B‘H
The following is a transcript of a conversation between Reb Zalman and Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak (YY) Jacobson, (editor-in-chief of the The Algemeiner Journal), which occurred on November 24, 2007 (15 Kislev, 5768). (Edited by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)
Reb Zalman:
“Here’s the story: There was such a remarkable article by Hillel Zeitlin, ‘Vos is Chabad’ / ‘What’s Chabad about’? You could see from there how he, in his day, was talking about the ruchnius / spirit of Chabad.
“I miss this, nowadays, — when I encounter [with them] — in the Shlichim / Chabad emissaries. Every once in a while, some of the young Shlichim come by here and chap a shmues / grab a conversation with me. Officially, the excuse is [that] they want to see what s’forim / books I have or to talk with me about what it was like in those old days. But what they really want is – to find a sympathetic ear through which they might express conflicts and doubts. They also want to find out how to make their davvenen / prayer more real.
I found, when I was in Australia, that they’re all managers. They’re sort of franchise people where they are. There is very little that is happening in hisbonenus / contemplation and ruchnius / spirituality. They have a very low ceiling. That’s what I’m concerned about, that’s what I wanted to shmues / discuss with you.
“Have you been able to reach your brother or not?”
Rabbi YY Jacobson:
“I couldn’t, I tried.”
Reb Zalman:
“Nish geferlich / it’s not so bad; you’ll give over to him.”
Rabbi YY Jacobson:
“I’m sorry, I wanted him to be in on the conversation.”
Reb Zalman:
“So what’s happening? (You’re close by to 770 in New York; you see what’s going on.)
For instance, I was in Melbourne and I asked [if they would show me around] and, they did. And there’s a yeshiva / school for boys and a kollel / school for men. I came to the beis medrash / house of study of the kollel and I asked who is the mashpia / the one who provides spiritual direction for the students. They said they don’t have a mashpia. So vaksen yunge leit / raising the boys missing something essential for the yoshvei ohel / serious students.
“When you look at the way the Alter Rebbe / Reb Schneur Zalman of Liadi was writing about such things in the letters, about yoshvei ohel and what they have to do with their davvenen, etc. — I didn’t have the sense that any of that was happening there.”
Rabbi YY Jacobson:
“The way I see it, there’s two elements. First of all, I don’t feel that Chabad has, at the moment, that many individuals who have the ability to take chassidus / esoteric teachings, to take the maamorim / esoteric discourses and to apply them in contemporary terms [so] that the 21st century teenager, or young man, or woman, can really get excited about it. They learn chassidus in the yeshivah, they learn the kontreisim / shorter articles, the maamorim / longer pieces, etc., but if you ask most eighteen or nineteen year olds, ‘Are you excited about such and such maamar?’, they say, ‘What’s there to be excited about? It doesn’t talk to me.’ I don’t think, on their own, they could find anything enthusiastic, inspiring or, certainly, overwhelming to actually spend time every day and davven with it or think about it. That’s number one.
(more…)