בְּתּוֹרָה אוֹר, בְּדִבּוּר הַמַּתְחִיל תָּנוּ רַבָּנָן מִצְוַת נֵר חֲנוּכָּה, “כִּי אֵין כְּדַאי כָּל הַדִּינִים" צָרִיךְ לְהְיוֹת “כִּי כְּדַאי כָּל הַדִּינִים".

שָׁם בֵּאוּר לְדִבּוּר הַמַּתְחִיל רָנִּי וְשִׂמְחִי סְעִיף הַמַּתְחִיל וְעַתָּה נָבוֹא, “שֶׁהוּא פְּנִימִית אֲרִיךְ אַנְפִּין" צָרִיךְ לִהְיוֹת “שֶׁהִיא פְּנִימִית אֵין סוֹף".

[In the above note, the Rebbe makes emendations to the Hebrew text of Torah Or that have since been incorporated in all of its editions.]

A Story with an Echo

About a century ago, the Alter Rebbe’s classic, Likkutei Torah, was out of print. A learned chassid of that time, R. Anshel Aronovitch, took it upon himself to prepare the text for reprinting, editing it so carefully that he corrected more than three thousand typographical slips.

With what he felt was well-earned pride, he showed his work to another vintage chassid, R. David Zvi Chein.1 When his colleague failed to respond with enthusiasm, R. Anshel asked him why his work had not found favor in his eyes.

“Your edition will radically change the way people study Likkutei Torah,” the colleague explained. “Until now, when a chassid read a passage that did not make sense, he would stop, weigh the matter back and forth in his mind, and consider the concept from all vantage points. If, after this process of give and take, the concept was still confusing, he would conclude that there was a printing error. Now, after your corrections, the ideas will go down like water, and the reader won’t pause to think them over.”

That being said, the Rebbe himself — and various editors, under his direction — labored to correct printing errors in early editions of chassidic classics.