Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Haskolo without avoda 1

I understand that the derech of putting the main koch on the Haskolo, but also working intensely on Avodas HaTefillah, is regarded as legitimate. This is not the type of maskil that is intended when the maskil is denigrated by the Rebbeim in the harshest terms. Rather, the maskil that deserves ridicule is the one who focuses on Haskolo, but neglects Avodah altogether:

In the year 5652, at the wedding of Reb Moshe Horenshtein, my father (the Rebbe Rashab) said, “When we learn Chassidus and do not work on Avodah, the punishment given is the same as the one who takes the king’s head and bends it down, as is written in Tanya (ch. 24).”

Sefer HaSichos 5706, p. 12.

This is comparable to the one who grasps on to the king’s head, and lowers it down, and hides his face in a toilet filled with excrement. There is no greater disgrace than this, even if one only does so for a moment.”

Tanya Kaddisha, ch. 24.

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