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Sichos In English
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ISBN 1-8814-0016-6
5756 • 1996
B"H
The first volume of Proceeding Together translated the earliest talks and letters of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, soon after the passing of his father-in-law and predecessor, the Rebbe Rayatz (Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn) on Yud Shvat 5710 [1950]. This volume translates the second half of the Hebrew original of that work, entitled Toras Menachem -- Hisvaaduyos,, 5710 [1950]. And the series continues.
These talks, like those in the first volume, ring with a distinctive intensity and clarity. Here the Rebbe urges and encourages a generation of bereft chassidim -- and not only the generation of 1950 -- to rally out of unproductive inertia, to borrow strength from the spiritual nearness of their beloved Rebbe even after his histalkus, and, by studying his teachings and striving towards his goals, to establish with him a bond of meaningful hiskashrus.
As to what the Rebbe meant by the terms histalkus ("the passing of a tzaddik"), hiskashrus ("a soul-link"), ruchniyus ("spirituality"), gashmiyus ("materiality"), and many other key concepts, the reader is invited to glance again at the Overview which introduces the first volume in this series.
One day about fifty years ago, a chassid was visiting a farbrengen in the crowded little ground-floor zal at 770 Eastern Parkway. He raised his glass in the direction of the Rebbe Rayatz and, in the tradition of the particular trend of Chassidus in which he had been raised, said, "LeChaim, Rebbe! Yeshuos venechamos!" -- a prayerful wish for "salvations and consolations."
The Rebbe Rayatz sighed and responded: "One salvation -- but a proper one!"*
As we stand at the gateway to the New Year, yearning for salvation and consolation, we wish our readers, together with the entire House of Israel, a year that will bring us the kind of consolation that will come through one big Redemption -- the Redemption which the Rebbe has reassured us is not far ahead.
Chai Elul, 5756 [1996]
As with its predecessor, this volume too was translated by Uri Kaploun; the layout and typography were in the able hands of Yosef Yitzchok Turner; Avrohom Weg designed the cover; and the book was seen through all its publishing stages by Rabbi Yonah Avtzon, Director of
Sichos In English.
* In the original Yiddish, "Ein yeshuah -- ober a rechte!"
