The evil inclination agrees to everything but Avodas haTefillah!

The Previous Rebbe taught:

There is no justice in the claim of some young married chassidim that the time is not yet ripe for them to engage in the chassidic avodah of davenen.

One should realize that this claim is prompted by that smart little fellow (i.e., the evil inclination). He is willing to agree to everything -- that a chassid study nigleh, that he study Chassidus, that he do a fellow Jew a favor, that he be a maskil, or a scholar -- but not that he should engage in avodah.

“You are a liar,” he argues. “You are not really of the right standing. What makes you think you should already be engaging in avodah? That’s falsehood!”

To be sure, there are times when this argument may be true, painfully true. Nevertheless, one must answer the Evil Inclination: “Don’t speak of a blemish which you yourself have!”

Chassidim at large, temimim in particular, and especially ovdim, should seriously engage in the avodah of prayer. There’s certainly no lack of talk; there should be at least a bit of action.

http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/likkutei-dibburim-4/04.htm

For the Yiddish original, see Likkutei Dibburim, Vol. 3, pp. 1033-1034.

"With yearning and intense desire"

The Rebbe deeply yearns that every bochur think Chassidus, and derives tremendous pleasure from their doing so: 

After Yud Shevat Hagadol, Tof Shin Lamed (1970), Reb Shlomo Chaim Kesselman, the famed Mashpia of the Yeshivah in Kfar Chabad, received a Yechidus (private audience) with the Rebbe.

The Rebbe said to him: “How good it would be if it would be possible to demand from every bochur to think Chassidus for ten, twenty, or thirty minutes!” The Rebbe said this in a tone of yearning and intense desire.

The Rebbe expressed interest in one of the Temimim (students in the Chabad Yeshivah). Reb Shlomo Chaim reported that that bochur learns assiduously and thinks Chassidus. The Rebbe responded joyfully, with excitement, “Really, really? He thinks Chassidus as well?” Later on this bochur received a letter of blessing at the Rebbe’s initiative. 

Teshurah L’zecher Reb Shlomo Chaim Kesselman, p. 34.

Hisbonenus leads to Ahavah and Yirah

In a letter the Rebbe encourages:

“ … an increase in love and fear of Hashem (which are the root of the 248 positive Mitzvos and of the 365 negative Mitzvos (Tanya, ch. 4)), which requires an increase in Hisbonenus in topics found in the teachings of Chassidus, according to the ruling of the Rambam, “The honorable, awesome G–d has commanded us to love and fear Him ... What is) the way to love and fear Him? When the person meditates upon His handiwork, and sees in them His wisdom ... and is aroused with an intense desire to know the great G–d ... immediately ... (Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, 2:1)

In order for the love and fear to come into expression in actual deed, one must engage in Avodas HaTefillah, as explained at length (along with the various ways of doing so for each and every individual) in Kuntres HaTefillah and in Kuntres HoAvodah, and in many places.

Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 24, p. 495

The more we meditate upon Chassidus, the more we will come to true love and fear of Hashem. Thus, every time one meditates upon Chassidus, he fulfills the Mitzvos to love and fear Hashem—ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem.

Making a start

The Rebbe here encourages someone to davven according to the directives of Kuntres HaTefillah, and complains that this person has not even begun doing so:

I hope that you are guarding the time, to fill it with content of Torah and Mitzvos, Nigleh and Chassidus and carefulness ("hiddur") in observance of Mitzvos in general, and in Avodas HaTefillah, which is one of the foundations and primary aspects of this, as explained in many places in Chassidus—such as in Likkutei Torah, Parshas Bolok[1] and in Kuntres HaTefillah at length—and it appears that you have not even begun in this.

Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 19, p. 513.

We have to start. "All beginnings are hard,"[2] but once we start, we break through a very significant barrier—we have set out on our journey.

[1] 70d.
[2] Mechilta to Shemos 19:5.

