Torah Basics Explained: Fake Chassidut Exposed

0:10We have to start contemplating. Now today, it's become very popular to be a chassid. Chassidut Chabad is the biggest chassidut today. Thank you. Breslov is also a growing chassidut, and there are also many other smaller chassiduts. Chassidut in their infancy Early generations were started by certain Rebbes, big tzaddikim, but many others went against them. The Gra, the Vilna Gaon, went as far as to say that the original Chabad and Breslov were the closest religions to Judaism. He said that they've changed the focus from Hashem to a Rebbe, to a human of flesh and blood, which...

1:10Many went against it at the time, but over time, there have been many good things that have come out of Hasidut. We've talked about this already last week. What's the Chiddush? The Chiddush is that many people who do Teshuva are attracted to Hasidut. Many people who are religious are very attracted to the Hasidut look. They go to Chabad or to Breslov, and they feel like they're more part of Judaism if they're part of Breslov, if they're part of Chabad, if they're part of some other Chassidut because they look a certain way and they act a certain way, and so on. But if you look at all of the Chachamim, you see that this is not Chassidut. As a matter of fact, one of the giants of Chabad... The one before the Lubavitcher Rebbe, his father-in-law. He wrote it himself. This is not 300 years ago. This is in the previous generation. I'll just read it in English to save time.

2:40Says the strange and foreign opinion or our thoughts that what he does is based on the exterior, on keeping the hilula of all of these people that have died. They have these big celebrations, a hilula for this one, a hilula for that one, the yahrzeits of all the tzadikim, the parties, the simcha, all the dancing. the clothing, the songs of Chassidut, this is what makes you a Chassid? May the merciful one save us. That's what he says literally. This is what you think Chassidut is? The clothing, the songs, and the yahrzeits? And the food, this is what you think makes you a Chassid? This is the top Chassid in the world. This is what you think? Rachmana Litzlan, Hashem have mercy on us. He's talking about his own Chassidus.

4:02He says, who is he talking about? He's talking about his own Chabad, his own people. He goes, they're thinking that it's all about their clothes and the beard and the hats and the songs and the lulavim and all of this stuff. He goes, "It's bitter for me to be the reporter of such horrible news that even the Avreichim, even the ones that learn and the ones that call themselves Chassidim, are as far from the truth as can be. It's bitter for me deep inside to see this. It's hard." To say and speak the truth. But despite how difficult it is, it's the only way. We must purify the situation despite the condition that it's in.

5:18של אותם אברכים חסידיים, אבל פנימיותם ריקה. Those same avreichim and chassidim only had an exterior, and their insides? Reikim. Empty. Nothing. It has nothing to do with chassidim. You know, some people wear a costume once a year on Purim. Some people wear a costume the whole year. Who is it coming from? It's not coming from Yaron Reuven. This, by the way, for anyone that wants to curse me out, before you do it, you can actually check this yourself. What's the reason for all this? The false, the flawed learning, flawed learning.

6:43He taught himself. Instead of finding himself a real teacher who would guide him and admonish him a few times a week to do teshuvah, he decided to go it alone. A teacher would say, "Hey, listen, you have to keep Shabbat. Hey, listen, you need to stop going out with that girl." Someone would tell him the truth—not just his reflection in the mirror—but someone who sees his flaws and wants to help him remove the tum'ah. Instead, he chose to teach himself. He said, "I'm going to learn on YouTube." I'll pick a rabbi every week. I'm going to pick a different rabbi. I'm going to teach myself. I'm going to be my own rabbi. I'm going to ask myself questions. I'm going to read the books. What do I need you for? I'll just open up a book, just like you open up a book. I'll ask a question. I'll answer my own question. What's the problem? Taught himself, he led himself. This is the fruit that he got from it. This fruit that grew, that came out of it, is beautiful from the outside and rotten inside. There are even spicier things in the next letter, but I think you guys can get the point by now.

8:05We'll keep this one for next year. So, what is Chassidut? And what does it have to do with our Mishnah? Now, Chassidut is not about, as we just heard from the number one Chassid in the world in his time; it's not about the clothes. It's not about the farbrengen, it's not about the sheitels, it's not about the bekeshes, it's not about anything related to your exterior. Although those things are part of it, that does not make you a Chassid or a Chassidah. It does not. What makes a person a Chassid? A Chassid, by default, is a person that does above and beyond.

9:05what's obligated. If there's a halacha, he does above and beyond what's required of him. That's what a chassid is. Now, before you decide what you are and what you aren't, you have to give yourself a test. Just like Rabbi Yisrael Salanter said, You have to test. You have to put yourself up to the test to see, can I be? Am I? Can I? Before they release a car, they put it through a series of tests. They test the brakes by putting dummies in the car and driving it, without a real driver, using remote control as fast as possible in the direction of a wall. This way, they'll test the brakes, the metal itself, and the airbags. That's how you test things; you put pressure on them. the market, what do they do? They give it a bunch of tests. Okay, let's test the brakes. So, put some dummies in the car, drive the car with no actual real driver to some machine, some remote control, as fast as possible in the direction of the wall. That way, we'll test the brakes, we'll test the metal itself, we'll test the airbags, we'll test a lot of things. That's how you test things: you put pressure on them.

