Rav Avigdor Miller on Rebbes Are
Ladders
Q: Why are the Satmerer chassidim
fighting the Lubavitcher chassidim? Do you approve of this?
A: Now if you’re chassidim, you’re
going to have to bear with me because I’m going to hurt your feelings. There is
a basic weakness in all chassidim. The basic weakness is “My Rebbe” “My Rebbe”
is a wonderful thing. It accomplishes a lot of good things – but it causes a
lot of trouble too. Before chassidim, all Jews said “My Hakodosh Boruch Hu!”
and that’s all. However, when the Ba’al Shem Tov saw that a lot of Jews had
stopped saying that, so he said that it’s better to say “My Rebbe” than not to
say anything at all. And if you say long enough “My Rebbe”, in the course of
time you’ll say “My Hakodosh Boruch Hu” too. But there have been very many
plain people who never graduate past the “My Rebbe” stage. And therefore “My
Rebbe,” “Your Rebbe,” and they scratch out the eyes of each other. That’s a
weakness.
If you advance beyond that stage,
all rebbes are “My Rebbe.” All rebbes! The Satmerer Rebbe! Ahh! Zol ehr lang
leiben! A wonderful man. He’s a big
warrior; and he accomplished for us so much. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, zol ehr
lang leiben! He accomplished so much and
he is accomplishing. They should both be our rebbes.
But when someone says “only this
one,” and the other person says “only this one,” then trouble comes. And that’s
the basic weakness.
It shouldn’t be because people are
supposed to graduate. A rebbe is only a ladder. You climb up on your ladder. The
rebbe makes it easier to climb to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. But if a man just stands
on the ladder and never reaches the shelf, then we tell him, “What are you
standing there for?!” There are a lot of people standing on ladders. This one
says, “My ladder is better,” and this one says, “My ladder is better.” So we
tell them, “Get going already. Go higher!” And that causes trouble.
TAPE # 165 (April 1976), 1:06:46-
1:08:59