מְקוּבָּל רַבִּי מִפִּי רַבִּי: אִין דעֶר צַייט פוּן מַחֲלוֹקֶת הַיְּדוּעָה, האָבּעֶן חֲסִידִים דעֶרצֵיילט דעֶם אַלטעֶן רֶבִּי'ן דִי גְרוֹיסעֶ יִסּוּרִים וואָס מ'האָט פוּן דִי מִתְנַגְדִישׁעֶ פְּראָסטעֶ אִידעֶן. האָט דעֶר רֶבִּי געֶזאָגט: דעֶר זֵיידעֶ — אַזוֹי פְלעֶגט דעֶר רֶבִּי רוּפעֶן דעֶם בַּעַל שֵׁם טוֹב — האָט זֵייעֶר לִיב געֶהאַט דִי פְרָאסטֶע אִידֶען. אִין דִי עֶרשׁטֶע טעֶג וועֶן אִיךְ בִּין געֶוועֶן אִין מעֶזרִיטשׁ, האָט דעֶר רֶבִּי הָרַב הַמַּגִּיד געֶזאָגט: מְרַגְלָא בְּפוּמֵיהּ פוּן רֶבִּי'ן — הַבַּעַל שֵׁם טוֹב — אַהֲבַת יִשְׂרָאֵל אִיז אַהֲבַת הַמָּקוֹם, בָּנִים אַתֶּם לה' אֱלֹקֵיכֶם, אַז מעֶן האָט האָלט דעֶם פאָטעֶר האָט מעֶן האָלט דִי קִינדעֶר.

The following tradition was handed down from Rebbe to Rebbe:

At the time of the well-known dispute [between chassidim and misnagdim], the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim told him that they suffered greatly from the simple folk among the misnagdim.

The Alter Rebbe replied: “Grandfather (that was how the Alter Rebbe would refer to the Baal Shem Tov) had a great love for simple Jews. In the first days of my stay in Mezritch, the Rebbe, the Maggid [of Mezritch], declared: ‘The Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, used to say that to love a fellow Jew is to love G‑d. [As it is written,]1 You are children of G‑d your L‑rd. One who loves the Father, loves [His] children.’”2

A Mini-Farbrengen

There are two ways to look at a simple person. One way focuses upon his coarseness, which often results from material deprivation, intellectual poverty, and a lack of spiritual development. Another way focuses on the inner G‑dly spark of his soul,3 and the fact that his ego does not block his spirituality, as may be the case among sophisticated scholars.

Now, the way we think about another person often serves as a self-fulfilling prophecy. By highlighting a person’s positive qualities, we encourage their expression. The Alter Rebbe taught chassidim to seek those qualities in everyone, in his opponents and followers alike.

His chassidim in a certain township once confronted an insoluble problem.4 Of all their many townsmen, who was it that made a regular habit of joining in the prayers at their shtibl? An unsavory individual whom the locals regarded as the biggest sinner in town. The problem was not that he did anything offensive while he was there, but that the local misnagdim used to say: “Just look what kind of people these Chabad chassidim are!”

In their frustration, they told the Alter Rebbe that since their hospitality was bringing Chassidus — and the name of the Alter Rebbe himself — into disrepute, they had decided to bar this man’s entry to their minyan.

The Alter Rebbe rejected their reasoning: “Didn’t you say that while he is in your company he refrains from sinning? You cannot conceive what pleasure is aroused On High when a Jew does one sin less than he could have done!”