The Sfas Emes Al HaTorah, by Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter of Gur (1847-1905), has both fascinated and frustrated the Torah world for generations. On the one hand the Gerrer Rebbe introduces the reader to profound worlds of thought insight into the metaphors of the Torah. Mitzvos and the classic sayings of Chazal are infused with a new breath of life when the Sfas Emes explains them. On the other, even the most experienced Torah scholars find the Sfas Emes incredibly difficult to learn. The sefer is separated into thirty years of writings that require poring patiently over each source to get a full understanding.
This book is not a translation of the Sfas Emes, but a series of essays on the weekly parashiyos using ideas that the Sfas Emes presents, rewritten and explained in a clear and readable fashion. Through its pages the reader will gain unique insights into such basic Jewish subjects as Free Will, Shabbos , the Patriarchs, Prayer, Eretz Yisrael, and more., With this in hand, he has the tools to open the Sfas Emes himself and study the Gerrer Rebbe’s holy words.