THE INTERNATIONAL CHASSIDUS ESSAY CONTEST

Hundreds of essays, that take concepts from the teachings of Chassidus and apply them to solve a contemporary life challenge or problem, were submitted to the Meaningful Life Center, directed by Rabbi Simon Jacobson. * We spoke with R’ Jacobson about the contest, now in its fourth year, that was inspired by his weekly video Chassidus Applied program, and even heard about his anonymous submission to the contest, which lost.

The deadline for essay submissions was Rosh Chodesh Adar. Now, the judges will be very busy going through them. This year, the judges have more work than ever. Anash everywhere around the world have heard about it, and there is an additional track this year, for students. Teachers consider it a wonderful opportunity and in some schools, students were required to submit an essay.

The first year, the first place winner was a yeshiva bachur in Florida. The second year, it was a shlucha in Yerushalayim. The third year the winner was a 27 year old man from Miami. The office even received an entry from an 84 year old woman and a bas mitzva girl.

A sizable percentage of entries come from young people and this makes R’ Simon Jacobson happy. R’ Simon merited to run the Vaad Hanachas HaT’mimim and served as a chozer and writer of the Rebbe’s farbrengens. Thanks to the thousands of hours of hearing the Rebbe’s sichos, the numerous s’farim he has been exposed to in his work of editing the sichos, and the days and nights he spent preparing the sichos for publication, he acquired a broad knowledge of Nigleh and Chassidus. Hashem has also blessed him with the ability to translate the deepest Chassidic ideas so that even people who never learned Chassidus can understand them.

Since 27 Adar 5752, when we have not heard new sichos from the Rebbe, R’ Jacobson began using his knowledge, background, and skills, to convey Chassidic ideas to the broader public. The first project he did was to write Toward a Meaningful Life which became a bestseller and was translated into over 15 languages. The book brings to light many important points as taught by the Rebbe, which are explicated but scattered throughout the hundreds of volumes of the Rebbe’s s’farim.

Today, R’ Jacobson runs the Center for Meaningful Life, also referred to as My Life. One of its more famous projects is the essay contest. “It is inspiring to see so many essays from young people. These young men and women represent the pioneering and creative leaders of Lubavitch and the entire Jewish world. The more they exert themselves to practically apply Chassidus to life, the more they strengthen others. In that sense, all contestants are winners,” he says.

From where did you get the idea for an essay contest on Chassidus?

Over the years, there developed around me a large group of people from varying backgrounds, not necessarily Lubavitch or even religious. They wanted to hear the Torah view on various subjects. I got many questions from them and saw that maamarei Chassidus have amazing answers that practically address life challenges.

I also noticed that many Chassidim who learn the maamarim, do not see the practical application in them. If they do see a practical application, it usually only applies in matters of avodas Hashem and Torah study, not daily life challenges such as shalom bayis, chinuch, and psychological-behavioral problems.

A successful shliach once called me and said candidly that when mekuravim come to him with problems with their sholom bayis, he feels inadequate. He is very knowledgeable in maamarei Chassidus and can talk to mekuravim about emuna and bitachon in Hashem, and even explain man’s purpose and woman’s role according to Chassidus, but when it comes to practical daily problems, he feels he cannot help them. He refers them to a psychologist.

Of course, Chassidus was not created to respond to these problems, but as it’s explained in Inyana shel Toras Ha’chassidus, the fact that Torah is called a tavlin (spice) to deal with the yetzer ha’ra, does not diminish the greatness of Torah. It shows that it is part of the very essence of Hashem, which is why it has the ability to deal with evil. The same can be said of Chassidus. Where do you see expressed the lofty source of Chassidus in the essence of the innermost aspect of the divine Kesser? Specifically, in the fact that it has the ability to change and refine the coarse middos of the simple man.

In order to raise awareness of the power of Chassidus, I started a weekly class that is broadcast live every Sunday. I bring up questions that I was asked and show how answers can be found in the teachings of Chassidus. I called this program “My Life,” since Chassidus needs to find practical expression in our lives.

We recently had our 200^th class and I am pleased to say that the idea was more successful than I thought it would be. Not only have thousands watched the class; it’s that every week I get more than 50 questions from people looking for solutions to their problems from the writings of Chassidus.

Some of the questioners remain anonymous, and I respect that, but the questions are genuine. I try to answer each question, even if it pertains to topics we do not generally discuss in public, though of course, it is all done in a modest, dignified manner. It is important to me to emphasize that we are not afraid of any question, because Chassidus has the answers to everything.

