Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Sparks of Tanya

What is our purpose in life?  Why is life such a struggle?  Why is my inner self so full of contradictions?  How do I deal with my anger, jealousy, anxiety and despair?  Does the universe really exist or is it an ''illusion''?   

The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life. It has revolutionalized the way we think about G-d, the human soul, the world, and our place in it.

The Tanya, the foundation of Chabad-Chassidic philosophy, has been termed the Written Torah of Chassidus.  It is endlessly deep and wide and answers all of life's questions.  However, for many, this vast treasure remains inaccessible, because of its Hebrew language or its translation to difficult English.

A new book ''Sparks of Tanya'' by Robert Kremnizer was written to make the Tanya available to the masses, simple to understand and easy to read, if you have ever tried and failed to learn Tanya, here is your opportunity.  I am only half-way through the book, but felt compelled to share it with you all.

Sparks of Tanya is available here or here

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tanya gets confusing when trying to follow the various Hebrew kabbalistic terms.Does he explains them clearly?

Devorah said...

Yes, and it's the first time I've really understood it. Many things have been clarified for me.

Moriah said...

Unless a person is advanced he or she needs a good teacher when studying Tanya..It's very deep -- or should I say, high..;-) I've been studying it almost two years and I'm sure I haven't even scratched the surface of understanding. It is well worth the effort though. It is such an amazing, amazing holy book. I'm looking forward to checking out your recommendation of Sparks of Tanya.

Devorah said...

Thanks the amazing part, you don't need a teacher with this book. He's brought it all down to our level.

Anonymous said...

BS”D
Discussion with Moishela (with his family)
A Handicapped child
3 Cheshvan 5775 (Oct 26, ’14)

FROM: http://www.dani18.com/uploads/MSL-C1.pdf

Also a powerful inspiring Video from Moishela to all Jews worldwide to watch NOW “as a wake-up call”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euVpNZ8qFyY

“The Noose Is Getting Tighter”

The world has absolutely gone mad, absolutely mad. Murder, accidents, weather related deaths, riots, plagues, Mamash a very scary world. Every day something new. Every day something more bloody. Every day more and more deaths. Every day we become more and more frightened.

The noose is getting tighter and tighter around us, and the worst part about it is that no one seems to feel it except a very few. Very few people feel it at all. Either they don’t want to feel it so they ignore it, or they are really in some very strong daze or under some kind of drug that keeps them from seeing what is happening. It doesn’t even have to be medication, although I would imagine that in the western world at least 50% of the people are on some kind of psychiatric medication. They drug themselves on Gashmius on materialism so they won’t know, so they won’t feel, so they won’t be afraid. What is happening is frightening because the world is beginning to feel the effects of being ruled by a group of absolute maniacs, of people that are evil to their bone. They are planning crazy things and thinking they can get away with it, thinking that they can turn the world into their private domain, that they can take the Jewish people and turn them into Goyim. Their greatest goal that they want to achieve is they want to destroy, to kill nine-tenths of the world population. What can I tell you? We Yidden are being targeted. Our faith is being targeted, and we must, must come back to Hashem in order to stop it.

I have dreams, I have such frightening dreams every night. I see cities being blown up. I see all kinds of terrible things happening. I see wild men killing and plundering. I see planes shooting and bombing. I see people dying of thirst and hunger, and I cry and I cry. I am so nervous and so afraid, not for myself – for my family and for Am Yisroel, how terrible, how terrible. I’m not even giving you the details of what I see but it’s very very frightening! I don’t know how to pass on to my fellow Jews through what I am writing, the difficult things we still have to face.

How can I beg? How can I plead with Am Yisroel to open their eyes, to get rid of the Gashmius, to stop looking like street people, to start looking again like Jews, to start acting again like Jews? I’m talking to the Frum. What else can I say to you? What else can I do? If you read over everything I’ve said to this point, you should already be doing Teshuva in the strongest way, but I see in the streets that people are buying and buying things that are not necessary. I see that they are making fancy parties and fancy Chasunas and things that are not necessary. I see and I feel that children are growing up to love, to lust after Gashmius. I see how we are eating like gluttons, but have become very very weak in our Mitzvos and it makes me cry. Now we are facing the most horribly difficult time in history and we’re messing around with nonsense.

What can I say? What can I do? I’m only a young person with an old head and an old heart, but I can tell you this: you better straighten up fa