Don’t Fall for New-Age Therapies, It’s All in Chassidus

At the Yud Tes Kislev Farbrengen in 770, Crown Heights rov Rabbi Yosef Braun highlighted the vital importance of living with Torah and Chassidus, particularly Tanya and Igros Kodesh, and cautioning against new-age therapies and educational theories.

By Anash.org staff

At the Yud Tes Kislev Farbrengen in 770, Rabbi Yosef Braun emphasizes the importance of traditional Torah study and Chassidus, cautioning against the allure of new-age therapies and ideas because all the answers to life’s questions can be found within Chassidus, particularly in the Tanya and Igros Kodesh. It’s important to maintain the purity of Chassidic teachings, just as the use of only pure oil in the Chanukah miracle.

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The last mesechta of Shas, Mesechta Niddah, concludes with “תנא דבי אליהו כל השונה הלכות בכל יום מובטח לו שהוא בן העולם הבא” – “The school of Eliyahu taught: Anyone who studies halachos every day is guaranteed that he is destined for the World-to-Come” and concludes “שנאמר הליכות עולם לו אל תקרי הליכות אלא הלכות” – “as it is stated: “His ways [halichhos] are eternal.” Do not read the verse as halichos; rather, read it as halachos.”

Generally, we learn this from the pasuk ‘Halichos olam lo,’ which normally means ‘the structure and standards of the world.’ Here we’re saying ‘al tikrei halichos’ – don’t read the pasuk in its normal fashion, but rather interpret ‘halichos’ to mean ‘halachos.’ ‘Halachos olam lo‘ – if you learn halachos, ‘olam lo,’ you will receive Olam Haba, the World to Come. 

This is how the last mesechta from the entire Shas ends. The beginning of Shas starts with Maseches Brachos: “מֵאֵימָתַי קוֹרִין אֶת שְׁמַע בָּעֲרָבִין?” – “’ From when [Me’eimasai] does one recite Shema in the evening?” The Mishnah then proceeds to inform us from what time we start reading Shema in the evening.

Returning back to the end of Shas, there’s an obvious question. “kol hashoneh halachos b’chol yom” – when you learn halachos every day, you receive Olam Haba. This seems overly simple and easy. Is it logical to say that just by learning a halacha a day, a person automatically gets Olam Haba?

A second question arises with the words ‘al tikrei halichos‘ – normally when we say ‘al tikrei,’ it means there’s a problem with the way the pasuk is read or written. There’s nothing wrong with the pasuk ‘halichos olam lo,’ so why are we reinterpreting and giving the pasuk a different meaning that ‘halichos’ means halacha?

The Alter Rebbe learned b’chavrusa with Reb Avraham HaMalach. Tradition tells that the Alter Rebbe taught the subject being learnt al pi nigleh, and Reb Avraham HaMalach would explain it according to Chassidus. When they came to the very first Mishna ‘Me’eimasai korin es Shema b’arvin,’ after the Alter Rebbe had taught the literally meaning, Reb Avraham HaMalach explained that ‘me’eimasai’ doesn’t mean ‘from when,’ ‘me’eimasai’ means fear (from the root eimah – fear) . This translates to a very tall order: we know avodas Hashem is supposed to be from out of Ahava (love of Hashem), so why does the whole Shas, which is the foundation of everything, begin with eimah, fear and awe?”

THE MESSAGE 

In today’s day and age, we live in a society that suffers, or seemingly suffers, from many things that our Zaides, our ancestors, didn’t know about. We have crises at large – we have a Shidduch crisis, we have a Shalom Bayis crisis, we have a mental health crisis, and wherever you go, everyone is talking about another crisis and seeking solutions.

There are so many different new-age therapies, ideas, and strategies. There probably doesn’t pass a week where I don’t get a shaila: “What do you say about this new method? Is this method an acceptable and kosher approach?” Sometimes these methods are so new that they were invented just this week – even if you Google it, you don’t know what this method is all about; it hasn’t made it to Wikipedia yet.

