WORDSONGS OF JEWISH THOUGHT: One Hundred Eight Tanya Response Poems

When a thought becomes a wordsong, something entirely new takes shape.

WORDSONGS OF JEWISH THOUGHT gathers 108 response poems written across thirteen extraordinary days of uninterrupted creative fervor — each one born from a passage in Rabbi Adin Even Israel Steinsaltz's landmark three-volume English commentary on the Tanya, the foundational work of Hasidic mystical thought by Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1813).

"When one learns from a master one becomes connected on a deep level. This surely happened in your case, as you not only learned but integrated the teachings to the point where you could generate your own."
— Rivkah Slonim, Education Director, The Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University

THE LATE RABBI ADIN EVEN ISRAEL STEINSALTZ (1937–2020) was a prolific author, translator, and scholar whose interpretation of Judaica remains unsurpassed in modern times. His three-volume Tanya commentary is extraordinary in prose style, fullness of elucidation, and spiritual depth — drawing from the entire breadth of Hasidic mystical literature and the wisdom of both mind and heart.

Reading it, the poet was seized with a creative fervor unlike anything before. In thirteen days he wrote 108 poems — one for each passage that moved him across all three volumes.

What you hold is a book of musical compositions that happen to have words rather than prescribed pitches. The poet is a lifelong violinist, klezmer fiddler, classical chorister, and folk vocalist — and every wordsong carries that musical precision, rhythmic care, and deep spiritual attention.

For readers of Jewish poetry, Hasidic mysticism, Steinsaltz scholarship, Tanya commentary, and spiritual verse — this collection offers a rare, deeply personal, and beautifully crafted encounter with one of Judaism's most beloved sacred texts.