous Rebbe and the Rebbe that deserve a place on every Jewish bookshelf, and many can be studied on Chabad.org.
‘Basi LeGani’
Defining our Purpose on Earth
By Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson/Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
Translated by Rabbi Eli Touger
Considered to be the spiritual “last will and testament” of the Sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory. The discourse was released for the 10th of Shevat in the year 5710 (1950); on that day, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak passed away. Chassidim customarily study Basi LeGani each year in honor of the yahrzeit, and each year his successor, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, explained and illuminated another of its chapters in depth. The Rebbe’s exposition of “Basi L’Gani,” the first Chassidic discourse he spoke on the first yahrzeit of the Sixth Rebbe’s passing in 5711 (1951), was also a declaration of his own mission and goals. This widely acclaimed English edition has enabled countless Jews to participate in the study of these foundational works. Published by Sichos in English and Kehot Publication Society.
Published by: Sichos in English/Kehot Publication Society
‘HaYom Yom’
Compiled by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
Translated by Rabbi Yitzchak M. Kagan
In the winter of 1942, the Sixth Rebbe gave his son-in-law, the future Rebbe, the task of compiling an anthology of Chassidic aphorisms and customs arranged according to the days of the year. The calendar was entitled HaYom Yom. In describing this work Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak wrote: … “A book that is small in format … but bursting with pearls and diamonds of choicest quality.” “A splendid palace of Chassidism.” True to these words, HaYom Yom has become a beloved classic work and a source of daily spiritual sustenance.
Published by: Kehot Publication Society
‘Likkutei Dibburim’
By Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson
Translated by Uri Kaploun
Likkutei Dibburim, a cherished treasure chest of the Chabad-Chassidic heritage, is a record of talks delivered (and then rewritten for publication) by the later Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950), in Latvia, Poland and the United States, in the course of the years 1929-1950. The sheer range of this work, both in subject and atmosphere, is extraordinary, for these talks embrace (for example) childhood memories; insightful stories; the family traditions of a family of tzaddikim; recollections of Stalinist dungeons and interrogations; nostalgic glimpses of faces and sounds and townlets that conjure up the mystique of a vanished world; delicately drawn vignettes of exalted villagers and humble giants; eloquent and sometimes impassioned passages of exhortation; fascinating chronicles of the early history of the Chassidic movement, treasured heirlooms that are lovingly passed on; and, of course, creative and instructive expositions of concepts crucial to the teachings of Chassidus. But one theme links all of these subjects like a thread of gold—the intense spiritual and personal bond with all his fellow Jews that is the essence of the very concept of Rebbe.
The present volume, translated by Uri Kaploun from the original Hebrew and Yiddish, is the fist of the several that comprise this classic work. The final volume of the series is scheduled to include a biographical outline of the author; an alphabetized biographical index identifying all the main personages mentioned, complete with page references; a partial family tree of the author’s forebears; a table of significant dates in the Chabad-Lubavitch calendar; and various other supplementary background resources.
Published by: Kehot Publication Society
Chassidic Discourses
By Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson
Translated by Rabbi Shalom B. Wineberg
Immediately following his escape to the shores of America in 1940, the Sixth Rebbe founded a network of Jewish Educational programs including a multilingual publishing house for Jewish educational literature, as well as works of Chassidic Philosophy in many languages. One of the first publications of his publishing house was the monthly journal, Hakeria Vehakedusha, which featured Chassidic discourses of the Rebbe written in Yiddish during the years 1941-1945. These discourses were later published in one volume entitled Sefer Hama’amarim-Yiddish.
Many of the ma’amarim have as their central theme the concepts of self sacrifice for G‑d and Judaism, repentance and strengthening the observance of Torah and mitzvot. Those were years of turbulence, and often, the ma’amarim speak of the lessons to be learned from the earth-shattering events of the time and their connection to the coming of Moshiach.
Published by: Kehot Publication Society
‘The Heroic Struggle’
By Rabbi Alter Ben Zion Metzger
This book traces the history of the arrest and subsequent release from prison for “counter-revolutionary activity” of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn in 5687 (1927). The Rebbe staunchly endured deprivation and torture, physical and mental, in an event meant to destroy the Jewish Underground, and emerged from his ordeal miraculously alive and undaunted, his defiant stance entirely intact. He was able to continue leading the Jewish resistance, leadership continued by his son-in-law and successor, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, and to lay the foundation, ultimately, of the current Jewish revival in the former Soviet Union.
Published by: Kehot Publication Society
‘Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History’
By Joseph Telushkin
In this enlightening biography, Joseph Telushkin offers a captivating portrait of the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, a towering figure who saw beyond conventional boundaries to turn his movement, Chabad-Lubavitch, into one of the most dynamic and widespread organizations ever seen in the Jewish world. At once an incisive work of history and a compendium of the Rebbe’s teachings, Rebbe is the definitive guide to understanding one of the most vital, intriguing figures of the last centuries.
