New Children’s Book Highlights Stories by the Frierdiker Rebbe

Newly adapted from the writings of the Friediker Rebbe, The Lamdonis tells the story of the Alter Rebbe’s aunt, Rebbetzin Devorah Leah of Vitebsk. It is the work of Chabad scholar Eli Rubin, who adapted the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words to make them more accessible for his own children.

Devorah Leah was a little girl with a big secret. She lived at a time when there were no Jewish schools for girls, and many people thought that girls shouldn’t learn Torah at all. But Devorah Leah taught herself to read, and began studying chumash all by herself. Soon she would discover that her own mother had a secret too… “Eventually, Devorah Leah became a great lamdonis, a lady who knew lots and lots of Torah, just like her mother.” Rebbetzin Rivkah, the mother of the Alter Rebbe, would later become her student, learning chumash, halachah, kabbalah, and chassidus.

The Lamdonis includes 11 chapters, mainly adapted from the second volume of Lubavitcher Rebbin’s Zichroines, vol 2. It also incorporates material from vol. 1, and from Likutei Dibburim. A note on sources includes a table showing where you can find the original Yiddish sources for each section.

This new book is the work of the Chabad scholar Eli Rubin, who translated and abridged the Frierdiker Rebbe’s words to make them more accessible for his own children.

“Devorah Leah and her brother Boruch,” he explains, “are the main characters in Zichroines. But there are many other story cycles that tend to loop back in time, which makes it difficult for young readers to follow the main plot of the story. The Lamdonis streamlines the narrative to bring Devorah Leah’s story into sharper focus.”

The Lamdonis can be ordered from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and other online bookstores.

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Eli Rubin is a contributing editor at Chabad.org and the author of Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity: An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism (Stanford University Press, 2025).