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By Rabbi Gershon Avtzon

This past Sunday, we all celebrated the great Yom Tov of Hey-Teves, the day that the Rebbe was victorious in court after a prolonged battle regarding the books of the library of the Frierdike Rebbe. On that special day, I was reminded of an episode that took place in 5759, when I was a talmid in Yeshivas Lubavitch of Toronto.

It was during Shacharis on Hey-Teves (which fell out on a Thursday that year), and the Chazzan was finishing Chazaras Hashatz. He was not sure if the minyan should be saying Tachanun or not, so he turned around to one of the members of the Hanhalla to see if he should say Tachanun or Kaddish. There was some hesitation and then it was decided to skip Tachanun in honor of the special day. A little while later, another bochur put up a sign in the Beis Midrash (unsigned) in which he wrote a protest against the fact that there was even a question if there should be tachanun on “The Rebbe’s Yom Tov!”

A little while later, I was speaking with a different member of the Hanhalla and he commented on this sign of protest. He explained, besides the obvious Chutzpah of a student to hang up signs of protest in general, a very important point which I have thought about a lot in the years since then: “Not saying Tachanun on Hey Teves is an expression of a Chassidic feeling. The feeling could even be correct and holy, but it is only a feeling. A feeling by definition is very personal and an expression of what is going on in your heart and you should never push your feelings onto others and certainly never condemn other people that do not share your feelings.”

There must be a fundamental understanding of Chassidic feelings (hergeshim) and the delicate balance that it entails: 1) It is my personal expression of my deep understanding of a particular situation (and it obviously can’t contradict halacha). 2)It should never be expected to be pushed onto others to follow as it is only your feeling (not a halacha or even an official Chabad custom that is brought down in Sefer Haminhagim etc).

There is an additional point that is very important to openly discuss and it pertains strongly to idealistic younger bochurim: Be careful of trying to copy the Chassidic feelings of another Chassid.

To elaborate: Many Chassidic feelings – by definition – are not standard Chassidic behaviour. As many times they are expressions of a particular Chassid’s personal relationship with the Rebbe, it could come out a little different than what is usually standard behaviour. As Rashi writes (Bereishis 22:3) in regards to Avraham Avinu personally saddling the donkey to travel to the Akeida: “He saddled. He himself did it and did not command one of his servants to do it, because love overrides the dictates of standard conduct.”

Too many times, a younger bochur will see a strange or wild behaviour by a particular Chassid, which is an expression of that Chassid’s connection to the Rebbe, and the younger bochur will then “adopt” that behaviour into his own personal Avodas Hashem. This could lead to very negative results as the behaviour is not an expression of any deep emotional feeling by this young bochur. Before adopting any particular behavior, an open and honest discussion with your personal Mashpia is necessary.

There is another very important, and sensitive point, connected to this discussion and it is important to read the following until the end. I want to write up an immature discussion that I heard this past Tishrei in 770. I do not want the reader to get lost or sidetracked by the details of the story, rather to focus on the main point that will be discussed.

During this past Tishrei, I heard two young Israeli talmidim discussing a certain Mashpia (that’s what many young talmidim do..) and the topic of discussion was how “meshichist” is this Mashpia. One bochur told the other bochur that it is impossible that that particular Mashpia is a “real meshichist” because he does not have Yechi on his Yarmulka and he does not have a yellow moshiach-flag pin on his jacket.

Again: I will not be discussing if it is a good/right thing if one should be wearing Yechi on his Yarmulka or a pin on his jacket, but one thing is for certain and all must understand and agree: At best, these actions are an expression  of a  Chassidic feeling of someone that wants to be spreading Moshiach in a particular way. The fact that a personal feeling has become so standard (and almost mandatory!) that people are being judged on their true internal hiskashrus based on those standards, is very worrisome.

We always must remember what is real and true (Halacha or a clear directive of our holy Rabbeim)  and what is just a chassidic feeling and act accordingly. I do not belittle Chassidic feelings, on the contrary; I think that every person must develop their feelings of connection to the Rebbe! – we just need to know the right perspective, that these are our feeling and should never be expected or imposed on others.

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Rabbi Gershon Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well-sought-after speaker and lecturer. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the above by sending me a R’ Avtzon email: [email protected]

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