A Conversation with Rabbi Chaim Miller

My interview with Reb Chaim Miller of the Kol Menachem Library of Jewish Classics was not our first time meeting. His dream in life is, through his ability to convey some of the most complex ideas, to make a positive and lasting impression which will shape the face of generations to come.

A lot of this has to do with Rabbi Miller’s own upbringing in a traditionally Jewish family in England where he received minimal exposure to the depth and meaning within the Jewish tradition. In his own words, “My family attended Yom Kippur services and made a Pesach Seder. But while I myself was searching for depth and understanding of Torah and mitzvos, the experience that I got from the services and the Sunday classes that they offered just did more to alienate me than inspire further curiosity and challenge that I was inherently drawn towards.”

In the English educational system, high school would lead into a graduate program. With Rabbi Miller’s father working in the pharmaceutical industry, he had followed his dreams of entering a medical program in Leeds University where he hoped to practice one day in the medical profession. It was a standard six year program which ran for two years and then recessed for a year. At that point, after developing a relationship with Rabbi Sufrin, the Chabad shliach in Leeds, as well as the Ohr Somayach campus rabbi, Rabbi Jonathan Dove, Chaim decided, along with some of his peers, to spend the summer at the Chabad Ivy League learning program. After a third year of continued education at Leeds, Rabbi Miller enrolled in the Morristown Yeshiva for two years after which he pursued semichah and received rabbinic ordination at Lubavitch world headquarters.

The Kol Menachem library began rather quietly as something that he began to do in his spare time. While teaching classes for the main part of the day, Rabbi Miller described his project to incorporate the vast sea of the Rebbe’s teachings to fit seamlessly on the page of the Chumash, allowing the reader to see the profound and mysterious aspects of the weekly Torah reading from the Rebbe’s perspective. One of the goals in embarking in this monumental work, beyond just making the Rebbe’s teachings more accessible to the masses, was Reb Chaim’s desire to create a learning tool with which people would not only become more knowledgeable in Torah, but would be inspired and committed to being better and more wholesome people.

The Rebbe often would quote the idiom of our sages, “Action is primary.” Judaism is not in favor of learning for its own sake. If one’s Torah does not spill over into his own practical life and the lives of others, the veracity and the importance of such Torah is called into question. The sages have also said, “Anyone who declares, ‘I have only Torah,’ even Torah he is lacking.” For this purpose, the Gutnick Chumash, for instance, was designed with sections such as, “The Name of the Parsha,” explaining the meaning and significance of the name of each parashah in a practical sense, as well as “The Last Word” or Sparks of Chassidus,” where the reader could draw from all of the intellectual insight present in the learning experience and easily internalize a few important, practical lessons that will make us more faithful and dedicated servants of G-d.

Rabbi Miller related that an old mentor of his, Rabbi Yisrael Gordon of Crown Heights, who happens to be my great-uncle, after looking through some of Rabbi Miller’s works on the Chumash, Megillah, Haggadah, and Rambam, complimented him by saying, “You took what was concealed and made it revealed.” In work after work, in addition to the articulateness and the genius replete on every page, is his keen ability to take the most subtle, abstract ideas and make them real and a part of the reader.

This is a perfect segue into Kol Menachem’s latest project, the “Lifestyle Book Series.” The Lifestyle series began with a Chumash with many hundreds of insightful yet terse tidbits covering the full gamut of Torah commentators from today and yesteryear. The second book in the series covers a topic which seems to touch a deep chord in Rabbi Miller’s heart. In his own words, “Prayer is so central to Judaism and is a service that we do throughout every day. People, it seems, are not taught how to daven.” To combat this ignorance and complacency, Chaim created a Friday night prayer companion, containing insights from the Arizal on some of the most Kabbalistic prayers, done in a way that is easily understood—making the experience more profound and rewarding.

At this point, I could say that Rabbi Miller is constantly looking for new ways to enhance our lives. Be a little patient and attentive to the new releases in your local Judaica store for the release of a new Tehillim and more from the prayer series, which will no doubt become a part of our lives like the rest of his works.

The detailed attention to aesthetics and content within each of these works is unparalleled in the Judaic publishing industry. People the world over are not just seeing but living the parashah in a light they were never before privy to. Hashem should bless Chaim with long years and presence of mind to continue the endeavor that he has embarked upon.