Chapter 186 - The Writing of the Tanya

00:00 We told the dramatic story of the Alter Rebbe’s daughter, Rebbetzin Devorah’le, a story that was really a result of the frightening opposition to Chassidus and of the internal denunciations among the Maggid of Mezritch’s own chassidim, including accusations against the Alter Rebbe. They raised one claim after another. All of this created the great accusation Above. Now we’ll talk about the development of Chassidus itself. In Chabad Chassidus, we’ve reached the writing of the Tanya. In those days, in 5552—I’ll say it again, 1792—the book Likkutei Amarim, Tanya, became known through many handwritten copies. When word spread that the Alter Rebbe was making available a written book on avodah, with guidance and practical counsel for the avodah of davening and teshuvah, the chassidim longed to obtain it. To guard against errors introduced by the copyists, Chabad chassidim appointed special scribes—men of understanding with clear handwriting—in the towns of Liadi, Haditch, Rudnya, Lubavitch, Dover Misl[unclear], Kliks[unclear], and Dubno. Over the course of several months, word spread through various gatherings of rabbis held in Vitebsk and Minsk, and in other cities in White Russia and Ukraine, that there was a written book explaining the path of Chassidus. A great demand for the book arose. Over the next few years, Likkutei Amarim, Tanya, spread to Romania and Galicia as well. But in 5555, a group of opponents of Chassidus falsified the book. How did they falsify it? They altered several passages, inserting words that raised doubts about faith and thoughts of heresy. Then, after producing their forgery, they brought it to the Vilna Gaon so that he would issue a ruling about the book. In Slutsk there was an eminent scholar of very advanced age, about a hundred years old, named Rabbi Tanchum Porush. Even in his youth, he had been famous among the outstanding scholars of his time. He was the same age as the Vilna Gaon’s great-grandfather, who had blessed him with long life. He was also one

03:11 of the opponents of the hidden tzaddikim and persecuted them in all sorts of ways. At gatherings of those scholars at the various fairs in Minsk and Slutsk, Rabbi Tanchum Porush would constantly demand, with great force and on the basis of Torah, that they proclaim a ban with black candles and the sounding of the shofar—not only against the chassidim, but against every Jewish man or woman who associated with them. All would be included in the ban. That same Rabbi Tanchum Porush also instructed his son, Rabbi Yaakov Klonimus Kalman, as well as Rabbi Moshe Shmuel and Rabbi Betzalel Azriel of Slutsk, that they and their students should place the chassidim and their followers under a ban. The opponents in Shklov included the renowned preacher, Rabbi Pinchas Zeira—though he was a humble man and a sincere tzaddik—the son of the scholar and preacher Rabbi Yehudah Porush; the renowned rebuker Rabbi Tuvia Kalman Feivish; and the renowned rebuker Rabbi Avraham Porush. They proposed printing a special book of mussar to weaken the influence of the chassidim’s teacher. All the scholars we’ve mentioned spoke with Rabbi Moshe Schick, who had studied in Berlin and Paris, and asked him to search the libraries there for a manuscript or a book of mussar dealing with faith, love of Hashem, and fear of Hashem, written in an orderly fashion. Rabbi Moshe Schick did search, and he found a book called Lekach Tov, written by a Jew named Avraham Yagel. This Avraham Yagel was the son of Chananya of Monselice, of the Gallico family, and the book was written as questions and answers, as though a teacher and student were speaking. So the opponents were looking for more and more ways to oppose Chassidus. Rabbi Yaakov Klonimus Kalman printed Lekach Tov in 5556, including approbations from the scholars Chanoch Henoch, Shmuel Schick, Tzvi Hirsch, and several others. They printed several thousand copies of the book and distributed them. Let’s return to the falsifications of the Tanya. In the year

06:15 5554, questions about passages in the Tanya came in from various places in Galicia and Romania. At first, the cause appeared to be mistakes made in copying, but it later became known that these were deliberate falsifications: the opponents in Vilna and Brisk had copied the Tanya and inserted several forged passages. The chassidim Rabbi Pinchas Shick Reizes[unclear] and his brother-in-law Rabbi Binyamin Kletzker were at the Leipzig fair in 5555. They saw that copies of the Tanya were being offered during the fair, and they were very happy. Rabbi Binyamin bought one passage, paying a handsome price for it because he was so delighted. He told his brother-in-law Rabbi Pinchas, who also bought a copy and paid for it. They already knew the passage well, and when they read it now, they found strange wording and saw that it had been deliberately falsified. So they found the man selling the copies and pretended to be opponents of Chassidus. He told them that he had brought about six hundred copies with him and had already sold about a hundred and fifty. Rabbi Pinchas and Rabbi Binyamin then bought all the copies he had. When they returned from Leipzig, they publicized the fact that the opponents were falsifying the Tanya. About a year passed before the Alter Rebbe agreed to have the book, the Tanya, printed. The Alter Rebbe set several conditions for its printing. The first was that it have approbations from Rabbi Yehudah Leib HaKohen and Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Anipoli, two of the Alter Rebbe’s colleagues among the students of the Maggid of Mezritch. Second, the Alter Rebbe insisted that his name not be mentioned in the book. The Alter Rebbe then wrote the introduction found in the Tanya, which begins with the words “To you, men, I call.” Toward the end of 5556, the approbations from Rabbi Levi HaKohen and Rabbi Zusha arrived, and this book, Sefer Shel Beinonim, was first printed in fifteen thousand copies in 5558. Wait, sorry. The first printing was in Kislev 5557 and was completed on 27 Kislev. As we said, fifteen thousand copies. Then, the following year, five thousand,

08:59 and the year after that, 5559, twenty thousand. From then on, a certain number of copies of the Tanya were printed each year. We’ll continue with some of the special qualities of the Tanya and some of the historical events connected with it. What follows is based on a letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, who writes: “The Tanya is the Written Torah of Chabad Chassidus. In the Tanya, not only is every expression precise and intentional, but even every word is precise in the way it is written. Our holy forebears and Rebbeim, the early chassidim, and the elder chassidim of every generation treated the Tanya with the same holy reverence with which they treated a Chumash. In my notes,” the Frierdiker Rebbe continues, “there are many accounts and stories concerning the Tanya, and I will write a few of them here very briefly. First story. The chossid Reb Chanoch Hendel would relate, in the name of the chossid Reb Tzvi of Smilaan, what he had heard in his youth from the well-known chossid Rabbi Yaakov of Smilaan. Rabbi Yaakov of Smilaan related that the Alter Rebbe would lead the davening on 19 Kislev, the day of the Maggid of Mezritch’s passing. Usually, after Maariv, he would teach Torah privately, as was customary at the time, and after Minchah he would deliver Chassidus in public. In 5557”—we’re now talking about the year the Tanya was first printed—“on 19 Kislev, which fell on a Monday, the Alter Rebbe led the davening as he did every year. A few months earlier, in Elul, the emissaries—the chassidim Rabbi Moshe, Rabbi Pinchas, and Rabbi Yitzchak Moshe—had returned from their journey to the righteous rabbis Rabbi Yehudah Leib HaKohen and Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Anipoli, from whom the Alter Rebbe had requested approbations for the Tanya. When their approbations arrived, the Alter Rebbe informed the printer in Slavuta that he agreed to have the Tanya printed,

