The Baal Shem Tov Revealed That You Must. The Alter Rebbe Revealed That You Can | Yud-Ches Elul

00:00 When the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived in America during World War II, he began revealing many secrets and remarkable things: hidden accounts of the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid of Mezritch, the Alter Rebbe, and the first generations of Chassidus. Entire treasures of Torah teachings and stories that had not been known at all. Among them, he also revealed the great secret of Chai Elul, the birthday of the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch. Something about it had been known, but not all the details. During the years the Frierdiker Rebbe was in America, at the farbrengen each Chai Elul, he would reveal another story, another detail, another point. That is how we know so many remarkable details about this day—what happened on it. Extraordinary things. He also related how the Chabad Rebbeim celebrated it through the generations. Though it was not an openly celebrated festival, but a hidden one, how did they celebrate Chai Elul? He described various farbrengens, stories, anecdotes, and things that happened that day. He relates that the year 5658 marked two hundred years since the Baal Shem Tov’s birth. The Rebbe Rashab was the Rebbe at the time, and he was filled with joy and excitement. He asked the Frierdiker Rebbe to accompany him in his preparations for Chai Elul, and they celebrated the day in a very special way. Among other things, he explained to him what happens in Heaven on this day: how Chai Elul is celebrated in the Baal Shem Tov’s heavenly chamber, how all the tzaddikim and souls gather and speak about the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings and what Chassidus has accomplished in the world. They give blessings and distribute gifts to all those involved in studying Chassidus, teaching Chassidus, and spreading Chassidus. It is a most remarkable sicha. In that sicha, the Rebbe Rashab said

02:46 as he was speaking with the Frierdiker Rebbe while they walked—as was his practice for his health, since he needed to walk and get some fresh air—on that Chai Elul evening, or on Chai Elul itself, the Rebbe Rashab said: “The Baal Shem Tov was the foremost of educators. The Alter Rebbe was the foremost of guides.” What exactly does that mean? What does “the foremost of educators” mean? What does “the foremost of guides” mean? What is the difference between an educator and a guide? If we look at the history of that period, that year, 5658, two hundred years since the Baal Shem Tov’s birth, was also the first year of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah, which the Rebbe Rashab founded for young men in Lubavitch. At that time, the Rebbe Rashab and his only son, the Frierdiker Rebbe, were working on material for an essay, an article, a booklet on the principles of education and guidance. It was later printed and published, and we have it today: an interesting, remarkable, foundational booklet. The basic material was written by the Rebbe Rashab, and the entire work was arranged by the Frierdiker Rebbe. It is called Principles of Education and Guidance. It is a wonderful booklet in which he explains how to educate, what education is, and how to educate someone. Principles, just as its title says: Principles of Education and Guidance. In that booklet, he explains that our task in education is not merely to teach, but to educate and guide. He makes a striking point: today we have many teachers. A teacher is someone who comes to impart knowledge. Just as there are teachers of scientific or professional subjects, so too there is a teacher of Torah. He imparts knowledge: how to study a verse in Chumash, how to study Mishnah, how to understand Gemara. He teaches a Torah subject; he imparts knowledge. But the truth is that what we really need is not only teachers. We need educators

05:28 and guides. Throughout the booklet, he explains beautifully what exactly the educator’s and the guide’s role is, but he does not really explain there the difference between the word “educator” and the word “guide.” He treats them together. He explains that our task in education is not merely to impart knowledge. Our task is to raise students, to shape a person—to take a child, of whom it is said, “Man is born a wild donkey’s colt,” and turn him into a person with moral qualities, good character, and healthy conduct; a healthy person, a whole person in body, soul, Torah, and faith. That takes a great deal of work. To take a field, as he explains with a parable there—a barren field full of thorns, stones, and so on—and work it, improve it, and hoe it, doing everything necessary until it becomes a field that produces fruit and trees wonderfully. That is also the work of education and guidance. What really is the difference between being an educator and being a guide, and what does it have to do with the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe—that the Baal Shem Tov is called the foremost of educators and the Alter Rebbe the foremost of guides? We can understand this from the sichos of Chai Elul in those years, when the Frierdiker Rebbe discussed several key points explaining the difference between the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe. In one of the sichos, he quotes an expression from earlier chassidim and earlier Rebbeim: one of the differences between the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe is that the Baal Shem Tov revealed how one should serve Hashem, while the Alter Rebbe revealed how one can serve Hashem. What is the difference between what one should do and what one can do? One should serve Hashem, and one can serve Hashem. The Baal Shem Tov revealed the need, and the Alter Rebbe revealed the ability. How do we explain that? What

