{{no footnotes, date=May 2015 :''Note: Tanya, an important work of

Hasidic Judaism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a Spirituality, spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most ...

, is an unrelated book with a similar name. For other uses, see Tanya (disambiguation).'' ''Tanya Rabbati'' is an anonymous work on

Jewish law ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

first published in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in 1514. ''Tanya Rabbati'' discusses Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays. The work is named for its first word, "''Tanya''", which is

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

for "it is stated in a baraita." It is believed to have been authored by Jehiel ben Jekutheil Anav (full name: Jehiel ben Jekutheil ben Benjamin Ha-Rofe Anav), a 13th-century Rabbinic author, manuscript copyist, and liturgical poet. The work was first published in

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

, and was re-printed in

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, 1565, and later in two other editions.

Relationship to ''Shibbolei ha-Leket''

''Shibbolei ha-Leket'' (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, "Ears of the Harvest"), the first Italian Jewish codification of

, is an earlier work that is similar in scope and content, but more detailed and further elaborated. ''Shibbolei ha-Leket'' is concerned with the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

, the

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

Haggadah The Haggadah (, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a foundational Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table fulfills the mitzvah incumbent on every Jew to reco ...

, and laws pertaining to

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

and the

Jewish Holidays Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' (, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed by Jews throughout the Hebrew calendar.This article focuses on practices of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism. ...

. It was authored by Zedekiah ben Abraham Anav, a 13th-century Italian

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ist. The work was culled from many

Rishonim ''Rishonim'' (; ; sing. , ''Rishon'') were the leading rabbis and ''posek, poskim'' who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' (, "Set Table", a common printed code of Jewis ...

. Anav "systematized his material skilfully, gave it a concise as well as popular form, and judiciously discriminated between conflicting opinions and decisions, giving preference to those that seemed to him true." It is divided into 372 paragraphs, plus appendices and

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...

on topics such as

circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

, mourning,

tzitzit ''Tzitzit'' ( ''ṣīṣīṯ'', ; plural ''ṣīṣiyyōṯ'', Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazi: '; and Samaritan Hebrew, Samaritan: ') are specially knotted ritual Fringe (trim), fringes, or tassels, worn in antiquity by Israelites and today by o ...

, slaughtering, inheritance, and

interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a debtor or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distinct f ...

. An abridged version was published in

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( Daniel Bomberg) in 1545, and a complete version in Vilna in 1886.

Viewpoints on authorship of the ''Shibolei HaLeKet'' / Tanya Rabbati

* Many scholars believe that the ''Tanya Rabbati'' is, in fact, an abbreviated version of ''Shibbolei ha-Leket''. In addition to the similarity in content, Zedekiah ben Abraham Anav and Jehiel ben Jekutheil Anav were in fact related. However, other views exist. *S. H. Kook believes that ''Tanya Rabbati'' is the first edition of ''Shibbolei ha-Leket''. In this view, Jehiel copied ''Shibbolei ha-Leket'' and added his own notes and ideas. * In contrast, S. K. Mirsky believes that Jehiel is the original author of ''Tanya Rabbati''. In Mirsky's view, the many similarities of the ''Tanya Rabbati'' to ''Shibbolei ha-Leket'' come from the fact that both Jehiel and Zedekiah wrote their works based on the teachings of Judah ben Benjamin Anav, Jehiel's uncle. * An 1800 printed edition of ''Tanya Rabbati'' attributes its authorship to Rabbeinu Yechiel, the brother of Jacob ben Asher (the author of the

Arba'ah Turim ''Arba'ah Turim'' (), often called simply the ''Tur'', is an important Halakha#Codes of Jewish law, Halakhic code composed by Yaakov ben Asher (Cologne, 1270 – Toledo, Spain c. 1340, also referred to as ''Ba'al Ha-Turim''). The four-part stru ...

). As it says on the inside cover (loose translation): :::The man, a most modest author who didn't want to accept a crown of greatness, but it would become him, would not want it known that he authored this work. However, we have received a tradition from generation to generation that it is Rabbeinu Yechiel, brother of Rabbeinu Yaakov Baal HaTurim. Indeed, within this work it is said more than once "I am the ''Sofer'' Yechiel." However, there is a hand-written notation below this attributing the work to Jehiel ben Jekuthiel Anav.

External links

Anaw, Zedekiah b. Abraham
jewishencyclopedia.com Rabbinic legal texts and responsa 1514 books