No excuses

An important lesson can be derived from this sicha about spreading the Noahide Laws:

The challenge is raised, “Is disseminating the Noahide Code the only thing we lack? There are other important things.”

Obviously, this challenge is absurd. Such an attitude can bring one to refrain from observing all the Mitzvot of the Torah, for no matter which Mitzvah arises, he will always claim to be busy with another!

This claim can even be used to exempt oneself, may G–d save us, from adhering to all the 613 Mitzvot, including the Mitzvah of accepting upon oneself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.[1] He will claim that since he is busy with something else, he cannot engage in accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven!

He may even claim to be busy doing a fellow Jew a favor, or concerned with how to prevent a Jew from stumbling and acting inappropriately. If he engages in accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, the favor performed for that Jew would be incomplete, he claims. He wants to think about that Jew, the favor, the value of a Jew’s material needs, and the like—leaving no time for contemplating the Kingdom of Heaven!

One need not search in books to discover this. This phenomenon actually exists. Experience shows that when one turns to certain Jews and asks them why they don’t engage in prayer, or perform similar Mitzvot between man and G–d, they respond that they prefer to perform Mitzvot between man and his fellow!

Sometimes the person is not merely attempting to slip out of it. He indeed donates a lot of charity, and assists Jews in a manner of “with all your heart and with all your soul.”[2] Nevertheless, to use this fact not to pray to G–d and not to accept upon oneself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven is contrary to Torah. He does a disservice both to himself and to those whom he assists, whom he uses to exempt himself from accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven!

Although “One cannot act as an agent to commit a sin,”[3] this simply means that this is not considered agency in the full halachic sense. However, by instructing someone to sin one certainly violates the prohibition, “do not place a stumbling block before a blind man.”[4] Indeed, the Code of Jewish Law[5] rules that although “One cannot act as an agent to commit a sin,” it is still forbidden to instruct a Jew to violate the Code of Jewish Law, on account of “do not place a stumbling block before a blind man.” [Similarly, he inflicts spiritual harm upon those whom he uses to exempt himself from Mitzvot between man and G–d.]

Just as this concept applies to accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven in general, it also applies to numerous other areas, albeit more subtle. However, this example illustrates how far such a line of reasoning is liable to lead.

Hitva’aduyot 5747, Vol. 2, pp. 616-617.

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[1] By reciting the Shema.

[2] Deut., 6:5.

[3] I.e., an agent cannot claim innocence by attributing guilt to the dispatcher—Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin, 42b—in this case, using the recipients of one’s charity as an excuse not to perform Mitzvot between man and G–d.

[4] I.e., do not facilitate violation of a sin—Leviticus, 19:14.

This principle exists in an extreme form, where Jews dismiss religious observance because “I’m not a religious man, etc.” This attitude is really easy to poke fun at, because it is so transparently false. But as the Rebbe says at the end of this sicha, the same principle applies on a more subtle level too. When we simply neglect one area on which we are supposed to be investing effort, and tell ourselves that it doesn’t matter because we’re working on something else instead that is also of merit, we fall into the same trap. The truth is that we are fully capable of doing both, and this is just a way of excusing our laziness. We use G–d to ignore G–d.

As Chassidim, the same principle applies to instructions and wishes of the Rebbeim in all areas.

For example, I have heard the same claim made in all seriousness concerning Hisbonenus: “I can’t do it because I don’t have the time.” Why not for at least five or ten minutes, I ask? If not every day, why not at least once a week? No response. The answer is simple. The person is simply not interested in investing the necessary effort (and it is indeed very hard), so he finds an excuse.

Let’s get this straight: If it is indeed something we are instructed to do, then we are granted the opportunity and energy to do it, because “I [G–d] only ask of them according to their ability.”[1]

Thus, even if we don’t yet do all the things that we should, let’s at least come closer to that goal by recognizing that our inaction is no one’s fault but our own. The start of Avodah is not to fool oneself.

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[1] Numbers Rabba, 12:3.

Leaving the Avodah for others?

