Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Lithuanian Orthodox Rabbi and first Rebbe of Chabad (1745–1812)
Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Hebrew: שניאור זלמן מליאדי; September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O.S. / 18 Elul 5505 – 24 Tevet 5573), commonly known as the Alter Rebbe or Baal Hatanya, was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. He wrote many works and is best known for Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Tanya, and his Siddur Torah Ohr, compiled according to the Nusach Ari.
Names
Zalman is a variant of Solomon and Shneur is said to derive from Senior.
He is also known as Shneur Zalman Baruchovitch, using the Russian patronymic of his father Baruch, and by a variety of other titles and acronyms including "Baal HaTanya VeHaShulchan Aruch'" ("Author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch"), "Alter Rebbe" (Yiddish for "Old Rabbi"), "Admor HaZaken" (Hebrew for "Our Old Master and Teacher"), "Rabbenu HaZaken" (Hebrew for "Our Old Rabbi"), "Rabbenu HaGadol" (Hebrew for "Our Great Rabbi")", "RaShaZ" (רש״ז for Rabbi Shneor Zalman), "GRaZ" (גר״ז for Ga'on Rabbi Zalman), and "HaRav" (The Rabbi, par excellence).
Biography
Early life
Shneur Zalman was born in 1745 in the small town of Liozna, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day Belarus). He was the son of Baruch, who was a paternal descendant of the mystic and philosopher Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel. According to Meir Perels of Prague, the Maharal was the great-great-grandson of Judah Leib the Elder who was said to have descended paternally from Hai Gaon and therefore also from the Davidic dynasty; however, several modern historians such as Otto Muneles and Shlomo Engard have questioned this claim.
He displayed extraordinary talent while still a child. By the time he was eight years old, he wrote an all-inclusive commentary on the Torah based on the works of Rashi, Nahmanides and Abraham ibn Ezra.
Until the age of 11, he studied under Issachar Ber in Lyubavichi (Lubavitch); he distinguished himself as a Talmudist, such that his teacher sent him back home, informing his father that the boy could continue his studies without the aid of a teacher.
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