What do you need to be careful of when teaching abstract concepts in Chassidus? What should be emphasized when reading a Chassidic maamer to an audience who is not used to it? What do you do when your audience is falling asleep? * Principles, advice, and examples in giving a shiur in Chassidus to the “outside.” * Third article in a series
By Meir Arad
When we teach a concept in Chassidus which is familiar to us, we need to remember that the person listening to us is not at all familiar with these ideas. He sometimes has no idea what we are talking about and we need to stop and explain the concept on its most basic level. Just last Shabbos, I saw a Chassid who went up to review an idea of the “Mitteler Rebbe.” How many people in the crowd knew what “Mitteler Rebbe” means? At least half of the people did not know!
We need to enter their world and way of thinking and try to understand what each one absorbs when hearing the concept for the first time, and provide an explanation that will allow the listener to relate to the simple meaning of the word.
Another example – if we are teaching a maamer where it says that the “souls of Yisroel are rooted in the world of Atzilus,” we must take note of who we are addressing and whether what we are saying is obscure to them. Even if you decide to “do a favor” and explain that the world of Atzilus is a very lofty spiritual world, the one who hears this for the first time is left wondering what the word Atzilus means and how it connects with that spiritual world.
In spoken Hebrew the word Atzilus means behaving in a noble, special, fashion. So what is a world of Atzilus? Is it a world where people behave that way? Who populates that world? He never heard of this before!
That is a best case scenario when he successfully hears the word Atzilus. Sometimes he hears another word altogether.
The story is told of a rabbi who once explained in a public address why he had to dismiss someone from his movement. He explained that the person had been a good man but he never did anything; he lived in the world of Atzilus. One of the reporters present wrote the next day that the rabbi explained that he dismissed someone because he lived in the world of atzlus (laziness). Atzilus became atzlus.
This is all the more the case when the one giving the shiur pronounces it with the Ashkenazi-Chassidic pronunciation, Atzilus rather than Atzilut, which sounds peculiar to someone unfamiliar with the term. But the one giving the shiur just says it and continues talking so that the listener is embarrassed to stop him and ask, “What is that word you just said?”
When mentioning the concept of the world of Atzilus, we need to stop and at least briefly explain: the word Atzilus is from the root etzel, meaning next to, or from the root meaning to emanate or set aside. The world of Atzilus is a lofty spiritual world in which the Creator emanates forth and reveals His powers, as it were. In this way, a person will be able to connect the contextual meaning with the word that he heard.
This is aside from a more general explanation about the concept of a spiritual world, which is not in outer space but a higher dimension and divine consciousness.
(It should be noted what is brought at the beginning of the maamer “Shoresh Mitzvas HaT’filla” of the Tzemach Tzedek, “What is the reason that the Baal Shem Tov ordered not to learn Kabbala, because someone who does not know how to abstract the words from their physical sense becomes extremely coarsened by this study, when he creates an image in his impoverished mind for His G-dliness as expressed in individual traits.”
Sometimes, even in our learning of Chassidus we can inadvertently cause the listener to materialize matters when we use terms and don’t explain them, at least minimally.)
The same applies to other terms: klipos, s’firos, etc. You have to get into the head of the listener and imagine what he is thinking when he hears these words that are not ones he uses daily, or he uses them in other contexts, and explain them in such a way that he can connect the contextual meaning to the literal meaning of the word.
We should not forgo teaching Chassidic concepts. A Chassidus shiur in its basic structure deals with deep ideas, levels of spirituality, and abstract concepts. It’s not merely a musar shiur, a farbrengen, or vertlach on the parsha. We need to give the listener a taste (and satisfy him too) with p’nimius ha’Torah, as these ideas are explicated in the maamarim of the Rebbeim, especially in the Rebbe’s teachings. For this very reason we need to pay special attention to clearly explaining unfamiliar concepts, especially to a new audience who is not used to this style.
TRANSLATING INTO CONTEMPORARY TERMS
Aside from the need to explain the literal meaning of the word and concept, we also need to find a way so that the content will be “received,” and internalized by the listener. For this reason, it is important to explain the subject in a style and language that will be easy to relate to.
For example, the concepts of the yetzer tov and yetzer ha’ra are familiar to every child and to any religiously observant person. But in Tanya, the Alter Rebbe generally uses other terms, animal soul and G-dly soul.
In Chassidic discourses it is explained in several places the difference between the various levels of the animal soul versus the yetzer hara, but even when understanding the simple terms without differentiating between levels, it is easy to see how framing the same concept in different words is regarded differently. It is easier for a person to identify with the concept of an animal soul than the yetzer ha’ra. He can more readily feel an inner connection to the concept when it is explained this way.
