Toras Chaim (Chabad)


Toras Chaim is a two-volume work of Hasidic discourses on the books of Genesis and Exodus by the second rebbe of the Chabad dynasty, Dovber Schneuri. The work is arranged according to the weekly Torah portion.
The treatises in Toras Chaim long and complex, and elucidate of concepts discussed in Likutei Torah/Torah Or.

Publication

Kapust

The first printing of Toras Chaim occurred during Rabbi Dovber's lifetime; it was printed in Kapust in 1826. This edition contained Hasidic treatises covering just the first half of the book of Genesis.

Warsaw

The next edition of Toras Chaim was published in Warsaw, in 1866. The edition was published by Rafael Mordechai Schneerson, the great-nephew of Dovber Schneuri, together with Schneur Schneerson, a grandson of Dovber. This edition included treatises covering the second half of the book of Genesis.

Shanghai

In 1946, the Chabad yeshiva in Shanghai and the central Chabad publishing house, Kehot Publication Society, republished the Warsaw edition of Toras Chaim. Additionally, a series of unpublished Hasidic treatises by Dovber covering the book of Exodus were included in a separate second volume. The edition was published. The second volume was never typeset. Instead, those treatises remained a photocopy of the original handwritten transcripts.

Brooklyn

The central Chabad publishing house in Brooklyn, Kehot Publication Society, republished Toras Chaim in 1974, 1993 and 2004. The 2004 edition is a 1,812 page, three-volume set; the Exodus treatises have been typeset and all treatises include extensive footnotes and annotations.