Hayom Yom: Tackling Life's Tasks - 24 Teves

from Chabad.org

[This date is the anniversary of] the passing of the Alter Rebbe in the village of Piena, on Motzaei Shabbos, Parshas Shmos, 5573 (1812). His resting place is in the township of Haditch.

My revered grandfather, the Rebbe [Maharash], once asked [his father,] the Tzemach Tzedek: “What did our zeide1 want to achieve with the ways of Chassidus2 and [through the study of] Chassidus?”

The Tzemach Tzedek answered: “[The goal of] the ways of Chassidus is that all chassidim should be like one family, [united] in love according to the Torah. Chassidus is vitality, bringing energy and light into everything, even into those things that are undesirable. We should recognize our own evil as it is, so that we can correct it.”3

A Mini-Farbrengen

The last lines of the above teaching summarize a dialogue between the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Maharash. After the Tzemach Tzedek said that “Chassidus is vitality, bringing energy and light into everything,” the Rebbe Maharash asked him: “Even into undesirable matters?”

The Tzemach Tzedek answered: “Yes, we must illuminate even evil,” and then continued as quoted: “We should recognize….”

With this approach, the Tzemach Tzedek shed light on the Chabad approach to confronting and refining one’s own negative traits.

It is related that the saintly disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch embodied three different approaches when confronted by the evil in others. One approach was personified by R. Zusya of Hanipoli, who simply never saw wickedness in a fellow Jew. No matter how bad the person was, R. Zusya saw only the good in him.

Another approach was personified by R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, who could see the evil in a fellow Jew, but would never accept it. He would pray for him until G‑d washed the evil away.

The third approach was personified by the Alter Rebbe. He would see the evil in others, yet despite the unpleasantness of dealing with such traits, he would face those people and talk to them about their problems. Thus, he taught them a path of Divine service that enabled them to correct their difficulties themselves.

A similar concept applies to facing the evil within ourselves. Only after we confront ourselves and look at ourselves honestly can we correct our faults. This approach also relates to the above-quoted call by the Tzemach Tzedek for unity among chassidim, for the work of self-refinement is easiest when we are part of a community whose members relate to each other lovingly — as within a family — and actively support each other’s strivings toward personal growth.