Have there been questions that you thought were so far from the world of Chassidus that you did not think there was a chance of finding an answer in Chassidus?

Definitely. There are things that until today, I have yet to find an explicit answer in the teachings of Chassidus, but generally speaking, I can say that many answers can be found between the lines. There are many topics that are not discussed at all in maamarim, but there are references in the Rebbe’s letters, in handwritten notes and yechiduyos. For example, how should parents handle a child who went off the derech and is mechalel Shabbos? From maamarei Chassidus we can take the general approach of “the right draws near,” and “empowering the good,” and more detailed answers can be found in notes and answers from the Rebbe.

Take the challenge of our generation, the internet in general and Smartphones in particular. Parents ask what to do with an older child who has a Smartphone and is surfing his way off the proper path. Maamarei Chassidus do not provide an answer, but the general approach can be found in Tanya. It speaks about battles and challenges in life in Tanya; it’s just that when you learn Tanya about the animal soul and hidden love and the like, it seems like it is discussing something up in the heavens and not connected to us. But if we look at Tanya as a guidebook even for people like us, then of course we can learn from this struggle how to handle our lowly struggles.

In Tanya it talks about “foreign thoughts” in the middle of Shmoneh Esrei. It could also be far more serious things, it’s just that in Tanya it does not speak about such coarse people, so it’s written more refined. But it’s the identical inner process. Now look around you, how many people dealing with challenges open a Tanya to find a solution? Even when it’s a problem of sadness, about which it speaks directly in Tanya, people don’t think that the way to deal with it is to learn the chapters of Tanya that discuss the subject.

I was asked, how do we actually think positively (so it will be good) when the reality is so difficult? What practical approach can be taken to implement this? In the Rebbe’s sichos and letters there is no formula to follow, to the best of my knowledge. The Rebbe simply says to do it. Is there a system by which to achieve thinking positively despite the bleak reality?

By divine providence, I found a letter of the Tzemach Tzedek about the ability of a person to govern his feelings and bring himself to a state of joy. It is a long letter, about three pages, which contains a series of clear directives about positive thinking. In there, the Tzemach Tzedek recounts how on the final Motzaei Shabbos of the Alter Rebbe’s life, he davened Maariv with a tune of despondence. After he finished his davening, the Alter Rebbe called him over and reviewed for him a teaching of the Maggid of Mezritch. It is on the verse, “And on the image of the throne was an image with the appearance of a man,” and he explained that according to the emotive trait that a person displays down below, that is what they show him from above, and therefore he told him to refrain from singing a despondent tune.

So how is it possible to be joyful in such a difficult time? The Tzemach Tzedek makes two points. Since the emotions are born from the thoughts of the mind, one must take control of his thoughts, shift the consciousness from despondent thoughts, and simply think of happiness-inducing things. What are the sort of things that generate happiness? Understandably, the Tzemach Tzedek cites an example from the study of Torah, but he continues there for people on our level, and he writes, “Or even worldly matters, in things that are necessities.”

Additionally, the Tzemach Tzedek writes, “Not to speak of matters of mara sh’chora (lit. black gall, based on the “four humors” in ancient Greek medicine, with black representing sadness) chas v’shalom. Rather, on the contrary, to display constantly signs of joy, as if he is filled with joy in his heart, even though it is not so in his heart at the time, and in the end it will be so. And the reason for this is because according to the deeds and actions that a person does, that is what will later become established in his heart.”

On the basis of this letter, I answered that if we want to reach a state of positive thinking, it is necessary to shift the thoughts from the situation as it stands, and to try to imagine how we would like to see the situation, or how we would feel if the situation were to change. Seemingly, this is only an act of imagination, but the Tzemach Tzedek teaches us that when we think about happy things, and we even express signs of happiness with our physical bodies, such as through smiling and the like, that itself has an effect up above, and Hashem will smile upon us, and the difficult situation will in fact turn into a positive.

Another example: People ask about how is it possible to deal with the challenge of inappropriate thoughts. On this topic there happens to be many letters of the Rebbe, with the general policy being hesech ha’daas (shifting the consciousness). The Rebbe sets forth a clear approach on this issue, in that the best way to overcome the challenge is not through dealing directly with the thoughts, but specifically through shifting the consciousness to other matters. Obviously, the first preference is to move to thoughts of holiness, but when this is difficult, there is a letter from the Rebbe that it is preferable to think of permitted matters, such as mathematics, rather than to entertain forbidden thoughts.