07:54 really happened? We need to go back a little, become familiar with the history of the revelation of Chassidus, and look more deeply—even if only briefly—at what exactly the Baal Shem Tov brought: what was the wonderful, joyous message he brought to the world with the revelation of Chassidus, and what exactly did the Alter Rebbe come and give two generations later? The Alter Rebbe was the student of the Baal Shem Tov’s student, the Maggid of Mezritch. What exactly is the difference between general Chassidus, what is called the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, and Chabad Chassidus? When we look, we see that the Baal Shem Tov came and brought a message of life. Chai Elul. He brought vitality. He brought the breath of life into serving Hashem. Even today, we can see the Baal Shem Tov’s path: serving Hashem with love, serving Hashem with faith, serving Hashem with joy; Ahavas Yisroel, love of the Torah, love of Hashem. The Baal Shem Tov infused vitality, light, and joy into everything connected with serving Hashem. When we consider the Baal Shem Tov’s path through the stories told about him, we see a person who lived in a lofty spiritual world, someone who, even while he was in this world, was in a sense not here. The stories of the Baal Shem Tov are always woven with miracles and wonders, extraordinary acts through which the Baal Shem Tov transformed the world. He did the most remarkable things, as though nature and the world held no sway over him at all. That is the life of the Baal Shem Tov as we see it in the many stories about him. The Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, too, are lofty and remarkable Divine teachings. When we study a saying of the Baal Shem Tov, we see that it speaks of something heavenly, something Divine. Every teaching of the Baal Shem Tov is permeated with a perspective from somewhere else, with a way of looking, a vision from a place

10:13 Entirely different. From stories about the Baal Shem Tov, we know that he traveled from place to place. He traveled often, visiting towns and villages, and above all, he breathed life into Jewish life. He would meet ordinary people—villagers, townspeople, market people, simple Jews—and share messages that were simple but also deep and stirring: about a Jew’s burning faith, about the immense love Hakadosh Boruch Hu has for every Jew, and about the great delight He takes when a Jew says, “Amen, yehei shmei rabba.” The great delight Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes in hearing a word, a verse of prayer, a verse of Tehillim, a verse of Torah. The Baal Shem Tov drew simple people close. He spoke to their hearts and awakened warmth, fire, and vitality in their Jewish life. These are, more or less, central points in the Baal Shem Tov’s life and teachings. Through this, he reached thousands upon thousands of Jews who, until then, had known they were Jews, and most of whom also observed the Shulchan Aruch and lived lives of Torah and mitzvos. But he took away the dryness. The Baal Shem Tov brought light, warmth, and a flame—a spark—into the service of Hashem. This continued through his disciple, the Maggid of Mezritch. He succeeded in giving Chassidus a more established structure, turning it into an organized community. The strength of the Maggid of Mezritch, besides his tremendous greatness in every part of Torah, was that he transformed the teachings—the path of Chassidus—from a path that had begun, you could say, in a pioneering, less structured way. Then the Maggid of Mezritch came and gave it order. One of the Maggid’s disciples was the Alter Rebbe, and he came with an approach, developed the

12:36 approach, which had already begun with his teacher, the Maggid of Mezritch. But of course, it developed mainly after the Maggid’s passing, a few years afterward. That is the Chabad approach. The Alter Rebbe held that serving Hashem must involve a person working with his own faculties. Faith is not enough; faith in tzaddikim is not enough; merely connecting to something higher is not enough. A person must also become a vessel. He must work with his inner faculties—to understand, to grasp, to feel, so that faith reaches the intellect. There is faith, and there is intellect. Faith must not remain only an abstract, intangible belief. It must come in a way that I also understand it, feel it, connect to it, and it becomes part of me. For that, we have to learn. We have to study the inner dimension of Torah and understand Hashem’s greatness to the extent we are capable, so that we connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu through love and awe. That is why, in Tanya and throughout his maamarim, the Alter Rebbe asks chassidim to contemplate. Not only to believe, but also to know, understand, contemplate, and delve deeply, because then the person himself becomes part of it. It is not just that he receives what he is given, or that something higher speaks to him. Rather, from where he himself stands—with his own mind and feelings—he, too, connects to it from his own place, not only from a higher place. And that, essentially, is the difference: whether we say we need to or we can. When the Baal Shem Tov said we need to serve Hashem, he awakened the essential point within the Jew; he awakened the enthusiasm, the fire. We need to serve Hashem. How could we not? A Jew who connects with the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings feels a need: a need to daven, a need to rejoice, a need to dance, a need to do a favor for another Jew. He feels that need. How could it be otherwise? How could I not? After all, I am a Jew; I am connected to Hakadosh Boruch

