The Great Divine Achievement

Chasidic tradition records1 the following moment:

Once, in the years between 1784 and 1787, the early Chasidim sat together in conversation. Their topic of discussion: What did our Rebbe (Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi) accomplish for the individual by teaching Chasidut? What lack in the individual’s subjective experience of life did he fill?

It wasn’t Torah study, they agreed, because Torah was already being studied in depth. It wasn’t a lack of internal spiritual work—people hadn’t known it was necessary to feel it was lacking. It wasn’t material wealth—“no one had wealth before and it wasn’t necessary; no one has wealth today and it remains unnecessary.”

Finally, they hit on it.

“The Rebbe accomplished that we are no longer lonely.

“In the past, the teacher was lonely and the students were lonely. The Chasidic path taught by our Rebbe brought about the great divine achievement that the teacher is no longer lonely, and the students are no longer lonely.”

The words of these Chasidic pioneers require explanation. They tell us that the “great divine achievement” of Chasidic teachings is that they profoundly alleviate human loneliness. But how?

In a 1962 letter to a woman who struggled with loneliness (she seems to have been a teacher in her twenties), the Rebbe explained:

Surely you know the saying that “Chasidut accomplished that a person not be lonely.” If this was said even regarding the relationship between a Chasid and his Rebbe [seemingly a relationship of reverence, which conjures distance], all the more so is this true regarding the relationship between one person and another. And certainly regarding the [loving] relationship between G‑d and the Jewish people.

This is better understood in light of the foundational teaching of our Torah, the Torah of life, about G‑d’s individual providence—which means, quite literally, that G‑d closely oversees every detail of a person’s life with individual attention. And His providence and His blessings and His nurture are one and the same, because they are sourced in He Who is simple oneness.

From these ideas emerge—and these ideas inform—a person’s practical, emotional, and intellectual approach to life: Every individual finds themselves in a world (composed of human, animal, plant, and inanimate kingdoms, each consisting of multitudes of beings) that he or she influences, and is simultaneously influenced by them as well…. Thus, every being is full of meaning, at least potentially, and it is up to the individual person to activate this meaning so that it moves from potential to actuality….

Especially in your case, where divine providence has put you in the field of educating children…. Every good step you take with your students creates an eternal closeness between you and them, a spiritual and sacred bond that is also tangibly positive and meaningful. When it comes to such a bond, the distance of space does not and cannot create a barrier, and no severance of this bond is possible (which is why it remains eternal).

In other words, when you sit in your room and find yourself overcome with loneliness, and at the very same time one of your students reviews a lesson they heard from you, or makes a blessing as you taught them, [physical distance notwithstanding,] this increases the vitality and light in your bond with each other; and it is impossible that your divine soul not feel this increase, because it is part of your soul’s very essence; and the soul, in turn, is the deepest, innermost part of a person.2

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It seems, then, that this was the meaning of the early Chasidim:

A surface-level perspective on existence sees each person as a lone creature in a vast and unfeeling world. We’re all particles flying through space; we’re all people whose interests, nefarious or noble, happen to converge. In the end, when you look reality hard in the face, you are all alone.

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The Chasidic masters sought to change that. They opened people’s minds to a higher perspective: There is a divine presence in the world. There is a divine presence in your life. There is a divine presence in your relationships with others. You are always in the company of G‑d. You are truly connected to the people in your life. In the end, when you look reality deep in the face, you are never alone.

The aforementioned letter to a teenager proceeds to drive this point home:

For those who think deeply into their personal world, the only way to truly counter the sense of being alone in life [“only you on one side and the entire world on the other”], is with an awareness of the Creator and Conductor of the world, who is ever present in the world, even today—in the expression of our Sages, “within ten tefachim of the ground”3 [i.e., within our own lived reality].4

Let’s unpack this a little more.

“G‑d is Your Friend”

For millennia, philosophers, theologians, and thinking individuals have mulled over the foundational questions about G‑d and His relationship with the world.

Some have posited that the Creator of the universe has abandoned it to fend for itself, leaving it and all its inhabitants to navigate existence on their own. Others have opined that He is only involved in the great world events that alter the course of history, or in the fundamental principles that govern nature, but the petty details of any one individual’s life are too inconsequential for Him to be concerned with.

The Chassidic masters thought differently.5 They taught that far from abandoning the universe, G‑d is intimately involved in the world. He is always present at the side of every individual, no matter their spiritual level or place in society, and all the occurrences in their lives are intrinsically important to Him.

The following two Chasidic principles are repeatedly found in the Rebbe’s counseling:6

First, G‑d is directly involved in even the smallest details of our lives.

Second, as he once put it to a young man: “G‑d is your friend.”7 G‑d is not out to get us. He is the essence of goodness and kindness and always looks out for our best interests.8

Reflecting on these two ideas can help us replace our fears of being alone in a brutal world with the serenity of being in the company and care of G‑d, Whose greatness surpasses every challenge and Whose kindness is total and unwavering. Unlike many human relationships that falter and sometimes fail, often leaving us feeling even more alone, G‑d’s presence and interest are constant. He has no external reasons for being in your life. It is you He is interested in.

Irving Block was a philosophy student at Harvard University in the mid-1950s when he was drawn to the Rebbe’s teachings and came to study under his tutelage for a period. Throughout Block’s time in New York, the Rebbe would often ask him about his mother, who had been widowed at a young age and lived in Nashville, Tennessee.

One day, Block’s mother traveled to New York and told her son that she wanted to meet the Rebbe he had told her so much about. Block was able to arrange a meeting, but she told him not to accompany her; she wanted to go in alone. After the meeting, she told him what she had discussed with the Rebbe: that she had two sisters, both married, but that she was alone. “On Friday nights when I light the Shabbat candles, I’m all by myself, and I feel very lonely.”

Block was embarrassed by his mother’s words, feeling that this was an inappropriate emotion with which to approach the Rebbe, particularly at a first encounter. But the Rebbe, it turned out, didn’t feel that way at all. He simply told her, “You don’t have to feel lonely. Der Aibershter is alle mol mit dir—G‑d Almighty is with you all the time.”

Block recalls: “My mother came out and she was calm.” After that day, whenever he asked his mother how she was feeling, she would answer, “Come on now, G‑d is always with me.” Indeed, she told her son that from the time that the Rebbe told her those words, she was not lonely in the same way anymore.9

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Exercise

Write out (or print) this meditation and keep it in your wallet. Consult whenever you feel alone.

There is a divine presence in the world. There is a divine presence in your life. There is a divine presence in your relationships with others. You are always in the company of G‑d. You are truly connected to the people in your life. When you look reality deep in the face, you are never alone.

This article is excerpted from chapter 2 of "Letters for Life."