Likkutei Sichos is the main series of seforim containing the teachings of the Rebbe of Lubavitch Melech HaMoshiach, comprising 40 volumes. The series contains a selected collection of sichas that the Rebbe delivered over the years and were carefully edited by him weekly for publication and distribution worldwide.

The sichos are organized according to the weekly parshios (Torah portions), and each one explores in depth one topic from the parsha and the annual cycle, including Jewish holidays and festivals, and special Chassidic dates.

History

Since the Rebbe's arrival in the United States in 5701 (1941), he began, at the instruction of his father-in-law the Rebbe Rayatz, to hold farbrengens with chassidim at 770 every Shabbos Mevorchim. Starting from the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz in 5710 (1950), the talks given at these farbrengens and on other occasions were transcribed by several students of the yeshiva at 770, and some were even edited by him and distributed worldwide, though not in a regular or organized manner. This practice continued even after his acceptance of the nesius (leadership).

Towards Shavuos 5718 (1958), Tzeirei Agudas Chabad approached the Rebbe and requested that he edit one of his sichos from previous years on the weekly parsha each week, to provide material for chassidim to share Chassidus in synagogues in New York. The Rebbe agreed, and from then on, booklets began to appear weekly that were then called "Table of Contents for Sharing Dach in Synagogues." These sichos were published for a year, until Shavuos 5719 (1959). Later, in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin's wedding, these sichos were printed together in two volumes as a gift to the Rebbe.

In 5723 (1963), the 250th anniversary of the Alter Rebbe's passing, there was renewed enthusiasm for distributing the sichos, and the Rebbe resumed editing sichos weekly, from Shabbos Bereishis 5723 until Simchas Torah 5724 (1963-1964), and these booklets were compiled into the next two volumes in the series. Afterward, there was a break in the editing of the sichos for a few years.

The four volumes of the "Table of Contents" were printed by Tzach in the United States. The name "Likkutei Sichos" was given only later.

After the passing of the Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, in 5725 (1965), the Rebbe held farbrengens every Shabbos and dedicated a special talk each time to explaining the first and last Rashi commentary of the parsha. Some of these sichos from that winter were also published in a similar format, with the Rebbe editing the complete transcript from the farbrengen.

Establishment of the Committee for Publishing Sichas

In the early years, the sichos were written down by the "chozrim" (those who would memorize and repeat the Rebbe's words) with the assistance of additional chassidim, and were printed by Tzeirei Agudas Chabad.

In 5727 (1967), Rabbi Ben Tzion Shem Tov decided to strengthen the distribution of the sichos in wider circles, and established the Vaad L'Hafatzas Sichos (Committee for Distributing Sichos). That same year, Rabbi Shem Tov arranged to reprint one of the booklets of "Tochen Inyanim L'Chazaras Dach" (Content Outlines for Reviewing Chassidus) and distribute them weekly throughout New York. When Rabbi Shem Tov prepared the first pamphlet and submitted it to the Rebbe with a notice that they intended to distribute it widely, the Rebbe gave them the name "Likkutei Sichos" and instructed them to add the emblem of the Kehot Publication Society. From then on, the 'Likkutei Sichos' became officially published booklets.

In the winter of 5729 (1969), after printing the sichos from the four existing volumes for two years, Rabbi Shem Tov asked the Rebbe to edit additional sichos for the coming weeks. Towards Shabbos Parshas Mikeitz 5729, a new 'likkut' (compilation) appeared from the Rebbe. However, in total, the sichos were edited by the Rebbe that year for only eight weeks.

The Weekly "Likkut"

In 5730 (1970), when all the old sichos had been used up, the Rebbe began editing a sicha every week for each Shabbos. This arrangement continued for about two years, and from the sichos edited during those years, the sichos appearing in volumes 5-9 were printed.

In 5732 (1972), due to Rabbi Yoel Kahn's involvement in writing Sefer Ha'Arachim (Encyclopedia of Chassidic Concepts), he no longer had time to edit the sichos, and because of this, the Rebbe stopped editing the sichos. In 5733 (1973), the members of the Vaad L'Hafatzas Sichos together approached the Rebbe during the distribution of kos shel bracha at the conclusion of Simchas Torah, and received the Rebbe's blessing for the committee. Subsequently, the Rebbe resumed editing the booklets they prepared, and they began to edit the sichos in Lashon Hakodesh (Hebrew) (due to claims by people with Torah backgrounds who had never seen a scholarly text written in Yiddish). This continued until 5736 (1976), with a brief interruption in 5735 (1975), and from 5736 continuously until the week of Parshas Vayakhel 5752 (1992).