In practice, this advice is still not easy to implement. If it was, all of our “tests” would be a lot easier. People wrote in and asked if Chassidus offers other practical tools.

I responded to this question based on the maamer in Likkutei Torah on Parshas Chukas, where the Alter Rebbe explains that the red heifer symbolizes the animal soul. When the cow is burned, its four elements are separated and only ashes remain. In the service of Hashem, the elements of fire, wind and water represent the “forms” that the desire takes on, while ashes represent the core power of desire. The Alter Rebbe writes that the power of desire in itself is rooted in the lofty spheres of holiness, and it is only when we harness it in undesirable ways that the problem begins.

In this maamer there is an enormous chiddush, that when a person experiences a craving, there is no need to break the core power of desire, just its “form,” because the power of desire in itself is good and holy.

Based on this, when a person has forbidden cravings, he needs to turn his power of desire toward holy things, like shlichus or influencing others; or at least, permissible things like music, for example. There is no need to break the power of desire; it needs to be turned and redirected toward positive things. To continue doing what we like but to focus on the realm of holiness. This is how we transfer the energy from the negative side to the positive side. This is definitely possible, and we can even say that this is “very near” to everyone.

These are a few examples out of hundreds of questions that came up in recent years during the weekly program. By producing over 200 programs, we’ve been on the air for nearly four years! The truth is that when I started the program, I was sure I did not have material for more than 30-40 programs. I figured, how many questions can be asked already … but people send in dozens of interesting questions each week, questions in Chassidus and avodas Hashem, rectifying middos and chinuch.

The essay contest is a direct outgrowth of the weekly classes. When did you get the idea?

After completing 50 weekly lectures, I wanted to mark that accomplishment. Since in Chabad there are many talented people who can extract tools to deal with life problems from the teachings of Chassidus, I thought the time had arrived to get them all to participate, based on the topics which had come up in those fifty classes.

Then, one winter day, I got the idea of an essay contest that would focus on this very subject – practical tools to deal with life’s difficulties based on the teachings of Chassidus. In order to encourage the animal soul of those talented people to devote time to writing essays, there would be monetary prizes. That was the general idea I came up with. I immediately sent it in an email to the staff in my office, in order to elicit their opinions. I also sent it to the Chassidic philanthropist, R’ Yitzchak Mirilashvili. Interestingly, my staff was initially very skeptical while Mirilashvili liked the idea and agreed to sponsor the competition.

It took some time until we got it out into the realm of action, because when a contest is open to a lot of people, everything needs to be done legally with complete transparency. I sat with experts to establish clear criteria, so that the contest would be something suitable for all, not just for mashpiim and psychologists.

There are a number of factors which affect the scoring, with part of the score given for the Chassidic idea, part for the application to daily life, and other parts for the writing and presentation. Interestingly, in previous years, those who won were not mashpiim. They were regular people who were able to present a topic in Chassidus and show how it’s a useful tool in daily life.

About a month after we began the contest, a friend showed me a letter that the Rebbe wrote to a mechaneches, dated 19 Teves 5715, in which the Rebbe encouraged the girls to give talks. He writes that “as experience has shown here and in other places, when they involve the girls themselves in the work by their giving talks and the like, this arouses a greater enthusiasm by the participants, and greater interest.”

The Rebbe then suggests, “In connection with the upcoming Yud Shevat, it would be an idea for her to suggest to the girls, at least to the more veteran among them, that each of them write an essay on an aspect of the work of the Rebbe, my father-in-law, his sichos, etc.”

I immediately called Mrs. Tiechtel, principal of Beis Rivka high school and an experienced mechaneches, and asked her whether she knows about this answer from the Rebbe. She did not know about it. The other mechanchim I asked had not heard of it either.

Afterward, when I paid attention to the date, it triggered something in my brain. I checked the first email I sent with the idea for the essay contest and was amazed to see that I had the idea on 19 Teves 5775, exactly 60 years after the Rebbe suggested the idea of writing an essay on the sichos of the Rebbe Rayatz etc. I was very excited by how this idea had been dormant for 60 years and now it was going to be implemented.

Do the judges know who wrote the essays?

Absolutely not. In our office, each essay is given a number and the judges only get numbered essays. They have no idea who wrote them, whether a man or a woman, a mashpia or a Chassid. One year, I wanted to test the system and I wrote an essay which was submitted to the judges anonymously, of course. Based on the decisions of the judges, it was assigned 15^th place.

