Welcome to Kol Menachem

Testimonials Haggadah:

Harav Moshe Wolfson shlita:
"I have never seen a Haggadah like this"

Many thanks for the beautiful Haggadah "Kol Menachem" which you so kindly sent me. From all the Haggados that I have set my eyes upon I have seen never seen something like this. In terms of content, it includes a fabulous selection from the great Jewish sages, and each reader will find something of personal relevance. Everyone who sees it will be impressed. The centerpiece contains the commentary and thoughts of the Ga'on of our generation, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, the Rebbe of Lubavitch ??????"?, whose influence has spread across the full spectrum of Jewish life, from the very closest of Jews to the most distant, "to call them all in the name of G-d, to serve Him in unity."

It is not only the soul of this Haggadah that is exceptional, that is to say, the Torah illumination within it, but also its external appearance. The luxurious binding, the clear, beautiful typography, draw and rouse the reader, "Arise, read me, and you will find satisfaction."

It is a great privilege for you to have published this Haggadah for the Jewish people to enjoy and delight in, and to bring nachas to the Rebbe H"TKLLH, and, most importantly, to the Creator, blessed be His Name. May you likewise merit to publish more sefarim, and to illuminate the world with Torah and Chassidus...

Harav Moshe Wolfson
Mashgiach Ruchani, Yeshivah Torah v'Daas
Rav of Beis Midrash Emunas Yisroel.
(Free translation).

The new Haggadah, with comments by Rabbi Chaim Miller, is an excellent addition to the various Haggadot that have brought a variety of valuable insights into the traditional text. The current edition specializes in the insights of the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Many have heard of the late Rebbe and his proactive outreach to the entire Jewish community, but unfortunately not enough have taken advantage of the publication of his various commentaries and insights to sharpen their own minds and expand their own hearts. This Haggadah is an especially good introduction to the treasury of his creativity. The citations... enhance the age-old narrative of slavery and freedom, oppression and joy -- a gateway to the world of Hasidism, especially on the tradition of Lubavitch.

Rabbi Norman Lamm.
Chancellor, Yeshivah University.

I write these words on the eve of Purim. At this time of year I receive, from authors and favorite bookstores, a number of new Haggados shel Pesach. I choose one for special study. There is no doubt that this year my selection will be the Kol Menachem, compiled and adapted by my dear friend Rabbi Chaim Miller with commentary and insights from the works of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l.

The layout of the basic Haggadah text is pleasing to the eye, artistically beautiful, and clear, and it contains explanatory notes which are helpful to the beginner Seder leader as well as to the most educated veteran.

But the commentary is the true tour de force of this work. It provides important material in four areas of interest: The text itself, Jewish law, personal growth, and mystical/inspirational themes. In each of these four areas, the editor is able to provide classical sources and comments from the Rebbe which are original, which are startlingly relevant to contemporary life, and which are of practical help to every level of reader.

I was particularly impressed by the material on personal growth, and the discussions of a large number of psychological and educational problems that we all face. For example, the Rebbe discusses the inner tensions that exist within us all; the darker side of the wise son; estranged brothers; shedding our preconceptions; dealing with the negative influences of our environment; and answers the provocative question, “Should Jews be insular?”

If there is a Haggadah for Everyman, this is it. I heartily recommend this Haggadah to all who wish to be enlightened by the Rebbe’s precious insights, and who wish to promote their own spiritual development and education of their inner selves.

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
Executive Vice President
The Orthodox Union

There are many different haggadot which can make the Seder more meaningful. Yet the Kol Menachem Haggadah is in a class by itself. Put together by Rabbi Chaim Miller, this beautifully produced volume presents for the first time the insights of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, on this central text. The Rebbe's enormous achievements in so many areas of Jewish life had the unintended consequence that many non-Lubavitchers are unaware of the Rebbe's complete mastery and exegetcal brilliance in all areas of Torah knowledge. Rabbi Miller is to be congratulated for helping bring the Rebbe's great insights to the wider Jewish public.

Marc B. Shapiro
Weinberg Chair of Judaic Studies
University of Scranton

This beautiful new Haggadah presents the English reader with both classic explanations and a selection of the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, regarding the Exodus from Egypt, the Haggadah and the Seder rituals. The compiler has skillfully presented these teachings so as to provide illuminating insights that can be brought to the Passover table. Its availability with the Ashkenazic Haggadah text will clearly make it a wonderful selection for a wide cross-section of the Jewish community.

Lawrence H. Schiffman,
Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies
Chair of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic studies
New York University

The Kol Menachem Haggadah continues in the style of the Gutnick Edition of the Chumash that we have come to so appreciate. The “Classic Questions” section provides immediate access and pithy commentary to fundamental issues raised by the Ba’alei Hagaddah, and the Toras Menachem offers the Rebbe’s astute textual analyses and inspiring insights. This Haggadah will take a welcome place at our family seder.

