An Introduction to Learning Chassidus - Part 10

00:01 Following the recent classes about studying Chassidus, there’s a subject connected with this time of year. We mentioned it at the farbrengen on 20 Menachem Av. It’s an important point in the study of Chassidus, and to round out the subject, we’ll talk about it today, since it’s also timely. At that farbrengen, I told a story I remembered from the farbrengen on Shabbos Parshas Re’eh 5746. The calendar fell the same way it does this year. At that farbrengen, the Rebbe devoted an entire sicha to the word “Re’eh”—“See.” Chassidus often explains the advantage of seeing over hearing: seeing penetrates a person and affects him incomparably more than something he hears. Hearing brings understanding and comprehension. But when you can also see, the sight brings about a fundamental change; it penetrates the soul in an entirely different way. That’s what Chassidus says about the teachings of Moshiach: then it will be a matter of seeing—“and all flesh shall see,” and “your eyes shall see your teacher.” The revelation of the time to come will be a revelation of sight. The Rebbe spoke about this at length that Shabbos. If I’m not mistaken, it was the second sicha. If I remember correctly, it was a very special sicha, because the Rebbe spoke with great force, tremendous passion, and a big smile. If you read the sicha in Toras Menachem for Shabbos Parshas Re’eh 5746, try to picture how the Rebbe delivered it. When you read a sicha, it’s hard to know how it was said. The Rebbe practically shouted this sicha. He spoke with tremendous passion. His point was that there has to be “Re’eh”—seeing. And the Rebbe spoke about the study of Chassidus: Chassidus, after all, is the teachings of Moshiach. Chassidus is the idea of “your wellsprings shall spread outward”; it is the answer, “When your wellsprings spread outward,” to the question of when Moshiach will come.

02:20 It is the revelation of the time to come. But for Chassidus itself to truly sink in and have an inner effect, it has to be through seeing. The Rebbe said explicitly that this means it isn’t enough to study the maamarim and the Likkutei Sichos of the Nasi of our generation. The Rebbe used those very words, “the Likkutei Sichos of the Nasi of our generation.” Rather, “see the image of his Rebbe before his eyes.” The Rebbe’s face has to be before his eyes. The Rebbe cited what the Yerushalmi says: when a person has the image of his Rebbe before his eyes, then “a man walks in an image.” The Gemara explains that “image” means the likeness, the appearance of the face. When that image, that appearance of the face, is there, then he “walks”: it moves a person forward and affects him in an entirely different way. So the face of the Nasi who says the maamar or delivers the sicha must also be before his eyes. The Rebbe said about the Frierdiker Rebbe that although there are many young people here who weren’t yet born, or at least didn’t have the privilege of seeing the Frierdiker Rebbe, nevertheless, today there are photographs. Through a photograph, you can also see the appearance of his holy face, and in that way you can connect with “your eyes shall see your teacher,” which affects a person much more deeply. The Rebbe encouraged looking at a picture of the Frierdiker Rebbe. And of course, chassidim understand the same thing regarding the Rebbe: there is the ability to look at and see a picture of the Rebbe. Now, in our generation, there aren’t only many photographs; there are also

04:18 videos, and many other ways we can see. So there is a special dimension of seeing in the study of Chassidus. I wanted to talk a little about this point: what are its sources, what is the idea behind it, how is it explained in Chassidus, and what does it mean in practice for studying Chassidus? As we mentioned, one of the verses is “your eyes shall see your teacher,” a verse in Yeshayahu. We also take it in its plain sense: “your teacher.” The verse is speaking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but it is also applied to looking at one’s teacher. There is also a teaching of our Sages in the Gemara. Rav, one of the early Amoraim after the Tannaim, was a student of Rebbi, Rabbeinu Hakadosh. The Gemara says that Rav said, “Why am I sharper than all my colleagues? Because I saw Rabbi Meir from behind.” Rav still merited to see Rabbi Meir, but he saw him from behind, not from the front. “And if I had seen him from the front, I would have been much sharper.” Here we see that seeing someone’s face accomplishes something much deeper than simply hearing him. If having a teacher were only about learning, what difference would it make whether you saw him or not, or whether you saw him from behind or from the front? The main thing would be hearing what he says. But Rav tells us otherwise: seeing Rabbi Meir from behind already had such a great effect on him that he became sharper than everyone else in his generation. And if he had seen him from the front, he would have reached an even higher level. That is one teaching of our Sages. Then there is the teaching we mentioned earlier: “A man walks in an image.” There is a letter from the Rebbe responding to someone who wrote to him about looking at one’s teacher. The person