After seeing the results of the contest in previous years, I was very happy, since most of the winners were those for whom Chassidus changed their lives. They did not suffice with understanding the intellectual content of the maamer, but applied it to their own lives. The first year, for example, the first place winner was a baal t’shuva for whom the maamer, “V’yasfu anavim b’Havaya simcha,” changed his life, and he described this in the essay he wrote.

This year, you have a track for students with a separate prize, in order to encourage students to send in essays. Do you think that talmidim in yeshivos, who are ensconced in the “tent of Torah,” need to translate Chassidic teachings into practical tools?

Recently, a yechidus of Rabbi Dovid Raskin in 5710 was publicized. After he came out of the yechidus he recorded the Rebbe’s words and the Rebbe edited it. In that yechidus, the Rebbe told him that a “b’chein” (lit. therefore) can be learned from every os (i.e. lettered section of a discourse). The Rebbe explained that this is more important than understanding the maamer, because when you want to make a hole somewhere, you cannot make a hole with a wide implement; you need something thin. The haskala of a maamer is too broad, but the “b’chein” is thin (i.e. more focused) and it can therefore be more effective.

The Rebbe gave an example of this. When it is explained in a maamer that the Torah you learn here below is incomparably loftier than the Torah learned in Gan Eden, the “b’chein” manifests as being more particular in learning ever more. This point is not necessarily written explicitly in the maamer, but it’s the “b’chein” that one needs to derive from the osiyos of the maamer.

R’ Dovid Raskin was a bachur at the time and the Rebbe was demanding of him that he derive a “b’chein” from the maamer, not to suffice with learning the haskala of the maamer. Unfortunately, in yeshivos they do not emphasize this. If the maamer has an explicit “b’chein” they learn it; but if it’s a maamer of haskala, they can learn and complete it without deriving a “b’chein” in avodas Hashem.

As far as writing on topics of Chassidus, the Rebbe himself often initiated such things, like when he asked talmidim to write haaros and biurim in Chassidus too.

I’m not coming to make chiddushim, but there definitely needs to be a major change when it comes to the teachings of Chassidus. Chassidim need to understand that Chassidus is guidance for life. It’s not just a description of supernal s’firos, Atik and Atzilus, and “ohr ein Sof shelifnei ha’tzimtzum.” Every word of Chassidus, even the highest levels, has an impact on, and practical ramification in, our lives.

If we learned Chassidus properly, Moshiach would be here already. Since we are still in galus, obviously, there’s what to improve.

How does the Rambam describe Yemos HaMoshiach? “The entire world will not be involved in anything except solely knowing G-d.” Chassidus, which is knowledge of G-d, will encompass all of reality, the entire world.

I’ll give you an example. In one of his letters, the Rebbe learns a lesson in avodas Hashem from the laundry business. When you buy a new garment, after wearing it a few times, it gets dirty. One might think that it needs to be thrown out, but of course it doesn’t. This is why the laundry business was invented, where they put the garment in water, warm water, with chemicals that remove the dirt, and then they press the garment and it’s like new again.

The Rebbe writes that the same is true in the life of a Jew. We get a pure neshama, which is like a new garment, but after some time, our neshama gets dirty. The challenges of life sully it. There is, however, a way to fix it. When you put the neshama into water, and “there is no water but Torah,” and not just any water but warm water, which is Chassidus, and you add things to the water, i.e. mitzvos, and then you exert pressure which is kabbalas ol, and you have a new, clean neshama.

That’s what it says in the letter of the Rebbe. Now, imagine yourself walking down the street during the “days of Moshiach,” when you will be able to learn a lesson in the service of Hashem from everything that you see. When you pass a laundry mat or cleaners, you will not see shirts and pants, but rather the inner meaning, the analogy of souls. This is the idea that the Rebbe emphasizes about how the Geula is constructed within the “gola” (exile). What is added is the “aleph,” the Alufo shel Olam (Master of the World).

That is exactly what the Rebbe is demanding, that we begin living this already today. When the Rebbe calls on us to begin living Geula and Moshiach, he is essentially asking of us that when we walk down the street, we should see the spiritual side of things, and learn from them spiritual meanings and messages.

Another example: I once addressed a group of doctors on the subject of how the world of medicine will appear during the era of Moshiach. We spoke about how in the future nobody will be sick, since the body and soul will be in complete synchronicity, lights within vessels. Even the sin of the Tree of Knowledge will have been rectified, and therefore, there will no longer be death in the world.

One of the doctors asked, “If so, what will be with us?”

