A Halachic Obligation to Learn Chassidus

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel Archives. Today is erev Yud-Tes Kislev, the Yom Tov of the Baal HaTanya. It says in the Arizal — it's written in a sefer, he was one of the Rishonim, it's called [unclear], I think it's called Sefer Sha'armah [?] — it says there that there will come a time that Yud-Tes Kislev will be a Yom Tov by geulah klalis, the general redemption. You don't say!

Now the question is: what is the Yom Tov? Why is it a Yom Tov, a Yom Tov of redemption? Many Bnei Yisrael, many Rabbeim, were imprisoned, and they went out of prison, baruch Hashem, and we don't make such a Yom Tov. Why is Yud-Tes Kislev more of a Yom Tov than any other Yomim Tovim? And it is said that Yud-Tes Kislev is a chag chagim — it is a Yom Tov higher than all of them. You mean it's higher than Pesach? Is it bigger than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos? What does that mean?

What I'm going to say, I'm going to base it all on the Rebbe's letters, different letters. Yud-Tes Kislev was the beginning of the spreading of Chassidus. And if not for Yud-Tes Kislev, if not for Chassidus, I wouldn't be here, you wouldn't be here, [unclear] wouldn't be here. I don't mean the Chassidim — our emunah, our faith — without Chassidus, I don't know how we could last. Even though we are called Maaminim bnei Maaminim — we believe, of course everybody believes — but that's a superficial belief. A deeper emunah, to say [unclear], and that we are tied to Hashem, you can only know through Chassidus. Without Chassidus it is impossible.

I know it's not an easy vort, but I'll explain to you — that episode in a letter, that the Rebbe writes like this: that there are six mitzvos that every person must do, is obligated, twenty-four hours a day, and you cannot find — it says there, it says in the Mishnah, it says all over the Gemara — but you cannot find how to do these six mitzvos, and only through Chassidus can you know how to do these six mitzvos. That's why you have to learn Chassidus.

What are the six mitzvos? Number one, to believe in the Borei, not to believe in any other power. Only through Chassidus do you know how to love Hashem, to fear Hashem; only through Chassidus to affirm His unity twenty-four hours a day — how? Only through Chassidus. And the last thing is, as the Rebbe writes here, not to go astray after the temptation of the heart and the vision of your eyes. Everyone knows you can't look at something — it says "relations," you don't look at something you're not supposed to look at. But that's very [unclear] — you know, a child, you teach a child, a five-year-old, six-year-old, don't look at things that are no good. Is that the way a person is going to grow, when he becomes twenty, thirty, forty, fifty? Is that it? It's like a child — when a person gets older and is explained a deeper meaning, a person wants to hear the deeper meaning: what does it mean, "you're not supposed to look"?

So Chassidus explains that a person should train himself how to look at the world. A person should train himself, in other words, to look at the world deeper, not just superficially, not to look at bad — that we all know — but deeper, only through Chassidus. When a person puts on blue glasses, the world looks blue. When a person puts on green glasses, the world looks green. The world is not blue, the world is not green — it depends how you look at the world. If you look at the world by learning Chassidus, you can see the world completely different.

I once heard — when a chossid once came from Russia, you know, he didn't have any Chassidim [with him], he came to America, he came to New York. So somebody wanted to show him Manhattan, the Empire State Building. So he took him up to the top floor, and said, "Look at this, look at [the skyline], look at Manhattan, look at it." He looks and looks and looks — he doesn't see [anything special], but he was excited — but he's not even excited. He says, "Oh, I said, okay, this is probably the [unclear] of the malachim, that the angels made." So that's what it is — it doesn't seem [like much]. Then he looks down from the top floor, and he says, "When a person is on top, on a higher level, and he looks down, he sees nothing, he doesn't say anything." The higher up you are, the more you see nothing. So it depends how you look at the world. If you learn Chassidus, the whole world looks different.

And the Rebbe explains at length about this, which I'm not going to go into now — maybe another program, we only have a few minutes — but this is "twenty-four hours," only through Chassidus.

Now, I once explained this — from the yeshiva in Brooklyn, I used to teach in the yeshiva in Brooklyn — this was a while back, now they're already older, some of them are Roshei Yeshivos in Lakewood, some of them are mechanchim — and I spoke to them, before last week, and I explained to them this whole thing, and they said they want to listen to this program. So they asked me a question: "You mean to say only Chassidus? We can know this from Mussar!" That's number one. Another question they asked me: "I mean, you know, the Rambam, the Shulchan Aruch — they can learn all this and know how to believe in [Hashem] — why do you say only Chassidus?"

