Photo: Cover of the book "LEARNING FROM TANYA". Learning from the Tanya offers a key for unlocking the mysteries of one of the most extraordinary books of moral teachings ever written. A seminal document in the study of Kabbalah, the Tanya explores and solves the dilemmas of the human soul by arriving at the root causes of its struggles. Though it is a classic Jewish spiritual text, the Tanya and its commentary take a broad and comprehensive approach that is neither specific to Judaism nor tied to a particular personality type or time or point of view. (384 Pages)

In LEARNING FROM THE TANYA, Steinsaltz speaks to readers on all levels of familiarity with Kabbalah and provides an eye-opening and easily comprehensible line-by-line commentary on chapters 13-26 of the Tanya, a seminal work of Hasidic thought. Throughout his commentary, Steinsaltz offers many insights into basic concepts in Jewish mysticism through the use of metaphors, parables, and real-life stories of the Hasidic masters, helping him to transform an often cryptic source text into applicable life lessons and a formula for spiritual growth. In line with the goal of the Tanya itself, Rabbi Steinsaltz aims to reveal the root causes of human failings and to devise comprehensive solutions," thus directing readers in their quest for self-improvement and achieving closeness to God.

Photo :Opening the Tanya:  Discovering the Moral and Mystical Teachings of a Classic Work of Kabbalah

The Tanya was written in 1797 by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, one of the most influential leaders and scholars in the Hasidic community of White Russia (now Belarus). Steinsaltz calls Tanya, so named for the Hebrew word meaning "it has been taught," a "lucid and systematic articulation of the fundamentals of Hasidic teaching."  LEARNING FROM THE TANYA, along with its predecessor Opening the Tanya, is Steinsaltz's response to a concern that much of modern society is unprepared to tackle difficult source texts on spirituality like the Tanya. He endeavors to bring the universal ideas of the Tanya to a level which every human being can grasp and bring into his/her own life.  The Tanya's significance in Jewish philosophy can be primarily attributed to its main character - the intermediate man, or beinoni. "The aim of the mussar (moral teaching) books, and the ideal to which they strive to elevate the human being, is the ideal of the tzaddik, 'the perfectly righteous individual,'" he writes. "In contrast, Tanya was written for intermediates...Not everyone can achieve [being a tzaddik], and not everyone is expected to. Instead, the beinoni is presented as the ideal that everyone can and must attain." It is the Tanya's realistic approach to character growth and its recognition of natural human shortcomings that gives it the universal appeal Steinsaltz builds upon in his commentary.