Weekly Dvar Torah: What Did the Alter Rebbe Want from Chassidim?
Chof Daled Teves (24 Tevet), is the Yartzait of the Alter Rebbe. The Rebbe in Hayom Yom quotes a dialogue between the Tzemach Tzedek and his son the Rebbe Maharash.
The Rebbe Maharash asked the Tzemach Tzedek: “What did our Zeide [the Alter Rebbe] want with the ways of Chassidus, and what did he want with Chassidus itself?”
The Tzemach Tzedek answered: “The ways of Chassidus is that all Chassidim should be like one family, in a love centered on Torah. Chassidus is vitality, bringing energy and light into everything.”
The Maharash asked: “Do we bring light even into those things that are negative and undesirable?”
The Tzemach Tzedek responded: “Yes. We must illuminate even the negative. This means, that we should recognize the evil within us for what it is, so that we can correct it.”
There are two matters here. 1) The ways of Chassidus, which is the path in which a Chossid lives, behaves, and travels. 2) Chassidus itself which are the teachings of Chassidus that we study.
One helps and complements the other.
The question is, how is it possible to illuminate evil, isn’t evil just plain darkness? A Chossid who learns Chassidus and behaves like a Chossid, is in a place of light, so how and why does he connect with evil? And how is a Chossid able to take on and illuminate the darkness?
This is explained in the 2-part question of the Rebbe Maharash, and the response by the Tzemach Tzedek.
The first issue is what did the Alter Rebbe want with the ‘ways’ of Chassidim?
The answer: That Chassidim should be like one family according to Torah.
The famous adage of the Mitteler Rebbe says, that when two Chassidim talk to one another about serving the Divine, they are two G-dly souls against one animal soul.
Why is it not two G-dly souls against two animal souls? Because our two G-dly souls have one thing in mind, and that is to do what G-d wants. When we get together we combine our efforts in the same direction and purpose. But when our two animal souls get together, they have nothing in common, you don’t care for my personal indulgences, and I don’t care for your personal pleasures. I’m not going to help you fulfil your lusts, and I don’t want to have you share my lusts, the animal soul is just plain selfish. There is no unity between our animal souls to combine forces towards one common cause. Therefore, each of our animal souls remain alone.
When Chassidim are like one family, they combine forces, and their G-dly souls unite as one huge Chassidic family which has only one goal in mind. And that is to do what G-d and Chassidus want and expect from them. The end result is that within each and every one of us, there are two G-dly souls, mine and my friends, standing up together to my one animal soul.
What is Chassidus? Chassidus is light. The united Chassidic family gets together with the light of Chassidus and that light becomes so strong, that it reaches even in the darkest places, and they illuminate even there.
To appreciate this ability to transform dark into light, we find in Gemara a concept of Teshuva, that it takes the most deliberate sins, and transforms them into merits.
How is that possible? This happens when your Teshuva is so strong, that you come from a position of strong regret to absolute love of Hashem. Then G-d takes this energy that ultimately came from Him (because in the end nothing can exist without the life force coming from Hashem), and you took that energy and wasted it on sinning. Because of your Teshuva that came from love, G-d embraces you and your wasted energy, and He accepts you like a long-lost child with love. And then your entire history is embraced as well, and instead of being a negative it becomes a positive.
This extends to the idea that when Chassidim become like one family, their unity is embraced by G-d, as we say in Davening “בָּרְכֵנוּ אָבִינוּ כֻּלָּנוּ כְּאֶחָד בְּאוֹר פָּנֶיךָ = Bless us, our Father, all of us as one with the light of Your countenance,” because we are one we get this special blessing of G-d’s light, which is so powerful that it allows us to take His light and illuminate everything in this world, even the darkest evil.
Chassidus is this light with which we are able to illuminate the world.
This is what the Alter Rebbe accomplished with Chassidus and the ways of Chassidus.
Have a Chassidic trip of a Shabbos,
Gut Shabbos
Rabbi Yosef Katzman
