Shneur Zalman of Liadi. (Tanya) - Likutei Amarim [fundamental exposition of Chabad Chassidism].

(CHASSIDISM).

The Widow and Brothers Romm

Vilna

1900

Wide-margined copy. With signatures including Menachem Mendel Stesin of Pahar near Tzernigov, Chevra Tomchei Temimim Min Lubavitch; Yoseph Shmuel Garfinkel of Pahar and Zalman Yitzchak Melamed. Includes marginalia noting the exact references to Talmudic and rabbinic texts not noted in the printed version. (When the Tanya states “we find in the gemara” - but does not cite the exact page, the handwritten notations record the precise references. Surprisingly, these lapses of exact citation were not included in later editions). Printed with two title-pages, with further title on pink-colored upper wrapper with stamp “Leshanah Tovah.”

Mondschein, Sepher HaTanya: Bibliographia (1981) pp. 107-12, no. 30.

THE ROMM TANYA, THE MATRIX OF ALL SUBSEQUENT EDITIONS. The individual responsible for the issue of this edition of the Tanya - which has remained the standard layout for all subsequent editons - was Asher ben Meir, Shochet of Nikolayev (surname Grossman). He was a disciple of R. Hillel of Paritch, a chasid of the Rebbe Mahara”sh (R. Samuel Schneersohn) and later his son, the Rebbe Rasha”b (R. Shalom Dov-Baer Schneersohn) (see Mondschein, p. 109, n. 8). R. Asher Grossman had been designated by the Rebbe Rasha”b to supervise the printing of the edition and out of awe for the holy task assigned him, he was known to undertake numerous fasts during the lengthy process of production. It incorporates many variants discovered in manuscripts belonging to the grandsons of the Tzemach Tzedek (see p. 2). Both R. Joseph Isaac Schneersohn and his son-in-law and successor, R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson (sixth and seventh Lubavitcher Rebbes) earnestly vouched for the reliability of this particular Vilna edition of the Tanya. See M. M. Laufer, Yemei Melech Vol. I (1991) pp. 108-9.