Abstract

This study attempts to systematically present the ethical thought of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady , founder of Habad Hasidism. It focuses on RSZ's axiology and aims to analyze the underlying concepts of that axiology and to determine whether these concepts, or at least some of them, can be integrated into a cohesive ideational framework. It is based on all the published religio-ethical teachings of RSZ. In examining a passage or a group of related passages from this corpus, it attempts to answer two questions: Considering, whenever possible and relevant, what and with whom RSZ studied, the men he admired, the audience he was addressing, and the fundamental values he shared with similarly educated contemporaries--what does he mean to say here and how does it relate to what he says elsewhere? The sum total of answers to these specific questions yield the answers to the more general ones: What were RSZ's criteria for religio-ethical perfection? What did he want his followers to believe, know, feel, and do in order to aspire towards such perfection? What were the attitudes and values he sought to inculcate with this end in mind? ;Chapter One presents a survey and assessment of the scholarship relating to RSZ's primary religio-ethical mentors, R. Israel Baal Shem Tov and R. Dov Baer of Mezhirech, as well as a general introduction to RSZ's teachings and their salient characteristics: syncretism, tension, and paradox. The subsequent two chapters attempt to set forth the theological, ontological, and axiological foundations of RSZ's ethical thought. The last two chapter headings--Torah and Commandments, Love and Fear--correspond to the broad religio-ethical categories RSZ himself recognized