Reshimot
One who contributes from his wealth for the purpose of writing or publishing a sefer of a Tzaddik –
Behold, at any given time, and in any corner of the world, that a person studies from this sefer, the Tzaddik [on high] evokes merit on behalf of the donor through whom the sefer was disseminated.
—The Rebbe, Igrot Kodesh, vol 2
The Rebbe’s Reshimot comprise a vast treasury of private Torah manuscripts written over more than two decades, from 5688–5710 (1928–1950). Preserved by the Rebbe throughout his years of travel and upheaval, these notebooks were discovered among his personal papers following his passing.
Written in an exceptionally concise hand, the Reshimot contain original insights, analyses, and source collections spanning every area of Torah scholarship. Their pages explore the legal and non-legal passages of the Talmud, Chassidus and Kabbalah, Jewish law and custom, Biblical and Midrashic interpretation, ethics, and the service of G-d.
Presented in their original text together with expanded editorial annotations, references, and explanatory notes, the Reshimot open a unique window into the Rebbe’s thought during the years preceding his leadership. Many themes that would later become central to his public teachings appear here in their earliest expression, while countless other insights are found nowhere else in his published works.
The publication of the Reshimot represents one of the most significant publishing achievements in contemporary Chabad-Lubavitch history, making available a remarkable body of Torah previously known only to the Rebbe himself.
