Toras HaChassidus

Toras HaChassidus (lit. "the Torah of Chassidus," i.e., the teachings of Chassidus) is a path in avodas Hashem — divine service — through which a person draws close to the Creator. Its foundations were revealed in the mid-eighteenth century in western Ukraine by the Baal Shem Tov, and spread through his many disciples across Eastern Europe and from there throughout the Jewish world.

Toras HaChassidus is, in essence, an explanation of Kabbalah. It details the structure of the spiritual spiritual worlds, the chain of being through which creation unfolds, and illuminates the inner meanings of the mitzvos of the Torah. Chassidus emphasizes that learning must be learning with neshamah — with soul — and must lead to practical change in avodas hamiddos (the inner work of refining one's character traits). Rote learning is insufficient; and the observance of all mitzvos must be imbued with inner vitality and the engagement of the intellect. In the words of the Baal Shem Tov himself: "I did not come into the world except to revive and animate the dry bones — so that in everything there should be life and soul."

Chassidus places G-d at the center, and reveals that every Jew has the capacity to reach exalted spiritual heights — specifically in this world — through emunah (faith), bitachon (trust in G-d), simchah (joy), and awareness of hashgachah pratis (Divine Providence).

In its early period, Chassidus faced fierce opposition and persecution from those known as Misnagdim (lit. "opponents"), who feared it was deviating from authentic Jewish tradition. Over the years, the opposition diminished, and today it has nearly disappeared entirely.

Chabad Chassidus is the primary continuation of the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid of Mezeritch among all the Chassidic courts — both in the sheer volume of its literature and in the depth and breadth of its explanations of Chassidic thought. The Rebbes of Chabad explained the ideas of Toras HaChassidus and built a systematic path through which a person can cleave to G-d. Additionally, through the efforts of its founder, the Alter Rebbe, the "Written Torah" of Chabad Chassidus was committed to writing — the Tanya — since the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid of Mezeritch did not write books of their own.

Three Approaches in Judaism

Chassidus, as founded by the Baal Shem Tov, introduced a path in avodas Hashem that complemented and built upon two earlier major approaches in Jewish thought.

The Approach of Philosophical Inquiry (Chakiras Elokus)

The approach of philosophical inquiry (chikrah) is represented by works such as the Kuzari of Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi, the Moreh Nevuchim (Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed), and similar works.

These books address the existence of the Creator and proofs for His existence, as well as proofs for foundational Jewish principles such as the unity of G-d, the divine origin of the Written Torah, the truth of the Oral Torah, and more.

The authors of these works employ arguments rooted in human reason, aimed at the human intellect of the reader, so that these arguments will satisfy the reader's mind and affirm these truths with the clarity of direct intellectual perception.

In other words, the wisdom of philosophical inquiry uses the tools of human reason and engages with the intellect alone.

The Approach of Mussar

The approach of Mussar (ethical refinement), by contrast, deals with the correction of character traits (midos).

The Frierdiker Rebbe (the Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn) explains the nature of the Mussar approach in a talk published in the Kuntres Toras HaChassidus:

...When a person conducts himself like an animal, he is in fact worse than an animal. For an animal lacks the intellect to desire and choose something superior to its bodily cravings and desires. But a person who possesses the intellect to desire and choose something superior — such as good character traits and refined understanding — yet chooses bodily pleasures instead, is more base and corrupt than, lehavdil, the animal.

And the wisdom of subduing the physical — achieved by teaching the repulsiveness, loathsomeness, and disgust of bodily pleasures and desires, and the severity of the punishment of Gehinnom and the like that a person brings upon himself by following bodily cravings — that is the wisdom of Mussar.

Mussar, then, concerns itself with "bandaging the outer wounds" — correcting the traits of pride, laziness, anger, and the like. An excellent example of this approach is the classic work Mesilas Yesharim by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (the Ramchal).

