It’s not naïve. It’s what I been doing for several years now with success BH without compromising Chasidishe values. It’s naïve to think they’re the same thing without having properly studied the topic.

It is naïve to think that you can easily separate the two. They are tightly intertwined and shaped by each other. As the adage goes, “The medium is the message.”

You’re confusing “how to think“ as a philosophy with “how to think“ as a technique.

It’s disingenuous to compare avoiding sugar and blue light to modalities that teach you how to think. Those pose a threat of messing with your Yiddishkeit.

Of course, there can be calming thought processes which are consistent with Torah, but that is often not the case.

If goyishe tunes carries subtle goyishe messages, how much more so do goyishe ways of thinking. We need to be super vigilant, and not everyone can adapt/elevate goyishe ideas.

“Check the _mezuzos_ in your home. Before you go to sleep, read at least a few lines from the [Frierdiker] Rebbe’s _sichos_, and envision, to the best of your memory, his holy face. With Hashem’s help you will notify me that your sleep has improved…”

(Igros Kodesh, Vol. 4, p. 206)

_A Chassidisher Derher_

Question: Is it inappropriate for a Yid do use other methods, such as making sure to go to sleep and getting up the same time every day of the week, exercising in the early afternoon, having a “winddown routine”, making sure the bedroom is 69°F, not looking at the clock, avoiding bluelight from electronic devices, sugar, or heavy exercise, three hours before bedtime, since the Rebbe didn’t mention any of these proven methods?

The obvious answer would seem to be that it’s not the Rebbe’s job to cure your insomnia. It’s the Rebbes job to connect you to Hashem. If there is a situation where solving a persons difficulty presents an opportunity to increase their connection to Hashim, then it’s the Rebbes job to tune the person into that method. That does not mean the Rebbe disagrees with the researched and tested method. The same thing applies to other disorders besides insomnia.

That was a flippant answer to an irrelevant question. The real answer is I’m obviously not a neuroscientist, and just as obviously you don’t need to be a neuroscientist to know that the bedrock of the human being is not brain chemistry but the Divine soul.

Yes, I know. Illness, imbalance, and immaturity of the brain/Keli has an impact, raised and acknowledged ad nauseam. The response to emotional issues will still by and large be the Torah, not the chemist or doctor, as far as I’m concerned.

We sat in the same class…

What background and education do you have in neurology and the nervous system of the body that you feel entitled to discuss the impact and overlap They have on each other, and how one can heal the other?

Perhaps you can enlighten me as to which of the five interventions mentioned above for the five problems, which are things which any therapist, Jew, or non-Jew, would tell any client/patient, Jew, or non-Jew, but are incompatible with Torah and Chasidus? Obviously they don’t have the deeper greater perspective of Chasidus, but how would they not help a Chasid be a healthy person, and be more easily able to serve Hashem? Do you see somehow how is a compromise a Jew’s Avoda?

No problem. Just to clarify, based on the examples provided: We’re faced with problems in impulse control (alcoholism), relationships/Sholom Bayis, stunted character development (too reserved), self-esteem stemming from parental disapproval, paralyzing anxiety.

We can go to
A) someone who takes as his foundations theories of brain chemistry imbalances, evolutionary psychology, and the proven interventions that have shaped the shining examples of mental/emotional health we see in the world around us.

Oh, and they also know to help their client incorporate religion into the healing process.

or

B) someone who takes as his foundations the truth as revealed in Torah. Someone who is versed in the nature and interplay of the etzem haneshama, kochos hagluyim, and nefesh habahamis. Someone who invokes the truth of creation – the infinite power of Hashem and the fundamental powerlessness of everything and everyone else – and true purpose of life. Someone who knows the true measure of worth, tracing to our inherent connection with Hashem and the mission he gives each one of us.

Oh, and they also know to help their client distinguish health and medical issues and seek targeted care.

We’ve both made our cases as much as we can in a comment section under a web article. I know which one I choose, and I hope I’ve persuaded some of the readers, or at least given them food for thought.

Good Shabbos.

A worldview is not something specific that can be picked out. It’s like treif food cooked in a soup. You can’t just pick it out. It permeates everything.

The Rebbe compared secular thinking to tumah which can’t be seen, but contaminates everything.

That justifies and necessitates having a mashpia involved.

