First Edition of Tanya Was Shown

By COLlive reporter

Students of Southern Connecticut Hebrew Academy were joined by students of the Bais Chana Academy High School in Orange, Connecticut, celebrated Chai Elul in a very unique and meaningful way.

To honor this special day, an assembly was held and Rabbi Sheya Hecht, Headmaster of the school that was founded by the Friediker Rebbe 70 years ago, addressed the student body.

Following an introduction to acquaint the students with the history of this day, he announced that a special edition of the Tanya would be printed at the school on Chai Elul, the birthday of both the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya.

“This would be the 7,313th edition of the printing of the Tanya which was first printed in 1797,” he said.

Rabbi Baruch Kaplan, principal at the school, told the students that they would have an opportunity to see something amazing and introduced Mrs. Malka Katz, who awed the assembled by showing them a first edition of the Tanya that was actually printed in 1797.

She told the story of how the Tanya came to be in the possession of her late husband, Rabbi Binyamin Katz OBM when he went to Russia on a secret mission of the Rebbe in 1964.

The students were excited when Rabbi Kaplan announced that every child would receive their own copy of the Tanya that was being printed. Each class would learn from it according to the level of the children. A farbrengen was held for the older students following the assembly.