06:17 apparently wasn’t a Chabad chossid—presumably a chossid from elsewhere who had become close to Chabad. He wrote to the Rebbe about understanding, and mentioned the teaching of our Sages that a departed scholar’s “lips speak in the grave.” That is, when you study a tzaddik’s teachings, the tzaddik also participates in the learning, as it were; his lips speak, as though he is there with you as you learn. The Rebbe wrote back that there is something beyond this: the teaching of our Sages about having the image of one’s Rebbe’s face before one’s eyes. When you study the Rebbe’s teachings, it isn’t only that “his lips speak”; you also have his image before you. The expression is, “He should see the one who taught the teaching standing before him.” Having the one who taught it standing before him is even more than that. This idea appears in the Midrashim and in the teachings of our Sages. From there, it also carried over into the revelation of Chassidus with the Baal Shem Tov, when the concept of a Rebbe, of a Nasi, came to the fore again. With the emphasis that began in the time of the Baal Shem Tov on the role of the Nasi of Chassidus came this point: for a person to truly receive the teachings of Chassidus, the words of the living G-d, hearing, understanding, and knowing are not enough. He also has to see his teacher’s face. This became one of the foundations of the ways of Chassidus. So much so that chassidim ask: Why didn’t the Baal Shem Tov write down his teachings? Likewise, the Maggid didn’t write down his teachings. They said them, but they didn’t write them down, because the Baal Shem Tov wanted all of Chassidus

08:11 to be transmitted specifically through seeing, not just hearing. That is why the Alter Rebbe, in the letter introducing Tanya, writes at such length about why it was preferable not to publish it. Publishing it was not the original intention. From that letter, too, we see that the Alter Rebbe did not particularly want to produce the Tanya in written form. He did so only because there was no alternative, as he explains there in giving all his reasons. But ideally, the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid wanted Chassidus not to be something transmitted through writing and study, but something passed from mouth to ear while seeing the teacher’s face. The teacher sees you, and you see him. In that way, the influence is not only a transmission of knowledge; it is a much deeper influence, an influence brought about specifically through seeing. This is cited, and I think the Rebbe brings it in several sichos. The Rebbe mentioned it a number of times in the name of the Baal Shem Tov’s students. In one place, the Rebbe says explicitly that it appears in the writings of Reb Nachman of Breslov. It is apparently a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, but the source in which it was recorded is a teaching of Reb Nachman. He writes about the verse in Parshas Beshalach, “Write this as a remembrance in a book and place it in Yehoshua’s ears.” When the war with Amalek comes, Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu, “Write this as a remembrance in a book and place it in Yehoshua’s ears.” “Write this as a remembrance in a book” refers to writing it down. Then He says, “Place it in Yehoshua’s ears.” What does that add? It seems unnecessary. So he says that this is proof that one has to travel to the Rebbe. It isn’t enough to study his teachings; one has to

