The Making of Chassidim

By Sichos In English

(A translation of a letter sent by the Rebbe Rayatz to his daughter, Rebbetzin Chayah Mushka)
Pirkei Avos teaches: “Know from where you came.” An awareness of our people’s roots in the past tells us much about defining our direction in the future. As we probe the inner challenges and struggles which they underwent in previous eras, we discover how to tap those same resources of personal growth and express them in our contemporary settings.
“The Making of Chassidim” describes the motivating factors which spurred several of the more prominent early Chassidim to adopt this way of life. It recounts their personal spiritual strivings, the love and fellowship they shared, their longings, and their joys. In doing so, it chronicles the revolution Chassidism wrought within the Jewish community.
True - the Baal Shem Tov did not change the external situation of our people, but he changed the internals. From his revelation of Chassidism onward, the Jewish pulse beat to a different rhythm - one with more energy, joy, and depth.
And this is not merely history. The insights we can glean from this chronicle give every person the spiritual resources to work such a revolution within his own personal setting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sichos In English
• Release date: Sep 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465985781

Book preview

The Making of Chassidim

A Letter Written by the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn

Translated by Shimon Neubort

Published by Sichos In English

The Making of Chassidim

Published by Sichos In English at Smashwords

Copyright 1996 Sichos In English

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788 Eastern Parkway - Brooklyn, N.Y. 11213

5756 - 1996

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ISBN 978-1-4659-8578-1

Chapter 1: Translator’s Introduction

Sixty years ago, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, sent a long letter to his daughter, Rebbetzin Chayah Mushka, describing the personal metamorphosis several individuals underwent as they accepted the chassidic way of life.

The letter is dated 16 Shevat 5695, and was apparently written while the Previous Rebbe was in Purkersdorf, a health resort near Vienna (where he spent the period between Chanukah and Pesach of that year), while the Rebbe and Rebbetzin resided in Paris.

Although it is a personal letter from father to daughter, the first 120 pages of the manuscript somehow became public under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Copies were then made and circulated among a select group of chassidim. This manuscript was known simply as the Long Letter. The conclusion of the letter, however, remained private.

The original Yiddish text and a Hebrew translation were published in Shemuos VeSippurim by the late Rabbi Raphael Nachman Kahan. According to rumor, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (son-in-law of the author) gave Rabbi Kahan permission to print the letter, but declined to make the remainder of the manuscript available. Subsequently, these 120 pages were reprinted in the Previous Rebbe’s collected letters, Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. 3, No. 750 pp. 156-279. The present English translation first appeared in serial form in Beis Moshiach Magazine, between January and July 1995.

In this letter, we are treated to a glimpse into the lives of several early chassidim, who were instrumental in spreading chassidic teachings and the chassidic way of life in the regions where Chabad Chassidus originated. Foremost among these early pioneers were the three famous companions: Reb Mordechai Bayever, Reb Chayim Mazierer, and Reb Yissachar Dov Kabilniker. Referring to the present letter, the author writes (in No. 751):

The first person to bring the shining light of the Baal Shem Tov’s Torah into the province of White Russia ... was the young scholar, outstanding in Torah and fear of Heaven, possessed of superior intellect, Reb Mordechai of Bayev ... [together with] Reb Chayim and Reb Yissachar Dov ... the first to implant the Torah of our Holy Master, the Baal Shem Tov, in the four White Russian Counties: Minsk, Mohilev, Vitebsk (Polotzk), and Czernigov.¹

In uniquely rich prose, the Previous Rebbe gives us a graphic portrait of the spiritual rhythms of life in the shtetl, what inspired the Jews of the era, and the focal points around which their lives revolved.

I have attempted to keep this translation faithful to the Previous Rebbe’s unique narrative style. Unfortunately, no one is able to tell a story the way he did, whether in Yiddish, English, or any other language.

I have taken liberties with the translation in only two instances:

a) Certain Yiddish idiomatic expressions make no sense when translated literally, and in these cases I have used what I thought were the closest English equivalents;

b) In several places, the original text narrates events out of their natural chronological order. To make the story flow more easily for the reader, I have rearranged the text to provide narrative continuity. The rearranged text was then divided into chapters. Neither the chapter breaks nor the titles appear in the original.

As mentioned, the conclusion of the letter was never made available to the general public. For this reason, I have added appendices which provide additional information regarding several of the personalities mentioned.

I am deeply indebted to the publishers, editorial staff, and readers of Beis Moshiach Magazine for their constant encouragement and invaluable suggestions while this translation was being written.

My thanks also to numerous elder chassidim who enlightened me about the historical background of these stories and the meanings of several non-standard Yiddish words and expressions. And I am grateful to the staff of Sichos In English, Rabbis Yonah Avtzon, Eliyahu Touger, and Yosef Yitzchok Turner who made final editorial corrections and prepared the text for printing.