Karen Bacon
Dean, Stern College for Women, Yeshiva University

"Sometimes a person's spiritual greatness is so overpowering that we lose sight of his supreme scholarship and towering intellect. The new Haggadah in the Kol Menachem series allows us to remind ourselves of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's uniqueness as master preacher and commentator, finding new insights in the passages well known to all of us at the Passover Seder rooted in fascinating and novel interpretations of classic texts. To peruse this outstanding collection of a Rabbinic giant of our times fills us with awe at the Rebbe's wisdom in every field of knowledge - and provides us with much new material to share with our families at the holiday meal that calls for discussion and dialogue"

Rabbi Benjamin Blech
author of "The Complete Idiots Guide to Understanding Judaism"

The Gutnick Library of Jewish Classics once again presented a beautiful work with the Kol Menachem Haggadah. The set-up of the contents is very helpful and user-friendly: the Haggadah-text itself, the relevant instructions for the procedures of the Seder, the section of classic questions on the various passages and their answers, and the more elaborate commentary, are expertly separated with clear notation of the sources. In short, this new and attractively printed Haggadah is very handy and useful for everyone, and no doubt will help make the experience of the Seder both enlightening and inspiring. Thank you again for a job well done.

Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet,
Professor-emeritus of Philosophy,
Humber College, Toronto.

With the Gutnick Haggadah on the table, no Seder can ever fade into a mere annual replay of fond phrases and familiar customs.Like Jacob's ladder, this Haggadah has its feet on the ground, while its head soars above the clouds. Combining serious chassidic scholarship with userfriendly accessibility, Rabbi Chaim Miller guides every reader through all the practical details, but at the same time shows him how to fly out of his homemade cage - his personal Egypt of mediocre goals, mental boredom and spiritual fatigue. No personal Exodus could be more exhilarating!

Uri Kaploun,
Translator of numerous Chasidic Texts

Thirteen Principles of Faith

Testimonials:

Without exaggeration this is one of the finest resource/study texts that I have encountered in the English language. Together with meticulous methodical research, clarity, lucidity in writing and comprehensiveness, this volume is filled with important informative knowledge and relevant concepts.
Your format of structuring the work in specific lessons, organized by excellent analysis of the subject makes this a natural and effective book to be used in both adult education and formal school environments…
Almighty G-d granted you the ability and merit to bring holy concepts to the wider community in a manner that is easily digestible and enjoyable. The Rebbe surely has much nachas from you as you prepare the world for the coming of Moshiach.

Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar
“The Shul,” Bal Harbour, Florida

A thorough presentation of Judaism's core principles, this book is an excellent resource which will join the ranks of the few, far too few, books that dispel myths and offer a sophisticated approach to Jewish thought, both for individual and group study. Its step by step lessons do all the homework for you, providing teachers with a fully prepared series of classes.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson, author Toward a Meaningful Life

I am very impressed by Rabbi Chaim Miller’s anthology-analysis of Rambam’s Principles of the Faith – Principles VIII-IX. Evidently a lot of thought, and immense effort and labour, went into producing this illuminating work. The scholarship is profound and thorough, yet the arrangement of the material is well-organized into easily understandable lessons following a logical sequence of issues and concepts implicit in the basic principles, to present a user-friendly text from which both scholar and layman will benefit greatly. The insertion of invaluable insights from Chassidic sources, and in particular from the vast treasure of the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, provide a truly original work which casts new light and understanding unto this all-important subject-matter. I congratulate “Kol Menachem – The Gutnick Library of Jewish Classics” for providing this intellectually, spiritually and physically beautiful volume, and look forward to the joy of subsequent instalments.

Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet, noted scholar and author.

Despite the ferment plea of the Rambam, for the primacy of the study of the fundamentals of our belief system, this cardinal discipline has hitherto remained an esoteric, arcane closed book, impenetrable and unintelligible to the average layman. Now, for the first time the Gutnick Library of Jewish Classics has made the Rambam's Principle of Faith - the most widely accepted creedal statement of Judaism – accessible to all.
In a masterful, monumental achievement, combining remarkable scholarly erudition, extensive research, elegance and eloquence of style with clarity and lucidity, the editors have managed to synopsize complex, enigmatic theological issues without sacrificing accuracy and profundity.
Drawing upon the classical figures of medieval Jewish philosophy together with the illuminating light of Chasidic thought, the reader is offered a panoramic view, breathtaking in depth and scope, of the very essence of Jewish belief. This indispensable, authoritative, seminal work, which is both comprehensive and systematic, does not shy away from grappling with philosophical issues of particular interest to the modern reader. Both the scholar and the uninitiated, the seeker and the committed will find great insights, inspiration and material for further reflection in this veritable trove.

Rabbi Yosef Y. Chazan,
Holy Law South Broughton Congregation,
Manchester, England.

