Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, who is also known as the Rebbe Rayatz, first visited America in 1929, and settled there in 1940. His proactive encouragement of rabbinic and lay leaders to take the offensive against the ravages of assimilation turned the tide in many American communities, as well as throughout the global Jewish community.

Until now, these impassioned talks were accessible only in the original Yiddish, except for partial translations into Hebrew. The newly-released inaugural English volume explores his in-depth responses to the intense climactic year of World War II, to the bombardment of Warsaw, to the resigned attitude of some American Jewish leaders to assimilation, and to the secular indoctrination of refugee children in Israel. All in all, this volume is a veritable symphony of inspirational teachings, pungent pointers to personal growth, portraits of vintage chassidim and heartwarming narratives.

This series, translated by Uri Kaploun, is published by Sichos In English in conjunction with Kehot Publication Society, which was founded in 1942 by the Rebbe Rayatz. Under the leadership of his successor, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, these Lubavitch publishing houses have brought Torah education to nearly every Jewish community in the world, and together are the world's largest publisher of Jewish literature. More than 100,000,000 volumes have been disseminated to date in Hebrew, Yiddish, English, Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Farsi and Arabic.