09:53 It should specifically be a trip to the Rebbe, because that is what it means when it says, “Place it in Yehoshua’s ears.” In other words, it needs to be from mouth to ear—and that also has the advantage of sight: you are there with the Rebbe, and you can see him and hear him with your physical eyes and ears. Then its effect is much deeper. In any case, this was always important to chassidim, particularly when the Rebbe delivered a maamar. They would try to push forward so they could see—not just hear, but also see the Rebbe’s face, his holy countenance, as he was delivering it. There are stories about this involving a number of chassidim. There is also a story about Reb Hillel of Paritch. It is not exactly the same point, but it is related. The Rebbe cites it in one of the farbrengens of 5751 or 5752: Reb Hillel of Paritch would say that while the Rebbe is delivering a maamar, “the Shechinah speaks from his throat.” That is sight; that is G-dliness. Later, when you study the maamar, it becomes a matter of understanding and comprehension. In any case, when a chossid looks at the Rebbe while learning Torah, there is something special about actually seeing him. As we said, it has a much deeper effect. What is the particular advantage of sight? This is explained in Chassidus. In the Tzemach Tzedek’s Yahel Ohr on Tehillim, on the verse “Man walks only as an image,” there is an explanation by the Tzemach Tzedek. He explains it there, and later, in the teachings of the Rebbe

11:53 Rashab, in the maamarim of 5679, around the maamarim on Mishpatim and Terumah, the Rebbe Rashab also cites it and expands on it. He quotes the wording of the Yerushalmi in connection with “Man walks only as an image”: the person whose teaching is being quoted stands before him—an image of one’s Rebbe. It refers to the Rebbe. There is a very interesting explanation there that gives us a deep understanding of the whole subject. Why should you picture the Rebbe’s face while learning Chassidus? He offers this insight: Chassidus often explains the difference between conveying an idea and the transmission from father to son. Those who study the maamar from Tishrei 5650 know this distinction. When a teacher conveys an idea to a student, that is a spiritual transmission. If the student has no capacity, no mind to grasp it, the teacher cannot convey it to him. [unclear]. You cannot do it. The student needs the faculties and abilities for the teacher’s idea to reach him. By contrast, with a father and son, it is a transmission through conception, an essential transmission that produces someone like himself. It actually creates the very capacity for understanding. That is the point about birth: there is an essential transmission that creates the intellectual faculties. The father does not merely give his son an idea; he gives him the very capacity to think. The Tzemach Tzedek says—and the Rebbe Rashab also brings this in the maamarim of 5679—that the same applies here. We are speaking about an approach to Torah study. Why is it so important to picture the face of the tzaddik? He says that when you

13:41 have an image of the Rebbe before you—when the person whose teaching you are studying stands before you—that involves an essential transmission. That is his point. If you only study the maamar without seeing the one teaching it, there is still a transmission through hearing the subject, like the transmission from teacher to student. But if you also look at him, if there is sight as well, then it also has the advantage of an essential transmission, which brings about a birth. In other words, it has the power to make a person into a new being. So there is something truly extraordinary here, something immense. This is a very powerful, very profound point. You might think: the Rebbe gives you a maamar or a sicha, but if I do not have the capacity, the faculties, the aptitude, the feel for these subjects, then there is nothing I can do. They are beyond me. Here we are told: no. When you look at the Rebbe’s face and the Rebbe looks at yours, there is something special—an essential transmission that produces someone like him. If so, something very deep is happening: it gives you capacities you did not even have before. The Rebbe gives them to you. This is explained in the maamar we mentioned. The Rebbe also discusses this idea in a sicha. It is in volume 17 or volume 22—I do not remember. In any case, it is a sicha in

15:22 not 17—18 or 23, 23, a sicha with a detailed analysis, on “These are the descendants of Moshe and Aharon.” “Whoever teaches another person’s son Torah is considered as though he gave birth to him.” There, too, the Rebbe explains, in the style of peshat, the meaning of “gave birth to him”: a Rebbe brings about a kind of birth. In any case, that helps us understand the greatness and depth of this matter, and why looking is necessary. Now, as the Rebbe says in that sicha, an obvious question arises: we live in a time when we cannot see the Rebbe with our physical eyes. Seemingly, we lack that advantage. On this point, the Rebbe already revealed something in 5710. On Pesach Sheini 5710, and on several other occasions that year, the Rebbe spoke about photographs. The Rebbe said this back in 5710, and then spoke about it again in 5746. He did not say it often, but on several occasions he spoke about the value of a photograph: although you do not have the experience of seeing him with your physical eyes, a photograph has the power to bring his face before you. We saw how strongly the Rebbe emphasized photographs. Particularly in the early years, the Rebbe often encouraged people to keep a photograph in their pocket. There are letters from those years in which a father complains that his son does not want to study and is not behaving properly. The Rebbe says to put a photograph in his room, a photograph of Chabad chassidim for him to have. The Rebbe strongly encouraged having a photograph of the Nasi, because it affects a person. Here, though, we are talking about learning Chassidus. Learning is an intellectual activity. Nevertheless,

