This Sunday, 24 June 2018, Chabad Islington organised a printing of the Tanya for the first time ever in Islington. Two of the attendees were Nadya Menuhin and her father Jeremy who are direct descendants of the author of the Tanya.
The family tree begins with the Alter Rebbe, whose grandson through his daughter Dvorah became the 3rd leader of Chabad - Menachem Mendel Schneerson. This leader went on to have a son Rabbi Israel Noach Schneerson, who had a daughter Perla Dvora Zalmanson, who had a daughter Sarah Liba Mnuchin, who had a son Moshe Mnuchin, who had a son Yehudi Menuhin, who had a son Jeremy Menuhin, who had a daughter Nadya. Nadya said: “My father and I had a fascinating and really rather moving time spent with you all and in the presence of the Tanya printing. Not only was it significant that it was the first to be printed in N1 but for us it marks the beginning of a journey of discovery, not just in the text and traditions but also into our family’s roots.”
Tanya is the foundational work of the Chabad movement. It lays down the practical and mystical fundamentals of the Chabad philosophy. It was authored by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812), the founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The book was first printed in Slavita, Lithuania in the year 1797. Since then the Tanya has been printed in over 7000 different locations around the world from Honolulu to Dubai.