By COLlive reporter
Who would be the best candidate to teach Tanya, the central text of Chabad Chassidus, to a crowd of 1000 people at the Sinai Indaba annual Torah convention in South Africa?
Rabbi Shais Taub, of course.
Taub, who authored the Map of Tanya and Soul Maps courses explaining the revolutionary Kabbalistic text of the Alter Rebbe, was one of the guest speakers of the convention that is held in both cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Rabbi Taub was invited by the office of South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein to join the illustrious panel of speakers that included Israel’s Chief Rabbi David Lau, British singer Alex Clare, Vice President of the OU Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, and many other respected personalities.
Now in its 5th year, Sinai Indaba has seen a procession of world-famous Torah scholars, psychologists, filmmakers, academic professors, historians and musicians captivate and enliven large crowds at South Africa’s premier conference venues.
This year, it was the forum for one of the world’s largest Tanya classes presented by Rabbi Taub, an expert of Jewish mysticism and author of “G-d of Our Understanding: Jewish Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction” (KTAV Publishing House, 2010).
“The dichotomy is not between good and evil, it is between selfishness and selflessness,” he told a full room of people of all ages and backgrounds as he navigated through the central themes of the Tanya and its application to daily life challenges and struggles.
Taub’s various sessions on chasidus and its practical applications to daily life were popular in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. In particular, his lecture entitled Soul Maps, based on his overview of the Tanya, was well received.
The second Shabbos of Rabbi Taub’s South African Tour was the day of Gimmel Tammuz which he spent on the campus of the Torah Academy, a Chabad Jewish day school in Johannesburg led by Rabbi Shabsy Chaiton.
On Friday night, Rabbi Taub spent time leading a farbrengen with bochurim from all over South Africa at the annual Unity Shabbos marking the Rebbe‘s yartzeit. On Shabbos day, he was the guest mashpia at the “Chasidim Shul” led by Rabbi Nesanel Schochet.
VIDEO:
Migdal Haemek Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Grossman leads a kumzitz at Sinai Indaba
Joburg – this should give you some idea of the kind of magic that awaits you as Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Grossman prepares to touch down in your city. As you can see, Capetonians couldn’t get enough of him (neither, it seems, could Alex Clare). We’ll leave it to you to decide whether that shaft of light appearing intermittently above the rov’s head is just a light fixture or something more… esoteric ☺
Posted by Sinai Indaba on Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Great shot and keep up your good work
Where can we listen to R.Taub’s lecture?
He was incredible at the shabbos achdus! Best part of the entire trip!!!! Go tabhs shluchim!!