A sequential approach to Teshuvah from the authors perspective and topics important to Teshuvah in the modern age.

1. Likkutei Amarim -- 2. Shaar hayichud vehaemunah : iggeret hateshuvah --.

This book is an introduction to Rabbi Schneur Zalman's Chasidic philosophy, which is a synthesis of the mystical, rational and ethical currents of Jewish thought. In Chabad chasidism the esoteric teachings of kabbalah are explained and harmonized with the practical guidance of Jewish law. This authoritative study traces Chabad philosophy to its origins in Jewish sacred literature, including the Talmud and Midrash, and explores its relationship to other trends in Jewish philosophy. A supplement of selected readings from the Tanya allows (...) the reader to become acquainted with the style and method of Rabbi Schneur Zalman's own writing. (shrink)

Haḳdmat ha-ʻorekh -- Le-harim et ha-shamayim -- Ḥalomot gedolim -- Zeman -- Torah -- Tefilah -- Teshuvah -- Ḥinukh -- Yaḥid ṿe-yaḥad -- Ahavat Yiśraʼel -- Ḥerut ṿe-ḥitḥadshut -- Galut ṿe-Geʼulah -- Adam ṿe-ʻolam -- Ish ha-maʻalah.

heleḳ 1. Be-reshit, Shemot, va-Yikra -- heleḳ 2. ba-Midbar, Devarim.

ḥeleḳ 1. Be-Sefer ha-Zohar ha-ḳadosh ṿe-Tiḳune ha-Zohar, hashmaṭot ha-Zohar, Zohar ḥadash, Sefer ha-Bahir --.

ḥelek 1. kolel beʼurim ʻal pereḳ ha-haḳdamah le-Shaʻar ha-yiḥud ṿeha-emunah. "Ḥanokh la-naʻar" --.

1. Moʻadim u-zemane ha-shanah, Elul-Adar -- 2. Moʻadim u-zemane ha-shanah, Nisan-Av.

In the Paths of Our Fathers provides a sampler of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's unique approach to Pirkei Avot. It shows the connections to points of Jewish law and reveals the influence of Jewish mystical teachings in these sayings. The Rebbe's emphasis, as always, is upon how their wisdom can be applied in real life for the sake of personal growth and spiritual understandings.

Le...rabi Shneʼor Zalman Meliyadi baʻal ha-tania ṿeha-shulḥan ʻarukh.

Wolfson, using literary analysis, produced an excellent study of the mystical views of Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson, the last Lubavich Rebbe. This work should serve as paradigmatic for the study of Jewish mystical thought.

Way am I here? Do my actions make a differene? Can I change my future? These age old questions receive fresh answers in The divine commandments, a philosophical analysis of the concept ot a mitzvah. The study of the mystical dimension of G-d's commands and the potential in human action to influence the world gives new purpose to life and new joy to living.

[1]. Shaʻar ha-yiḥud ṿeha-emunah -- [2]. Igeret ha-teshuvah.

Reuven Leigh provides the first in-depth introduction to the pioneering philosophy of Rabbi Shalom Schneersohn. Bringing him into dialogue with key continental philosophers Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida and Julia Kristeva, this book reveals how Schneersohn's views anticipated many prominent themes in 20th-century thought. Shalom Schneersohn (1860-1920) was the fifth Rebbe of the Habad-Lubavitch dynasty. He was a traditional, kabbalistic thinker and yet, beyond mysticism, he wrote extensively on speech, gender and the body. So why is he not better known? (...) Leigh begins by uncovering and contesting numerous scholarly assumptions that have operated to exclude traditional rabbinic thinkers from contemporary philosophical debates. Seeking to correct this, this book offers a close reading of Schneersohn's 1898 discourses. With the disruption of traditional binary structures being the dominant theme pervading Schneersohn's work, Leigh challenges Levinas' controversial ideas on the feminine. Examining Schneersohn on language, too, he highlights how Derridean deconstruction involves a more positive approach to presence that was already anticipated in the writings of Schneersohn. And from the disruption of the hierarchy of signification to the semiotic aspect of language and the maternal body, this book demonstrates how Schneersohn foreshadows a number of Kristeva's central philosophical concerns. A wide-ranging and inclusive volume, The Philosophy of Rabbi Shalom Schneersohn demonstrates not only how forward-thinking Schneersohn's ideas were a century ago, but how relevant they still are today. (shrink)

The sources to which one has to turn for information about the lives of Hasidic masters belong to the hagiographical tradition. During its first stage of compilation in the early nineteenth century, this tradition preserved much authentic historical and biographical material, in spite of the explicit disavowal of any historiographical intent by its editors. They were apologetic about the publication of "mere tales and histories" whose value lay not in the preservation of historical records but rather in their capacity for (...) moral and religious edification. Up until then, this material had been circulating orally but, in contrast to speculative-homiletical works, was not recognized as a legitimate and useful tool for the propagation of Hasidism. However, from the second half of the nineteenth century, in response to the challenges of Jewish Enlightenment, secularization, and most directly in response to the scornful critique of Hasidism and its hagiography which was emanating from the new school of modern Jewish historiography, Hasidic authors, like the exponents of other nineteenth-century ideologies, were beginning to appeal to history for validation. They were adopting the scholarly mannerisms if not quite the historical methodology of their critics. Since the hagiographical tales, and the chain of oral transmission which had traditionally preserved and authenticated them, were both losing their credibility in the new atmosphere of rationalistic skepticism and scientific rigor, Hasidic hagiographers were now eager to present their morally edifying oral traditions as reliable historical records by anchoring them in concrete documentary evidence. The forgeries of the Kherson Genizah supplied what appeared to be incontestable "archival" verification of the tales. The Admor Joseph Isaac Schneersohn exploited the Kherson "documents" in his extensive histories of early Hasidism which reveal his anachronistic, typological thinking and are often incompatible with the facts. As a leader of HaBaD Hasidism at a time of crisis, he saw it as his duty to harness the powerful historiographical idiom to the tasks of rehabilitating the HaBaD movement and of campaigning for the preservation of Orthodox Jewish life in conditions of unprecedented adversity. (shrink)

Liḳuṭe amarim, Shaʻar ha-yiḥud ṿeha-emunah, Igeret ha-teshuvah, Igeret ha-ḳodesh (simanim 1-20).

Although "Love your fellow as yourself" is, as Rabbi Akiva taught, the great underlying principle of the Torah, achieving the experience of this love is a profound challenge for most people. Human personality is instead often given to baseless hatred. The discourse Heichaltzu (lit., "Arm yourselves") by the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe deals with the spiritual roots of such hatred, its practical consequences, and the remedies for it. Includes several related essays and letters, as well as extensive footnotes and references.

This is the first version of the Rabbi Schneur Zalman's magnum opus -- Tanya, before it was finalized by him and published. This verison was published on behest of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1981. An important scholarly edition which shines a spotlight on the process used by the Alter Rebbe in publishing what has become known as the "written law of Chasidism.".

Peraḳim 1-12 - ḥeleḳ 2 be-sefer ha-tanya, be-tosefet beʼurim u-marʼe meḳomot, mahadurah 2 ʻim hosafot ṿe-tiḳunim.

ḥeleḳ 1. Peraḳim 1-34 -- ḥeleḳ 2. Peraḳim 35-53.

Discusses the differences between the spies sent by Moses and those sent by Joshua by exploring the spiritual significance of both events and their application today.