Since When Was Chassidus Meant to Be Self-Serving? — Part II

By Rabbi Yosef Y. Cohen

After my recent article, I received quite a bit of feedback, both publicly and privately. Much of the discussion focused on one particular point.

Interestingly, the disagreement was not about the essence of Chassidus itself. The essence of Chassidus is not avodah. Chassidus is Torah. It is the revelation of פנימיות התורה, the deepest dimension of Torah. That was not really the point of contention.

The discussion was about a different question: Why do we study Chassidus?

The argument was made that even if Chassidus itself is not avodah, the reason we study it is in order that it should transform our avodah. We study Chassidus so that it should change the way we think, the way we daven, the way we relate to Hashem, the way we refine our middos, and the way we live as Yidden.

Many sources were brought to support this idea, especially from the Rebbeim, emphasizing the tangible results that should come from learning Chassidus. And those sources were absolutely accurate: Chassidus is meant to change a person.

But the question is: Is that the ultimate level of learning Chassidus? Or is that one level—the way Chassidus affects our avodah—while there is a deeper level of why we learn?

The question is not about minimizing avodah ch”v. The Rebbeim emphasized again and again that Chassidus must affect the way a person serves Hashem. The question is whether that effect is the ultimate reason for the learning, or whether it is the natural outcome of something deeper.

The Rebbe himself addressed this point in a remarkable way.

At the Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen of 5723, after speaking about the need to strengthen לימוד החסידות, the Rebbe said:

“כוונתי היא בפשטות ביותר: יש להוסיף בשקידה והתמדה בלימוד החסידות. הלימוד יבוא במילא לידי מעשה, אבל דיבורי עתה – ופי ולבי שוין: התמדה ושקידה בלימוד החסידות.”

“My intention is very simple: We need to increase our diligence and perseverance in learning Chassidus. The learning will automatically lead to action. But what I am speaking about now—and ‘my mouth and my heart are the same’—is simply diligence and perseverance in learning Chassidus.”

Why did the Rebbe add “ופי ולבי שוין”?

Because someone could misunderstand the Rebbe’s words. Someone could think: The Rebbe wants us to learn Chassidus because he knows it will change us. The real agenda behind the learning is that it should improve our avodah.

The Rebbe says: No. “ופי ולבי שוין” – my words mean exactly what they say. I want you to learn Chassidus.

Yes, “הלימוד יבוא במילא לידי מעשה.” The learning will automatically lead to action. But that is not a hidden purpose behind my request. The learning itself is the point.

And there is an even more explicit source for this distinction.

In the Rebbe’s maamar “תורה צוה” of 5723, the Rebbe discusses the statement of Chazal, “לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות שלא לשמה, שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.”

At the beginning of a person’s avodah, the Rebbe explains, his learning Torah is “אדעתא דנפשי׳”—in order to refine and purify himself: “בכדי לברר ולזכך את נפשו.”

That is a real and necessary level of Torah learning. But it is nevertheless called “שלא לשמה.”

And where does the person ultimately arrive? “ועי”ז בא אח”כ לעסק התורה לשמה, לשם התורה עצמה.” He eventually reaches learning Torah “for the sake of the Torah itself” – a level that is “שלמעלה מענין הבירורים.”

And then the Rebbe makes the point even more remarkable:

“ויש לומר, דשני ענינים אלה הם גליא דתורה ופנימיות התורה.” There is a level of learning Torah in order to refine oneself, and there is a higher level of learning “לשם התורה עצמה.”

The first is explicitly described as שלא לשמה. The second is Torah for Torah’s own sake.

Yes, learning Chassidus in order to improve our avodah is real. It is important. It is even a necessary stage.

But if that is the reason I am learning – because of what the learning will do for me – then, in the Rebbe’s terminology, I am still in the category of “אדעתא דנפשי׳.”

The deeper level is when I learn Chassidus because it is Torah. Not because of what it will do. Not because of what it will produce. “לשם התורה עצמה.”

Reb Yoel Kahn used to drive this point home. He would ask: Do you learn that two plus two equals four because you want it to change you? Of course not. You learn it because it is true.

The same is true of אחדות ה’. The fact that Hashem is One is not merely a tool to make us better people. It is a truth that a Jew needs to know. Our minds should be occupied with the truth of Torah because it is Torah – not only because of what it will do to us.

And this is also where the Rebbe’s discussion in “ואלה המשפטים” of 5714 comes in.

There, the Rebbe describes the various levels of שלא לשמה. Even learning Torah in order to know what to do – “לידע את המעשה אשר יעשון” – is still called שלא לשמה, because the Torah is being learned as a means to something else.

In the sicha of that same Shabbos, the Rebbe takes the idea further, describing how a person can begin with a subtle form of שלא לשמה and gradually descend, step by step, until eventually losing his connection to Yiddishkeit altogether.

I know of a person whom the Rebbe spoke to privately about this very subject. The Rebbe warned him about this downward progression. Tragically, that person later went through those stages himself, until he reached the point described by the Rebbe—and ultimately returned.

If this can happen with Torah generally, what happens when we take Chassidus, the פנימיות התורה, and turn it into spiritual therapy?

At first it sounds completely legitimate: I learn Chassidus to become a better person. Then I learn it because it helps my davening. Then because it gives me inspiration. Then because it helps me deal with my problems. And eventually Chassidus itself becomes nothing more than therapy.

And if the therapy stops working? I don’t want to finish that sentence.

This is why there are really two dimensions to Chassidus.

On one level, Chassidus is the greatest tool we have for avodah. It gives us the understanding and the strength to daven differently, recognize Hashem, refine our middos, and overcome the yetzer hara.

But there is another level. Chassidus is פנימיות התורה. It’s not a method or spiritual technique. It is Torah itself.

And the Rebbe explains in many places that the revelation of פנימיות התורה is also preparation for the coming of Moshiach, when the deepest dimension of Torah will be revealed in its fullness.

This is where the famous mashal of the precious stone from the King’s crown becomes so powerful.

The King’s son is seriously ill. The only possible cure is to take the most precious stone from the King’s crown, crush it, and mix it into a medicine. Perhaps one drop will enter the child’s mouth and save his life.

The mashal teaches us that פנימיות התורה was brought down and revealed because we need it. It gives life to the Jewish people. It strengthens our avodah and enables us to overcome spiritual challenges.

But the stone has another dimension. The stone is not just a medicine; it’s a jewel in the King’s crown. Its value is not only in what it can accomplish when it is used; its value is that it is a precious part of the King’s crown.

And that is the deeper point about Chassidus.

Yes, Chassidus saves us. Chassidus transforms our avodah and is meant to change the way we live. But its ultimate value is not only in what it does for us. Its ultimate value is that it is פנימיות התורה itself.

There is an old mashal told by the mashpia Reb Chaim Shaul Bruk a”h: Using Chassidus merely to get rid of our spiritual problems is like using a golden broom to sweep the floor. A broom is useful, but gold is not meant to be used as a broom.

The issue is not that the broom does not work. The issue is that we have taken something incomparably more valuable and reduced it to a tool.

Chassidus should change our avodah. But Chassidus is not merely about our avodah.

Don’t confuse what Chassidus does with what Chassidus is.