10:16So the good news is, is that just like there is a difficulty in this generation, that same difficulty can be used to test yourself. If you want to see if you can be a Chasid, then first and foremost, define it. What does Chasid mean? As we said, The Torah says, as the Chachamim said, a chasid is someone who does above and beyond. If, let's say for example, the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat says, a person that's angry, all types of Gehinnom take control over him to such an extent that it's the equivalent, it gets to the equivalent of him becoming considered like an idolater. For example, if somebody's angry, but he contains himself, it's one thing. It's not good, but it's one thing. But if he's so angry, he's like a little Hulk and he breaks half of his house. According to the Torah, that's considered the same thing as idol worship. Why? You just went and you've acted on your anger and the sin, just like when you make a mitzvah, you're bringing a korban, you're bringing a sacrifice to Hashem. When you're doing a sin,

11:39And you're acting on it to such extremes, like being angry and breaking things. It's like you just brought a korban to whom? The Satan himself. So what did you do instead of serving Hashem? You served the Satan? That's Avodah Zarah. So if someone wants to be a Chasid, forget about anger. Not only are you not allowed to be angry, but you also have to be happy. When? When it's most difficult. That for some people, they have that nature. Some people have that nature. I don't. I'm not one of those people. I'm not lucky enough for that. But some people have that nature. They're always calm. I'm more fiery. I have to work on myself all the time. Some people have this nature. They're just mellow and calm and controlled. The World Trade Center could fall right next to them. It's like, ah, yeah, wow, it's a good building. Do you want to get some shawarma? Hey, you have no heart. There's no blood. What is there? Ice in your veins? Some people are like that. Some people are like that. I'm like that about certain things like money. But other things, like nonsense, like a lawyer that tells me right when I know it's wrong,

12:49Gets my blood really boiling. If Hashem wants to give me a gift in the next world, I'm gonna ask Him to give me just the keys to Gehinnom for the lawyer part. For the lawyer part, not for all of it. Just for the lawyer part. Let me just handle that part. How much I hate lawyers! I could give you stories from here to next year. You think I could talk for three hours on lawyers? I could give you a lecture for 30 hours straight on this subject. So anyway... No, no, I hate them. I hate them. Sorry, guys. I'm sorry. I've never found a lawyer I don't hate, except my dear friend who actually died. I had a dear friend. His name was Larry Krause. He was the best lawyer I ever had, but he died. Other than that, every single lawyer I've ever met has been a mess. I even had a couple of times that my own lawyer went against me, meaning he gave my information to the opposing side. Let's not get off topic; I could give you stories for hours about lawyers. So anyway, some people will come. Some people have fire in their veins. They have a certain nature that Hashem created in them.

14:14So if you want to be a Chassid, you have to be as far removed from the bad side as possible. If Hashem said no anger, you are not only not angry, you're happy. Now, this is easy for some people, hard for others. But it's generally a test that only applies to some people. Some people. There is another test that applies to everyone, specifically our generation. The test is called money. Money. If you want to know if you can be a chassid, forget about if you are a chassid, if you even can, if you can be a chassid, start with money. Start with how you react to money. And the reason why, if you love money, you cannot be a chassid. If you love money, you can never be a chassid until you start hating money. Because if you love money, by default, you will be cheap. If you love money, you're not going to share it. You're not going to be a generous person. And that's the opposite of Hashem. Hashem is generous. Hashem only gives. He never takes. So, by default, being cheap is the opposite of Hashem. It's the farthest point in the world from Hashem. It's the epitome of the opposite of Hashem.

15:42So a cheap person can never be a Chassid. Why? Because you're supposed to be the opposite. Instead of being cheap, you're supposed to be most generous. So if you love money, you can't be a Chassid. Not Chabad, not Breslov, not even your own Chassid. You by yourself can't be a Chassid. Why? Because you have to do more than what you're allowed to do. More than you're supposed to. You're supposed to be generous. A Chassid is overly generous. You're cheap. You're as far as can be. Cheap people are on the opposite side of Chassidut because they're supposed to be above and beyond the requirement. If you spend more money on lunch than you do on Torah, you're as far from being a Chassid as we are from the moon. Your lunch cost you a hundred bucks, but when it comes to kiruv, when it comes to buying a sefer Torah, when it comes to a donation to an ani, you only have five bucks to give. But your lunch was a hundred bucks. You're as far from being a chassid as we are from the moon. Not this moon, the moon on Pluto. So already we see, okay, who's a chassid? Not so many people.

17:03The looks, there are many of them, Baruch Hashem. Looks can be deceiving. I have nothing against Chassidut, but we have to identify what it is. Because a lot of people who do teshuva are attracted to it. Before you enter, you need to know what you're entering. If you're already doing teshuva, that means you want to stop being a faker. So you can't stop being a faker and be a new type of faker now. You can't go from fake to faker. You have to be real. That's why teshuva requires you to contemplate what you're doing. So this Mishnah, Baruch Hashem, is all about how people...