The publication was first issued on the week of Parshat VaYishlach (Gen. 32-36) in late 1986, in honor of the Hassidic holiday of Yud-Tet Kislev, and has been published steadily ever since. Though it was not Israel's first nationally-published weekly Torah journal - Shabbat B'Shabbato of the Center for Religious Education was first; it is now published by the Tzomet Institute - it is arguably the most popular. Some 180,000 copies are printed weekly, including 3,000 that are sent to individuals who pay a yearly subscription fee. The rest are mailed to synagogues around the country - also at a price.
"We have no other way to keep this enterprise going," editor and Chabad spokesman Rabbi Menachem Brod told B'Sheva this week. "If you see copies in a synagogue in Sderot or Kiryat Shmonah, it's because someone paid for them to be delivered." Sichat HaShavua is also known for its minuscule advertising space. It includes only one or two small ads, compared with a manyfold higher proportion in the other weekly Torah sheets.
This week's special issue will be published in 400,000 copies, and will feature, for only the second time in its history, more than the standard four pages. (The other time was on the occasion of the 500th issue.)
Sichat HaShavua features columns that have barely changed over the nearly 20 years: a lead article on current events as viewed through Chabad eyes, thoughts on the weekly Torah portion, a Hassidic story, a summation of a discourse given by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, a question and answer in Jewish Law, a contemporary "Jewish Life" feature, and more.
Rabbi Brod explained that though some Hassidim object to the "political" opening piece, "we feel that we have no choice but to discuss these issues. Many of our readers don't read religious or right-wing papers, and are exposed all week only to public media and the large newspapers. On the Sabbath they come to synagogue, and this is our chance to meet them. Are we permitted to remain 'above the fray,' so to speak, and meanwhile lose the chance to give so many Jews the chance to see events through authentic Jewish eyes?"
Hagit Ritterman of B'Sheva told Rabbi Brod the following story, causing him, she is convinced, to shed a small tear of emotion:
"My older brother once saw some Sichat HaShavua papers scattered on the ground near a bus stop, and he picked them up. 'It's too bad that these words of Torah are on the ground this way,' he said to a religious young man standing there. The youth answered him, 'Maybe it's not so bad; I once found a Sichat HaShavua on the ground, picked it up, and because of what I read there, I became an observant Jew.'"
The festive 8-page issue #1,000 can be downloaded here.
"We have no other way to keep this enterprise going," editor and Chabad spokesman Rabbi Menachem Brod told B'Sheva this week. "If you see copies in a synagogue in Sderot or Kiryat Shmonah, it's because someone paid for them to be delivered." Sichat HaShavua is also known for its minuscule advertising space. It includes only one or two small ads, compared with a manyfold higher proportion in the other weekly Torah sheets.
This week's special issue will be published in 400,000 copies, and will feature, for only the second time in its history, more than the standard four pages. (The other time was on the occasion of the 500th issue.)
Sichat HaShavua features columns that have barely changed over the nearly 20 years: a lead article on current events as viewed through Chabad eyes, thoughts on the weekly Torah portion, a Hassidic story, a summation of a discourse given by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, a question and answer in Jewish Law, a contemporary "Jewish Life" feature, and more.
Rabbi Brod explained that though some Hassidim object to the "political" opening piece, "we feel that we have no choice but to discuss these issues. Many of our readers don't read religious or right-wing papers, and are exposed all week only to public media and the large newspapers. On the Sabbath they come to synagogue, and this is our chance to meet them. Are we permitted to remain 'above the fray,' so to speak, and meanwhile lose the chance to give so many Jews the chance to see events through authentic Jewish eyes?"
Hagit Ritterman of B'Sheva told Rabbi Brod the following story, causing him, she is convinced, to shed a small tear of emotion:
"My older brother once saw some Sichat HaShavua papers scattered on the ground near a bus stop, and he picked them up. 'It's too bad that these words of Torah are on the ground this way,' he said to a religious young man standing there. The youth answered him, 'Maybe it's not so bad; I once found a Sichat HaShavua on the ground, picked it up, and because of what I read there, I became an observant Jew.'"
The festive 8-page issue #1,000 can be downloaded here.