Do · ★ Campaign 7 of the Rebbe’s Ten · order today
Get Jewish books on your shelf
Of all the campaigns, this one surprises people most — because your home can become more Jewish this week without you changing a single habit.
In 1974 the Rebbe asked every Jewish home to fill itself with Jewish books: Bayis Malei Seforim (BAH-yis mah-LEH s’FOR-im), “a house full of holy books.” Specifically, at minimum: a Chumash (KHOO-mahsh — the Five Books of Moses), a Tehillim (teh-HILL-im — the Book of Psalms), and a Siddur (see-DOOR — the prayer book). Many add a Tanya (TAHN-yah), the foundational work of Chabad Chassidic thought.
The How
- Order the basics with English translation. Every Judaica source carries editions made for people starting out; the tools page points you right.
- Give them a visible shelf. Not a drawer. The point is a home that shows what it is.
- If there’s a Jewish child in your life, get them one Jewish book of their own this month — theirs, with their name inside.
The Light
A house is defined by what it contains. The Rebbe taught that Jewish books aren’t furniture for scholars — they change the room they sit in. A home with a Chumash on the shelf is a home where the Torah lives, even before anyone opens it.
And someone always ends up opening it. The books do quiet work: they wait, visibly, until a Friday night, a hard evening, or a curious child finds them. Putting them on the shelf is planting something.