Chassidus in Relation to the Other Approaches

Toras HaChassidus did not come to negate the other two approaches — Mussar and philosophical inquiry — but to add to them.

Toras HaChassidus, according to the approach of Chabad, holds that one cannot be satisfied with addressing the intellect alone, nor with merely "bandaging outer wounds."

In that same kuntres (tract), the Frierdiker Rebbe writes:

...And in particular Toras Chassidus Chabad — though it is a profound form of divine intellectual inquiry — nonetheless explains every conceptual teaching with broad, accessible analogies and illustrations, reasoning things through with such clarity that even those of limited understanding can grasp them.

Just as the method of studying rational disciplines proceeds from the easier to the more complex, so too is it with the study of Toras HaChassidus, which leads from rung to rung on the ladder of wisdom and knowledge.

The point is that Chassidus, too, engages the human intellect — but not in the manner of philosophical inquiry.

Philosophical inquiry brings ideas and proofs that themselves originate in human reasoning, and addresses nothing other than the human intellect.

Toras Chabad, by contrast, also addresses the human intellect and demands that it grasp with clear understanding the concepts that Chassidus presents — but those concepts themselves do not originate in human reasoning; they are divine.

In Toras HaChassidus, divine levels and realities are explained as they descend through the higher spiritual worlds downward, in an orderly and lucid manner. Analogies are used carefully, so that the student does not, G-d forbid, conceive of these divine levels in physical terms — and yet still feels a personal connection to the material being studied, so that it works upon him as it should.

As the Frierdiker Rebbe continues:

Indeed, the distinctive quality of Toras HaChassidus in this regard is that it also awakens the emotions of the heart — to be moved to precisely the degree that the heart is meant to be moved, in accordance with the understanding and insight one has gained through learning Toras HaChassidus.

Those accustomed to other approaches find it difficult to understand how one can engage two such seemingly opposite poles of personality — the cold intellect and the warm heart — and expect each to influence the other.

In the year 5655 (1895), a group of Jewish intellectuals met with the Rebbe Rashab (Rabbi Shalom DovBer Schneersohn, the fifth Chabad Rebbe). One of the questions they posed to the Rebbe was:

"What is Toras HaChassidus? On the one hand, it appears to be a deep religious philosophy that engages with and offers comprehensive explanation of the profound questions of G-d's existence and the creation of the world. On the other hand, Toras Chabad ignites a flame of passion in the heart during the fulfillment of a mitzvah and brings a person to ahavas Yisroel (love of a fellow Jew). Toras Chabad, they emphasized, contains two seemingly contradictory poles: cold understanding and burning emotion."

"Indeed," replied the Rebbe Rashab, "that is Chassidus. Burning, passionate feeling within intellectual understanding, together with a certain criterion:

When is Chassidic understanding genuine? When the one who understands prays with that very understanding he has attained. The passionate prayer is the test of genuine understanding. And when is prayer genuine? When after the prayer, one conducts oneself with good character."

Toras Chassidus Chabad

Main articles: Toras Chassidus Chabad and Learning Chassidus

Toras Chassidus Chabad is distinguished by its depth and its striving to understand the innermost dimensions of the teachings explained in Kabbalah, as they apply to avodas Hashem. This approach is rooted in the teachings and path of the Baal Shem Tov but continues primarily along the path of the Maggid of Mezeritch, with a certain broadening and development. For this reason, some have described the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid, and the Alter Rebbe — the founder of Chabad Chassidus — as corresponding to the three highest spiritual levels known as Chochma, Binah, and Da'as (Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge), whose initials form the word "ChaBaD."

The Preparation for the Coming of Moshiach

Toras HaChassidus is the preparation for the coming of Moshiach (the Messiah), as is known from Moshiach's response to the Baal Shem Tov: "When will the Master come? When your wellsprings spread outward" — a reference to the spreading of Chassidic teachings throughout the world.