17:13 we see that when learning is also connected with picturing his face, it has a very deep effect. We mentioned the explanation Reb Hillel of Paritch wrote in connection with love for a Rebbe. He explains the difference between a Rebbe and a mashpia. A mashpia is someone from whom you receive knowledge: an understanding of the subject, knowledge, a love for Chassidus, an explanation of Chassidus. You receive these from the mashpia. That, he says, is a matter of hearing. But from a Rebbe you receive sight. A Rebbe gives you the thing itself, through sight. That is why it matters so much to accustom ourselves, from time to time, to bring this into our study of Chassidus. I do not mean that during the whole time you are learning—you need to learn and delve into it. But before learning, sometimes in the middle, sometimes afterward when you reflect, you can accustom yourself to having an image of his face before you: a photograph, something you choose to keep. Today there is also the option of occasionally watching a video, where you can actually see how the Rebbe speaks. You can watch a sicha, a maamar, a farbrengen, see how the Rebbe speaks and see his face on video. That goes deeper. But even when you study a maamar without a video, if you picture the holy face of the Nasi as you learn, it affects your soul. What you learn becomes engraved within you and works on you inwardly in an entirely different way. Those are a few points on this subject. It is a well-known principle among chassidim. For example, there is the story chassidim tell from the first generation about Reb Binyamin Kletzker, one of the stories the Frierdiker Rebbe recounts. Reb Binyamin Kletzker was a businessman, but he was also a person of great depth in Chassidus, in its intellectual study and in avodah.

19:06 He was one of the great chassidim. The Rebbe—the Frierdiker Rebbe—relates in one of his sichos that Reb Binyamin Kletzker was once in the middle of the market. He was a businessman, and it was market day. There he was, in the middle of the market, when he began to contemplate a matter in Chassidus. He forgot about the market, forgot what he was supposed to sell, forgot everything. He was completely absorbed in it. Then another chossid came into the market. People had already left; it was getting late. Reb Zalman Zezmer, I think, arrived and saw him standing there in the middle of the market, lost in thought. He roused him and called out, “What are you doing here?” He woke up and said, “Zalman, where have you been? The Rebbe has only just finished saying the maamar.” He was completely disoriented. What are you talking about? He began telling him the maamar. Eventually it became clear that it was a maamar the Alter Rebbe had said twenty years earlier. But he had been contemplating it with such a vivid image of the Alter Rebbe’s face before him that he had returned, as it were, to that time. He had completely forgotten the time, the place, and the market. He had no idea where he was; he was there with the Alter Rebbe, as though he were with the Rebbe right then. Such was the power of their daas: they could connect and rise above the limits of time and place in a tangible way. This is a story told about the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim. Along similar lines, there is also a story about chassidim of a later period. It is the well-known story of Reb Zalman Zlatopolsky, who was a chossid of the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Maharash. The Rebbe Rashab told the Frierdiker Rebbe about it in 5663. It had happened thirty years earlier, in 5643 or later, some years after the histalkus.