I’ve noticed a certain tendency. After finishing Yeshivah people think, if only subconsciously, that solid study of Nigleh and Chassidus, Avodas HaTefillah, farbrengens, and so on, are for the bochrim. But now that they’ve finished Yeshivah, and never mind when they get married, they’ve moved on, “been there, done that,” GRADUMACATED, and all that intense spiritual stuff is far behind them.

The Rebbe addresses this twisted way of thinking here:

Participation in the Avodah with which the Alter Rebbe charged all those connected with him is incumbent not only on bochurim, but also, and on the contrary, perhaps even more, upon the married men and baalei batim (including those who regard themselves as baalei batim). For even after marrying one does not leave behind this status of being a mekushar of the Alter Rebbe [and thus expected to follow his demands in Avodah], chas v’shalom. On the contrary, by marrying one brings another person into this category,[1] and later on, when one has a “blessed upright generation,” one teaches that generation from the outset in this manner, until they don’t know of any other reality!

The Rebbe says clearly: If anything, the demands of the Rebbeim in one’s Avodah Penimis are even greater davka after one marries!

On a similar note (though not so directly related to the topic of the blog), some people think, if only subconsciously, that if one is a Shliach, he should be actively spreading Yiddishkeit and Chassidus, but if not, not. That’s for the Shluchim, right? That’s they’re responsibility!

Nonsense. It’s for all Chassidim. The only difference is that a Shliach is charged with devoting himself to this goal full-time, whereas the rest of us—who are still in the majority, for better or worse—are charged with using our talents to spread the good word in whatever setting we find ourselves.

Yes, we may have to do other things superficially related to this physical world. But what is, or what should be, the true focus of our lives? Not finding a parnoso gashmis (may all Yidden have parnoso in abundance), but finding a parnoso ruchnis. What can we do to improve the state of basic Jewish observance of the not-yet-frum Jews around us, such as Mikveh, chinuch, kashrus, Shabbos observance? Lechaim!

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[1] This apparently refers to one’s wife.

The Rebbe's expectation

There can be no room for doubt. Times have not changed. Here the Rebbe makes clear that all Chassidim are expected to davven according to the Kuntres HoAvodah and Kuntres HaTefillah of the Rebbe Rashab, for an hour or at the very least, half an hour:

With respect to Avodas HaTefillah (the service of prayer, i.e. lengthy prayer according to the Chabad tradition), the Alter Rebbe brings in his Shulchan Aruch as a matter of practical Jewish law that “One who prays should wait in the place that he prays for an hour before Tefillah in order to focus his heart on Hashem ... and one hour after Tefillah ... and the original pious ones would wait for a full hour of the average hours, of which there are 24 in a day.” (Orach Chayim 93:1) He adds, “So would the pious ones and the men of action do: they would seclude themselves and concentrate on their prayers until they reached a state of divestment from physicality.” (ibid. 98:1)

Tefillah should at least conform what is explained in Kuntres HoAvodah and Kuntres HaTefillah. Especially since over time tens of discourses of the Leader of the Generation [in this context, a reference to the Previous Rebbe] have been released concerning Avodas HaTefillah. Let everyone make a reckoning for himself: When was the last time that he davvened with the preface of Hisbonenus?

I don’t wish to point at a particular person and ask him this question, in order not to embarrass him. However, every person knows within himself, and he should think [about this] to himself, when standing in front of the mirror (as is the custom of the country, that before leaving the house one gazes at the mirror to make sure that his tie is straight, because one must be careful to respect people [kovod haberiyos]) and decide that this message is directed to him: When was the last time that he davvened with the preface of Hisbonenus for an hour, sixty minutes or even half an hour, at the very least!

It can be added that this calculation can be made not only concerning Tefillah during the weekdays, but even concerning Tefillah of the day of Shabbos: When was the last Shabbos that he davvened with the preface of Hisbonenus?!

Hisva’aduyos 5748, Vol. 3, pp. 214-215.