The Tanya () is an early work of Hasidic philosophy by Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Rebbe of Chabad, first published in 1796. Although the first edition was titled Likkutei Amarim (Hebrew: , "collected sayings"), this was downgraded to a subtitle by the second edition of 1798 and replaced by its incipit "tanya" (Aramaic: תניא, "It was taught: they adjure him to be righteous and not evil . . ."). The Tanya is composed of five sections that define Hasidic mystical psychology and theology as a handbook for daily spiritual life in Jewish observance.
The Tanya is the main work of Chabad philosophy and the Chabad approach to Hasidic mysticism, as it defines its general interpretation and method. The subsequent extensive library of the Chabad school, authored by successive leaders, builds upon the approach of the Tanya. Chabad differed from mainstream Hasidism by its philosophical investigation and intellectual analysis of Hasidic Torah exegesis. This emphasised the mind as the route to internalising Hasidic mystical dveikus (emotional fervour), in contrast to general Hasidism's creative enthusiasm in faith. Consequently, Chabad Hasidic writings are typically characterised by their systematic intellectual structure, while other classic texts of general Hasidic mysticism are usually more compiled or anecdotal.
As one of the founding figures of Hasidic mysticism, Schneur Zalman and his approach in the Tanya are revered by some other Hasidic schools, although they tend to avoid its meditative methods. In Chabad, it is called "the Written Torah of Hasidus", with the subsequent Chabad corpus being the analogical Oral Torah. In it, Zalman brings the new interpretations of Jewish mysticism by the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism, into philosophical articulation and definition. This intellectual form synthesises Hasidic concepts of divine omnipresence and Jewish soulfulness with other historical components of Rabbinic literature, embodied in the Talmud, Jewish philosophy, Musar (ethical) literature and Lurianic Kabbalah. The Tanya has therefore been seen in Chabad as the defining Hasidic text and a subsequent stage of Jewish mystical evolution."Five Stages in the Historical Development of Kabbalah" from www.inner.org. "The Development of Kabbalah in Light of Its Main Texts. In this lecture, the five major texts of Kabbalah (Sefer Yetzirah, Zohar, Pardes Rimonim, Eitz Chayim, and Tanya) are the focus of a summary of its development over the ages". Retrieved Nov. 2009
Background to the Chabad approach
The Tanya deals with Jewish spirituality, psychology and theology from the point of view of Hasidic philosophy and its inner explanations of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). It offers advice for each individual on how to serve God in his daily life.
Early Hasidic movement The first few generations of the Hasidic movement established the various approaches of its different schools. The third generation great students of Dov Ber of Mezeritch, who spread out across Eastern Europe, became the leaders of Hasidism in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary and Russia. Among them, Schneur Zalman articulated a different approach to Hasidic philosophy from general Hasidism. The founding Hasidic mysticism of the Baal Shem Tov, and subsequent Hasidic Masters, emphasised the emotions of dveikus to cleave to the Omnipresent Divine. The intellectual ("Chabad") approach of Schneur Zalman, continued by successive Lubavitch Rebbes, emphasised the mind as the route to the inner heart. The Chabad school requires knowledge of Godliness, drawn from Hasidic philosophy, to establish Hasidic mystical faith. This enabled Schneur Zalman to take Hasidus to Lithuanian Jews from nearby White Russia, and aroused the opposition of their early leaders. In this, Chabad is a separate offshoot of general Hasidism, and to its students is the profound fulfillment of systematically articulating its inner depths. Therefore, in Chabad, the Baal Shem Tov and Schneur Zalman, who share the same birthday, are called the "two great luminaries" (after Genesis 1:16, according to the Midrashic account, before the moon was diminished), representing heart and mind.
Kabbalah and Hasidism The historical development of Kabbalah from the 12th century, and its new formulations in the 16th century, explained the subtle aspects and categories of the traditional system of Jewish metaphysics. Hasidic spirituality left aside the abstract focus of Kabbalah on the Spiritual Realms, to look at its inner meaning and soul as it relates to man in this World.Overview of Chassidut from www.inner.org. Retrieved Nov. 2009 The founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, brought the Kabbalistic idea of Omnipresent Divine immanence in Creation into daily Jewish worship of the common folk. This enabled the popularisation of Kabbalah by relating it to the natural psychological perception and emotional dveikus (fervour) of man. The mystical dimension of Judaism became accessible and tangible to the whole community. Outwardly this was expressed in new veneration of sincerity, emphasis on prayer and deeds of loving-kindness. The unlettered Jewish folk were cherished and encouraged in their sincere simplicity, while the elite scholars sought to emulate their negation of ego through study of Hasidic exegetical thought. Hagiographic storytelling about Hasidic Masters captured the mystical charisma of the tzaddik. The inner dimension of this mystical revival of Judaism was expressed by the profound new depth of interpretation of Jewish mysticism in Hasidic philosophy. Great scholars also followed the Baal Shem Tov as they saw the profound meanings of his new teachings. The Baal Shem Tov's successor Dov Ber of Mezeritch became the architect of the Hasidic movement, and explained to his close circle of disciples the underlying meanings of the Baal Shem Tov's explanations, parables and stories.
