Chassidish Stories

Judgement and Accountability

The King's Palace

Two people entered the king's palace. One of them walked through each chamber and studied the magnificent vessels and treasures. The second also walked through the chambers of the palace, but his only thoughts were: This is the home of the king!

On the Spiritual Hunting Grounds

Hunger moves man to action. Spiritual hunger must become the sort of necessity that pushes man to embark upon the spiritual hunt of his life. A person must ask himself if his need for closeness to God is as pressing as his desire for lunch.

The Dance of Sanctity

When we proclaim at the end of Yom Kippur that “God is the Lord!” what we mean to say is that the very same unique spiritual reality we experienced on Yom Kippur must also be revealed in the material world we reenter immediately after the fast.

R' Moshe Leib's Merchandise

A merchant goes to the market to do business. Man comes into the world in order to observe the Torah and its commandments. What can we say about a person who reaches a certain location with a said purpose, yet abandons that goal for something else?

The Angels and the Watch

When R' Elimelekh would recite “Kedusha” on the Sabbath, he would take out his watch and look at it. The sweetness of the moment threatened to consume his soul. By looking at his watch he was able to anchor himself firmly in the physical world.

Pure and Simple Intentions

“What you wish to attain,” explained Rabbi Menachem Mendel, “is a very high state of perfection which only a few individuals in each generation merit attaining: you wish to learn all of the secrets of Kabbala, and then to pray like an innocent child.”

“Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?”

A Hasidic parable teaches us that there are two faculties at work in a person's character: on the one hand, there is a forward-pushing, dynamic ingredient; on the other, a fixed and constant ingredient. One must know when and how to use each trait.

Playing Hide-and-seek with God

God plays hide-and-seek with man. This state of Divine concealment, with all of the vicissitudes it involves, nevertheless possesses profound meaning as far as man's nearness to God is concerned; God's absence evokes a longing to draw near to Him.

The Lugubrious Bed

The Chozeh of Lublin senses that the bed which has been prepared for him by the carpenter is not a rejuvenating bed but a bed of lugubriousness and anxiety. From such a bed it is impossible to rise invigorated with a thirst for renewed creativity.

The Lugubrious Bed

The Chozeh of Lublin senses that the bed which has been prepared for him by the carpenter is not a rejuvenating bed but a bed of lugubriousness and anxiety. From such a bed it is impossible to rise invigorated with a thirst for renewed creativity.

Descending from the Hilltop

R' Yissachar Ber's descent from the hilltop in our story bears deep Chassidic significance. When, in the wilderness, the Children of Israel committed the Sin of the Golden Calf, God turned to Moses, saying, “Go down, for your people have sinned.”

The Charm of Jerusalem

The problem lies in a person's outlook, how a person relates to things. When the land of Israel appeals to those who gaze upon her, when Jerusalem finds pleasure in the eyes of its residents, no difficulty in the world will dampen this affection.

The Horse Vs. The Sabbath

The physical world does not run counter to the spiritual. Its purpose is to assist the spiritual world. The problem begins when people portray these two spheres as negating one another. When this happens a war erupts and the spiritual world stands to be harmed.

A Tailor’s Task

The art of tailoring is to create a satisfactory whole out of an assortment of parts. Breaking a proud heart is the essential stage on the road to attaining personal perfection, on the road to creating a garment fitting for man to adorn himself in.

The Service that Blazes

People have a tendency to assume that a person who possesses a fiery spirit infuses his divine service with his own personal heat. Yet, in truth, each of us is called upon to extract spiritual strength from our service of God.

Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk: The Pioneering Rebbe

It would appear that his thirst for closeness to God, and his great longing for the Holy Land - the land wherein the Divine Presence rests - shook his inner being so strongly that no worldly enjoyment could compare to living in the land of Israel.