Chassidic Influence on Pop Culture

The Matrix and the Tanya

8 min readJun 12, 2020

The Matrix film series is one of my favorite sci-fi collections and has become a go-to among my three boys, one that we recently revisited during the pandemic. For those still unfamiliar with these cult status films, they are “about heroes who fight a desperate war against machine overlords that have enslaved humanity in an extremely sophisticated virtual reality system.”¹ While much has been written about the influences The Wachowskis drew upon when writing and directing the series, I’d like to suggest that it’s actually Chassidic philosophy generally and Chabad Tanya specifically that are the basis of the foundational concept presented:

The physical world as we know it is very much an illusion, mired in materialism created and worshiped by most of mankind.

Ok – now that I have your attention, let me explain how a 250-year-old Chassidic text could share anything in common with a bunch of modern sci-fi flicks. From the beginning of the trilogy, it doesn’t take long to recognize some of the more obvious Judeo-Christian influences in the movies:

The One (aka Neo and portrayed by Keanu Reeves) – “also known as the Prime Program, is a systemic feature of the Matrix, in which a special code is carried by a randomly selected human being…The powers of The One…make his/her role as a Messiah believable.”²
Zion – “a fictional city in The Matrix films. It is the last human city on the planet Earth after a cataclysmic nuclear war between mankind and sentient machines, which resulted in artificial lifeforms dominating the world.”³
Nebuchadnezzar – “a fictional hovership (known in-universe as a “hovercraft”) captained by Morpheus (portrayed by Lawrence Fishburne) in The Matrix trilogy.”⁴

Seraph – “In The Matrix…Seraph is seen acting as a ‘guardian angel’ of the Oracle…Seraph is a biblical allusion to the first of nine orders of angels, the Seraphim (singular Seraph). This allusion is also evidenced by the fire-like appearance of Seraph when Neo sees him in his coded form. The word ‘seraph’ comes from the Hebrew word saraph meaning ‘burning’.”⁵

However, these similarities only scratch the surface when it comes to the true influence that Chassidic philosophy has on the film and it’s hard to imagine that The Wachowskis had any conscious awareness of these teachings. Still, when you take a closer look, the connection is discernible and in my opinion, quite strong.

What is the Tanya?

Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe and author of the Tanya

The Tanya is the philosophical “bible” of the Chabad movement which lays down the practical and mystical fundamentals of the sect’s philosophy. It was authored by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (the “Alter Rebbe”), who founded the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in the mid-18th century.⁶ For all intents and purposes, the Tanya was the world’s first (and in my opinion, best) self-help book and I’ve blogged previously about the many organizational and professional development lessons to be gleaned from it. This post, however, focuses on more mystical aspects of the Tanya which find their roots in Kabbalah.

I started studying Tanya more than 3 years ago, and since then, have been constantly searching for tangible analogies to explain some of the extremely complex and deep ideas conveyed by the Alter Rebbe. Not so easy, as the Rebbe Rashab (fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe) once said that, “what we understand of the Tanya…is what a goat understands of the moon from staring at it.”⁷ At the core of this difficulty is the challenge of trying to bridge the gap between human existence and G-d’s omnipotence, between the finite and the infinite.

Before we start talking analogies and specifically about the one I believe to be present in The Matrix, let’s first discuss one of the main themes of Tanya, which is also one of the toughest to grasp.

“Physical reality is ultimately illusory”

“A central theme [of Tanya] pertains to the fact physical reality is ultimately illusory and things are not necessarily what they appear to be overtly. The truth can only be discerned through study and devout practice. In Tanya, all physical and psychological phenomena are seen as relative and illusionary.”⁸

The idea that the physical world is an illusion is certainly not new. There have been discussions about it religiously as far back as the Buddhists in 500 BC and philosophically beginning with the Greeks in 400 BC. However, the Alter Rebbe took this concept to a new level in Tanya by building on foundations set through Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible.

