This week in....
24 Shevat
5723-1963, the newly-recorded volume IV of Nichoach — Chabad Melodies was presented to the Rebbe by its director, Rabbi Shmuel Zalmanov. The Rebbe listened to it along with Rabbi Zalmanov, and pointed out how some songs should be improved, while others earned his praise. “I never heard this song before, but it is a very heartfelt melody,” he said about one. About another song, which he had previously taught to the chasidim, the Rebbe remarked, “This is exactly how I had heard it!”
24 Shevat
5744-1984, while referencing an idea he read in a Torah index, the Rebbe spoke about how beneficial these indexes and encyclopedias — a modern innovation to Torah literature — are for scholars, who can pull up sources on a specific subject quickly, freeing up time for actual study, as well as to the average person who otherwise would be unable to locate the material at all. “Some are embarrassed to use these books, fearing they might be suspected of not being a Torah scholar, so I am explicitly stating that I found the following information about the 24th of Tevet in the book Devar Yom Beyomo and there is nothing to be ashamed about.”
- Personal diary of Rabbi Leibel Groner, the Rebbe’s secretary
- Torat Menachem 5744 vol. 2 p. 980
