7 hours ago

New App: Learn The Rebbe’s Sichos in Yiddish – And Understand Every Word

Farshtey, a free app with no ads, teaches you to read a sicha in the original, one passage at a time — and in the week before Chof Cheshvan, you can learn the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Vayeira 5751 with it, every word and every sentence translated • Read More

Many Chassidim learn the Rebbe’s sichos in translation and feel that something is lost: the flow of the language, the precision of each word. But for anyone who didn’t grow up speaking Yiddish, the original is hard going — unfamiliar words, Lashon Hakodesh woven into the middle of sentences, and verbs that split into two parts. Looking up every word is frustrating; settling for a translation misses the original.

A new app called Farshtey (“understand” in Yiddish) bridges exactly that gap. It divides each sicha into short passages, and every passage has two steps. First, you read the passage in the original: tap any word to see what it means right here, in this sentence — not a generic dictionary entry — how it is read, and its dictionary form: Yiddish, Lashon Hakodesh or an expression. Every sentence also has a full translation. Then comes a short game on the same passage, this time without translations: what does each word mean, and finally a comprehension question on the whole passage. Only then does the next passage open.

This week: the Chof Cheshvan Sicha:

In the week before Chof Cheshvan, the Rebbe Rashab’s birthday, Chassidim in Chabad Houses, yeshivos and shiurim learn the Rebbe’s sicha for Chof Cheshvan. Farshtey includes Sichos Shabbos Parshas Vayeira, 15 MarCheshvan 5751, which opens with the well-known story the Frierdiker Rebbe told about his father: the Rebbe Rashab, at four or five, went in to his grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek, and burst into tears — he had learned in cheder that “Hashem appeared to him”, so why did Hashem appear to Avraham Avinu, and not to us?

From there the sicha turns to the Rebbe Rashab as “the Rambam of Chassidus”, to the founding of Tomchei Temimim, and to a lesson for every Jew — even a “small child”, in years or in knowledge.

The sicha is divided into 25 short passages: a few a day, and by Shabbos — Chof Cheshvan itself — you will have learned the whole sicha, in the original, and understood it.

Alongside Vayeira, the app also has Sichos Shabbos Parshas Bereishis and Lech Lecha 5752, with more to come. Each sicha has its own path: pick one from the list and continue right where you left off. In all: 78 passages, about 15,000 words, every one of them tap-to-translate.

Even if you can’t read Yiddish yet:

A Reading chapter teaches the Yiddish vowel letters — אָ, ע, י, וי, יי — in Chabad pronunciation, with hundreds of words from the sichos themselves, and a reading review before each sicha.

A fixed time to learn – one passage a day:

The daily goal is deliberately modest: one passage a day, with up to three stars per passage, points, eight ranks from Copper to Diamond, and a streak of study days. You can set a daily study reminder, which of course is never sent on Shabbos and Yom Tov, based on your city’s times — and your streak never breaks on them.

Farshtey is completely free, with no ads, no sign-up and no data collection; everything stays on your device. It is available for Android, iPhone and iPad, Windows, and in the browser, with a Hebrew or English interface.

Download the App