י״א אלול ה׳תשפ״ו | August 23, 2026
Nine Years Later, Nigeria’s Unfinished Tanya Mission Is Finally Complete
Left unfinished nine years ago, a recently published ma’ane of the Rebbe prompted Shluchim to revisit a Tanya printing. There they discovered a lone Jew living in Calabar and finally completed the edition.
Nine years after Shluchim set out to print the Tanya across Nigeria, the one edition they were unable to complete has finally been printed in Calabar.
In 2017, Rabbi Israel Uzan and Haya Uzan, Shluchim in Abuja, asked bochurim Mendel Raskin, Mendy Sternbach and Heschel Yarmush, who had come to Nigeria for Tishrei to assist Yidden across the country with their Yom Tov needs, to print Tanyas in cities where Jews were living.
Eight editions were reserved from a neweKehos for cities across Nigeria. Traveling with printers, generators and mashke in armored vehicles with security, the bochurim succeeded in printing seven.
Calabar was the exception. By the time they returned for Chanukah, the Jews who had been there had left, and the printing was postponed.
Recently, a ma’ane of the Rebbe concerning printing Tanya in Nigeria was published, in which the Rebbe writes, “באם יש שם עכ״פ יהודי אחד,” if there is at least one Jew there.
Rabbi Mendy Sternbach and Mazal Sternbach, Shluchim in Lagos, together with Rabbi Israel Uzan and Haya Uzan, looked into Calabar and found that there was indeed one Jew living there, Yossi Dueni.
Nine years after it was first planned, Tanya edition 6,936 was printed in Calabar, becoming the 10th Tanya printed in Nigeria.
The printing took place on the birthday of Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky AH, in whose memory it was printed, recognizing his years of personal involvement in developing Yiddishkeit and supporting the Shluchim families in Nigeria.
Where was the letter printed? Lahak