So the Rebbe mentions this — and the Rebbe answers: first of all, why do you have to learn Mussar when Mussar is already included in Chassidus? Chassidus has it already, so why do you need Mussar — that's number one. The Rebbe says another thing: that if you're going to look in different sefarim, you might find it, but you'll have to live a hundred and twenty years to really put everything together, and even after you put it together, it might be the wrong thing. But the Alter Rebbe already put it into a small sefer, Tanya — the Baal HaTanya already did it, like it says, he already took from the Arizal, he already took from the Shaloh HaKadosh, and he condensed it already. So why do you have to look in different sefarim and work hard, and you might not even get the right answer, when you already have it, ready? That's another thing.

The difference between Mussar and Chassidus: a person should always think positive. You have to turn away from the bad, but when you do good, you automatically turn away from the bad, and this is only through Chassidus. And as the Rebbe said in a letter, we see that after the Communist regime, when people came out of Russia, only the Chassidim who learned Chassidus remained — because of learning Chassidus.

As the Rebbe mentions in another letter: a person has a business, so he has workers, poalim, and then he has a partner. What's a poel? A poel means a person works, and after a week he gets his wages, his money, and he's happy, he does his job, fine. But what happens if you're a partner? Then it's a different madreigah — you're like a partner to the Boss. And this is the inyan of Chassidus — to learn Chassidus so that you'll be able to understand and do these things [in practice], which every person is obligated to do.

Another thing: when you learn Chassidus, you can understand Nigleh better — as my father-in-law wrote in The Philosophy of Chabad. And the Rebbe [explains], what's the difference between learning Nigleh in Vilna and in Mezritch? The Alter Rebbe said: in Vilna I learned how I must master the Torah; in Mezritch I was taught how the Torah masters me.

And that's why — not that Yud-Tes Kislev is a higher Yom Tov than Yom Kippur, no — but Yom Kippur, when you look at Yom Kippur by learning Chassidus, you feel Yom Kippur, you know the essence of Yom Kippur. When you learn Chassidus, you know the essence of Pesach, you know what Pesach is — you're looking with different eyes, not like you would look at Sukkos or any other Yom Tov. You look at the world much differently. That's why — this is through Chassidus.

And of course when you learn this, and the Gemara says — and that's important — of learning Chassidus, of learning Chassidus, and since it's always before Chanukah: you light the candles outside so that the world should see the ness. So by learning Chassidus, you can accomplish and teach the world, and light the candle in a way that everybody, even the last person, will be able to realize the ness.

Now I want to mention two more things. Rabbi Jacobson — he was my [mashpia?] — Rabbi Jacobson told me that [the Alter Rebbe's enemies] wanted to kill our Rebbeim on Yud-Tes Kislev, they wanted to get rid of the Baal HaTanya. And that's a big thing, when you [unclear]. That's why it's called [unclear].

Now the last thing I want to say is that today, Yud-Tes Kislev, the Alter Rebbe finishes [a letter with] "gevald, gevald" — the only two words in Yiddish he writes [in that letter].

And I know that today — speaking about davening — rabbanim came out openly and said that because of Covid-19, the whole mageifah, we should stop speaking during davening, all over. So what happened — people started to be mispallel [quietly], but then some people continued to speak during davening, so they screamed at them, "You're not allowed to speak," and they embarrassed them, and everything. So I want to read here a letter, just a paragraph, from the Rebbe, writing to somebody about how you should act if you want to make sure that people don't speak during davening — how you should do it. I'll just read it, it will take me a minute.

"This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter, in which you write about the unbecoming conduct of some congregants in shul during prayer, and ask for some suggestion to deal with the problem. I trust that there is no need to emphasize to you at length that, as has always been the case, and especially nowadays, it is much easier to influence people in a coordinated and pleasant way, as it is written, 'The ways of the Torah are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace.' Thus, in order to be effective, it is necessary to make a personal approach, not in the presence of others, and certainly not publicly, which is also a din in itself. It is a mitzvah in the Torah to admonish; the din requires that the first approach be made in a personal, quiet manner, not in the presence of others, since it concerns Jews who are observant and responsive to Torah and mitzvos — there is the assurance that words coming from the heart enter the heart and are eventually effective. And as it says in Pirkei Avos: 'Be among the disciples of Aharon, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving the creatures and bringing them close to Torah.' Be it remembered that Aharon was the Kohen Gadol, yet he did not consider it beneath him to go to people and speak to them personally, and do everything possible, that there should be true peace between a Jew and his Father in Heaven, as well as peace between a Jew and another Jew, through proper conduct in accordance with the Torah."

And this is how people should be, if they want to tell somebody — quietly — and that will help.

And I want to wish you a gut Yud-Tes Kislev, and next week we will continue our Thursday night program. Thank you.