From his modest headquarters in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., the Rebbe advised some of the world’s greatest leaders and shaped matters of state and society. Statesmen and artists as diverse as Ronald Reagan, Robert F. Kennedy, Yitzchak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Elie Wiesel and Bob Dylan span the spectrum of those who sought his counsel. Rebbe explores the Rebbe’s overarching philosophies against the backdrop of treacherous history, revealing his clandestine operations to rescue and sustain Jews in the Soviet Union, and his critical role in the expansion of the food stamp program throughout the United States. More broadly, it examines how he became in effect an ambassador for Jews globally and how he came to be viewed by many as not only a spiritual archetype but a savior. Telushkin also delves deep into the more controversial aspects of the Rebbe’s leadership, analyzing his views on modern science and territorial compromise in Israel, and how in the last years of his life, many of his followers believed that he would soon be revealed as the Messiah, a source of contention until this day.
Published by: HarperWave
‘Positivity Bias’
Practical Wisdom for Positive Living
Inspired by the life and teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
By Mendel Kalmenson
Through a mix of nature, nurture, social conditioning and free will, we each possess a personalized lens that frames, forms, clouds and distorts the way we see ourselves and the world around us. In order to live in the most meaningful and effective way possible, each of us needs to continually assess and adjust the default frames we have developed.
In Positivity Bias, we learn that life is essentially good; that positive perception is applicable and accessible to all; that it derives from objective, rational insight, not subjective, wishful imagination, and that positive living is a matter of choice, not circumstance.
An inspiring and life-enriching tapestry woven from hundreds of stories, letters, anecdotes and vignettes—highlights how the Rebbe taught us to see ourselves, others and the world around us.
Published by: Kehot Publication Society
‘Wisdom to Heal the Earth’
Meditations and Teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
By Tzvi Freeman
If there is a single, overarching theme that has been at the center of Jewish thought and practice throughout all time and across all borders and denominations, it is the desire and hope that the physical and spiritual universe should be brought to a state of complete and everlasting perfection, once and for all.
This great, mystical drive and goal, known as tikkun olam, has been manifest in Jewish thought and practice in myriad ways over the past 4,000 years, not the least in modern Jewish life through social activism—the concern for and practical help to people and things in need—which from the time of Abraham and Sarah has been a signature drive of the Jewish people.
Wisdom to Heal the Earth is a revolutionary new look at tikkun olam from the perspective of “the most influential rabbi in modern history”—the Rebbe.
Through 15 profoundly engaging essays and almost 400 daily meditations, the book’s author, Tzvi Freeman, brings the Rebbe’s worldview of tikkun olam to individuals and communities everywhere, preparing readers for the inner and outer-directed work that will permanently transform life on earth for the good.
Winner of the 2019 Ben Franklin award for best book on religion and spirituality.
Published by Ezra Press/Kehot
‘Early Years: the Formative years of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson’
By Boruch Oberlander and Elkanah Shmotkin
The product of an exhaustive, years-long, worldwide research project, Early Years tells the riveting story of the early life of the man who, as much as anyone else, set the course of Jewish history in the 20th century. What was his childhood like? What type of schooling did he receive? Who were his mentors and teachers? When did he first meet his father-in-law and predecessor, and what was the relationship between them like? At what point did the ideas that were to transform the landscape of post-Holocaust Jewry begin to take form in his mind? These questions and others about the Rebbe’s early life have never been answered comprehensively. Presenting newly uncovered government documents, private journals, letters and diaries, Rabbis Boruch Oberlander and Elkanah Shmotkin have produced a highly engaging account which offers an unimpeded view of the formative years of modern Judaism’s most recognized personality.
More than 450 documents and photographs are beautifully reproduced in full color, illuminating and informing the text. Meticulously researched and engagingly presented, Early Years tells the fascinating story of the Rebbe’s early life, including newly uncovered details of the Rebbe’s first meeting with his future father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch. How the match between the Rebbe and Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s middle daughter, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, came about. The identity of the Rebbe’s childhood teacher who lived in his home and whom he described as “a great Torah scholar.” The details of the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin’s wedding in Warsaw, and of the simultaneous celebrations across the globe marking the event. The Rebbe’s life in Berlin, where he lived with Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, hundreds of miles from his father-in-law and the seat of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Published by Kehot
‘Social Vision’
By Phillip Wexler
Despite wide recognition of the Rebbe’s impact on the world, this is the first volume to seriously explore his social ideas and activism. The Rebbe not only engineered a global Jewish renaissance but also became an advocate for public education, criminal justice reform, women’s empowerment and alternative energy. From the personal to the global, his teachings chart a practical path for the replacement of materialism, alienation, anxiety and divisiveness with a dignified and joyous reciprocity.
Social Vision delves into the deep structures of social reality, and the ways it is shaped and reshaped by powerful ideologies. Juxtaposed with sociologist Max Weber’s diagnosis of “inner worldly asceticism” as “the spirit of capitalism,” the Rebbe’s socio-mystical worldview is compellingly framed as a transformative paradigm for the universal repair of society. The library of the Rebbe’s talks and writings is voluminous, but critics have described this distillation as artful, engaging, ambitious, bracing, relevant and imperative.
Published by Herder and Herder
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