The obvious question is: If we have tried and tested methods, passed down from generation to generation, we have our traditions, and even with the new sicknesses of ikvesa d’meshicha (the footsteps of Moshiach), the sicknesses of galus, we have the hisgalus of Torah HaChassidus. We have Torah HaChassidus which was presented in the native tongue of the people, in clear language, in all languages, and presented in a way that’s accessible to all of us. It applies with metaphors, with explanations, examples, and real-life situations – so why the need to look somewhere else?

There’s a proliferation of podcasts – and a podcast is only one style, it comes in many different shapes and forms – where people are preaching for those who are delicate souls, those looking for some cure, for some salvation to satiate their thirst. Those giving these podcasts are telling them new ideas and they think that maybe now they’ll see some light at the end of the tunnel.

When we were in Sydney, there was a Chassidisher Yid who was killed in a car accident – he and his wife in the same accident – by the name of Reb Zev Yosef Simons A”H, a mechanech. Those in the world of chinuch might remember him. He used to sit by farbrengens; he had a custom to sit by farbrengens as long as possible. Every time someone would preface a vort, saying, “Maybe I once said this vort before,” he would respond, “If I hear something that I heard before, then it’s good. But if it’s something new, then I get wary – if it’s new, then it’s a question. Why do we need new? Why remove the old things for the new when the old was tested and tried and works?”

Sometimes these new ideas come along with beautiful catchphrases, and they’re layered with Chassidus, and sometimes they’re packaged through the Sichos of Nun-Aleph/Nun-Beis and as “Toraso Shel Moshiach.” So just to give an example – and I don’t want to expose people who aren’t aware of this movement to new things – there’s a whole new movement that says it’s very important to go after your feelings, that your feelings should dictate what the truth is. “How do you identify with what’s the truth? See how you feel about it.” Or “Your body is the indicator of what the truth is, the arbiter of truth is your body – if your body feels a certain negative sensation, then you should go along with that.”

This is the opposite of d’var Hashem zu halacha (Hashem’s word which is halacha). Our Torah tells us that we have to take the neshama and have the neshama control the guf. There will be a time l’asid lavo that the nishama will be sustained by the body – but that’s only after the body is completely refined.

Chassidus quotes the Yerushalmi, saying that one of the Amoraim said that he’s going to give an accounting for every single thing in this world that he didn’t enjoy. Manyf people love to promote this Yerushalmi, that it’s important to enjoy Olam Hazeh, and you’ll even find evidence to this theory in Chassidus – the advantage of the guf, the ma’alah of gashmiyus, dirah b’tachtonim. But that’s all true in Chassidus when that comes from someone that’s already mevurar u’mezuchach (refined and purified), someone who already transformed his body and is up to this level. If he doesn’t utilize everything in this world, he’s going to be punished.

But for the average person – the fact that I have an inclination to do the wrong thing and not to have iskafya – what’s iskafya all about? The whole Tanya starts with what we’re supposed to do iskafya sitra achra (restraining the other side). If we want something, we’re supposed to push back. So to claim that how I feel, how my body feels… Torah HaChassidus is so far from this.

If we are in galus, if we are in a place full of darkness, we are in choshech hagalus and we want to be korin es Shema (read the Shema), we want to bring out the “Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad,” the foundation is “mei’eimasai” – first there has to be eimah (fear), a pachad (awe) of the Eibishter. First, it has to be kabbalas ol (acceptance of the yoke), and then we take the kabbalas ol and synthesize it into every fiber of our being. Then we start enjoying it. In the language of the Rebbe: “kabbalas ol mitoch taanug”  – he doesn’t want to do it, but he works on himself until he stars enjoying it. It’s not the foundation of “what do I like, what do I enjoy.”

