The Torah’s “measure is longer than the earth, and wider than the ocean.” That sums up our Rebbe’s Torah teachings. For over 42 years we had the privilege of hearing his Farbrengens, Maamorim and Sichos which together comprise a vast library adorning every home.
Generally speaking, the Sichos can be divided into two categories:
- a) The multi-volume sets of Likkutei Sichos and Sefer Hasichos were gathered from the Rebbe’s Sichos of various occasions and reworked on the basis of subjects connected with the weekly Torah-portions or holidays of the year. for this reason, in the course of editing, certain subjects mentioned in the original Sichos were omitted. Later the Rebbe them checked over, often making changes and adding new notes and material.
- b) The sets of Sichos Kodesh and Hisvaaduyos transcribe the subjects in their original order as the Rebbe said them, with minimum reworking of his words, taking care to remain as faithful as possible to his unique style. In these Sichos, one senses each Farbrengen’s special atmosphere, perceiving the sensitive nuances of the Rebbe’s words, and reliving those wonderful eternal moments!
obviously, nothing can match “words written in the name of the king and sealed by the king’s signet-ring” – the Sichos published in Likkutei Sichos and Sefer HaSichos which the Rebbe himself edited for publication. These are the Rebbe’s “Written Torah” which we must study in depth in order to fathom their boundless profundity. On the other hand, there is no substitute for the experience of the Rebbe’s Farbrengen, for the flow and arrangement of the subjects as the Rebbe chose to express them publicly, when he was originally “bringing them down” into the world.
Many Farbrengens that were taped and videoed include Sichos and Maamorim later edited by the Rebbe. Although there is a tremendous advantage to studying them as a text, yet hearing them is like experiencing the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai!
The series of “Sichos Kodesh” now in process of preparation is an attempt to present every Farbrengen before the readers, spreading it out from beginning to end, including not only the Sichos but even the melodies sung, with special expressions and incidents. Reading this series allows us to “live with the Rebbe” – almost to be present at the Farbrengen itself…
The new edition of Sichos Kodesh represents a real “Pidyon Shvuyim” – liberation of “captives.” Until now the Sichos of the historic first thirty years of the Rebbe’s leadership have been a rich treasure to which only few have had access. With the new edition, the whole set can now become the treasured possession of every Jew.
Vaad Sichot Kodesh with an encouragement of the Chabad World Center to Greet Moshiach considers it a great privilege and obligation to publish these Sichos as a close preparation for dissemination of the “new Torah teachings” from the mouth of our Righteous Moshiach, the Rebbe, when he will be revealed before the eyes of all, literally immediately.