You wouldn’t discuss your struggles in kedusha with a liberal therapist who doesn’t see anything wrong with it. In a somewhat more subtle way, when a person has spent hundreds of hours reading secular views on life (all drawn from observation of course, but we all know that observations are made and interpreted according to a certain worldview) – his way of thinking will become tainted.

As chassidim, we want our approach to emotional wellbeing to be based purely on Torah thinking. Is there anything wrong with that?

Every issue in life involves all 3 Nefashos, whether it’s lack of feeling in Davening , losing a large amount of money, or phobia of bugs. Every therapist knows to help the client incorporate religion into their healing process. The point here is that the benefit of someone who specializes in the Keli and makes the Keli healthier and more able to absorb the Ohr is of great benefit.

received your letter, in which you ask my advice with regard to certain educational problems, especially how to influence the children to get rid of undesirable habits, etc.

Needless to say, these problems cannot be adequately discussed in a letter. However, experienced teachers and educators are usually their own best guides, for, as the saying goes, “None is wiser than the man of experience.”

Besides, it is difficult to give advice from the distance, especially as the psychology of children may vary in certain aspects from one country to another.

Nevertheless, I would like to make one general point which can be universally applied in educational problems, a point which is emphasized in the teachings of Chassidus. I refer to the effort to make the children aware that they possess a soul which is a part of G‑d, and that they are always in the presence of G‑d (as explained in Chapters 2 and 41 of the Tanya).

When this is done persistently, and on a level which is suitable to the age group and background of the children, the children come to realize that they possess a great and holy quality which is directly linked with G‑d, the Creator and Master of the world, and that it would therefore be quite unbecoming and unworthy of them to do anything which is not good.

At the same time they come to realize that they have the potential to overcome temptation or difficulty, and if they would only make a little effort on their part they would receive considerable assistance from On high to live up to the Torah and Mitzvos, which constitute the will and wisdom of G‑d.

As for the problem of some children having a habit to take things not belonging to them, this may fall into one of two categories:

a. The attitude mentioned in the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos “Mine is thine and thine is mine.” In this case the effort should be made to educate the child that just as it is necessary to be careful not to offend or shame another person, so it is necessary to be careful not to touch anything belonging to somebody else.

b. An unhealthy condition which should be treated medically by specialists who know how to handle such an aberration.

I would like to add one more point, which is also emphasized in the teachings of Chassidus, namely, to be careful that in admonishing children the teacher or parent should not evoke a sense of helplessness and despondency on the part of the child; in other words, the child should not get the impression that he is good-for-nothing and that all is lost, etc., and therefore he can continue to do as he wishes.

On the contrary, the child should always be encouraged in the feeling that he is capable of overcoming his difficulties and that it is only a matter of will and determination.

(From a letter of the Rebbe, dated In the Days of Chanukah, 5721)

Many of the Rebbe’s recommendations were for medication from a psychiatrist.

That shows even more that it was a medical condition that required medical intervention, sometimes medication sometimes psychotherapy. But it was not for healthy people with everyday hardships.

…You write that doctors are suggesting that you receive insulin treatments again. It is generally common to have this treatment repeated.

However, of late, many different methods have been discovered to treat such a type of illness, some of which say to continue with insulin and electroshock, etc. Lately, the method of treatment via medication and PSYCHOTHERAPY has become more prevalent.

May the “Healer of all flesh and Performer of wonders” speed your recovery through the method of treatment that is best for you.

…Understandably, regarding the course of action, you should follow the instructions of your doctor. However, you can make him aware (in a diplomatic manner) of the above.

(Igros Kodesh, Vol. XXI, p. 436)

Of course issues can arise in the Keli and they should be addressed directly, but only the first two of your listed methods are even directly related to brain chemistry.

Claiming that the rest of those methods work by modifying the brain chemistry and resulting in a healthier nefesh – as opposed to the other way around – is tenuous at best.

A materialist, who doesn’t believe in the soul at all, has no choice but to make that claim. We _know_ there is a soul. Without dismissing the idea that the health of the mind and body exerts some influence on our nefesh, what justification is there for making this claim – that all issues of the nefesh involve the physical brain and chemistry?

Particularly when the issue cannot be measured by a chemist and the proposed solution is not a medicine formulated by a chemist!

The symptoms are in your mind and heart, the solutions are by adjusting your ideas and emotions, but the problem is chemical? Why??

