![]() ![]() It is almost two hundred pages into the book until he assumes the mantle of leadership as the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. Given that Rabbi Schneerson was so multi-faceted, such a polymath, so prolific, and his published works number over three hundred volumes (with more being edited), it is no wonder that it is difficult for him to be reduced to any single biography.Ī major contribution of Turning Judaism Outward (the title comes from a description of the Rebbe’s work by Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks) is information about the Rebbe’s youth, childhood, and early years. Each biographer brings his own perspective to the task. In truth, if one were to synthesize all the attempts to chronicle the life of this iconoclastic Hasidic master, there might be an approximate appreciation of his greatness. His thoroughness notwithstanding, Miller’s claim that no others have written accurate biographies of the Rebbe, or that this is the only authentic biography, is somewhat disingenuous. Miller has sifted through thousands of documents, sermons, official records, letters, discourses, diaries, testimonies, interviews, and newspaper accounts, and carefully footnoted everything. The only caveat is that the scholarly biographer, Chaim Miller, is a Lubavitcher Hasid whose admiration for the Rebbe occasionally lapses into reverential hyperbole. The latest study, Turning Judaism Outward, is the product of prodigious research and adds much new information. Many biographers have attempted to capture and explain the essence and singularity of the Rebbe. The phenomenon of a brilliant and very private man thrust into a position of leadership, who led a revolution of outreach to the Jewishly unaffiliated, galvanized a Hasidic revival, and inspired an army of followers all over the world while rarely leaving a square block in Brooklyn cries out for analysis. Rabbi Wisnefsky has provided a valuable service to English readers since these transcribed talks were originally delivered in Yiddish. Each short comment is distilled from many different sources to present an inspirational and informative nugget. In this manner one can review a section each day and be enriched with the wisdom and insight of this great teacher in 378 installments. ![]() The book is divided into seven sections corresponding to the seven days of the week as well as the seven portions that are read in the synagogue on the Sabbath every week. ![]() Much of the Rebbe’s writings and discourses focused on the weekly Torah portion that is traditionally reviewed prior to the Sabbath, and Daily Wisdom presents snippets of this commentary. The twentieth anniversary of the death of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, has spawned a number of biographies and other works disseminating his teachings. ![]()
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