When giving a shiur to an audience unfamiliar with the concepts, who certainly didn’t grow up and live their everyday lives with them, it is necessary to “translate” the concepts for them in other ways so they can absorb them better.
For example, the concept of bittul, mentioned so many times in Chassidus and is often (even by those who learned Chassidus for years) understood incorrectly. This problem is magnified when this word is said to someone who is unfamiliar with it. For the average person it is hard to hear that he has to “nullify himself.” There is something in the human psyche that automatically rejects this word. Why should I nullify myself? Why did G-d create me and give me abilities, so that I should not attribute importance to myself? For me to nullify myself?
The truth is that his argument is understandable. Hashem gave each of us abilities, talents, etc. not for us to nullify them. As the Rebbe brings (see, for example, the first sicha on Parshas Toldos in Likkutei Sichos vol. 30) that when speaking about bittul and shiflus you need to be careful so that a person will not be a “trampled doorstep.” Especially when we know the great importance that Chassidus places on joy. Sometimes, the concept of bittul can be interpreted in a way that does not translate into joy (which is wrong, of course, for true bittul leads to simcha).
The meaning of the concept bittul is that a person nullifies the desires of his animal soul, which is his external soul that gives him feelings and thoughts that are not proper and true, and distances him from his true essential being. And by doing so, he reveals the desires of his G-dly soul, which are his true essential desires.
Bittul does not mean to “nullify yourself,” but to nullify that which distances you from your true self, i.e. your G-dly soul. With a bittul consciousness a person knows that his good qualities were given to him by G-d and are not from himself. (Although Chassidus explains that bittul is not just nullifying the animal soul and revealing the G-dly soul but also within the G-dly soul itself there are levels of bittul, this is not the place to discuss this at length.)
This is a deep idea which needs to be explained to ourselves and to others so that we do not incorrectly interpret this concept.
Even if the shiur is not the time to explain this concept in depth, the word should be “translated” into more familiar terms. If we translate this word into the concept of anava (humility) or tznius (modesty), which people are more familiar with, it is easier to explain the idea and prevent the wrong understanding of it.
Other examples: the concept of a tzaddik can be translated into a “whole person” without inner conflicts. Iskafia – delaying gratification. Is’hafcha – wholeness and identification, and so on, according to the audience and its style.
PROPER READING
Some important points when reading from a text, whether from a seifer or paper:
First, make sure you read slowly, stopping every few words or lines to explain. The shiur will be understood so much better if the person giving it will stop at a hard word, explain every acronym, translate a word from Aramaic or Yiddish, and make sure that what is read is understood and clear.
In addition, when the material being learned is deep and the style is unfamiliar to the audience, for example, learning maamarim with people who are not used to their style, it is sometimes recommended that you first explain the idea orally and only then read it inside the text.
When a person reads an idea and he already understands the content, it will be easier for him to work out the words and understand what they’re saying, since his effort will be focused primarily on understanding the words; he already understood the general idea from the explanation given before the text was read. But if he does not understand the idea and the words are difficult, the effort he must expend is double, both to understand the content as well as the meaning of the words.
Don’t suffice with the initial explanation given before reading inside. After reading, review and explain the idea again in more detail, making points that were not emphasized in the initial explanation. When necessary, you can also read the lines again and then the words will be better understood.
LEARNING WITH CHAYUS
Another important point:
The more that the learning will be with a chayus-enthusiasm on the part of the one giving the shiur, the more it will excite the listeners. As it says, “words from the heart enter the heart.”
True, sometimes there’s a sleepy audience which lowers the motivation of the speaker to explain things enthusiastically, but the one giving the shiur is the one in charge and if he generates his own enthusiasm, it will affect the listeners and wake them up.
The Rebbe writes the following about the impact of p’nimius ha’Torah with enthusiasm (Igros Kodesh volume 26, letter #9731):
“You surely know my perspective on this, and even aside from that, that it is necessary that there also be the knowledge of p’nimius ha’Torah, that in our generation is revealed as the teachings of Chassidus; and even more so in our generation, an orphaned generation of double and redoubled darkness. And this knowledge is especially necessary among all those that are gifted with the ability to influence others. True influence is when you capture the mind and heart of the one needing to be influenced, which requires an approach to the heart with energy and enthusiasm etc. All this comes primarily from learning the teachings of Chassidus and from living accordingly. May it be the will that in this too you are successful and report good news.”