Second Volume of “Practical Tanya”

“You’ve set a new standard in our Tanya learning,” said an email received by Rabbi Chaim Miller from “the ordinary bochurim who wanna do Chitas properly,” expressing their hope that additional volumes would appear this year.

Their wish will be granted since Part Three of The Practical Tanya, on Igeres Ha-Teshuvah has just gone to print and will be available shortly, following the recent publication of Part Two, on Sha’ar Ha-Yichud ve-ha-Emunah.

The series has inspired a number of Shluchim to start public classes. “The Practical Tanya does wonders to allowing me to being Chassidus to the yidden here in Pasadena,” wrote Shliach Rabbi Zushi Rivkin, who started a weekly study-group to study the new book. “It is unbelievable, B”H we have 25 students and they all love it as much as I do.”

Jeff Fisher, a Modern Orthodox Jew living in the Upper East Side, discovered the Practical Tanya when stopping at a Chabad House for just a few minutes to use their facilities.

He has since become a Tanya enthusiast and is working on a “Tanya MBA,” aimed at sharing some of the ideas to the business community. “The Tanya was the world’s first (and in my opinion, best) self-help book,” Jeff writes. “It delves into the depths of the human condition and promotes a life of transparency with and accountability to oneself and to G-d.”

In his “Tanya MBA” Jeff argues, “The Tanya addresses a number of key organizational/team development objectives, such as confronting problems instead of neglecting them and effectively managing conflict. While it does this on a more spiritual level, its teachings are certainly practical to everyday life and highly applicable to teams of people who work together.”

Part Two of The Practical Tanya, released just a few weeks ago, is already making a bold impact. Hillel Abramson, dean of Touro College, wrote of the new volume, “It’s rare to find scholarship that reads with the drama of a cliffhanger novel!”

Many readers have shared that the new series has enabled them to understand the Tanya for the first time. Roiza Weinreich, author of six popular Artscroll books, shared in an email to Rabbi Gutnick, “It has been my yearning for 20 years to learn Tanya. However, whenever I tried to learn Tanya on my own, I felt frustrated. Just because I could translate the words into English doesn’t mean that I had even the faintest idea what it was talking about!”

“I am so excited and grateful to be learning from The Practical Tanya by Chaim Miller! The way it is organized is genius, and the ‘practical lessons’ help me remember the central idea. But the best part is that Rabbi Miller clearly explains all those concepts that I could never understand until now. He has a knack for choosing just the right, most clear and yet concise explanation.”

VIDEO:
Rabbi Miller’s guide to navigating the Second Part of Tanya

The new volume of The Practical Tanya is available in all Judaica Stores and at kolmenachem.com