One of the most important Jewish mystical thinkers of the last few centuries was the Polish Kabbalist Rabbi Schnuer Zalman (1747­1813), a follower, a generation removed, of the  Baal Shem Tov and founder of the Chabad (named after the first letter of the three "intellectual" sefirot ­ Hokhmah, Binah, and Daat) or Lubavitcher (after the town of Lubavitch in Poland where it originated) sect of  Hassidism.  His most important work is a long treatise known as the Tanya ("That which has been revealed"), full of religious, Kabbalistic, and psychological material.
 

The Cosmology of the Tanya

Rabbi Zalman presents a simpler cosmology than that of  Kabbalists like 

and 

, uniting the world of 

with the 

, and identifying the physical reality with the World of 

.   In fact, the world of Atzilut is described in a manner very much like the Nirguna Brahman of 

"...beyond the intelligence, comprehension and understanding of a created intellect, because the chohmah, binah, and da'at [the higher three Sefirot; the Divine Intellect] of the blessed En Sof are united with it therein in perfect unity, a profound and wonderful unity which infinitely excels, in degree and form, that which is found in the world of Beriah..."   [Tanya p.191].

The world of 

 "...have no freedom of choice, and their fear and love (of God) are their natural instincts...Therefore  the quality of the tzaddikim [Righteous holy men] is superior to theirs, for the abode of the souls of the righteous is in the world of Beriah, whereas the abode of the angels is in the world of Yetzirah.         [Tanya p.187].

Chabad Psychology

The Divine soul is modelled after the arrangement of the  Sefirot or Divine attributes.  Just as the Sefirot are divided into three higher and seven lower, so the Soul is divided into two categories, Intellect (sekhel) and Emotion (middot).  The Intellect is itself three­fold, consisting of Hokhmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), and Daat (Knowledge).

Rabbi Zalman associates the "Animal" soul with the left side of the heart, the emotions with the right side of the heart, and the intellect ­ as with modern materialism and holism ­ with the brain [Tanya p.31]; thus suggesting a somatic psychology.  But he does not develop a theory of psychic centres (chakras) like Tantra postulated.

In many ways, R. Zalman's psychology can be compared to Plato's and his successors', although there is obviously no causal relation between the two.  The nous or "rational soul" can be equated with the sekhel or intellect, although the former is not sub­divided like the latter; the thymos with the middot or emotions, and  the epithymia or "irrational soul" or physical desires with the the Lower or "Animal" soul.  And whilst Plato did not conceive the epithymia as negative, later the Hermeticist, Neoplatonists, and Christian mystics spoke of the "passions" or "the irrational soul" in a very negative manner, seeing them as obstacles to the spiritual path.

 Indeed, with Zalman we have a profound psychology, but a psychology which was never able to break free of its religious­sectarian milieu.  Thus, Hassidic psychology always remained inextricably interwoven with religious doctrine.
 

Chabad Psychology and Psychoanalysis

The Lubavitcher Sect of Hassidism

 The Purpose of the Chassidic Rebbe

Chassidism and Chassidic Thought - a list of resources.  Comprehensive.

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