Dr. Shoshana Rosenberg, an epidemiologist who conducts research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and is a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, refers to it as the “silver lining” of being forced to work at home due to the pandemic. Once a week, she takes a break from her work and logs on to an online class, where she and a group of between 40 and 80 women learn a sichah of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.
Literally a “talk,” a sichah of the Rebbe can be scholarly in nature, as well as an incisive commentary on human nature, Jewish life or even global affairs. For roughly three decades, a portion of the weekly talks was typed up in essay form in Yiddish or Hebrew and personally edited by the Rebbe for publication. The edited talks, released to correspond to the Torah portion of the week, were then aggregated into the 39 bound volumes of Likkutei Sichot, “Collected Talks.”
Likkutei Sichot has been described as the heart and soul of the Rebbe’s teachings—a fusion of all elements of Torah, from the exoteric to the esoteric, and a key to grasping the Rebbe’s view on Judaism and life itself. Rosenberg and her online study group are one of many who are part of Project Likutei Sichot, an initiative to encourage as many people as possible to learn through all 39 volumes. Since it began this winter, the syllabus has included two essays per week and will eventually transition to three per week until all 1,227 sichot have been studied, which should take about eight years to complete. Organizers hope that thousands will join in the study.
While much of the Rebbe’s pastoral care can be found in the Igrot Kodesh in which a portion of his voluminous correspondence has been published, the sichot of Likkutei Sichot are intricately woven forays into advanced rabbinic debates. A single sichah may cite dozens of Talmudic and Kabbalistic sources as the Rebbe probes the gamut of Jewish wisdom to shed light on a nuance in a passage or an anomaly in Jewish law.
As a result, learning the sichot generally requires a mastery of Hebrew and Yiddish, as well as a good grasp of the scriptural or rabbinic subjects being examined. Studying a single sichah alone can sometimes take hours, depending on the student. To aid students of different backgrounds and levels, many resources, such as a repository of pre-recorded classes, articles culled from Chabad.org, translations, source sheets, summaries, PowerPoint presentations, as well as teaching tools and study aids, are all freely available on the project’s website alongside PDFs of the actual essays to be studied that week.
‘You See It All on a Different Plane’
Rosenberg’s class is just one of several dozen options, which range in degree of depth, language (English, Yiddish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and Hebrew are all offered), schedule and teaching style. As part of the project, all the sichot are being translated into English, many for the first time, and being made freely available.
Beyond resources, for many the fact that thousands of others are learning the same sichah at the same time provides an impetus to keep with the program on a weekly basis.
According to Rosenberg, the women follow along in the original and occasionally raise their virtual “hands” to ask questions from the presenter, Rivkah Slonim, longtime Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Binghamton, N.Y.
Rosenberg says she grew up in a Modern Orthodox home, attended Jewish schools through high school and enjoys studying the weekly Torah portion. Yet, she says, Likkutei Sichot has taught her to look closer at the text and search deeper for nuggets of wisdom in places she would have hitherto glossed over, such as the precise words quoted by Rashi’s commentary or even which words Rashi chose not to quote.
“I have always admired the Rebbe as a leader,” says Rosenberg. “Now I am able to learn his Torah teachings as well. It is amazing, especially for people who grew up learning Rashi on a simple level. In the sichot, you see it all on a different plane.”
Slonim says that for many women, the class forms a solid anchor for their week—a spiritual rock from which they draw strength as they deal with the uncertainty, isolation and challenges of life during a pandemic.
“Often, a woman will tell me how what we learned gave her perspective and support in a difficult situation that week,” says Slonim, who is also a popular author and lecturer. “Our class is taught by a woman for fellow women. There is something about learning from a woman, sharing the unique experience of womanhood, wifehood and motherhood that comes through.
“The experience of consistently immersing in the Rebbe’s Torah allows one to look at the world in a different way, to rise above the mundane and the minutiae,” she attests. “Through the Rebbe’s lens, we see the essence, that which is godly and important.”
Her perspective is echoed by Avron Alter, a Johannesburg dentist, who also serves as chazzan (cantor) at the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Sandton, known as the Sandton Shul. He participates in a weekly class given by Rabbi Ari Shishler, director of Chabad of Strathavon, South Africa. Originally conducted in person, the class has been held online since the spring.
“I love the message the Rebbe draws from what we learned and how we are to apply it to our lives,” says Alter, who also teaches extensively in his synagogue. “One guy does not understand the rest of the class but comes just for the take-home message.
“But it is not a feel-good class,” he cautions. “It’s something you need to apply your mind to, like the mathematical side of Torah. The Rebbe dissects words, looking for the underlying logic. It fascinates me.
“For years, I heard about the Rebbe and his work on behalf of the Jewish nation, which I myself have benefited from on a personal level,” continues Alter. “Now I am connecting to another one of his facets: his Torah.”
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