14:57 Hu. This sense that we need to serve Hashem is something wonderful; it changes lives. A Jew feels that he has a soul, that he is connected to something higher. He feels that the world is not something with real importance in itself; it passes and fades, and it has no real significance. He sees great wonders and great miracles; he is told stories of tzaddikim, and this strengthens his faith. But the feeling that he needs to serve Hashem comes from above, from the great light shining upon him. It does not arise from me—from my own place, my mind, or my feelings. On my own, I am not there. Rather, something shines, a flash comes from above, and it grips me. But where am I in all this, from my own place? To this the Alter Rebbe said: not only do we need to, we also can. You have the ability. Your mind was created so that you can contemplate and understand as much as possible—to understand Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to understand His greatness, to understand why to love Him, why to stand in awe of Him, why to serve Him. You can have a connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, with the Torah, with Jewish life, that comes from your own place as well, so that you become part of it. These are really two things that complement each other. It is not that the Alter Rebbe, G-d forbid, disagreed with the Baal Shem Tov. The Alter Rebbe came to add the depth of serving Hashem through one’s own efforts—that the service must come from within the person. In other words, we need both. Of course, the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings will always remain Divine teachings—lofty and wonderful. They shine with a precious light. The Baal Shem Tov’s sayings and stories uplift the soul, illuminate the Divine light in the world, and make the world a brighter, more spiritual place. But alongside that, a person must also bring himself to it. Then the Alter Rebbe comes

17:16 and completes the Baal Shem Tov’s approach, saying: It is not enough to receive these things as a gift, to feel something beyond yourself. It is important that you also work with your talents, your senses, your character, your mind, your feelings, and your thought, speech, and action. You, too, must become a vessel for this inner light, so that it comes from within you—so that you connect and identify with it from your own place, through your own character, qualities, and soul. If we grasp this point, that these are two sides of the same coin in serving Hashem—the Baal Shem Tov’s approach to serving Hashem comes, as we said, from above, from a more hidden, higher place, where the great light shines; while the Alter Rebbe’s teachings of Chassidus approach it more from below, from the person, from his faculties, senses, and talents—then we can also understand what the Rebbe Rashab meant when he said that the Baal Shem Tov is considered the foremost educator, while the Alter Rebbe is considered the foremost guide. For the difference between education and guidance is exactly the difference we have been discussing: whether we need to serve Hashem, or whether we also can serve Hashem. The Hebrew word for education, chinuch, is usually understood as a kind of training, of developing a habit. “Educate the child”—accustom the child. But there is something interesting here. The Alter Rebbe explains the concept of chinuch. Why is it called chinuch? He says that educating a young child is similar to the dedication of a house or the dedication of the altar. We find this in the Torah when it speaks of dedicating—the dedication of a house, the dedication of the Beis Hamikdash, and the dedication of the Mishkan. These took place in the most wonderful way. Whenever Tanach speaks of a dedication—whether, as we said, the dedication of a house, the dedication of the altar, or any other dedication,

19:43 It was done with tremendous splendor, with many gifts and many other things. If you look in Tanach at how they celebrated the dedication of the Beis Hamikdash, there were hundreds of thousands of offerings that week—astronomical numbers, really hard to fathom. An abundance of offerings, joy, and dancing. They celebrated for fourteen days in the month of Tishrei. When we learn about the dedication of the altar in Chumash, we see the same thing. Each day, one of the nesi’im, the leaders of the tribes, brought his offering. For twelve days, someone different brought an offering each day, and they brought extraordinary amounts of animals, offerings, incense, and so on. These were things that were never done again. It happened once, specifically for the dedication. What is it about a dedication that calls for so many gifts and so many offerings? Chassidus explains this. The Alter Rebbe says that education begins when you want to accustom a young person to something, to bring about a change in him. There is a need to give, to pour out so much love and give him so many things that draw him close and create a connection in his mind. That will give him the desire to grow and learn. That is the educator’s role. The educator gives so abundantly—so much light, so many gifts, so many things—that the student feels a need to be a student, to mature, to learn, because of everything he has been given. That is one side of it. On the other hand, it is not enough. Alongside the educator’s giving, there must also be guidance. If you only pour things out and give to him, then what? He will not move forward; he will just receive. He may

