Listening to the Spiritual Health Experts

Health experts are constantly coming out with new “revelations.” They reveal to the undiscerning masses of laypeople how many foods that seem harmless are in fact poisonous or at least very unhealthy.

The same goes for spiritual health. What to the less spiritually attuned may seem harmless at first glance may contain elements that, even if not outright forbidden, are inappropriate and spiritually unhealthy and damaging; what’s more, often these things are outright forbidden!

The proper gauge to assess such matters, and to find out which apparently harmless things might in fact be inappropriate or even prohibited, is to delve into Torah. There Hashem expresses His will, and instructs us not only in what is permitted and forbidden, but also in the importance of going beyond the letter of the law, and avoiding the inappropriate and unworthy.

And just as it would be presumptuous of a dabbler in physical health to come out and declare that a practice that experts deem damaging to one’s health, e.g., smoking, is in fact harmless and even healthy, based on whatever “proofs” might seem logical to him or her, so would it be presumptuous of someone whose knowledge of Torah is only on a beginners level to make such critical decisions for him or herself or family without first consulting, without preconceived notions, with Torah texts and with a Torah sage—one who has devoted his life with self-sacrifice to rigorous Torah study with the goal of attaining the expertise in Torah necessary to accurately transmit the word of Hashem to the community.

This is all the more so considering that our sages rule that even a rabbi with full rabbinic ordination (“semichah for dayonus”) and training (“shimush”) who becomes a businessman is thereby disqualified from sitting on a rabbinic court and issuing rabbinic decisions, despite his being an indisputably G–d-fearing Jew.[1] Only a full-time practicing rabbi may issue halachic rulings, because involvement in the business world taints the purity of the person’s judgment on holy matters. How much more so does an ignoramus have no business making such weighty decisions for him or herself, and thereby aggrandize the mantle of halachic authority!

The same goes for matters that are not strictly halachic, but are in one way or another related to questions of what behavior is appropriate for a Jew in his or her individual circumstances. In these matters one should consult with one’s personal asei lecha rav or mashpia (see here) as appropriate, in accordance with the Rebbe’s instructions.

And if the above caution is even true of physical health, although we find that the health experts often change their minds, how much more so when it comes to spiritual health, the conditions for which are taught in our timeless, perfect, immutable Torah. And if this caution is even true of physical health, although the body is temporary and secondary to the soul, it surely applies to spiritual health associated with the soul, which is eternal and primary, and whose health is also the key to material blessings, health, and prosperity.

______________________________________________
[1] Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat, 3:13, S’meh. Cited in Igros Kodesh, Vol. 26, p. 345-346. Toras Menachem 5720, Vol. 27, p. 223. Toras Menachem 5720, Vol. 23 p. 164 ff.

Dedicated by Chana Hawkins in honor of John Wilson.

Like what you read? The articles I write take a lot of time and effort. Please contact me to sponsor an article for (at least) $36 in honor of the birthday, wedding anniversary, or yarhtzeit of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah or the like. Also, see here concerning the tremendous merit of supporting the dissemination of Chassidus, and the blessings that one receives for doing so.

Consult with a Guide, not a Crutch

Consult with a Guide, not a Crutch

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

The Frierdiker Rebbe once responded:

In answer to your question: The Rogatchover Gaon would have said [in response to such a query] “You are an idler. You idled away the time and didn’t learn, and therefore you don’t know, and so you ask what you were able to know [through your own study]. If you wouldn’t have idled away your time and you would have studied, you would know yourself, and you wouldn’t need to ask.” The same applies to your question: It’s easier for you to write a letter and ask than to bother yourself to find the Halacha in Shulchan Aruch, never mind to seek it in the works of the later halachic authorities.

Igros Kodesh Admur HaRayatz, Vol. 6, pp. 70-71.

Perhaps this principle can also be applied to consulting with others who ought to provide spiritual guidance of some sort—one’s mashpia, Rav, or asei lecho Rav (see here for further explanation). Some people, perhaps subconsciously, view their mashpia as the one responsible for their spiritual growth, which they neglect because, they think, why bother? They can visit the mashpia for inspiration from time to time. They neglect to study Halacha because, they tell themselves, they can simply ask their Rav when a question arises. They also neglect introspection and making a personal reckoning, because why bother? They can simply ask their asei lecho Rav to do it for them. And even when they do learn Torah, they learn it in a detached, theoretical way, because they do not foresee any of it having practical relevance, as it has not been uttered by their mashpia, Rav, or asei lecho Rav. And so on. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.

These roles exist to provide not crutches, but guidance. There is a balance required here. You do need these supports and you can’t go it alone, but you still have to do the work yourself. Think of them like a swimming instructor. He doesn’t swim for you. He shows you how to swim, and then he gives you helpful pointers to improve your swimming further, but then you splash and flail around in the water on your own, and eventually you learn to float and dive and swim, and then swim better and faster. Likewise, the mashpia, Rav, and asei lecho Rav are here to guide you in your service of Hashem—they direct and inspire you to learn, fulfill, grow, change, and lead. But once the meeting with the guide is done, you are left to do the learning, fulfilling, growing, changing, and leading yourself.

