By Rabbi Shmuel I. Silverstein

“If they would cut the finger of my father-in-law, blood would not pour out but Chassidus.” 

This famous line of the Tzemach Tzedek is possibly the best way to capture the essence of the Mitteler Rebbe – and maybe also the most important lesson for us in our day-to-day lives.

The quote is first recorded by the Frierdiker Rebbe (Sefer HaSichos 5704, p. 79) and explained according to Kabbalah by the Rebbe’s father, Harav Levi Yitzchak (Likkutei Levi Yitzchak, Igros Kodesh, p. 339). The Rebbe himself brought it up numerous times and explained its meaning.

But before we get to that, there’s an obvious question. Tes Kislev marks both the birthday and the yahrzeit – the yom hilula – of the Mitteler Rebbe. This is extremely rare, something we find almost exclusively by Moshe Rabbeinu. What made the Mitteler Rebbe so unique that this happened with him?

[The Rebbe addressed this point several times. Below, we’ll look at the explanation and the practical takeaways the Rebbe gave at the farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Vayeitzei 5752.]

To understand that, let’s look at a well-known quote of the Mitteler Rebbe: “My wish is that when two chassidim meet in the marketplace, they should speak Chassidus – the concepts of Arich and Atik.” (Sefer HaSichos 5701, p. 52) 

In another place (Sefer HaSichos 5703, p. 13), the Mitteler Rebbe is quoted as saying: “If yungeleit would understand Kesser like the five fingers of the hand, I would be happy.”

Both quotes express one idea: The Mitteler Rebbe’s deepest wish was that Chassidus and Elokus should permeate a chossid to the point that it becomes his natural habitat. When two friends meet – not just in shul, but in the middle of a business day – their conversation is Chassidus. And not only on surface-level, but so real and familiar that their understanding of it is as clear and intimate as knowing their own five fingers.

The Mitteler Rebbe didn’t just demand this level from his chassidim – he lived it. While the Alter Rebbe is known for short, sharp maamarim (compared to Chochmah), the Mitteler Rebbe took the wellsprings of Chassidus and expanded them in a way the world had never seen (Bina). The sheer volume of Chassidus he said, wrote, and published is astounding.

He published many maamarim he heard from the Alter Rebbe – including ones delivered privately – and he authored countless works of his own. He said Chassidus at every possible opportunity. His maamarim are long, detailed, and develop each idea from its earliest beginning through its deepest, inner dimension. It was common for him to deliver three maamarim on a single Shabbos (Toras Menachem, Vol. 32, p. 244). A single maamar often runs for dozens of printed pages.

He wrote tremendously and extremely fast. It is told that when he finished writing the bottom line on a page, the ink of the top line had not yet dried. Besides the 22 volumes of Toras Chaim and Maamarei Admur HaEmtza’i, he published seforim on tefillah, teshuvah, and much more – all during a nesius of only fourteen years.

No wonder the Tzemach Tzedek said that if his finger were cut, Chassidus would come out. Not because blood wouldn’t come out, but because his very blood was Chassidus. 

It was his life-source. What gave life to his whole body – what pumped life through his veins – was the Chassidus he learned, taught, wrote, and published. His physical life and his spiritual life were one reality with no separation. And this is exactly what he wanted to pass on to his chassidim.

He encouraged the young chassidim to teach maamarim publicly wherever they went, spreading Chassidus throughout Eastern Europe.

This is why, specifically by the Mitteler Rebbe, we find that he was born and passed away on the same day. Although every tzaddik reaches shleimus at the end of his lifetime – “Hashem counts and fills the days of tzaddikim – day to day” – it is rare for that perfection to express itself in their physical life as well. By the Mitteler Rebbe — similar to Moshe Rabbeinu, the ultimate Nasi of Klal Yisroel – his spiritual shleimus penetrated so deeply that his physical days were also complete.

Every breath he took, every drop of blood his heart pumped, was totally saturated with G-dliness and Chassidus. There was no room for separation. His spiritual avodah “soaked through” his physical life until both were one.

(And as the Rebbe explains: since all the Rebbeim are one essence, this level existed by all of them – but it was revealed openly through the Mitteler Rebbe, and through him it had an effect on the others.)

For generations, this level may have seemed unreachable – something theoretical. Yet the Mitteler Rebbe demanded this harmony between physical and spiritual from his chassidim. 

Furthermore, and most importantly, the Rebbe explains that in our generation, standing at the threshold of the Geulah, after the birurim of all the earlier generations – including the Rebbeim – the physical world has become completely refined. Our bodies and the world itself are ready to receive the highest levels of G-dliness, the revelations of Moshiach, when Atzmus u’Mehus, the essence of Hashem, will be visible to every Jew.

As the Rebbe says in that sicha: “The only thing missing is that a Jew should open his eyes properly, and he will see how the entire world is ready for the Geulah!”

It’s time to open our eyes.

Yes, it sounds radical. But when the Rebbe says the world is ready for Geulah, he is telling us the true reality. And when the Rebbe says that this level of living with Elokus and Chassidus is possible for every Jew, he is uncovering for us our true identity.

We can live a life infused with Elokus – not only in shul or in front of a sefer, but on the way to work, on the way home, in a casual chat with a friend, and even more importantly, in a simple conversation with our spouse and children.

This isn’t about becoming some kind of removed, floating spiritual being. It’s about living our normal day-to-day lives with all their responsibilities – but the focus, the chayus, the geshmak, what pumps our blood, is a page of Chassidus, not the latest gadget, stock news, or politics.

The Rebbe constantly took a lesson from the Mitteler Rebbe’s approach of harchavah – expansiveness – that every chossid should broaden and deepen his learning and spreading of Chassidus in a practical way. Add another shiur, strengthen the one you have, learn Chassidus b’shufi – at length, stop looking up at the clock. Because this is your life.

And when a person learns more and more Chassidus, he really does begin to see the world differently. The noise of worldly excitement speaks to him less. He starts to see the true reality of Elokus everywhere he goes and in everything he does.

The more one dives into Chassidus, the more one lives and breathes Chassidus. He begins to live with Moshiach, where Elokus is the only real reality. The “varemkeit” and “lebedikeit” of Yiddishkeit and Chassidus enter his home and his daily routine until there’s no gap at all between physical and spiritual.

And ultimately, it becomes possible – and truly realistic – that if the finger of a chossid is opened, what pours out is not blood but Chassidus.

We only need to open our eyes.