The Tanya is the Written Torah of Toras HaChassidus, and the volumes of discourses of the Chabad Rebbes (Rabboseinu Nesi'einu, lit. "our Rebbes, our leaders") are its Oral Torah.

Toras HaChassidus was revealed specifically in the later generations as the preparation for the true and complete Redemption (geulah), at which time the inner dimension of Torah (pnimiyus haTorah) will be revealed in a tangible manner visible to all.

In Chassidus it is taught that pnimiyus haTorah corresponds to the tal Torah — the "dew of Torah" — with which G-d will in the future resurrect the dead.

The Dawn of the Redemption

The Sages teach that "the world will exist for six thousand years." These six millennia correspond to the six days of Creation, as it is written: "For a thousand years are in Your eyes as yesterday" — for G-d, a thousand years count as a single day. The seventh millennium — the World to Come — is compared to Shabbos: "the day that is entirely Shabbos and rest for life everlasting."

The final two of the six "days" are referred to in the Talmud as Yemos HaMoshiach — the Days of Moshiach — meaning that their essential content is the revelation of Moshiach's light. Just as in the six days of Creation, the human being — the purpose of all creation — was formed at the culmination of the sixth day, so too in the sixth millennium (toward its end) will the coming of Moshiach occur, and all the Torah's promises regarding the Days of Moshiach are to be fulfilled within the span of the six thousand years.

It is further taught that from the period of the sixth millennium that corresponds to the eve of Shabbos — and especially in its second half (since the first half is compared to Friday night) — i.e., from the year 5500 (1740) onward — the dawn of the Redemption began to break, and the light of Moshiach began to glimmer in the world. In the words of the Or HaChaim HaKadosh: "The sparks of the revealed Redemption will begin with the onset of the five-hundredth year of the sixth millennium that shall come in peace." And the closer one draws to the millennium's end, the stronger this glimmering becomes.

This corresponds to what is written in the verse: "And it shall be on the sixth day, and they shall prepare..." — there is an obligation to prepare for Shabbos, and according to halacha one should taste of every dish prepared for Shabbos, as it is said: "Those who taste of it merit life." The allusion in Toras HaChassidus, on the cosmic scale, is that the seventh millennium is called "the day that is entirely Shabbos," at which time the feast of Leviathan and the Wild Ox will take place. The Chassidic explanation is that this refers to the revelation of pnimiyus haTorah through Moshiach. This is called the feast of the righteous from the souls called nuni yama (fish of the sea), who are called "Leviathan" from the Torah and mitzvos they have accumulated; and all souls from alma d'isgalya (the revealed world) are called the "Wild Ox" from their Torah and mitzvos. Therefore, since the sixth day — the year 5500 — began, the right and the obligation arose to taste of the Shabbos foods, and for this purpose the Baal Shem Tov was sent into the world to reveal pnimiyus haTorah. Whatever of pnimiyus haTorah is revealed by the tzaddikim until the coming of Moshiach is called only a "taste" — the main feast will be in the future. But until this period it was not possible for souls in bodies to taste of the Eitz HaChaim (the Tree of Life).

This glimmering comes through the revelation of Toras HaChassidus, which is the deepest level of Torah, known as the level of yechidah (the innermost dimension of the soul). It is a revelation from the Torah of Moshiach, whose essence corresponds to the collective yechidah of all Jewish souls.

The holy Zohar states that as the days of Moshiach draw near, the mysteries of the Torah will be revealed to all. This revelation is a necessary preparation for the Redemption, and through it, the Jewish people "will go forth from exile with mercy." There is likewise a revelation of the dimension of Moshiach, as the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya, explains: "Through the holy tzaddikim who lived at the onset of the five-hundredth year of the sixth millennium, as is known."

See Also

• Portal:Toras HaChassidus
• Chassidus
• Spreading the Wellsprings
• The Founding of Chassidus
• Opposition to Chassidus

External Links

• Kuntres — On the Necessity of Learning Toras HaChassidus, published by Otzar HaChassidim