Thus, the very act of consultation presupposes that the seeker of the advice is a mentch—a Jew striving to improve, who recognizes that the ball is in his court. And even if he lacks sufficient motivation, he recognizes that the fault is in him, and that he alone is to blame for his low performance. The guide then has material with which to work. 

In contrast, one who uses these spiritual guides to excuse himself from exerting effort thwarts them from fulfilling their task, and what is worse, this makes them complicit in his misconduct. For then instead of the mashpia, Rav, or asei lecho Rav guiding the person to true self-motivated inner growth in his divine service, they facilitate laziness, mediocrity, and failure.

Receiving guidance brings wisdom, clarity, and purpose. But the hard work you have to do yourself—before, during, and after your consultation.

Tragedies (lo aleinu): A Goad to Teshuvah

Reizi Rodal, 10, ע”ה

Moshe Golan, 17, ע”ה

Yanatan Bitton, 17, ע”ה

Levi Hendel, 14, ע”ה

Toby Eagle, 21, ע”ה

Zev Simons, ע”ה

Rochel Simons, 48, ע”ה

Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, הי”ד

Rivka Holtzberg, 29, הי”ד

Yisroel Noach Tzfasman, 24, ע”ה

Rochie Paley, 26, ע”ה

Pesha Leah Azoulay, 20, ע”ה

Chana (Raskin) Wolvovsky, 21, ע”ה

Avrohom Dovid Liberow, 9, ע”ה

Refael Peretz Rivkin, 6, ע”ה

Chaya Mushka Itkin, 3, ע”ה

Shula Swerdlov, 3, ע”ה

Devorie Neuwirth, 41, ע”ה

Rafael Miriashvilli, 25, הי”ד

Revital Efrat Maudah, 35, ע”ה

Menachem Mendel Sadon, 15, ע”ה

Chaya Mushka Ashkenazi, 7, ע”ה

Chaya Gottlieb, 24, ע”ה
Menachem Mendel Browd, 7m, ע”ה

Shloime'le Zaltzman, 7m, ע”ה

Yossi Kadosh, 7, ע”ה

Levi Wolowik, 9, ע”ה

Yossel Tevel, 55, ע”ה

Avrohom Goldstein, 53, ע”ה

Aryeh Leib Misenzon, 25, הי”ד

Nosson Deitsch, 21, ע”ה

Zlata Geisinsky, 49, ע”ה

Chana Weinfeld, 10, ע”ה

Esty Cohen, 33, ע”ה

Yossi Kreiman, 23, ע”ה

Mendy Deren, 36, ע”ה

Levi Deitsch, 34, ע”ה

Shalom Dovber Gerber, 2, ע”ה

Menachem Mendel Orenstein, 45, ע”ה

Menucha Rachel Vaspi, 1, ע”ה
Chaya Kurkus, 47, ע”ה
Hendel Keller, 34, ע”ה
Paz Shusterman, 37, ע”ה
Mochai Schapiro, 35, ע”ה
Chaya Mushka Hershkowitz, 23, ע”ה
Kazi (Kasriel) Benjamin, 25, ע”ה
Shayna Borevitz, 18, ע”ה
Rivka Mas’hid, 17, ע”ה
Stacey Brook, 17, ע”ה
Rivka Durai, 18, ע”ה 
Moshe Abelsky, 49, ע”ה
No’a Basya Lazarus, 1, ע”ה
Menachem Mendel Oberlander, 20, ע”ה
Yehuda Groden, 23, ע”ה
Yosef Yitzchak Tarlow, 28, ע”ה
Yaacov Shlomo Pellin, 31, ע”ה

Shula Friedman, 42, ע”ה
Dorit Giro, 45, ע”ה
Draizel Merka Altman, 53, ע”ה
Aharon Stawsky, 50, ע”ה
Mira Sharf, 25, הי”ד
Ahron Smadga, 50, הי”ד 
Shneur Zalman Greenberg, 4m, ע”ה
Yossi Alexandre, 19, ע”ה
Nava Rus Chein, 2, ע”ה 
Sara Leah Overlander, 53, ע”ה 
Alter Hirshel Dovid Strauss, 3m, ע”ה
Mendy Avrahami, 23, ע”ה
Chana Ohana, 18, ע”הZev Aryeh Glick, 22m, ע”ה
Yossi Kadosh, 7, ע”ה
Yisroel Bodner, 18 m., ע”ה

Nochum Tzvi Potash, 8, ע”ה
Shoshana Rachel Stern, 12, 
Levi Nemon, 21m., ע”ה 
Miriam Baila Goldsweig, 6m, ע”ה
Yosef Raksin, 60, הי”ד

We are, yet again, reeling from recent tragedies in the Chabad community. Boruch Dayan Emes.

