Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

Click Here for Part One

In this letter, dated the 24th of Marcheshvan, 5720 [November 25, 1959], the Rebbe corresponds with an individual on the absolute necessity to learn Chassidus. In the previous installment, the Rebbe discussed why learning Chassidus is required by the Shulchan Aruch, because the fulfillment of the “Six Constant Mitzvos” depends on it:

Keeping The Six Mitzvos Is Not Possible Without Chassidus

… Consider those six Mitzvoth. What does it mean, To believe in G-d? If we come to define belief in G-d, we will have to admit that a child’s belief in G-d is adequate for him, though he imagines G-d to be a big, strong man, with powerful arms, something like his father, but perhaps more so. But what would we think of a grown up person who has such an idea of G-d? For this is the very contradiction of one of the basic principles of our faith that G-d is neither a body, nor a form in a body, etc.

Or, consider the Mitzvah of being constantly aware that there is no reality outside of Him. This involves the principle that “there is no place devoid of him” (as the Zohar states), for if one would admit that there is a place devoid of him, one would admit a separate, independent existence, which again would be in direct conflict with our faith, as explained also in the Rambam, in the beginning of Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah.

“Refusing… Is Tantamount To Willful Refusal To Comply With The Mitzvah”

Similarly in regard to the commandment always to bear in mind that G-d is one and unchangeable, a belief which must go hand in hand with the belief that G-d created the world 5720 years ago, and that prior to that date our world was non-existent, yet G-d remained the same after Creation as He was before Creation, and that the plurality of things do not imply, ח”ו [G-d forbid] a plurality in Him, and so on.

Suppose Mr. A. comes to Mr. B. and offers to give him a deeper understanding and insight into these highly abstruse subjects which are so remote from the ordinary mind, yet which have to be borne in mind constantly, and Mr. B. does not wish to be bothered, being quite content to remain with his childish image of G-d etc., this would not be a case of merely forgoing a Hiddur of a Mitzvah, but of renouncing the entire Mitzvah. For having the brain and ability to acquire the necessary knowledge about G-d, yet refusing to make use of them, is tantamount to willful refusal to comply with the Mitzvah.

Likewise with regard to the commandments to love and fear Him. Surely it is impossible really to love or fear anything without at least some knowledge of that thing, as is also alluded to in the Rambam, beginning of Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah Chapter Two. Note there.

Not Learning Pnimiyus HaTorah Prolongs The Galus And Delays The Geula

Finally, the same is true of the sixth commandment—not to go astray after the heart and eyes. For insofar as a mature (beruchniut) [spiritually] person is concerned, the commandment surely does not refer to only carnal temptation and crude idolatry, but that one should have a heart and eyes only for that which is true and good, to see in the world what is truly to be seen and to think what are truly good thoughts. However, to cultivate such vision as to see the inner content and reality of the world, and to train the heart to dwell only on the good and the true—this is a very difficult attainment which requires tremendous effort, as explained in Kuntres Etz HaChayim. Nevertheless everyone is commanded to attain all that he is capable of attaining, each and every one according to his mental capacity and grasp. And when it is said “each according to his capacity,” it should be remembered that “a rich man who brings a poor man’s offering, has not fulfilled his obligation,” and there is “no ‘riches’ and ‘poverty’ except when it refers to the mind,” i.e. potential intelligence.

I trust you will take no offense, if I ask you, Do you really think that you can fully carry out the Mitzvah of “Thou shalt love G-d thy G-d,” a Mitzva which is to be performed not by uttering a verbal formula, but with heartfelt feeling, if you will know about G-d only from what you have learned in the Gemoro, or Yore Deah, etc.

Needless to say, all that has been written above at such length is not for the purpose of causing you pain, but in the hope that perhaps it may after all bring you to the realization that it is the Yetzer Hora that is inventing for you all sorts of strange and peculiar reasons to discourage you from Learning Chasidus, thereby not merely preventing you from knowing what is taking place in the World of Atzilus, as you put it, but preventing you from fulfilling actual Mitzvoth, commanded in the Torah, Toras Chaim, to be fulfilled every day. But, of course, the Yetzer Hora does his work “faithfully,” and he will not come and tell you: Do not observe those six Mitzvoth which one is obliged to fulfill every day; he is too “smart” for that; instead, he will tell you, What good will it do you to know what is happening in Atzilus!

Incidentally, let me add that the Vilner Gaon (not only the Baal HaTanya, mind you) writes that those who do not learn Pnimius HaTorah prolong the Golus and delay the Geulo, and that without knowledge of Pnimius HaTorah it is impossible to know properly Nigle of Torah.

May G-d grant that you have good news to report concerning all that has been written above, and may it be soon.

With blessing,.

66