Available for the 1st Time: Complete Rashi Sichos in English

With the beginning of the Bereishis Chitas cycle, Kehot Publications Society announced the release of Studies in Rashi, which contains 12 complete “Rashi Sichos” on Chumash Bereishis, selected from the Rebbe’s 39-volume Likkutei Sichos. The essays are presented, for the first time, in a bi-lingual Hebrew/English format.

Beginning in late 1964, after the passing of his mother, Rebbetzin Chana, the Rebbe began dedicating a segment of his weekly Shabbos farbrengens to the study of Rashi’s classic commentary. What soon emerged was an innovative method for both the study and analysis of the Torah’s foremost commentator, and for Chumash study itself. These sichos continued for more than twenty-five years.

The publication of Studies in Rashi aims to open this unique dimension of the Rebbe’s scholarship to the ever-growing numbers of English speaking students aspiring to serious textual study.

To help the reader fully appreciate the essays, the volume is prefaced by a list of 17 “General Principles of Rashi” which form the basis for the Rebbe’s methodology in Rashi study. The Principles are excerpted from Rabbi Tuvia Blau’s original Hebrew work entitled Klalei Rashi (Kehot, Israel). In addition, each sicha is introduced by a title-page introducing, in Hebrew and English, the verse and the Rashi discussed in the sicha.

According to Kehot director, Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman, the sichos chosen for inclusion in the new volume highlight the various innovations revealed in the Rebbe’s teachings of how to understand Rashi; “the sichos are presented in their complete form, so that the student could enjoy the “feel” of learning a sicha with all the breathtaking scope of its discussions and nuances.”

Studies in Rashi: Bereishis, is the first in a series which will present one essay for each respective Torah portion.

The sichos were translated by Rabbi Y. Eliezer Danzinger, of Toronto, Canada, with the exception of the sicha on Bereishis which was originally translated by the late Shliach Rabbi Yitzchak M. Kagan. All the sichos are fully annotated in Hebrew and English. The outwardly handsome volume is further enhanced with a detailed bibliography and comprehensive index.

The book was dedicated by Mr. Berel and Breindy Gansbourg and by a group of Kehot supporters whose names appear in the back of the volume.

Work on a volume on Chumash Shemos is already in progress.

The book is available at the Kehot website.