From these sichos, all 39 volumes of Likkutei Sichos were bound, containing 1,228 likkutim (compilations). The last volume was printed in 5761 (2001).

Later, there was a felt need to collect the Rebbe's edited sichos that were not included in this series, and they were published in volume 40 (in two parts) which were released in honor of Yud Shevat 5781 (2021).

Style of the Sichos

Parts 1-4

The 'sichos' (talks) in the first four volumes are from booklets intended for sharing Chassidus in synagogues. For this purpose, talks or maamarim (discourses) delivered by the Rebbe in previous years were selected (and rarely, points from a letter) explaining the fundamentals of Chassidic teachings on the weekly Torah portion. They were edited in a processed format and presented in a simple manner. As required by the purpose of these booklets, the style was slightly modified, and the content was arranged in a different order than originally presented.

In editing these talks for the Rebbe's review, Rabbis Yoel Kahan, Yehoshua Dubrawski, Tzvi Hirsh Gansburg, and Shalom Ber Butman participated, with the final processing before the Rebbe's review done by Rabbi Uriel Tzimmer.

Among Chassidim, it is commonly accepted that the first four volumes of the series contain the foundations of Jewish-Chassidic perspective. Rabbi Yoel Kahan called these volumes: "The American Likutei Torah" (in Yiddish "Der Amerikaner Likutei Torah"). Or: the four parts of "The Chassidic Shulchan Aruch."

Parts 5-9

The talks in these volumes were the first booklets published as "Likutei Sichos," and were intended for distribution among Chabad Chassidim and Jews worldwide. Therefore, the style of these talks changed from their predecessors, and they are edited as novellae on the weekly Torah portions and holidays. The talks generally begin with questions, continue with explanations, and conclude with a directive for divine service. This established the format for talks in the rest of the series.

Additionally, these talks were published after the Rebbe began explaining Rashi's commentary on the Torah weekly in his unique approach, so a large portion of the talks in these volumes (and subsequent volumes) include these explanations. Some talks in these volumes include scholarly discussions on the intellectual aspects of Chassidic teachings, through which the Rebbe's innovations in the most profound subjects became well-known.

Rabbi Yoel Kahan was involved in editing the talks with the assistance of Rabbi Chaim Shalom Dovber Lipsker. The Rebbe instructed that since the talks appear in print, they should be written in a clear manner.

Parts 10-39

In the years when these talks were published, the spreading of Chassidic teachings expanded more and more, and consequently the style of the talks changed slightly to suit the scholarly public, and later also in a simple language for a broader audience. These talks were edited by the Committee for Publishing Sichos, with the editing guided by detailed instructions from the Rebbe, even regarding structure, for example: what should be in the body of the talk and what should be in the footnotes. The Rebbe also insisted that the style and wording be professional and readable, along with amazing precision in every word and letter.

Each talk was usually reviewed by the Rebbe twice, with the second review involving arranging the entire talk in one long column. Sometimes in the second review, the Rebbe changed or added entire sections, often adding sections and topics that were not said in the original talk for various reasons.

Under the Rebbe's instruction, the style in the talks appearing in parts 30-39 was more adapted for Torah scholars who are not familiar with even the simple expressions of the Chassidic world.

Language of Writing

Due to various reasons, some parts of the series appear in Yiddish and others in Lashon Hakodesh (Hebrew).

In the first years after the Holocaust, most of the Chabad Chassidic community were from European countries and their spoken language was Yiddish. This was also the Rebbe's spoken language, and understandably, the talks were written in this language as well.

Over the years, the Chabad settlement in the Holy Land grew, and gradually, especially after the development of the teshuva movement, an increasingly large Chassidic public emerged who did not understand the Rebbe's language, creating a need for talks in Lashon Hakodesh.

At the beginning of 5733 (1972-1973), the Rebbe agreed to begin reviewing the compilations in Lashon Hakodesh. For this purpose, a group of young married scholars studying in the Kollel under the Rebbe's secretariat in Crown Heights was selected.

