Tanya

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Tanya Rabbati, a 16th-century Italian code of Jewish law, is an unrelated work with a similar
name. For other uses, see Tanya (disambiguation).

Edition of the Tanya printed in Faid from 1974. The 7th leader of Chabadencouraged new printings to
be made in remote places.
The Tanya ( )is an early work ofHasidic philosophy, by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder
of ChabadHasidism, first published in 1797. Its formal title is Likkutei Amarim ( ,Hebrew,
"collection of statements"), but is more commonly known by its opening word, Tanya, which means "it
was taught in a beraita". It is composed of five sections that define Hasidic mystical psychology and
theology as a handbook for daily spiritual life in Jewish observance.

The Tanya, written by Shneur Zalman of Liadi, is the main work of the 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" in its search for
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. As a consequence, 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 in nature.
As one of the founding figures of Hasidic mysticism, Schneur Zalman and his approach in the
Tanya are venerated by other Hasidic schools, although they tend to avoid
its meditative methods. In Chabad, it is called "the Written Torah of Hasidus", with the many
subsequent Chabad writings being relatively "Oral Torah" explanation. In it, Schneur 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 Divine
Omnipresence and Jewish soulfulness with other historical components of Rabbinic literature,
embodied in the Talmud, Medieval 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.[1]