19. [One of those present referred to last night’s mention of Maharal as the source for the melodies that traditionally accompany the davenen,1 and added that many chassidim thought that this was to be understood as referring to Maharil,2 who is the source of many widely-accepted customs. The Rebbe responded:]
We were in fact speaking of Maharal. In fact, when the great shul of Prague once hired a chazzan of whom he disapproved, the congregation’s lay leader dismissed the new chazzan and paid him due compensation. When he then asked Maharal what had displeased him, the answer was that the singing was fine, but the kavanos that the chazzan ought to have had in mind were not appropriate. When my grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash, once visited Prague, he told his attendant, R. Leivik [Idlevitch], to put his ear to the pillars within that shul and then he would hear melodies being sung.
20. R. Nachman Mariashin3 once told me that in the year 5634 (1874), the Rebbe Maharash had spoken of the difference in stature between the chassidim of his era and the chassidim of earlier generations. He did not recall exactly what was said, so I asked my father, who told me that the Rebbe Maharash had said at the time: “One can speak about the qualities of the chassidim of my father, [the Tzemach Tzedek]; one can only hint at the stature of the chassidim of my grandfather, [the Mitteler Rebbe]; but as to the stature of the chassidim of the Alter Rebbe, one cannot even hint in speech, but only in thought.”
And in conclusion, the Rebbe Maharash had said: “I would like my chassidim to be able to sing, because singing nurtures hiskashrus,4 and if it works out well, it can flower into a hiskashrus that is experienced inwardly.”
[The following evening, one of those present cited the above-quoted statement of the Rebbe Maharash – that singing nurtures hiskashrus – and asked: “To whom is the hiskashrus?” The Rebbe Rayatz replied: “Everything down here below is bounded within the parameters of time and place. While a person is singing, he may experience a spiritual arousal,5 and from that he may arrive at hiskashrus. As to the question, ‘With what ought a person seek to establish a spiritual bond?’ – a person needs to have the sense to bond himself to where he ought to be bound.”]
21. My father, [the Rebbe Rashab,] added that in that same year, 5634 (1874), his father, [the Rebbe Maharash,] had said that in terms of avodah, setting aside mayim shelanu6 signifies holding back freely-gushing waters,7 [as is now to be explained].
At that time, the Rebbe Maharash relayed the following teaching of the Alter Rebbe, which dates from the time that he was still in Vitebsk:8
The passage begins, “You are all standing today [before G‑d]…” It proceeds to enumerate in descending order all the spiritual levels within our people, and concludes, “from the choppers of your wood to the drawers of your water.”9 Now, asks the Alter Rebbe, once all the previous levels have been listed, why does the Torah add the choppers of wood [and the drawers of water]?
And the Alter Rebbe answers his own question: “Even today, when you – including ‘the heads of your tribes’ – are standing before G‑d, what is still required is the actual, practical toil that is alluded to by the words meaning ‘from the choppers of your wood,’ namely, meichotev eitzecha, for the latter word is phonetically related to the word meaning ‘counsel’ (eitzah). That is, we must chop away the ‘many thoughts [that are present] in a man’s heart,’10 and cast out the water that causes all kinds of [improper] desires to flourish.”11
