I've been reading the Tanya -- the central philosophical text of the Chabad Hasidic movement of Judaism, written by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and published in 1796. You can read a page a day and finish it in exactly a year.
I had tried reading it in 1999, when I was a student at Pardes, the liberal modern Orthodox yeshiva in Jerusalem. My cousin, Raymond, in South Africa, who is part of the Chabad movement, gave it to me. I made it through the beginning.
The beginning is amazing enough. Rabbi Shneur Zalman describes the Benoni -- the intermediate one, whose good and evil impulses are nearly balanced, but who chooses good. That, it turns out, is the best to which we can aspire.
There are some other amazing things in the Tanya. Once concerns the spiritual implications of Hebrew letters, a concept drawn from the Kabbalah. Each has its significance -- none more than the letter Hay (ה), which has an "h" sound.
Hay is the letter of breath. It is also the letter of the definite article "the." It is almost abstract, and yet fundamental. Its shape suggests the role of God in the world: mundane reality is the detached foot, part of God but also independent.
Another is the idea of how one's soul should love God. There are two forms of loving God -- and these, in turn, are opposed by mundane desires. The Tanya describes the latter as a kind of "rival wife," which is a fascinating concept.
I've still got about 3 months to go, and this won't be my last time studying the Tanya, because I'm only reading it at a superficial level, but it's really a privilege to engage in any meaningful way with old or ancient texts and spiritual insights.
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