The first impression that strikes any student of Rambam's Mishneh Torah is the perfection of its thematic structure. The second is its distinctive lucidity. Little wonder, then, that when a scholar who is steeped in the writings of Rambam addresses a classic subject such as his Thirteen Principles of Faith, he produces a masterpiece that emulates those qualities quite spontaneously - structure and lucidity. In this work, echoing Rambam's own writings, each Principle divides into a dozen or so closely-defined lessons, and each lesson in turn comprises self-sufficient subsections. Rabbi Chaim Miller has created a mosaic of rare beauty.
Uri Kaploun, Translator of Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, Likutei Diburim and other Chasidic texts.

Congratulations and thanks for another fine piece of scholarship and presentation. The clarity of the layout and of the explanation make it accessible to all, without sacrificing depth.
I look forward to a Hebrew edition, which will contain the original sources, for Yeshiva students and lomdim…Chazak ve'ematz!

Rabbi Levy Wineberg, Rav of Johannesburg S.A., Translator of Lessons in Tanya.

Your taking the Rambam’s Thirteen Principles of Faith from the back burner of Jewish scholarship and putting them on the front burner is a monumental service to Klal Yisrael! Rabbi Miller’s brilliant, pervasive mind and soul satisfying exposition of Principles Eight and Nine is amazing – unparalleled! Your applying the Rebbe’s teachings to these principles is nothing less than paving the way for the arrival of Moshiach tzidkenu.

Rabbi Moshe Feller, Executuve Director, Chabad-Lubavitch – Upper Midwest Merkos

Your book was released today in Yerushalayim, and somehow already made its way to the Mayanot Zal… When I picked up your absolutely astonishing and awesome work that was on the table, right before putting my talis on, I couldn’t put it down for well over an hour.
I am enthralled by your idea, and more importantly, by the extraordinarily effective and brilliant manner in which you carried it out.
Finally the Rebbe’s Torah is being presented in all its grandeur, intensity and genius…This is the TRUE hafatzas ha’mayanos, showing how yesodos ha-Torah and pnimiyus ha-Torah are one and the same and completely interdependent.

Rabbi Shmuel Braun, Mayanot Institute of Jewish Studies

Bravo! on a brilliant and beautiful articulation of the Rebbe's essential, illuminatory Torah on the fundamentals of Yiddishkeit.
It is imperative to disseminate this work - starting with Lubavitch's own English -speaking population. I encourage you to have it translated into Hebrew and other languages. This volume is hafatzas ha’mayanos at its finest. Kein Yirbeh!

Rabbi Moishe New, Montreal Torah Center

This book is a revelation for all Klal Yisrael; the foundations of chasidic thought have never been available in such detail. It should be incorporated into the school curiculum at many different levels; it is an ideal tool for shluchim, especially those devoted to adult education and campus work, and it is required knowledge for every G-d fearing Jew.

Rabbi Nosson Gurary,
Shliach to Buffalo, NY. Author of books on Chasidic Thought.

I was impressed with this work...Since these are "Principles of Faith" it is essential that they be clearly understood so that there be no misinterpretations nor misunderstandings. Studying a sefer such as this which is based on the interpretations and insights of the Rebbe zy"a ensures that one will have the proper hashkofa and true understanding of these principles.
The wonder of this sefer is that Rabbi Miller, who compiled this work,
gathered all the relevant information that are found in the Rebbe's prolific
writings. This has now been collected in one sefer and this will make it
possible for one to find all the Rebbe's explanations on these subjects in
one place with complete clarity.

Yashar Kochacha for this immense undertaking and for the worthy contribution
this will give to those who study the works of the Rebbe.

Rabbi Y. Leib Schapiro, Dean of Yeshivah Gedolah Rabbinical College of Miami

Congratulations on releasing a book that deals with the fundamentals
of our faith. The chapters address core questions of our belief with
clarity and lucidity and bring to light many of the Rebbe's teachings
on the subject. This book should be added to the curriculum of
high-school students.

Rabbi Sholom Ber Groner, Johannesburg South Africa.

A true masterpiece! The clarity with which each opinion is presented and the entire structure of the book is phenomenal....As one who has been working with this subject for years, it is a teacher’s dream come true.

Rabbi Shloma Majeski, Principal Machon Chana

I couldn't put it down for over a week!

Rabbi Chaim Mentz, Chabad of Bel Air

Aesthetically beautiful…loaded with a tremendous amount of very useful information, magnificently organized and very helpful to every reader, no matter his or her background in Torah learning.

Rabbi Benjamin Blech, author of The Complete Idiots Guide to Understanding Judaism, Associate Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University.

A brilliant body of work that traces Maimonides’ ideas back to their roots in core textual sources…I would not be exaggerating if I said that by addressing these core issues Rabbi Miller has opened up the gates of true understanding to the English speaking Jewish community.

Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, Agudas Achim Synagogue; Dean, Institute of American and Talmudic law; Scholar in residence, Chabad of Midtown Manhattan

Harav Moshe Wolfson shlita: "I have never seen a Haggadah like this"

Harav Moshe Wolfson shlita:
"I have never seen a Haggadah like this"