May our appreciation of the saintly personalities whose biographies appear in these pages inspire us to attempt, in some small way, to emulate their ways. In their merit, may Almighty G-d grant us the blessing of Arise and sing, you who dwell in the dust, with the Rebbe, the Previous Rebbe, and the Rebbetzin, at our head, leading us to the ultimate redemption by our righteous Moshiach, speedily, NOW.

Shimon Neubort

Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY

15 Av, 5755

Chapter 2: Editor’s Jottings

I remember my first Shabbos in Meah Shearim. The manner in which people dressed, the cobblestone streets, the large families living in small homes, the courtyards where neighbors would stand and talk to each other. I could go on and on.

It was not only the physical setting that was different; what affected me most was the difference in the spiritual setting. Shabbos was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The lives of the people beat to a different drum, one that had a distinct Jewish rhythm, that had not been exposed to the influences that shaped the American mentality.

I would not say that these people were necessarily better — they were people. They had their natural desires, their foibles, and their shortcomings — by no means were they saints. But their lives had a different focus. For me, it was a through-the-looking-glass experience.

A short while later, someone gave a me a copy of the Rebbe Rayatz’s Zichronos (Memoirs). If I had not spent that — and subsequent — Shabbasos in Meah Shearim, I would have never been able to understand the book. In the Rebbe Rayatz’s rich prose, the shtetl came alive. Yankel, Berl, and Chayim the water-carrier; they became real people to me. Here I felt a unique source of energy. What was it? What endowed these people’s lives with vitality was a possuk Tehillim, a mitzvah, the Shabbos.

As an American so used to living a life where the tone is set by what happens outside, it was refreshing to be exposed to a life where it is what is happening inside which makes a difference. I was used to a world of variety and change. In the world the Rebbe Rayatz describes, people lived year after year in the same small community. There were few — if any — distractions to their day-to-day routine. And so, the people knew if their outward setting would not vary, it was inwardly that they would have to move.

Sometime later, I was shown a copy of the letter written by the Previous Rebbe which — now years later — Shimon Neubort has translated, and we have entitled "The Making of Chassidim." Here again the Previous Rebbe collected stories from the elder chassidim and used them to build an image of the shtetl, recreating its unique vitality and life.

The Previous Rebbe left Lubavitch in 5676 (1915), and from that time on he lived in cities. Forty years afterwards, the world of the shtetl entirely ceased to exist.

Why was the Rebbe so interested in recreating this world and sharing it with others? Because the knowledge of the past would help inspire Jews in the future. Hearing about the way our people lived in the past would enable them to tap those same resources of personal growth even when they had exchanged their physical settings for others.

There is another element to the world described by the Previous Rebbe. In our modern world, bombarded with a plethora of things happening outside, we have the tendency to draw into ourselves. Living in crowded metropolises, we seek aloneness. Some of us don’t even know the names of our neighbors, and less frequently do we have meaningful relationships with them. The world of the shtetl, by contrast, was characterized by togetherness. The rhythms of life were shared. In a very real way, all the people living in a community could be considered as an extended family.

And that leads to a further point: in a family, sometimes there are squabbles. Because of the close feelings we share with our family members, small differences — and how much more so, significant differences — can become sources of friction.

Well in the shtetl world where inner change and inner growth were so important, inner differences and variances in approaches were the things that mattered very much.

The book speaks about two groups in the Jewish community — chassidim and misnagdim. Sometimes it seems that they regard each other with bitter hatred, or with great scorn. Because when it comes to my brother, the feelings are powerful; we talk in extremes. But even when I’m most angry and excited, it is precisely because he is my brother that these feelings are aroused. Similar concepts apply with regard to the relationship between chassidim and misnagdim.

The era which this book describes was a very trying one for the Jewish people. After the sorrows caused by the Chelmnitzki uprising, G-d revealed a path of Divine light that would enable the Jewish people to meet the challenges of those and future times and prepare the world for the coming of Moshiach. This was the core of the revelation of the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and his spiritual heirs.

Not everyone welcomed these new developments. There were great Rabbis who had reservations about the new elements of Divine service chassidism introduced, and some were virulent in their opposition. The issues over which chassidim and misnagdim strove were real. For each had a different approach and each was sincere in their commitment to the approach that they had chosen. There is no question; at times, these differences may have been severe. But the reason that they were severe, was because they were between brothers.

It took several generations for the Jewish people to realize this. But ultimately, chassidim and misnagdim appreciated the need for combined efforts. The differences in approach did not disappear. Indeed, they have been preserved until the present day. But there is an atmosphere of mutual respect, and a productive cross-fertilization between the two camps.

Most importantly, both camps are looking forward to the time, when they will join together in complete unity, and proceed together with Moshiach to Eretz Yisrael with the coming of the Redemption.

Eliyahu Touger

Pittsburgh,

Sivan 12, 5756

Chapter 3: Prologue

Sunday, 16 Shevat, 5695 [January 20, 1935].

To my dearly beloved daughter, Chayah Mushka:

Thank G-d we are alive and well, and may we continue to be so. Joyfully, I have received your precious letter, dearest daughter. I thank you for your past letters, and beg you to continue writing to me ....

