The 6 Mitzvos Only Chassidus Can Explain

Episode 135: "The 6 Mitzvos Only Chassidus Can Explain"

Welcome to our weekly program, the Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel archives. Since we're getting closer to Gimmel Tammuz, the yahrzeit of the Rebbe, I want to share with you an English letter — a very interesting letter that the Rebbe writes — that there is an obligation to learn Chassidus. I'll read to you some things that the Rebbe wrote in the letter.

The Rebbe makes an introduction, and he says: even in science, if a person wants to test if a certain theory works, you first have to try every angle — if it works, then you see that it works. So first we have to establish that Chassidus works.

So the Rebbe says like this: we see the Jews that lived in Russia under the terrible conditions of the Communist regime, and how it affected the Jewish religion — that their eternal life, especially the younger generations, would be in serious danger. And when the Iron Curtain fell and many Jews managed to get out of Russia, it became clear that only those Jews who learned Chassidus and were brought up in Chassidishe homes were able to survive as Jews and remain faithful, practicing Jews — including the children. That's a fact. So this proves that Chassidus works.

"But your question that I've been writing — you want to know where, al pi din, in the Code of Law, is it written that you have to learn [Chassidus]? That's the question." To this the Rebbe says, "I will answer you. There are 613 mitzvos in the Torah. Not everyone is able to do all 613." He gives an example: let's say shmitah — and this year is a shmita year — now in chutz la'aretz you don't have to do this. He gives another example: pidyon haben. Not every person can do pidyon haben — if you have a girl first and then the second one is a boy, there's no pidyon haben; if the wife has a caesarean, even if the boy is first, there's no pidyon haben; if the father is a Kohen or a Levi, there's no pidyon haben. Some mitzvos have to do with specific times, some mitzvos are for men, some are for women. You have 613, but you don't have to do all of them — it's impossible for everybody to do all the mitzvos.

But there are six mitzvos tamidiyos — six constant mitzvos — that you do twenty-four hours a day, for men, women, young, old, healthy and not — they're obligated twenty-four hours, the whole year, day and night, all the time. And this is a halacha you cannot find in the Shulchan Aruch — how to do it. There, only Chassidus tells you how to do these six mitzvos. No one else tells you exactly how a person should fulfill these six. It says you should do it, but how?

Then the Rebbe goes on and says what are the six mitzvos: number one, to believe in God; number two, not to believe in any other gods; number three, to affirm His unity; number four, to love God; number five, to fear God; and number six, not to stray after the temptations of the heart and the eyes. These six mitzvos require intellectual preparation, and only by learning Chassidus — Chassidus is the only thing that will teach you how to do this.

Then it asks in the letter: you will say, "I'll try myself to learn the Zohar" — but the Zohar didn't come from itself either. The Alter Rebbe writes that Chassidus Tanya is "melukat mi'sifrei kadmonim" [compiled from the words of the early sages] — a precedent; he took it from them, and they took it from the Kabbalah. So he also didn't [invent it from himself].

So this person might say, "Well, okay, I'll look in the Zohar myself, and I'll look in the Arizal, and I'll open a sefer Kabbalah myself — so why do I have to learn it from him? I'll do the work myself."

So there are two answers. Number one: maybe it's going to be very hard to find — the Alter Rebbe already got it ready for you; he already did the work. And number two: even if you find it, you might not fully understand it, and you might come to the wrong conclusion. Trust him — he already looked into it, he already did all the work — so why do you have to go and try to find it yourself? It might take you a whole lifetime and you'll still not come to it.

This explains what it means to "believe in God." A child also believes in God — but how does a child believe in God? He imagines God being like a strong man, with powerful arms, like his father, only stronger than his father. If God wants to destroy the world, God forbid, what does the child think? That God will take a big match and make a fire. But a grown person doesn't think that way — he wants to know more. So when the Rambam says, "Ein lo guf v'lo demut haguf" — God doesn't have a body, nor the form of a body — this explains what that means on a higher level. Nobody wants to remain childish.

The Rebbe gives an interesting example: if Reuven comes to Shimon and offers him a deeper understanding of a certain subject — like something he's studying in science or medicine or any other field — and a person comes and gives him a better understanding, is he going to say, "I don't want to hear it, it's childish"? No — he'll want to hear it, because this is what he's working on, so he'll want to hear more and understand. The same is true with Chassidus. When a person wants to know about the love of Hashem, you can learn about the love of Hashem from the simple meaning, but the real, deeper understanding — this is what Chassidus provides.

You might say, "I can get it myself" — but there are answers as to why you have to try, since you might not fully understand it on your own. This is already found in the Tanya — the Alter Rebbe already [worked it out]. In the Tanya you can find everything about how to serve God, so these six mitzvos you can find there. So it is a must to learn Chassidus.

Then the Rebbe goes into the sixth mitzvah — not to go astray after your heart and your eyes. A mature person knows — it says in the posuk, "after your eyes" your heart desires — everybody knows this on the surface. But there's a deeper meaning: once a person's eyes and heart are focused only on that which is true and good, he sees the world in its real truth, and thinks true and good thoughts. And this is something you can learn only from Chassidus.

Here's one from the Rebbe: he says it's not that when you put on green glasses the world is green, and when you put on blue glasses the world is blue — the world itself is not green, the world itself is not blue — that's just the way you look at the world. By learning Chassidus, the same world looks different — more spiritual.

Once a Chossid came from Russia, and he didn't know anything about [the sights of New York]. Another person wanted to impress him and said, "I want to show you Manhattan, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty — come with me." He brought him and showed him, "Look, look at this impressive building, look at the offices, how beautiful." And this person looks, and he doesn't get excited — he says, "This is probably just the waste of the angels." That's how he looks at the world.

This reminds me — once he told somebody: why is the sun so red early in the morning in the summertime? He says the sun makes day — the sun looks down and says, "I made that." And he looks at the people: "What are you doing? This one runs here, this one runs there." They get up and use the word "Ayeka" — "Where are you? Where are you running?" This one goes here, that one goes there, and they don't even know what they're doing. "This is why I made day, this is the purpose of my shining." And so the sun becomes red in the face — "This is why I created day." And this is how you look at the world.

And there's one more: the higher up you go, the less gashmiyus [physicality] you see. When you stand on the top floor of the Empire State Building and look down, the people mean nothing, the homes mean nothing — it's all gashmiyus from below. The higher you go — when you go up in an airplane and look down — you see that the whole world is nothing. So the higher the level a person reaches, the more Chassidus a person learns, the more he sees the world through different eyes.

There's a lot more to talk about, but since we have no time, and since we're getting closer to Gimmel Tammuz, people should actually start learning Chassidus. Next week we will continue our Thursday night program. Thank you.