Chabad Mind versus heart. Among Dov Ber's disciples, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi formed Hasidic philosophy into a profound intellectual system, called "Chabad" after the Kabbalistic terms for the intellect, that differs from mainstream Hasidic emotional approaches to mystical faith. This seeks inward Jewish observance, while seeing charismatic Hasidic enthusiasm as external and downplaying it. The mysticism of Schneur Zalman did not seek cold intellectual investigation. In common with all of Hasidism, it awakens joy and negation of self-awareness, from the Jew's perception of the Divine in all things. But Chabad, later to be called after its Russian village of Lubavitch, sees external emotional expression as superficial if devoid of inner contemplation. In this vein, it is related that the second Lubavitch Rebbe, Dov Ber Schneuri, would pray motionless for hours. Emotional expression was replaced with inner, hidden emotional ecstasy from his intellectual contemplation of Hasidic philosophy during prayer. At the end of praying, his hat and clothing would be soaked in perspiration. Typically, he wrote one of the most personal mystical accounts in Judaism, his "Tract on Ecstasy", that instructs the Chabad follower in the levels of contemplation. This explains his father's concept of the Chabad articulation of Hasidism. While the Baal Shem Tov stressed the heart, Schneur Zalman stressed the mind, but it was a warm, fiery mystical intellectualism.
Intellect versus faith. By giving Hasidus philosophical investigation, the Chabad school explained the inner meanings of the "Torah of the Baal Shem Tov". Its systematic investigation enables the mind to grasp and internalize the transcendent spirituality of mainstream Hasidism. If the mind can bring the soul of Hasidism into understanding and knowledge through logic, then its effects on the person can be more inward. The classic writings of other Hasidic schools also relate the inner mysticism of Hasidic philosophy to the perception of each person. The aim of the Hasidic movement is to offer the Jewish mystical tradition in a new, internal form that speaks to every person. This would awaken spiritual awareness and feeling of God, through understanding of its mystical thought. Mainstream Hasidism relates this mystical revival through charismatic leadership and understanding based faith. The path of Schneur Zalman differs from other Hasidism, as it seeks to approach the heart through the development of the mind. Chabad writings of each generation of its dynasty, develop this intellectual explanation of Hasidic mystical ideas, into successively greater and more accessible reach. In recent times the last two Rebbes expressed the spiritual warmth of Chabad in terms of daily reality, language and relevance, in the Yiddish translations and memoires of Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, and especially the Likkutei Sichos of Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Chabad Hasidus and other dimensions of Jewish thought. Because the approach of Chabad explains Hasidus in intellectual form, it can incorporate into its explanation the other aspects of historical Jewish thought. Complimentary or initially contradictory explanations of Jewish thought from Rabbinic Judaism, Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah can become synthesised into one unity. It can connect the different disciplines of mysticism (Kabbalah) and Jewish philosophy (Hakira), by relating to a higher, essential unity in Divinity, that harmonises diverse ideas. This approaches classic questions of theology from a different route than Hakira. The Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages, such as Maimonides, reconciled Judaism with Greek philosophy. Their explanations of the nature of the Divine, are related from man's independent understanding from first principles. Hasidic thought looks to the inner meaning of Kabbalah, a conceptual system of metaphysics from mystical encounters with revelation. The insights it brings to theological questions, brought out in its Chabad explanation, are related from a mystical, higher reality "from above". When Hasidic thought addresses traditional questions, such as Divine Providence, immanence and transcendence, it offers "Inner Torah" explanations of spirituality, that can also be harmonised with the explanations of the "Revealed Torah". It is the ability of Hasidic thought to bring the abstract, esoteric systems of Kabbalah into conscious perception and mystical faith, by relating them to man's inner psychological awareness. The ideal of the Chabad approach is to articulate this spiritual perception in terms of man's understanding and knowledge.Overview of recent academic study of Habad philosophy ("Contemporary Habad and the Paradox of Redemption" by Naftali Loewenthal, in Perspectives on Jewish thought and mysticism) Google books. Retrieved Nov. 2009
Structure According to legend, Rabbi Shneur Zalman published his Likkutei Amarim anonymously in 1797. Later editions incorporated additional writings by Shneur Zalman. The latest version of this work, dating from 1814, consists of five parts: