Tanya - Structure

Structure

Rabbi Shneur Zalman published his Likkutei Amarim anonymously in 1797. Later editions incorporated additional writings by Shneur Zalman. The latest version of this work, dating from 1814, consists of five parts:

1. 1 Sefer shel Beinonim ("The Book of the Average Men"). This book is a Hasidic guide to the psychological drama of daily Jewish spiritual life. It describes how contemplating the mystical greatness of the Creator and the union that a Jew has with Him through the Torah's commandments, can achieve the love and fear of God necessary for sincere worship. This approach is the fundamental theme of Chabad teaching: to achieve emotional refinement during prayer and Jewish observance. However, in the path offered, this emotion must stem from intellectual understanding of Hasidic mysticism. That is why this approach and the movement are called Chabad, after the three intellectual Sephirot (God's emanations in Kabbalah): Chochmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), Da'at (Knowledge). A Hasidic psychology of a Jew's two souls is investigated, the Divine soul and the Natural soul. The Divine soul is a true "part of God", a historic emphasis in Jewish thought, though based on earlier sources. The book's guidance is for the intermediate person who is tempted by natural instincts, while the service of the true tzaddik in mystical thought is transcendent and only involved with holiness.
2. 2 Sha'ar ha-Yichud ve'ha'Emunah ("The Gateway of Unity and Belief"). This book outlines the theological background to the first section's Hasidic life. It is an investigation of the meaning of God's Unity in Hasidism. The Panentheism (all creation takes place "within God") taught by the Baal Shem Tov is systematically articulated in Kabbalistic philosophy. God is all, but all is not God. Two levels of God's Unity are both paradoxically true, based on the Kabbalistic doctrine of the Tzimtzum. In the "Lower Unity" all Creation is nullified to God. In the "Higher Unity", Creation is an acosmic illusion as only God truly exists. The apparent plurality in Creation is only an effect of the concealments of Divinity. The origin of everything is nullification within the Divine Unity.
3. 3 Iggeret HaTeshuvah ("Letter of Repentance"). This gives the Hasidic interpretation and Chabad method of Teshuvah (Return to God). This section is also known as the "Tanya Katan" ("Brief Tanya") as it is the gateway to all personal spiritual redemption. It describes the mystical return that not only leads to forgiveness for the sins but can fully enable the repenting person to be elevated to a spiritual place that is higher than where they were before the sin. In Hasidism any spiritual descent is only a preparation for a higher ascent. Two levels of Teshuvah are described, based on their meanings in Kabbalah. The "Lower Teshuvah" redeems sin. The "Higher Teshuvah" brings constant elevation unconnected to sin. Because of this, the founder of Hasidism taught that even saintly tzadikim are able to be inspired to do Teshuvah.
4. 4 Iggeret HaKodesh ("Letter of Holiness"). This section was not published until 1814, after Rabbi Shneur Zalman's passing. It is a collection of letters which the author wrote to his disciples and different Hasidic communities, in which he talked about mystical aspects of certain commandments, such as charity, Torah study, or in general all commandments concerned with physical deed. Today it is used as a source of certain in-depth concepts of the "Written Hasidism" not concerned specifically with emotion felt during service or repentance. It is a more esoteric and detailed work of Kabbalistic commentary than the previous sections. Schematically it would relate to a person who had internalised the fundamental first three sections, and could progress higher.
5. 5 Kuntres Acharon ("Last Thesis"). This section was not published until 1814, after Rabbi Shneur Zalman's passing. It is also a series of letters in which the author resolved certain seeming controversies in Kabbalah. This section is an even more in-depth investigation of profound mystical notions than the previous one. Like the fourth section, it can be seen as an addition to the first three fundamental sections.

In general, the first book is a universal Jewish guidebook to avodah, everyday Divine service, through Schneur Zalman's innovative system, applying Jewish mysticism step-by-step to the internal drama of human psychology. As a formative approach guidebook in Judaism, the English translator of the first section, in his introduction, compares its position with Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, but contrasts the spiritual guidance aim of Tanya with the philosophical aim of Maimonides. The second section's philosophical exposition of Hasidic mystical Panentheism is the underlying foundation for contemplation methods in the first part, and gives the theoretical definition of Hasidism's theology of God. The third section guides individuals in a Habad Hasidic approach to repentance, to be able to prepare more deeply for the first part's guidance. The last two added sections give more complicated and in-depth Hasidic exposition of Kabbalistic concepts, the author uniting abstract ideas with the importance of everyday service and an emotion that must accompany it. These discourses are similar to the exegetical commentaries of Schneur Zalman in his other works, though here they sometimes take the form of letters to his followers, with more direct advice.