22:02 enjoy it very much, but the goal is not merely for him to receive what he is given. The goal is for him to become a person in his own right, a vessel in his own right—to grow, be educated, change, and improve through his own efforts. That is the guide’s role. So if we look at life, we can see that in every school, every yeshiva, every place, there is an educator and there is a guide. In fact, every one of us needs to be both an educator and a guide. There is the teacher’s giving, the teacher’s light, the teacher’s abundance. The teacher has a role as an educator: to pour out so much love, so much knowledge, so much light, so many stories and other things that even a student who is very distant will develop a desire to receive, to learn, to become a vessel, to improve. That comes through education. But there must also be guidance. A teacher may know how to give a great deal of love and knowledge and so many other things. But if he does not truly enter the child’s inner world to see what he is going through, how he can really change and give him a direction, then it will all be very beautiful and pleasant, flowing from above to below, but there will be no inner transformation in the young person. For that inner transformation, education alone is not enough; guidance is also needed. Guidance means paying attention to the individual. It means sitting with the student. Education can also happen in groups. A teacher gathers the children, tells them stories, speaks to them, inspires them. Of course, it can be one-on-one as well, but it does not have to be. When we speak about guidance, though,

24:07 that is something else. To guide a child, to guide a young man, you have to put yourself in his shoes. You have to understand who he is, what he lacks, what troubles him, what is good for him, how to help him. Then you can truly transform him. That is the purpose of a guide. A guide shows the way. He teaches you on a personal, inner level, according to your own path: “Educate a child according to his way.” That is the guide’s role—to give him a path, so that he not only knows he must serve Hashem, but is also able to serve Hashem. Because when you truly come down to his level and teach him according to his abilities, senses, and talents, you will suddenly discover wonders you never knew were there. You thought this student was just sitting and listening to you. Suddenly you see someone with real depth inside. He truly has a connection to it. The Baal Shem Tov was the foremost of educators. The Baal Shem Tov brought the G-dly light of Chassidus, the flame, the fire. He brought education. He educated Jews to be Jews full of life, to be chassidim. The Baal Shem Tov educated, but the Alter Rebbe guided. He did not only educate; he did not only bring an abundance of light, wisdom, blessings, and wonders. He also taught. The Alter Rebbe guided in a way that provided a path, a direction. There is work to be done. How can a person take his own strengths, his body, his animal soul, his limited mind, his limited and undeveloped emotions, and work with them slowly, step by step—improving them, refining them, transforming them

26:04 into something deeper? That is why we call them the foremost educator and the foremost guide. The teachings of the Baal Shem Tov are teachings of education. The teachings of the Alter Rebbe are teachings of guidance. The Alter Rebbe did not only educate; he also guided. He showed the way and taught us how to serve Hashem, how to conduct ourselves day to day, how to fight the yetzer hara that gets in our way, how to awaken genuine Ahavas Yisroel, how to see the good in every person, and so on. So as we find ourselves in these great days approaching Chai Elul, this is the time for every one of us to strengthen ourselves and learn from the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe. We must know that the message of Elul, according to their teachings, is that a person must truly connect to Hakadosh Boruch Hu from an inner place—“I am my beloved’s.” That is our goal in Elul, and especially on Chai Elul: to connect to Hakadosh Boruch Hu inwardly and become a vessel to receive. It should not only come as a gift from above; a person should truly become a vessel for the G-dly light of Chassidus, the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and of Chabad. And may we already merit the new Torah for which we are all waiting so eagerly. A truly new Torah will emerge through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, who will come, redeem us, and lead us upright to our land, speedily in our days. May every one of us have a good and sweet year, be inscribed and sealed for good, and receive every blessing, materially and spiritually—a year of light, a year of blessing, and a year of Geulah.