מִשִּׂיחוֹת אַאַמוּ"ר: אִין דעֶם יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם פוּן חֲסִידוּת, אִיז פאַראַן דִי מִצְוָה פוּן סִפּוּר יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם בְּדִבּוּר, דעֶרצֵיילעֶן חֲסִידִישׁעֶ סִפּוּרִים אוּן דעֶרהעֶרעֶן דעֶם סִפּוּר אִין אַ פְּנִימִית דִּפְנִימִית. מְ'בּעֶדאַרף וִויסעֶן אַז יעֶדעֶר סִפּוּר אִיז אַ הוֹרָאָה בַּחַיִּים. יעֶדעֶר סִפּוּר בּעֶדאַרף בְּרֵיינגעֶן אַ מִדָּה טוֹבָה אוּן אַ חַיּוּת פְּנִימִי אִין אַ הִדּוּר מִצְוָה אוּן דעֶרהעֶרעֶן דעֶם דַּרְכֵי נוֹעַם פוּן תּוֹרַת הַחֲסִידוּת.

From a public talk of my revered father, [the Rebbe Rashab]: Part of the chassidic “exodus from Egypt”1 is the mitzvah to recount the story of the exodus from Egypt verbally.2 This means telling chassidic stories, and listening and internalizing them in one’s innermost self.

One should realize that every story offers a directive for our lives. Every story ought to refine our character,3 produce inner gusto in the loving performance of mitzvos, and sensitize us to perceive the pleasantness of the teachings of Chassidus.4

Delving Deeply

The art of storytelling has always characterized chassidic communities, and continues to serve as a catalyst in the spiritual maturation of every chassid. Indeed, the Alter Rebbe once recalled: “When we used to hear a Torah discourse from the Rebbe, the Maggid of Mezritch, we saw this as the Oral Law,5 and when we heard a story from his mouth, this was our Written Law.”6 Like the stories of the Tanach, the Written Law, chassidic stories are living Torah, multi-dimensional expressions of Divine truth. Moreover, these truths are expressed not as theoretical principles, but as reactions — and guideposts — to our day-to-day experience.

In the words of R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin,7 “It can be fairly said that the doctrines of Chassidism are the halachah8 of Chassidism,and the stories of chassidim are its aggadah.9 […] The aggadah of Chassidism with its stories of the roadbuilders and trailblazers of the movement — the tzaddikim, their lives and deeds, attitudes and attributes, their customs and conduct, their words and their wonders — this aggadah of stories rouses the heart, revives the soul, and breathes the spirit of life into the driest of bones.”