Sometimes chemicals are needed, granted. Sometimes the Keli is the problem, granted and acknowledged in Chassidus. The person is still primarily a nefesh, a nefesh given a mission and a burden – which often involves distress and dysfunction – to overcome through awareness of Hashem and through Torah and Mitzvos.

The icing on the cake is the recent scandal on exactly this kind of theory of chemical imbalance. For four decades the world just asserted there was a link between depression and the brain chemical serotonin. Since then, society swallowed – and paid for – literally billions of pills. Recently an exhaustive study was undertaken and concluded that there is no robust empirical substantiation, there is no evidence for the claim that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance.

No one is saying to ignore the Keli and your health, but going back to the examples cited by “Question for the author” above, it’s only blindness or an ideological imperative to dismiss the nefesh/neshama dimensions and fixate on brain chemistry, and someone who takes that approach is not the one to help a Yid, as the article argues.

There is surely no need to point out to you at length that one of the basics of our Torah, Toras Chayim [the Torah of life], is that Hashem is the Creator and Master of the Universe, whose benevolent Providence extends to each and everyone individually, and that He is the Essence of Goodness, and it is in the nature of the Good to do good, particularly in regard to our Jewish people, to whom he has given His Torah, Toras Chayim, of which it is stated that it is “our life and the length of our days,” together with its Mitzvos whereby Jews live.

As you know, and indicate also in your letter, there are Mitzvos which apply to Jewish males, and those that apply to Jewish females, and the distinction in regard to the fulfillment of the Mitzvos, is a far-reaching one.

In light of the above, it is not clear why you should want to interfere with Hashem’s blessings and contemplate a change of sex; especially as it would immediately bring in complications regarding Torah and Mitzvos, even assuming that there would be no problems in other areas. And since it would be quite plain and understandable, there is no need to elaborate on it.

As for your writing that you have sometimes had the desire to have been born a female, etc. — it is not surprising that a human being cannot understand the ways of Hashem, Who surely knows what is best for every individual. However, if this desire is somewhat troublesome to you, it would be advisable that you should talk things over with a Torah-observant p-s-y-c-h-o-l-o-g-I-s-t.

I suggest that you should have your Tefillin checked to make sure they are Kosher.

With blessing,

(From a letter of the Rebbe, dated 22nd of Av, 5745)

1) ומזמן* לזמן להשתדל להיטיב המצב עוה”פ ועוה”פ — בעזרת פ-ס-י-כ-א-ל-א-ג וכו’ וסממני רפואה, והעיקר — שבעלה שי’ ג”כ רוצה בזה שה”ז טובתו (גם לדעתו הוא) וטובת הילדים שי’. — וככל שמתבגר הבעל — נחלש התוקף “דימי הבחרות והקאך שלהם” אצלו, ומתגבר כח שכלו (מהי טובה שלו בכ”ז). — ולאחרי כו”כ שנים במצב העכשוי — בודאי הסבל דהמצב אינו כ”כ כבתחילה.

(2) היינו להרוס ח”ו את כל הקיים עתה ולהתחיל לחפש אופן חיים חדש בשבילה ובשביל ילדי’ שי’ (מתוך בלבול המחשבה תמידית — הטוב עשתה בהירוס, או שאבדה ה­chance וכו’).

(3) אמרו חכמינו ז”ל אשר גדול השלום ושכינה שרוי’ ביניהם וכו’ ומובן שצריך ולהשתדל.

(4) אזכיר על הציון.

(ממענה אסרו חג הפסח תשמ”ז)

מוסג”פ העתק מכ’ מענה למר. . וכיון אשר להנ”ל אין ידוע עד”ז ששלחתי לו העתקה, הנה הוא מצדו צריך להודַע (באופן דיפּלומַטי) אם היו אצל רופא למקצוע זה, היינו ניערוונע וכו’, מה אמר להם ואם שומעה וממלאה אחרי הוראת הרופא, כי טרם אדע את זה איני רוצה להזכיר במכתבי אליהם ע”ד ענינה. בודאי ישנם במחנו מומחים גדולים בהמקצוע, וכדאי להשתדל שישאלו בעצת אחד מהם, כי, ל”ע, הענין שכותב הוא דבר הרגיל, לפ”ע, במי שבריאותו אינו כדבעי במקצוע זה, ועושים לזה כו”כ תרופות. ובפרט אחרי, שכפי שכותב במכתבו, שהתחיל הענין בקשר למאורעות מסויימים, אשר זה מקיל בדרכי הרפואה. ולבשו”ט בכל הנ”ל אחכה. . .

