About

Tanya Shortly By Rabbi Aharon J. Fehler

A clear, short overview of the daily Tanya, often using the uncanny resemblance of modern computing concepts to explain ancient, deep Kabbalistic concepts.

(This podcast is best suited for someone who already has a basic familiarity with Hebrew texts and Jewish concepts)

The Tanya is a Hebrew book on the foundation of Hasidic philosophy, written in 1796 by the Alter Rebbe - Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Ukraine. It is founded on the core concept that G-d is the Infinite and Absolute Truth, and His Torah contains portals for our mind, heart and body to 'connect' with the Divine.

The four parts of the Tanya are divided into short daily portions, to encourage a habitual, daily 'mind-shift' with long-lasting affects.

The Tanya is best studied with a partner (this podcast only serves as a second-best option), due to it's generally dense writing style and heavy inclusion of sources and assuming reader familiarity with everything from the Written Torah (the Bible) to the Talmud, Midrash and some of the most complex parts of the Kabbalah (Zohar, Sefer Yetzira and many more).

The purpose of the Tanya is to help us actualize the Shema prayer and literally become 'one' with G-d. We can do this because we have a finite+infinite portal installed in each of us called a soul, and the Tanya teaches us how to connect to this portal by learning to think and live in an utterly selfless way which allows us to phase from physics and time+space limitations, to spirit, aligned with the infinite divine.