מַעֲנֵה הַצֶּמַח צֶדֶק לְחָסִיד בָּקִי בְּשַׁ"ס כוּ' וּמַשְׂכִּיל גָּדוֹל בַּחֲסִידוּת: קַבָּלַת עוֹל אִיז מְשַׁנֶּה דעֶם מְהוּת. דוּרְך קַבָּלַת עוֹל פוּן אַ עֶבֶד פָּשׁוּט, וואָס בְּשַׁעַת עֶר שְׁלאָפְט אִיז אוֹיךְ נִיכָּר דעֶר עוֹל הָעַבְדוּת זַיינעֶר, קעֶן אֲפִילוּ אַ לַמְדָן אוּן אַ גָּאוֹן אוֹיךְ קוּמעֶן צוּ דעֶר מַעֲלָה אוּן חֲשִׁיבוּת פוּן אַ פְּראָסְט–תְּמִימוּת'דִיקעֶן מְסִירַת-נֶפֶשׁ אִיד.

The following is an answer that the Tzemach Tzedek gave to a chassid who was exceedingly well versed in the entire Talmud and in the scholarly writings of Chassidus:

Kabbalas ol, the unquestioning acceptance of G‑d’s yoke, transforms a person’s essence. By adopting the kabbalas ol of a simple servant, whose yoke of servitude is apparent even when he sleeps, even a scholar and a genius can attain the lofty rung and stature of a simple, artless Jew who serves G‑d with mesirus nefesh, with self-sacrificing devotion.1

Living in This World

When Torah scholars began flocking to the Baal Shem Tov, he sent them out to teach the common folk. Some of those scholars must have found such a mission surprising. The Baal Shem Tov explained that just as “the beggar does more for the donor than the donor does for the beggar,”2 so too, scholars have more to learn from the simple folk than they have to teach them. True, they can teach them intellectual material, but they can learn from them how to reach the essence of the soul — and this is a potential that far surpasses the intellect.