(ממכתב א’ אלול, תשי”ב)

So besides the wrong page numbers, which are probably just an oversight, you are misinterpreting what the Rebbe said.

You are taking any time the Rebbe said רופא מומחה and translating it as psychologist, even when the context is clearly different.

For example: Vol 25 is *clearly* talking about a physical ailment, and the Rebbe is stressing how it comes from a spiritual source.

Vol 11 is also clearly talking about a physical ailment, and the one who had it decided it was from shedim, and the Rebbe explained how its not so, and suggested a spiritual remedy alongside going to a doctor for the *physical* ailment.

Now, the fact that the Rebbe sent to phycologists at times is no chiddush. Of course some people need it! The question here is if that’s the default, and one should be trigger-happy to right away sent to a therapist of psychologist. If that would have been the case, the Rebbe would have sent thousands more, who asked about anxiety, phobias, laziness, and a host of other issues straight to therapists.

But the Rebbe didn’t

Again I ask: please stop misquoting the Rebbe for your agenda

כיון* שככתוב במסמכים (שמוחזרים בפ”ע) מתענין הילד בנגינה ושפּר לעתים קרובות וכו’ — הרי יש לחפש ולהשתדל עי”ז אויף “צו קומען” צו עֶם, לקשרו יותר עם הוריו שי’ וכו’ [באמצעות — שהם ישירו בנוכחותו ויאמרו שיַמשיכו כשיעשה ענין פ’, או תקליטים שהם לפי רוחו יותר וכו’ — ובודאי פ-ס-י-כ-א-ל—א-ג מחנך יורה כמה אפשריות בזה]. . .

(ממענה כ”ק אדמו”ר שליט”א)

The wave of therapy is of healthy people who have some emotional challenges (i.e. most people). That doesn’t require a doctor. That’s exactly where Torah living comes in.

ב”ה, א’ מנ”א, תשט”ו
ברוקלין.
הוו”ח אי”א נו”נ כו’ מו”ה [אהרן] שי’

שלום וברכה!

מאשרים קבלת מכתבו מט”ז תמוז, ות”ח על שולחו תמונת תלמידים-ות של בתי ספר אהלי יוסף יצחק ליובאוויטש במחנם הט’.

ת”ח על הבשו”ט אשר התועדו בחג הגאולה י”ב וי”ג תמוז, גאולת נשיא ישראל וגאולתינו ופדות נפשינו, ובודאי משתדלים שההתעוררות תמשך בכל ימות השנה ובענינים של פועל, וכמאמר המשנה לא המדרש עיקר אלא המעשה.

במ”ש אודות מר… שי’ מעיר בשאר, שסיפר לו מהנעשה עם בנו… שליט”א, וצריך הי’ להסבירו אשר אין זה חס ושלום ענין של שדים ר”ל, אלא ענין של בריאות הגוף בלבד, וכיון שבריאות הגוף תלוי’ בענינים רוחניים ואח”כ צריך לעשות גם בדרך הטבע, הנה יבדוק את המזוזות בביתו וכן את התפילין שלו, וכוונתי לא הבתים של התפילין מבחוץ אלא בעיקר הפרשיות שתהיינה כשרות כדין, והאם של הבן תהי’ זהירה בענינים של צניעות, ובעיקר בדיני וחוקי טהרת המשפחה, ולפני הדלקת הנרות בכל עש”ק וערב יום טוב וכן בכל יום חול של שני וחמישי בשבוע בבקר תפריש לצדקה איזה פרוטות-פראנק ובנם יהי’ לבוש טלית קטן וזהיר בכסוי הראש, ונוסף על זה ישאלו דעת ר-ו-פ-א מ-ו-מ-ח-ה ל-מ-ק-צ-ו-ע ז-ה ובעיר גדולה וכהוראתו כן יעשו, והשי”ת יזכם ויצליחם לגדלו לתורה ולחופה ולמעשים טובים ושלם.

במ”ש אודות מר.. שי’ שיש לו מיחוש בשער של עיניו וכו’ – הנה ישאל עצת רופא מומחה ויעשה כהוראתו, וכן יבדקו את התפילין שלו, ומכאן ולהבא יהי’ זהיר בקידוש ובהבדלה.