In the following two years, the compilations in Lashon Hakodesh were published; these are the talks comprising volumes 10-14. Over time, it became apparent that the young scholars involved in preparing the talks were not sufficiently proficient in Lashon Hakodesh, and they did not meet the Rebbe's professional expectations. At the beginning of 5735 (1974-1975), the Rebbe announced that this arrangement could not continue and stopped reviewing the talks for about a year.

During the following year, booklets titled "Likutei Sichos - Unapproved Draft" were published, usually containing processed compilations from that year's talks (5735/1975). Some of them were later reviewed by the Rebbe and printed in the Likutei Sichos books, and some were re-edited, reviewed, and printed in later years. Most were edited in Lashon Hakodesh and some in Yiddish.

In 5736 (1975-1976), the Rebbe resumed reviewing the talks in Yiddish (the talks from volumes 15-29), and only in 5747 (1987) did the Rebbe return to reviewing the talks in Lashon Hakodesh, until Shabbat Parshat Vayakhel 5752 (1992). These are the talks appearing in volumes 30-39.

Structure of the Series

Likutei Sichot on the order of Torah portions (Photo: Shmulik Gevirtz)

The 'Likutei Sichot' book series is arranged according to the order of Torah portions and holidays, and consists of nine 'books' (a book = completion of a series of talks on all Torah portions). The first book, like the second book (out of the nine), is each divided into two volumes, so that volume 1 includes talks on portions of the three books of the Torah: "Bereshit" (Genesis), "Shemot" (Exodus), and "Vayikra" (Leviticus). Volume 2 includes talks on the two books of the Torah: "Bamidbar" (Numbers) and "Devarim" (Deuteronomy). Volumes 3 and 4, which are two parts of the second 'book', are arranged in the same manner.

Starting from the third 'book', each 'book' is divided into five volumes, in a division corresponding to the five books of the Torah, with each volume containing talks related (only) to one of the five books of the Torah. Thus, in each "Likutei Sichot" series, there are nine 'books' on the five books of the Torah.

The series consists of 'compilations' that were published over the years (each week a 'compilation' was published), and after several years when the compilations accumulated, they were printed together in a Likutei Sichot book for a specific Chumash, with each portion featuring between two to five talks in the book.

In addition, these volumes included "Supplements," which are compilations of letters and talks containing explanations, hints, and instructions on matters of weekly Torah portions and holidays, from all parts of the Torah, sometimes briefly and sometimes at length. Even letters that the Rebbe sent to people as responses were collected in the volumes. This began many years before the publication of the Igrot Kodesh series. During these years, this was the only place where the Rebbe's letters were published. The letters were received directly from the recipients and formed the basis for the Igrot series.

Before publishing the talks in book form, the Rebbe edited the talks and letters in the supplements once more, adding and correcting them.

Starting from winter 5738 (1978), the Rebbe would edit, more frequently, complete talks from Shabbat and holiday farbrengens. These talks were printed in the supplements to the last volumes of Likutei Sichot in a separate section, and were arranged according to the date they were delivered (when the editing of farbrengens became a regular practice, they began to print them in separate volumes, which is the series Sefer HaSichot 5747-5752 (twelve volumes, published by the Committee for the Dissemination of Talks).

The series consists of 41 volumes (in addition, there are seven 'index' books).

In 5752 (1992), a special volume titled "Likutei Sichot - Explanations on Likutei Levi Yitzchak on Igeret HaTeshuva" was published. In the new printing, it was printed as part of volume 39 in the general series.

In later years, special compilation series were printed from within these 39 volumes of the general series, such as the "Likutei Sichot Moadim" series, which includes eleven volumes. And like the "Likutei Sichot on Matters of Redemption and Moshiach" series, which includes five volumes.

Towards 10 Shevat 5781 (2021), two supplementary volumes - volume 40 - were published by the Committee for the Dissemination of Talks, containing the Rebbe's edited talks that had not been previously published. The first volume contains complete talks, and the second volume contains excerpts of talks, arranged according to the order they were delivered.

In 5781 (2021), a newly typed edition of volumes 10-14 and volumes 30-39 was printed.

Funding of the Publication

Rabbi Meir Zaintz delivering a new volume in the series to the Rebbe

Among the main donors for the printing of Likutei Sichot and other books of the Committee for the Dissemination of Talks in the past and present are:

Rabbi Chaim Eliezer Lapidot from Argentina.
Rabbi Meir Zaintz from Brazil, who also merited special closeness from the Rebbe in this regard.
Mr. Ze'ev Horowitz from Brazil, who also merited special closeness for this.