If we encounter a world of “halichos olam“, a world in which we have to be in the mode and style and structure of “velt mont” (what the world demands) – that’s a problem. “Al tikra”  – you can’t read a pasuk with the word “halichos olam.” There’s no such thing as doing what the “velt zogt azoi” (world says so) because there’s a new theory, a new strategy, a new idea we never heard of.

“Al tikra” – you can’t say “halichos olam,” “ela halachos” (rather [read it as] laws), says Rashi – “Mishna u’Braisa halachos LiMoshe miSinai.” Go back to Moshe miSinai, listen to what the Rebbeim told us. Whatever approach it could be – it could be a therapy, it could be a medical approach – every so often there’s a new fad and everyone becomes excited about this new fad.

We have an incredible “new fad.” The Alter Rebbe revealed in Tanya that “kol hatzaros al kol hashe’eilos” (all troubles and all questions) – that every problem, every dilemma, everything you need is found in Chassidus. And if you don’t know how to find it in Chassidus, says the Alter Rebbe, “Yafresh sichaso lifnei hagedolim shebe’iro” – go to mashpi’im, Chassidim and Rabbanim, and they will show you “v’hem yevonenuh” (and they will explain) how everything is found in Tanya.

And if you will say that “I live in a town which doesn’t have gedolim shebe’iro, I couldn’t find anybody to be my mashpia, to tell me what it says in Tanya, how it applies to me…”

So in our generation, the Rebbe gave us Igros Kodesh, and the Rebbe told many people and encouraged very strongly the dissemination of Igros Kodesh, and our people learning and appreciating what it contains. In the introduction to Igros Kodesh, which the Rebbe read, edited, and proofread, they bring what it says in Tanya that all the answers are found in Tanya, and you could understand from Igros Kodesh that here we have what it says in Tanya in the method of “meihem yavinu” – it’s all explained.

Open up an Igros Kodesh, look in mafteach inyanim (index of topics). Look at the index and look up your topic: You’re dealing with the issue of stuttering? Look up “gimgum.” You’re dealing with shalom bayis? We have volumes of seforim that are compiled with what the Rebbe says about shalom bayis. Why do you have to look somewhere else?

If it’s a serious issue, if there’s an illness, there’s a problem – a gashmius’diker problem, a mental problem that needs professional help – one cannot mess it up, but first have you explored the avenues that we have, the tried and tested methods? Lack of confidence? It’s all addressed there also. Everything is there. The Rebbe gave it to us – for what reason? So you should go and abandon divrei Elokim chaim, “lachtzov lahem boros nishbarim” (to dig broken cisterns) and find new ideas?

But how do we make the new idea sound kosher? We give it a hechsher and we write that this has Chassidus in it, this has Nun Aleph Nun Beis in it. And some of us are not discerning, some of us don’t appreciate and don’t understand.

I had an interesting shailah today. Someone had a container of water that he uses for washing Negel Vasser, and as he was washing, some of the water dropped from his hand into the washing basin. Now it’s mixed with mayim temeim, and he wanted to know if he has to spill out the water. The bucket has water for cleaning his hands but it’s mixed in with mayim temeim.

You went to read other sources and you put, you dabbed a bit of Chassidus, and now you want to use this for washing – is it kosher or not? Is it batul b’rov? When did it happen? This is a real shailah.

Without going into the halacha about that shailah, certainly when we’re talking about the single jug that was sealed with the seal of the kohan gadol “pach echad she’haya muchan b’chosamo shel Kohen Gadol” – the real authentic oil.

According to halacha we may light the menorah with tamei oil, yet we make a whole story of Chanukah that they found one jug that was not contaminated. What’s the big deal? They made a huge deal of it and they went and they poured out this oil knowing that it might not have enough oil. Who says there’s going to be a nes? A mesiras nefesh’diker avodah!

When it comes to chinuch of Yiddishe children, we can only use kosher oil, even if it’s only one jug kosher oil sealed, stamped with the seal of the Kohen Gadol, not touched and not contaminated by any other forces. That’s the only way to be mechanech our children, that’s the only way to be mechanech ourselves.