The various communities of Chabadchassidim are not separate and independent entities, chas v’shalom. Rather, there is a worldwide Chabad community of which each and every individual community is an integral part. Thus, everything that happens in one community affects all the others, whether for the good or otherwise.

Obviously, any tragedy that befalls a fellow Jew should touch all Jews deeply. But one should feel affected all the more when tragedy befalls a member of one’s own community. This concept is alluded to in the HaYom Yom of 3 Adar 1, which teaches that one should love every Jew, even one whom one has never met—but all the more so a member of one’s own community (see also here concerning the concept that a chossid should feel an extra love for fellow chassidim).

The tragedies in families of Anash, may Hashem save us, are now no longer unusual. They have been recurring every few months now for a number of years, with chilling regularity. There is an unmistakable pattern here, and it begs the question: Without getting into the larger topic of why the innocent and righteous suffer, why evil exists, and so on, how should we respond?

There is a popular notion that associating suffering with sin isinherently antithetical to the path of Chassidus. 

This is part of a general misconception that since Chassidus focuses on ahavas Yisrael, positive energy, joy, looking at one’s fellow Jew with a good eye, and so on—which I do not question—anything and everything that smacks of negativity is necessarily wrong and inherently un-Chassidic.

However, this is a complete mistake, for, as Chassidus teaches, kindness must always be balanced with strictness, and sometimes rebuke and harshness are necessary, albeit in carefully-measured doses. Rather, the Chassidic way is not to become preoccupied with the negative approach in avodah—not that it be neglected altogether.

In any case, as far as the topic of tragedy is concerned, in an undisputed ruling, the Rambam writes:

It is a positive obligation stated in the Torah to cry out to Hashem in prayer whenever a great calamity should befall the community. … This is counted among the paths of repentance, that when a calamity arrives and people cry out and sound the Shofar, everyone will know that it was because of their wrongdoing that this evil befell them … and this will cause the calamity to be removed from them. If, however, they do not cry out … arguing instead that this event happened to us as part of the natural way of the world and that the calamity happened by chance, this approach is cruel, because it causes people to persist in their wrongdoing and thus brings about further disasters … . Moreover, the Sages ordained that people should fast over every calamity that overtakes the community, until Heaven shows them compassion.

Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Ta’aniyos, 1:1-4.

The Rambam’s words are clear. When suffering occurs, the community as a whole, and each and every individual, ought to feel that it occurred on account of their wicked behavior, as a punishment for it, and that it is as a sign from Hashem that they must do teshuvah. This attitude is in fact a kindness for the community, for teshuvah will correct the cause of the tragedy, namely their sins, and thereby save them from the terrible result of ongoing sin—further punishment, G–d forbid.

This is also reflected in the story of Purim. The Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 6, p. 192) uses the above halacha to explain Esther’s behavior. As soon as she learned of Haman’s decree, she declared that it had in fact been caused by their sins, and called the people to fast and do teshuvah. They heeded her call, and this was the true reason that the decree was averted.

The calamities that we face are the tragedies that have been taking the lives of beloved members of our community, may Hashem save us. According to the Rambam’s ruling, it emerges that the Chabad community as a whole, and every individual chossid in particular, should feel personally responsible for these shocking events.

Moreover, in the above sicha, the Rebbe explains that in her call for teshuvah, Esther even made a point of identifying which particular sin had caused the decree (viz., taking part in the meal of Achashverosh). This appears to demonstrate that in the process of communal teshuvah, the leaders are tasked with drawing the community’s attention to rampant and/or blatant sins that are most likely the cause of the suffering that has befallen the community.

I will not presume to engage in such speculation, as I am not of that caliber. However, I would humbly suggest that our Rabbonim—the true leaders of every Jewish community, especially in light of the Rebbe’s public will discussed here—are the ones fit to make such statements, and if they have not, in my humble opinion, they should be urged to do so.

In addition to the communal reckoning, since a community consists of a conglomeration of numerous individuals, when such events occur, each individual should also conduct a personal accounting, searching carefully within for faults that he or she may have, with the goal of correcting them and thereby safeguarding the community as a whole from such disasters in the future, chas v’shalom.

Most importantly, such teshuvah prepares us for and hastens the arrival of Moshiach now.

May we be comforted for our irreplaceable losses, and know no more sorrow.

______________
ETA: The quote below, from the Previous Rebbe here, is also highly relevant:

Every salvation comes in the wake of a time of distress, and every distress that strikes the Jewish people comes as a punishment for particular transgressions. That is to say: When Jews repent, G-d sends His salvation. His help not only removes the punishment: it also brings them a salvation [beyond that]. It goes without saying that the tribulations inflicted in punishment are proportionate to the transgressions, and the good fortune brought about by the salvation is proportionate to the repentance.