כבקשתו יזכירו את כל אלה על ציון הק’ של כ”ק מו”ח אדמו”ר זצוקללה”ה נבג”מ זי”ע נשיא ישראל להמצטרך להם, ובודאי כשיהיו אצלו בשורות טובות בזה יודיע…

בברכה.

בשם כ”ק אדמו”ר שליט”א

מזכיר

ג’תרפח

ה’תקנז

ב”ה, כ”ח סיון, תשי”ז
ברוקלין.

שלום וברכה!

במענה למכתבו מכ”א סיון, בו כותב אודות מצב בריאותו מתאר המיחוש שלו, ואשר איזה פעמים כבר נתרפא ואחרי זמן חוזר.

ומהנכון אשר יחקור ל-ר-ו-פ-א מ-ו-מ-ח-ה ב-מ-ק-צ-ו-ע ז-ה וימלא הוראתו, והתורה נתנה רשות לרופא לרפאות, אבל מובן ופשוט אשר מה שבדבורו לפעמים מבטא ענינים היפך ברכה, זה אחת הסיבות לקלקול בריאות הנשמה ובמילא גם לקלקול בריאות הגוף, ומקרא מלא דבר הכתוב בהנוגע לכאו”א מישראל, ואברכה מברכיך וגו’ ועוד יותר מושלל הדבר לפי כתבו אשר עוסק הוא בעבודת הקדש סופר סת”ם, והרי ידוע בכתבי האריז”ל בגנות המבהילה של מדת הכעס, אשר האדם בכעסו מחליף נשמתו ר”ל ואין להאריך בדבר המובן וגם פשוט, וע”פ מה שכתוב כמים הפנים לפנים וגו’ הרי כשמעבירים על מדותיו ואך ברכות טוב וחסד ישמע מפיו – יהפך גם כן לב זוגתו תחי’ וישרה השלום והשמחה במעונם.

וילמוד בעיון המתאים באגרת הקדש לרבנו הזקן בעל התניא והשו”ע סי’ כ”ה, בו מבואר באר היטב מאמר רז”ל כל הכועס כאילו עובד ע”ז וכו’.

מהנכון לבדוק את התפילין שלו ובפרט התפילין של ראש ושבכל יום אחר תפלת הבקר יאמר השיעור תהלים חדשי – כפי שנחלק התהלים לימי החדש, בל”נ.

בברכה,

בשם כ”ק אדמו”ר שליט”א

מזכיר

ב”ה, כ”ה סיון, תשי”ז
ברוקלין.
שלום וברכה!
במענה על מכתבו עם הפ”נ שיקרא בעת רצון על הציון הק’ של כ”ק מו”ח אדמו”ר זצוקללה”ה נבג”מ זי”ע.
בו כותב אודות … שי’ שאובד עצות בהנוגע להנהגתו אתו.
וכבר ידועה עצת רז”ל שלשה תהא וכו’ ימין מקרבת, תינוק. ובנדון דידי’ יש להתייעץ עם ר-ו-פ-א פ-ס-י-כ-ו-ל-ו-ג כיון שכמה פעמים ואפשר גם ברובם, הנהגה כאותה שהוא מתאר במכתבו תלוי’ במתיחת עצבים וכיו”ב, ולפעמים תכופות ביד הרופא להועיל בזה במדה חשובה. בכל אופן כפי הנראה מתיאורו, הגירוש מן הבית יכול להביא ח”ו גרעון עוד יותר בהמצב ולא תיקון, וק”ל. ויהי רצון שבקרוב יוכל לבשר טוב בהאמור, ומובן ופשוט שככל שיוסיף הוא הכותב אודות הנ”ל ובני המשפחה בכלל בעניני תורה ומצות, יתוסף בברכת השי”ת בכלל ובמילוי בקשתם בהנ”ל בפרט.
בברכה,
בשם כ”ק אדמו”ר שליט”א 
מזכיר
ה’תקמב

Let’s start with example 1:

Igros, vol 15, page 222:
Contains two letters. One about tzedaka and adding in Torah. Second about how to fix a relationship between two friends.

Not a word about a therapist or anything of the sort.

Same with the next so-called references.

Again: For shame!!

Brian chemistry can be altered with pills/chemicals, electricity, movement and behavior, environment shift, or thought-habits changes. Don’t pretend the Keli isn’t relevant for targeted interventions just because we can increase in Ohr.