21:05 It was some years after the histalkus of the Rebbe Maharash. The Rebbe Rashab was in Menton, France, for reasons of health; he needed to be there. Reb Zalman Zlatopolsky came there too. He sat on a bench by the sea—the Rebbe Rashab showed the Frierdiker Rebbe where the bench had been—and sang his niggun, the well-known niggun of Reb Zalman Zlatopolsky. As he sang, tears streamed from his eyes. The Rebbe Rashab said that he was contemplating a maamar he had heard from the Rebbe Maharash, with the image of his face before his eyes, as though he were seeing him alive. The Rebbe also brings this in one of his sichos. You can see how chassidim were able to rise above the limits of time and place. This was already after the histalkus, yet he could be with his Rebbe, see him, and hear the maamar from him. So we see that this is possible, and this is what the Rebbe was saying in [unclear]. Consequently, we need to accustom ourselves to it. Someone here is asking whether this is a segulah. I don’t know if that is the right word. From the explanations in the maamarim, it seems to be something more than a segulah. It is something essential, something deep. The word “segulah” sounds like some sort of charm. Of course this is a spiritual matter, not something involving a stone or an object, if that is what the question means. But it is not a segulah; it is something essential, something fundamental. It is an effect on one’s inner self. When you picture his face before your eyes, it is face to face. Through his maamar, the Rebbe gives you something fundamental, something of his very essence. “I have written and given My very self.” It connects your

23:05 essence with his. It is a connection of essence to essence. In 5724—and now I’m speaking about our generation—there was a very great, well-known chossid, Reb Nissan Nemonov. Reb Nissan Nemonov came to the Rebbe for the first time in 5724. What happened then? Sorry—Reb Nissan Nemonov came in Elul 5724. It was his first visit to the Rebbe, after many years without seeing the Frierdiker Rebbe. Reb Nissan had not seen the Frierdiker Rebbe since 5687; he never saw him again. When Reb Nissan left Russia, he was in Paris. Then, in 5710, the Frierdiker Rebbe passed away. The next time Reb Nissan came to America was in Elul 5724. [unclear] was the first time Reb Nissan was with the Rebbe. On his first Shabbos there, Shabbos Mevarchim, the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe said the maamar beginning “Ketapuach Ba’atzei Haya’ar.” It is a well-known maamar in which the Rebbe explains a maamar based on one by the Alter Rebbe. The Rebbe delivered “Ketapuach Ba’atzei Haya’ar” as a maamar. That was not the Rebbe’s usual manner of speaking at that time. That Shabbos, Reb Nissan was very stirred. As is known, it took Reb Nissan time to connect with the Rebbe. They say that after the maamar that Shabbos, Reb Nissan jumped onto the table and exclaimed [unclear]—he said something deeply moved, or perhaps simply quoted a verse: “For I have seen G-d.” [unclear] related that he said, “For I have seen G-d face to face, and my soul was saved.” I don’t know whether he said it right then or later at the farbrengen. But

25:20 in any event, what happened at that farbrengen? It is very interesting: after the maamar, the Rebbe spoke about studying Chassidus. You can look at that sicha from the farbrengen on Shabbos Parshas Nitzavim—I believe it was Nitzavim-Vayeilech, the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah. The Rebbe says that studying Chassidus is a connection of essence to essence. He speaks there about the many different levels and ways in which something can be conveyed personally—from teacher to student, from father to son, and so on. Then the Rebbe said that when one studies Chassidus, one connects with the Rebbe, and this is a connection of essence to essence. They truly become one being. The Rebbe spoke there about this too: the connection through Chassidus joins your essence with his essence. That is the point. It is connected to studying Chassidus in a way that one can see it. This is one of the things we also need to reach. I’m not saying this applies to every maamar, every time, but one needs to study Chassidus. Sometimes a bochur wants a maamar to affect him, to penetrate him, to become engraved in him. Picturing the Rebbe’s face helps greatly in enabling the maamar to penetrate the soul. Above all, may we very soon merit to see the Rebbe with our physical eyes. Chassidim thirst and long for this, waiting for the moment when the Geulah will come, when, concerning Melech HaMoshiach, “Your eyes shall behold the King in his beauty.” Then we will be able to see the Rebbe with our physical eyes and learn Torah and its inner dimension in a way of seeing: “See, I place before you today.” May there be a face-to-face unity, essence with essence, and may we merit to see it with our physical eyes immediately.