Concepts in Chassidic Philosophy

The signature metaphor in Tanya to describe all human activity, popping up in some form or another on almost every page, is clothing. Life, according to Tanya, is less about who you are and more about what you wear.

The New Nothing New ways of thinking require new sets of words. For most thinkers. Here’s an exception: Every chapter of R. Schneur Zalman’s classic work known as Tanya provides a distinctly new way of thinking about life, purpose, and the world about us....

I was at a chassidic gathering where the Chabad rabbi was discussing overcoming adversity. He used the Yiddish saying of the fourth Chabad rebbe, the Rebbe Maharash: "l’chatchila ariber." What exactly does that mean?

Q. What is Chasidism? A. It's difficult to say. An examination of the internal lieterature addressing this question draws the conclusion that Chasidism is no less than the paradoxical communication of the ineffable core of divinity.

We are grownups, busy, efficient and productive, with many important lists on our planners. It’s hard for big people to enter that magical space, where time is suspended and birds are chirping...

Your GPS may be useful, but it's not always too smart. Your body is much the same. For the smoothest journey through life, try a sweet combination of body and mind.

Where this question comes from. The answers of the Kabbalists. The answer of the Midrash.

To become a bigger something, you gotta be a nothing in between.

The angels were stunned. They looked upon our world of cruelty between man and man, of mortal blindness to the most obvious of truths, and they said, "This place He desires? This He calls a garden of delight? This He wants to make His home?"

Prior to Creation, there was only the infinite revelation of G-d