Last week I wrote a letter to your dear sister, our daughter Shaindel, and your brother-in-law, our son-in-law, Rabbi Mendel [Horenstein]. In that letter I happened to discuss an incident that occurred in Liozna at a chassidic farbrengen led by Reb Shmuel Munkes and attended by the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim. That story mentions a certain Mordechai Horodoker, who at the time was still a young man. Later, this Mordechai Horodoker became one of the renowned young scholars of the Mitteler Rebbe’s circle, and one of the most revered followers of our great-grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek.

While writing that story, I reminded myself of the entire history of Mordechai Horodoker, as related by the chossid Reb Shmuel Dov Borisover. This Reb Shmuel Dov came to maturity under Reb Mordechai’s tutelage; he used to say that it was due only to Reb Mordechai Horodoker that he did not come under the influence of the misnagdim, but remained a chossid.

Reb Shmuel Dov told my father that when he was twelve years old, he was brought to Minsk to learn. Being a child with great aptitude, he was admitted to the yeshivah; he was assigned days,² and a place for him to sleep was arranged in one of the local homes.

He studied in Minsk with great diligence for four years, and achieved a fine reputation in the yeshivah. On his way home (a small village near Borisov) he stopped over in Czasznyk,³ where he had a rich uncle, his mother’s brother. He had been advised from home to travel to Czasznyk and spend several weeks there. In several weeks’ time there was to be a fair in Czasznyk, which his father would attend. His father would meet him in Czasznyk, and they would return home together.

This chossid Reb Shmuel Dov was a cheerful Jew — chassidim in general used to make every effort to be joyful — and also very clever. My uncle Reb Zalman Aharon used to say that by nature he disliked stupid people and preferred clever people. One of Reb Zalman Aharon’s greatest pleasures was to spend time conversing with Reb Shmuel Dov. Anything Reb Shmuel Dov said was not easily forgotten; he was also fond of witticisms.

Referring to his trip from Minsk to Czasznyk, Reb Shmuel Dov used to say that our forefather Yaakov made out better in material business in Charan than he — Reb Shmuel Dov — did in Czasznyk; for Yaakov obtained his cousins as wives. But in spiritual business, Reb Shmuel Dov purchased better merchandise than Grandfather Yaakov; Yaakov only bought raw materials, but Reb Shmuel Dov learned how to convert the raw material into a finished product.

When I arrived in Czasznyk, Reb Shmuel Dov related, "I discovered a large group of young and middle-aged men learning Chassidus with deep understanding and great diligence. After I had come to the large beis hamedrash a few times, to learn Gemara and Poskim in the Minsker style, some people approached me to discuss what I was studying.

"In those days my haughtiness was still quite evident whenever I discussed my studies, and I was eager to demonstrate my prowess with pilpulim. But they soon made me sweat! They called me appropriate names, and within a week’s time they scrubbed clean the gross hide that I had grown in the Minsker Yeshivah. Some young men began to befriend me and to study Chassidus with me.

"For the first few weeks, I studied only Chassidus, laboring with my deepest abilities. A new world opened up for me; every word was precious to me. I would attach myself to any chossid who would give me time, until eventually I was admitted to the circle of Reb Mordechai Mashpia."

Reb Mordechai had been sent to Czasznyk by the Mitteler Rebbe, who instructed the Czasznyk chassidim to raise the sum of six common rubles (two silver rubles) a month for Reb Mordechai’s salary, and to appoint him as the mentor of the chassidim. In fact, there were also Strasheller Chassidim and Czernobyler Chassidim in Czasznyk, so this caused quite an uproar. To tell the truth, even the other chassidim had the greatest respect for the Rebbe, meaning our great-grandfather the Tzemach Tzedek, and they were in great awe of Reb Mordechai Mashpia.

"Reb Mordechai Mashpia was so impressed with me, related Reb Shmuel Dov, that he admitted me to his cheder; this was in a small space partitioned off from the side-room of the Lubavitcher shul. I spent a year and nine months under Reb Mordechai’s tutelage. Afterwards, I visited home for a few months, and then returned to Czasznyk. I got married, stayed for several months, and then made my first trip to Lubavitch in 5597 [1837], remaining there for almost a half year."

This Reb Mordechai was a chossid of the Alter Rebbe. Right after his marriage, as a young man of eighteen or nineteen, he traveled from Horodok to the Alter Rebbe in Liozna; this was during the last years before the Alter Rebbe’s move from Liozna to Liadi.

Reb Mordechai began studying Chassidus while still young, before his marriage. He had a good chassidic education, and would always associate with chassidim; however, he came from mixed chassidic origins. His father, Reb Simchah Zissel, had lived in Kalisk, and had for many years been a follower of the famous tzaddik Rabbi Avrohom of Kalisk.

Chapter 4: Reb Simchah Zissel: Kalisk, Horodok, and Liozna

The tzaddik