Zalman, Schneur Ben Baruch, of Liady (1745–1813) was the founder of the * Ḥasidic Lubavitch community (* Ḥabad). Rabbi Zalman was a disciple of the Maggid, Rabbi Dov *Ber of Miedzyrzecz, the heir of the founder of Ḥasidism, Rabbi Israel *Baal Shem Tov. His two closest colleagues, Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and Abraham of Kalisk, immigrated to *Safed in 1777, and he assumed the leadership of the community in southern *Russia and provided support for Ḥasidic groups in the Holy Land. His influence grew, and thousands flocked to his court. He tried to resolve the conflict between the Ḥasidim and the *mitnaggedim (“opponents” of Ḥasidism) by arranging a meeting with Rabbi Elijah, the *Vilna Gaon, in 1774, but was unsuccessful. He was arrested by the Russian police on suspicion of making foreign contacts; to this day, Lubavitch Ḥasidim celebrate the day he was released, the 19th of Kislev in 1798.

Zalman's exoteric spiritual work, usually known as the Tanya (It Was Taught; 1st ed., 1787, definitive ed., 1814) is held sacred by the Ḥabad Ḥasidim; his teachings, including esoteric ones, are presented in his sermons collected in Torah Or (The Light of the Torah; 1837) and Likutei Torah (Selections of the Torah; 1848). He taught an intense *mystical doctrine, holding all existence as an illusion and advocating identification with ayin, the absence of all worldly elements, which brings the worshiper to communion with *God. For further reading, see N. Loewenthal, Communicating the Infinite: The Emergence of the Habad School (1990); and R. Elior, The Paradoxical Theology of Habad (1996).