Following the histalkus of the Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana, the Rebbe began expounding on a Rashi from the weekly parsha at every farbrengen. With time, a new approach to Rashi began to formulate, taking Rashi’s statement literally, that he is only coming to explain the simple meaning of the possuk.
At every Shabbos farbrengen, following the maamar, the Rebbe would present several questions on a particular Rashi, contrast it to the source, and compare it with other meforshim. After pausing for a niggun, the Rebbe would enlighten Rashi’s words with a fresh perspective, settling all the issues in one sweeping biur.
However, several weeks before the first yahrtzeit of his mother, the Rebbe expressed disappointment with Chassidim's involvement in the Rashi Sichos. Therefore, the Rebbe said, the sichos would shortly discontinue.
Reb Yosef Waldman, a Crown Heights resident, wrote to the Rebbe, sharing how upset he would be if the Rashi sichos would stop. But after some back and forth, he still hadn’t received a clear response from the Rebbe.
The answer came at the farbrengen on the Shabbos after the yahrtzeit, Vov Tishrei 5726. The Rebbe began the sicha by saying, "A yungerman who is not even from the shpitz Chabad, says that the biurim in Rashi are being koched in, and it’s a geshmake thing..."
The Rebbe then began to expound on a Rashi and continued to do so for decades to come.