12:04 But on condition that the book be finished at the press no later than the beginning of Kislev 5557, and that as soon as it was printed, it be sent to Liozna. The news that the Alter Rebbe had agreed to print the Tanya spread quickly, and joy grew among the chassidim. But time passed. Mid-Cheshvan arrived, and there was still no word about what was happening at the press. The Alter Rebbe was very distressed. When the day of the hilula arrived and the Tanya had still not come, his holy face showed his distress. As we related, that year 19 Kislev fell on Monday of Parshas Vayeishev. When it came time for the Torah reading, the Alter Rebbe read the parsha himself. He called the chossid Rabbi Elimelech Lianover for Kohen, the chossid Rabbi Zelig of Igula for Levi, and the Alter Rebbe himself went up for the third aliyah. “How startled we were,” Rabbi Yaakov of Smilaan related, “to hear the way he read the last section, with a special melody and sustained fervor, especially the final two verses: ‘He told his father, and his brothers were jealous of him; but his father kept the matter in mind.’” When the Alter Rebbe finished reading the words “but his father kept the matter in mind,” he sighed deeply. His voice trembled as he said the blessing, “Who has given us His Torah,” and then the Kaddish. After the Torah reading, he recited it with great dveikus, and when he finished the words “above all blessings,” he leaned on the reading table for a long time. On the second day of Chanukah, 26 Kislev, a special courier arrived from Slavuta with the first two hundred copies of the Tanya, which had come off the press on Tuesday, 20 Kislev. When they showed the Alter Rebbe a copy, he looked at it for a long time and then said, “Many are the thoughts in a person’s heart. I had wanted the book to be finished at the beginning of Kislev, so that it could be studied on the day of my teacher’s hilula. But it is Hashem’s plan that will prevail, and its printing was completed on the twentieth of the month.” He then repeated three times: “20 Kislev, 20 Kislev, 20 Kislev,” and concluded with the words

15:11 “Everything the Merciful One does, He does for the good.” Everything Hakadosh Boruch Hu does, He does for the good. “None of us,” the chossid Rabbi Yaakov of Smilaan related, “not even the Alter Rebbe’s sons, understood what he meant. Why was the Alter Rebbe distressed that the book’s publication had been delayed by about two weeks? And why did he repeat the date on which its printing was completed? It puzzled us. At the beginning of Cheshvan 5558, a year later, I had to travel to collect donations for the Jews living in our Holy Land. The Alter Rebbe instructed me to tell all the chassidim, wherever they lived, to study the Tanya diligently and consistently, and that on Shabbos Parshas Vayeishev, 20 Kislev, they should study two chapters from Part One and one chapter from Part Two in every community of chassidim. We did not understand it at all. But a year after that, in 5559, when the Alter Rebbe was released from prison on Tuesday, 19 Kislev, he mistakenly entered the home of an opponent. It was only late that night, the beginning of Wednesday, 20 Kislev, that he was freed from the home of that bitter adversary. Then we all remembered how the Alter Rebbe had spoken of 20 Kislev. We also heard from the Mitteler Rebbe in the name of his father, the Alter Rebbe, that the two years of vitality in Torah study and avodah that his book had brought to the chassidim saved him from death. And the thousands upon thousands and myriad myriads of angels created from the letters and words of his teachers’ collected holy teachings advocated for their path and his, bringing his righteousness to light.” The Frierdiker Rebbe continues: “My uncle Rabbi Zalman Aharon would relate what he heard from his great-uncle, the tzaddik Rabbi Nachum, son of the Mitteler Rebbe, in the name of his father, the Mitteler Rebbe. This is what he said: ‘For twenty years the Alter Rebbe wrote the Tanya. He added and removed, carefully weighing every single word, until he had refined and purified it down to every missing or extra letter, and gave

18:03 permission for it to be copied and distributed widely. But through the thousands of handwritten copies, many errors crept in. The Alter Rebbe then sent special messengers to the tzaddikim Rabbi Yehudah Leib HaKohen and Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli to consult them about whether to print the book. With their agreement, the Alter Rebbe permitted it to be printed. In his holy letter to the printer in Slavuta, he pleaded with him to be extremely careful in proofreading, down to every missing or extra letter, and not to spoil the inner meaning at which the Alter Rebbe had arrived through immense effort.’”