🔥Daily Chassidus: [1] Bitterness over concealment of G-dliness is a prerequisite for experiencing love in the Shema prayer
In order to be successful in experiencing the emotion of love for G-d, one must first bring himself to a state of bitterness over the fact that G-d is concealed from him. [If one does not feel bitter over the fact that G-d is hidden from him, then how can his love be true. You miss people who you love and you love people who you miss. If you don’t miss them then there’s a question as to whether you truly love them.] One should arouse bitterness in his soul from the fact that he is found in a state of darkness and concealment from G-d and that he does not see G-dliness with his eyes of flesh, and rather only sees the physicality of the world and is very distanced from the light of G-d. In one’s essence, he is very distanced from G-d, and is to be of bitter soul due to this, and especially over the contemplation of the great descent that his soul has gone through to create this distance. He should thus scream to G-d out of his state of pain, so that G-d shine his light within his darkness and state of separation. This arousal and scream from below arouses a spirit from above in heaven to reveal the glory of G-d to him. Ideally, this state of bitterness should take place during prayer, although this does not suffice, and hence it is to also take place at the time set aside for such contemplation which is by Tikkun Chatzos. The bitterness that one sets within his soul during this time draws G-dliness below on behalf of the entire day. Now, while there is a certain amount of revelation of G-dliness within prayer, the experience of the revelation throughout the rest of the days is through the study of Torah. Nonetheless, this experience as well is dependent on preceding the service of bitterness by Tikkun Chatzos, and within prayer. On this it states in Scripture “Haysa Li Dimasi Lechem Yomam Valayla/to me was the tears, bread for the day and night.” Tears refers to the bitterness that one has over his distance from G-d while bread refers to the study of Torah. Hence, the verse is stating that if one precedes tears to the study of Torah then his study of Torah will be one of revealed G-dliness.
- The Divine lesson: The above teaching of the Alter Rebbe touches upon one of the most core practices of the Chassidim of the previous generations, starting from the students of the Alter Rebbe all the way to the followers of the Rebbe Rayatz. The concept of performing an accounting of the soul to bring one to a state of bitterness of heart and broken heartedness over his low spiritual state was the most basic ingredient necessary to be a true Chassid who is an Oveid Hashem, and is repeated constantly in Chassidic discourses starting from the book of Tanya.[2] It was not uncommon for Chassidim to recite the bedtime Shema with an outpour of tears, crying over their distance from G-d that has been caused due to sin and descent of their soul. Likewise, it was not uncommon for prayer to take place with a soulful melody that led to an outpour of tears. Many Chassidim, even of the simplest level, would recite words of Tehillim before prayer with a broken heart and longing for G-d, shedding tears as they read the holy words. In the current generation however, since the Chabad movements move to America in the 1940s, this form of divine service has become scarce and rare amongst Chassidim. Some claim that this is simply due to Yeridas Hadoros, and due to the fact that current Western society is too grub and materialistic to have such experiences. They claim that the challenges of the people of this generation are much bigger and greater than simply not feeling love for G-d and hence we must pick our battles, and should leave the stress on serving G-d with bitterness and love and prayer for the previous generations, and for the future era after the coming of the Messiah. Others however claim that in truth there is an ideological shift in this generation, and that the divine service of bitterness and love has been explicitly negated by the Rebbe for the people of the current generation. This is either due to the fact that the job of our generation is outreach and not service of G-d in prayer, or due to the fact that we are not capable of doing the divine service of feeling bitterness, as it would lead to depression. One of the most quoted proofs for this approach is a famous Chassidic discourse stated by the Rebbe in 1987 in which the Rebbe states that in this generation we must focus on joy. Is this approach indeed true and sanctioned by the elder Rabbanim and Mashpi’im of Chassidei Chabad? So, the answer is that the vast majority of them do not sanction this approach that there has been a total philosophical change in our approach of serving G-d, but do agree that there is a realistic change due to facts on the ground. We certainly cannot demand the same level of divine service, which is preceded by great bitterness, to the average Chassid of this generation, and doing so can lead one to enter a state of depression. At the same time, we also cannot condone the notion of not arousing any bitterness for distance from G-d as without this key ingredient one will not be successful in arousing any true love for him in prayer. Hence, a balanced approach must be followed. Certainly, even today every Chassid is obligated to try to arouse a love for G-d in prayer, and hence he must include a certain level and degree of bitterness for his distance from G-d within his service of Hashem.
[1] Likkutei Torah Behalosecha
[2] See Admur 98:1; Tanya chapters 1, 26, 29, 45; Igeres Hateshuvah 7, 8, 9, 10; Torah Or Vaeira; Beshalach; Likkutei Torah Achrei Mos; Emor; Behar; Behalosecha; Siddur Admur; Derech Chaim; Hemshech Ayin Beis 78; Sefer Hamamarim 5689 p. 104; Likkutei Dibburim 3 P. 701; gros Kodesh Rayatz 9:217; Mamar Chaf MarCheshvan 5746; Mamar Vayishlach 5746 Margala Bepumei Derava; Sefer Mamarim Melukat 6 Ata Tetzaveh p. 39-41; Sefer Hasichos 5752 p. 187-198