After offering a humorous response about that is why they charge such high prices now, in order to provide a pension for themselves for the era of Moshiach, I explained to them that their role in the era of Moshiach will be far greater than it is now. Now, during the time of exile, they encounter pain and disease, which is not very pleasant. However, in the times of Moshiach, their job will be to explain to people how it is possible to see G-dliness manifested within their own physical bodies, “from my flesh, I will see G-d.” Man was created in the image of G-d, and the entire internal construction of the person, which you understand so well, is a projection of G-dly forces. You will be the best equipped to explain this to people! They enjoyed the answer so much, that they all stood up and clapped enthusiastically.

Practically speaking, this is the goal of the competition, for people to acclimate to living Geula, and to see the Alufo shel Olam within the exile, to see G-dliness in our everyday lives. As long as we are not doing that, our lives are in one place and Chassidus is in another place. Obviously, the completion of that will be after Moshiach comes, but the Rebbe expects of us to begin living the days of Moshiach in the here and now. We have to become acclimated to Moshiach, to G-dliness, to Chassidus which permeates all of existence!

If it’s so obvious, why didn’t the Rebbe tell us straight out – look for answers to life problems in maamarei Chassidus! Or – go translate maamarei Chassidus into practical tools!

First of all, as I mentioned, the Rebbe did say so explicitly in the yechidus to R’ Dovid Raskin. You’re still asking, and rightly so, why didn’t the Rebbe talk about this in farbrengens and sichos. I will respond with two points:

First, although the Rebbe did not say so, in so many words, he more than hinted at it when he constantly repeated that the word “Torah” is from the root meaning horaa (instruction). Obviously, this includes the teachings of Chassidus. The Rebbe even said once (15 Shevat 5748) that “also regarding mundane matters, there are instructions in the teachings of Chassidus of the Nasi Ha’dor.”

Interestingly, I once asked some Chassidim what phrase was most often said by the Rebbe in his sichos. Many of them thought it was “ha’maaseh hu ha’ikar,” but the correct answer is that the Rebbe repeated, “Torah m’lashon horaa” or “Toras chaim – horaa b’chaim,” many more times. It’s a central motif in the Rebbe’s teachings and is actually the core idea of the contest and the direction I am trying to lead it in. To implement what the Rebbe said, including Chassidic teachings.

Second, maybe the Rebbe did not spell it out because he wanted it to come from us, similar to the sicha of 28 Nissan 5751, after the Rebbe said he did all he could and then said, if only “there would be found one from among you, two, three, who will come up with a plan of what to do and how to do it, and more importantly, make the true and complete Geula a reality, immediately.”

Let’s think for a moment. Who can come up with the best ideas to bring the Geula? Obviously, the Rebbe! Then why is the Rebbe waiting for us to come up with a plan? Let him just tell us what to do, and we’ll do it!

What we see is that there are things that the Rebbe wants to come from us. The Rebbe provides direction, but expects us to come up with ideas to implement it as per the guidelines that the Rebbe established.

We can see this openly in sichos that the Rebbe said to women and children, in private audiences with students or big farbrengens which were attended by influential personalities whom the Rebbe wanted to reach their souls. A large part of the subject matter in my book Toward a Meaningful Life is based on these sichos.

The problem is that we have gotten used to going over concepts in Chassidus without thinking about their significance, about what they say to us. The Rebbe pointed this out in a letter to R’ Leibel Bistritzky (printed in Igros Kodesh, vol. 2, p. 373). He had asked the Rebbe to explain commonly cited concepts in Chassidus and apologized for his question. By way of preface to the answer, the Rebbe makes clear to him, “The questions you ask are not klotz kashos as you write in your letter. On the contrary, they pertain to fundamental matters. But because people become accustomed to using the terms, they do not pay attention to their actual content. The very fact that they are used so frequently makes it appear as though they are fully understood, even though after proper analysis it seems that most of these terms are actually difficult to grasp and understand.”

This is our problem, that it seems to us that we understand Chassidus, but the truth is, if we don’t know how to translate the concepts of Chassidus into a language that any Jew can understand, then we still don’t fully understand what we learned.

When we learn Chassidus in a way that enables us to explain it to others, we also understand it much more deeply and much more broadly. This will also enable us to look at the world around us and identify G-dly processes that are occurring in the world.

Take the fall of Russia, for example, or the development of technology. To human eyes, it just looks like part of world history. But when you learn Chassidus, you see it as stages in the process of Geula. We see the hand of Hashem manipulating all these processes until the true and complete Geula, may it be immediately!