A well-lit and accesible gateway to Tanya, and the most authoritative guide to its riches.

Lessons in Tanya leads the reader through every paragraph and page, illuminating the mystical, often allusive, Talmudic, Kabbalistic, and Scriptural verses and concepts. It fills many gaps in what the terse Tanya text assumes to be the reader's background knowledge.

Each of the lectures was examined and amended by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn, so that much of the material includes the Rebbe's insights and explanatory comments.

For those of us with questions about Judaism, this book goes a long to answering issues that people have. Speaking for myself, I found it very reassuring. Things sometimes become fuzzy as a person progressing through life, it's good to know that there are people out there who seem to have retained a crystal clear perspective of the world.

The Rabbi is an emissary of Chabad-Lubavitch, under the direction of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. As such, he also discusses some of the fundamental beliefs of this vastly influential movement. Buying this book and "The Rebbe's Army" is also a good idea for those interested.

This book is an in-depth look at chassidic jewish life in the town of Nowy Sanz or Tsanz as the jews called it. The book describes the jewish history of the town and is filled with stories about the various rabbis and characters of the town. One gets the feeling of peering through a looking glass back in time before the holocaust and getting a true sense he liniage of the rabbis, what the town looked like, the people in the town leading the reader almost to the point of smelling the shabbos meal. He discusses in deatil the history of the Divrei Chaim and the descendants of the great Rabbai Halberstam. He gives a detailed description of how many the jewish holidays were celebrated and the prayers said. He paints vivid pictures of the people of the region and how the town was a center for chassidic life in southern Galicia.

Approximately 2/3 of the book takes place in prewar Tsanz. The last 1/3 is a stunning first hand account of his life in the camps and the people he runs into and how he survived. As I read the book I could it brought home the feelings of the brutality of the Nazis.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to get a true sense of Jewish life before during and after WWII

This book is based on an old short Jewish folk-tale, about a Jew who has been lost in the forest and miraculously saved by performing the custom of lighting Channukah candles. The author has expanded it into a full-length volume.

The story is both entertaining and immersed in traditional Jewish values, such as emunah and bittachon -- a combination quite rare in English literature. It is aimed at the level of 12-year-olds and above. The language is good, the narrative flowing. In short, it is, in my opinion, an excellent Channukah gift for your or your friends' kids, or for anyone who isn't too old to enjoy a good Jewish tale.

These days, in our Western culture, for many man and woman over 40, the aging process has become something to fear. Which is utterly crazy, given that most people nowadays are barely half way through their lives at that point. It's like wanting to leave the restaurant somewhere in the middle of the main course and without tasting the dessert at all.
I liked this book because it is one of the few to look deeply into the whole adventure of aging and to broadcast to the world that the later decades of life have a different - and surprisingly wonderful - agenda all of their own. It is time for us older folk to stop cringing about getting older but to open to the process and re-own our place as 'wise elders.' As I was writing my own book - ELDERWOMAN - which is specifically for women, this wise man's book was a marvellous resource for me. It is a full, rich book, worth reading and re-reading. The exercises are useful and practical and the ideas are powerful. Highly recommended.

My attraction to the first named author, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi was due to his reputation as a cabalist, the Jewish practice of mysticsm. When I bought and first read this book, in 1995, I was a mere 48 years old, much too young to put its sage advice into practice. This book is for the retired, and even then is not for everyone. When I lent it to my retired friend in California with whom I swap jokes on the internet, her comment was "Although it was a difficult read, bogged down in places, and I didn't like how it was written, it did say a lot of important things and was worth reading" 3-4 stars would't you say?
In any event, the authors discuss the "theory of spiritual eldering." There are several paths one may take in eldering. First, however, the authors confront the "conscious transit of death." In part three of the book the authors discuss "Spirual Eldering and Social Transformation." This section includes mentoring and elders as healers of family, community, and Gaia-the living Earth.
Finally, an appendix is provided which includes exercises for sages in training.
If you are retired or facing retirement and are at a loss for how to lead a productive life in your 'golden years' your time would be well spent in looking this book over.

My own spiritual journey was faltering when I met Reb Zalman and bought this book. It was his humor and wisdom that helped me back onto the path. Now I go towards old age with a sense of purpose and a cheerfulness. I feel that this book was a personal invitation (to all of us) to join the tribal council of elders. I am currently rereading the book and again it is strengthening my resolve to take on the role of elder in my community.

Just so that people don't get the idea from the other review that the book is about Jesus: This is one of THE essential works in the movement known as Jewish renewal, by one of the most profound and original Jewish thinkers of our time. Follow "Reb Zalman" on his lifelong spiritual journey as he explores interfaith relations (beyond the "I love you, you love me" banalities that often pass for dialogue), previous instances of the reconstruction of Judaism, exciting old and new prayer and meditation techniques, and visions of Judaism's and humanity's future.

The Paradigm Shift is a fascinating book. Extremely well presented arguement that would appear to confirm the information in the incredible novel "THE Autobiography of Jesus of Nazareth and the Missing Years" by Richard G. Patton. Patton's book goes into detail about Jesus' training BEFORE he appeared on the political scene of first century Palestine. Shalomi's book goes behind the evident historical perspective to explain WHY we live in the present turbulent times and how they relate to the taumatic events of Jesus' times. Highly recommended.

We have used the Transition Mathematics book at our school in 6th grade. The content explores different approaches to standard math exercises while maintaining an engaging foundation of math fundamentals. This is a wonderful book and has fit perfectly with the rest of our curriculum. Good job!

The little maple tree loves to watch a nearby family doing Mitzvot, but is disappointed that it can't do any. This book helps children discover that helping others is a very important Mitzvah.

I am interested in the material of this book. The reason for the three stars is that in the words of the author, "this book is not based on interviews, questionnaires, or other instruments of social research...but for the purposes of this work [Schachter-Shalomi] relied on anecdotes that came to [him] by word of mouth or that were found in the literature concerning the counselor (the rebbe) and his client (the hasid)." My opionion is that the field would benefit from some of the "other instruments of social research". That aside, this is a very informative book which combines psychological counseling with a spiritual relationship. The yehidut (interview) is not identical with psychotherapy, though. The author defines it "as a spiritual treatment whereby a trained rebe, who stands in a deliberate contractual relationship with his hasid, listens to his problems and advises him to engage in actions which are designed not only to relieve his suffering, but also to align him with GOD's will for him." On this topic, Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi writes with authority as he was ordained as a Lubavitch-trained rabbi and has counseled men and women for more than 35 years. For me, so much of psychotherapy attempts to solve problems in isolation of their spiritual significance. If you are looking for a psychotherapeutic approach which includes a spritual relationship, this book will be interesting to you.