Dear Friend,

Bundled into his coat and hat, backpack at his side, my son would sit beside me each morning, waiting for the school bus to arrive. During those precious snatched moments, I would read to him a page or two from our current book choice. One of our favorites was a biography of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chabad, whose anniversary of passing we marked this Sunday.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman is known as the author of the Tanya, the fundamental text of Chabad Chassidic philosophy, and the Shulchan Aruch HaRav, an acclaimed codification of Jewish law. These works and the approaches that they represent are also hinted to in his first name: Schneur is a composite of the Hebrew words shnei ohr, meaning “two lights.” Mystic philosopher and brilliant legal scholar, Rabbi Schneur Zalman illuminated the world with both the esoteric and the exoteric lights of Torah, uniting the two into a cohesive whole. He taught us that the lofty ideas that we contemplate and the down-to-earth details of our everyday lives must seamlessly complement each other, both expressions of the same Torah.

Read about the life of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi and study his teachings here.

Rochel Chein,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team