Living Torah Archives

The Mitteler Rebbe’s imprisonment came about after the wellsprings of the Baal Shem Tov had already swept the Jewish People, nourishing tens of thousands of souls. Despite all this, there descended a darkness so profound that it challenged even such a great light, and resulted in an imprisonment. But when denser darkness is conquered, the resultant light that shines forth out of the darkness is ever the brighter.

One of the earliest Chasidic texts, Tzavoas Harivash, is a manual of insights and guidance culled from the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and his successor, Rabbi Dovber of Mezritch. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, known as the Alter Rebbe, was their foremost student and the founder of Chabad, and is known for his seminal work, the Tanya.

Chasidism is often challenged based on the fact that it’s a relatively new path in the service of the Almighty. But the laws of Chanukah actually provide an important answer for this question. The Torah and Mitzvos are our best weapon against the darkness of the world around us. As we get closer to the end of this exile and the darkness increases, it’s also necessary to add more light as a counterbalance. Jewish observance has minimums set by Jewish Law. Then there’s going beyond these minimums, to “beautify” it, which can be done in various ways. The lesson of the Chanukah lights for the year ahead is to strive to be the best Jews we can possibly be.

The eighteenth of Elul marks the birth of two leaders that revolutionized the Jewish world. The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chasidic movement, and the Alter Rebbe, founder of Chabad. Yet if their teachings are so vital, why did they come so late in Jewish history?

The Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, compared chassidic teachings to pearls and coal. Pearls, he explained, are found in the depths of the sea, while coal is found deep in the earth.

Chasidism places much emphasis on serving G-d with joy. In truth, this is not something that a Jew must search too far to find. It is a natural expression of the awareness of G-d in all facets of life, and of the Jew’s recognition of what lies within him.

There are many explanations given to define the contribution of Chassidism.

An excerpt from the visit of Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, the Belzer Rebbe.

Rabbi Tuvia Blau, a prominent Chabad Chasid, was born into a family of distinguished nonchasidic origins. After discovering Chabad Chasidism as a student in yeshiva, he wrote to the Rebbe asking for clarification on a number of theological questions. In his response, the Rebbe added the answer to a question Tuvia hadn’t even asked – which turned out to be perhaps the most important answer of all.

My father-in-law, the Rebbe, gives a parable for what it means to be a Chabad Chasid: A miner digs deep into the ground for coal, which provides warmth and light.

The Belzer Rebbe, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, visits the Rebbe “Your newspaper recently began to include chasidic teachings. If you are now providing the laymen with regular doses of chasidus, perhaps it’s also time to provide the yeshivah students with regular study sessions in chasidus. Many important innovations have been introduced in our generation, for when new ‘illnesses’ arise, new ‘medicines’ must be administered.”

Detractors to chasidism still point to the Vilna Gaon’s opposition as the basis upon which they rely. But would the Vilna Gaon count himself among them today? (from a 1963 encounter)

After his liberation from Czarist prison on the 19th of Kislev, 1798, the Alter Rebbe recounted that the souls of his masters, the Baal Shem Tov and Maggid of Mezritch, had visited him in prison, explaining that his ordeal on earth was the result of a decree against him in Heaven above, because of his widespread dissemination of Chasidic teachings. When he asked if he should stop teaching, his masters replied: “On the contrary. Your liberation from prison will be the Heavenly sign that you must not only continue, you must increase!”

In 1956, Rabbi Eitan Greene had a two hour audience with the Rebbe, in which he asked many questions on Talmud and Jewish philosophy.

Chassidic philosophy's four contributions to the Jewish way of life.

With the Alter Rebbe's release from prison in 1798, he began to teach Torah's secrets in a way that would brighten every Jewish home, and would permeate the outside world.

The mystical secrets of Torah were always studied by the Jewish people, but during most of Jewish history they were guarded and only accessible to a scholarly elite. In later generations these teachings were disseminated to a wider extent, but even then, they were only comprehensible to the initiated; the spiritual illumination of these teachings reached the outside world through those who studied them.