In Chapter 3 of the second part of Tanya (“Gateway to Unity and Faith”), the Alter Rebbe writes, “If, however, the eye were permitted to see and to comprehend the life-force and spirituality which is in every created thing, flowing into it from ‘that which proceeds from the mouth of G‑d’ and ‘His breath,’ then the physicality, materiality and tangibility of the creature would not be seen by our eyes at all, for it (this physicality, etc.) is completely nullified in relation to the life-force and the spirituality which is within it.”⁹

The idea of a “life-force” is not new to sci-fi fans. It certainly sounds very much like the “force” in Star Wars. However, the force doesn’t explain much about human existence, how people see the world around them, and most importantly, how they see other people. The Matrix, in my opinion, does a much more thorough job in this regard.

The Matrix vs. the Tanya

So how exactly does The Matrix serve as an analogy for the Tanya’s theme that physical reality is an illusion? It does this by showing that for most humans living in the world at the time of the Matrix, physical existence is different than perceived reality. While these people think they are living a normal life (because of the virtual reality of the Matrix), they are actually lying dormant in pods, receptacles, “where synthetically created humans are inserted and hardwired into becoming part of the power plant and virtually integrated the Matrix.”¹⁰

As Morpheus, the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar, explains to Neo at the beginning of the trilogy, “The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.”¹¹

For the sake of brevity, I’m not going to try and explain how humankind became enslaved by the machines, another well-known sci-fi theme made famous by Skynet in the Terminator series. Suffice it to say that the humans think they are living one life when in reality they are living another.

“You have the sight now, Neo. You are looking at the world without time.”¹²

Great. So where does that leave us and more importantly, how does The Matrix help us better understand our existence today here on planet earth? Let’s go back to the Alter Rebbe’s statement, “If, however, the eye were permitted to see and to comprehend the life-force and spirituality which is in every created thing…then the physicality, materiality and tangibility of the creature would not be seen by our eyes at all.” This ability to “see” is a power Neo discovers along his journey.

At the beginning of the trilogy, Neo perceives life like most other humans in The Matrix – his body almost lifeless in a pod that is harvesting its energy, while his mind is being tricked into thinking he has a normal life, a job, friends, etc. Once he is freed from this enslaved state by Morpheus, he starts to realize the special powers he has been granted, including the ability to see beyond normal perception. For example, here’s the regular view of Neo’s first meeting with Seraph:

And Neo’s special view:

This implies to me that part of Neo’s special powers as “The One” is to see beyond physicality and materialism and uncover the true life-force that powers the world. It also sounds an awful lot like the manifestation of a true Tzaddik or righteous person as defined by Chassidism:

It is explained in the chassidic teachings that we all possess a G‑dly soul. This soul is a spark of pure G‑dliness, and as such is endowed with infinite abilities, including the supernatural. In most of us, however, this divine soul is obscured by our ego and buried away deep within in our consciousness. Within a tzaddik (righteous person), this G‑dly soul is revealed and its infinite abilities are openly expressed. The body is “translucent” — acting as no more than a conduit for the G‑dly soul.¹³

No discussion of Tanya would be complete without a parable, which is the main technique used by the Alter Rebbe to try and help his readers bridge the gap between the finite and infinite. This story is an adaptation of a parable from the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidism, and coveys the power of seeing beyond the physical:

“Once there was a king with magical powers. Using his magic, he surrounded his palace with the illusion of many walls. The walls were arranged in concentric circles, one inside the other, and they grew increasingly larger — higher and thicker — as one approached the center. They appeared to have fortified battlements and to be manned by fierce soldiers who guarded from above; wild animals — lions and bears — seemed to run loose below.
The king then had a proclamation sent throughout the kingdom saying that whoever came to see him in his palace would be richly rewarded and given a rank second to none in the king’s service. Who would not desire this? His subjects came in droves. But when they arrived at the palace and saw no gate they were puzzled, and when they saw the awesome size of the walls and the terrifying soldiers and animals, many were afraid and turned back. Some, still hoping to get in and not wanting to go back, set up camp in front of the palace and settled down to wait and see what might happen. A few wandered from camp to camp complaining loudly about how unfair it was for the king to do this to them.
One subject, the king’s son, came and saw the walls, soldiers, and wild animals, and was astonished. He did not understand the obstacles, but he knew his father’s invitation had been sincere. He walked forward to the wall to see how he might get in. Finding nothing obvious, he decided to climb. He reached up for a handhold, and no sooner had he touched the brick then the walls, the soldiers and the animals disappeared. His father, the king, was standing right before him.”¹⁴