Today is the Yom Tov of Torah HaChassidus. We should learn Torah HaChassidus. We should add in learning inyonei geulah u’Moshiach and especially the sichos of the last years we heard – it’s all full of guidance for life.

But not that you see it somewhere else and then you take it and try to mix it in the sicha to try to make it beautiful, and you twist around your words in the Rebbe’s sichos in Chassidus. That’s not what Chassidus is all about. “Al tikra halichos ela halochos” – don’t work with halichos olam, and if you work with halochos, then the halicha olam is also different.

Chassidus tells us that both interpretations are true. Of course halichos olam is true – after you establish the simple meaning of “al tikrei halichos“, you aren’t worldly, you are halochos, you are Torah’dig, halacha miMoshe miSinai. Then go back into the halichas olam and take the Chassidishe twist of “al tikrei“.

The way to appreciate halochos is through halacha first, “al tikra“.

There was a chassid called R’ Alexander ben Nun who was in yechidus, and he asked the Rebbe the famous question, “Vos zol men ton az es davent zich nisht.” For him it was a real question.

So the Rebbe told him that it says in the posuk “halichos olam lo”, and there’s three interpretations of this posuk. One is that halichos olam – that you have to leave the world and go to Hashem, “Halichos olam – lo“. Another interpretation is: take the world, move the world to Hashem. Then the Rebbe gave him a third interpretation: “halichos olam lo“, bring the Eibeshter into the world.

The Rebbe told him that the three interpretations correspond to three forms of avodas Hashem: Avodas hatefillah, Kiyum hamitzvos  and Limud Hatorah.

In avodas hatefillah – “halichos olam” – you go away from the world towards Hashem. In kiyum hamitzvos – “halichos olam” – you take the world and lift it up to Hashem. And limud haTorah works the other way around – you bring Hashem into the world.

After the Rebbe finished explaining these three different interpretations, the Rebbe said, “Nu, you stand by the wall, you put the tallis over your head and ‘daven zich'”.

The question is: Why did the Rebbe have to give him a whole explanation according to Chassidus before giving a simple solution? We have a solution, we have a trick – put the tallis over your head and stand by a wall. Why do we need the introduction?

The answer is that the foundation of the question comes from a faulty premise. You want to daven without understanding what davening is all about. Unless you internalize that davening is not limud haTorah and davening is not kiyum hamitzvos – when you’re learning Torah, you’re trying to bring the Eibeshter into the world; when you’re doing mitzvos, you’re trying to elevate the world to Hashem. When you’re davening, you’re actually doing something different and actually opposed – you’re trying to move away from the world.

Unless you’re trying to put yourself into that frame of mind of halichos olam, “ich gei avek fun velt” (I’m going away from the world). Like the Rebbe says, putting on the gartel is about removing yourself and getting up on the ladder. When you take rides in amusement parks, the first thing they do is put on a strong belt, and then they can start flying.

So we need to put on a gartel because now we’re flying – it’s “halichos olam.” You need to be in a frame of mind of “halichos olam, gein avek fun velt” (going away from the world). That’s what davening is about. And when you’re in that frame of mind, then like standing with the tallis on your head – and “daven zich” – you’re in a different place, you’re not involved in the world. The first thing is to go away from olam, and then you can bring olam back in. You need to have both – you need to have “ratzo v’shov“, the whole seder avodah, but you need to start with “mei’eimasai.”

The Eibeshter should help that we should appreciate the gift that the Eibeshter gave us. Hashem gave us Torah haChassidus – “divrei Elokim chaim” – they’re alive, “chaim hem l’motzeihem” – they give you life. When you learn Chassidus, it brings a whole new vitality into you.

We should appreciate the seventh generation of Torah haChassidus and darchei haChassidus. We should appreciate the great matanah the Rebbe gave us in the hisgalus of dor hashvi’i, bringing the shechina, l’matah ba’aretz.  And if you have that, you don’t need anything else.

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