What is a Chassid?
1:3 יְהִי אוֹר
Let there be light
What is a Chassid?
When Rabbi Sholom DovBer of Lubavitch was staying at the health spa in Wirtzburg, Germany in 5667 (1907) a group of his chassidim came to spend a Shabbos with their Rebbe. Among them was Reb Yosef Yuzik Horowitz, his son-in-law Reb Feivel Zalmanov, and Reb Elimelech Stoptzer.
The Rebbe prayed for many hours that Shabbos morning, as was his manner. Meanwhile, the chassidim made kiddush and consumed a respectable quantity of l’chayim’s. Later, when the Rebbe had finished and they sat with him to the Shabbos meal, Reb Yosef Yuzik asked:
“Rebbe, what is a chassid?”
Replied the Rebbe: “A chassid is a lamplighter. The lamplighter walks the streets carrying a flame at the end of a stick. He knows that the flame is not his. And he goes from lamp to lamp to set them alight.”
Asked Reb Yosef Yuzik: “What if the lamp is in a desert?”
“Then one must go and light it,” said the Rebbe. “And when one lights a lamp in a desert, the desolation of the desert becomes visible. The barren wilderness will then be ashamed before the burning lamp.”
Continued the chassid: “What if the lamp is at sea?”
“Then one must undress, dive into the sea, and go light the lamp.”
“And this is a chassid?” Reb Yosef Yuzik asked.
For a long while the Rebbe thought. Then he said: “Yes, this is a chassid.”
“But Rebbe, I do not see the lamps!”
Answered the Rebbe: “Because you are not a lamplighter.”
“How does one become a lamplighter?”
“First, you must reject the evil within you. Start with yourself: cleanse yourself, refine yourself, and you will see the lamp within your fellow. When a person is himself coarse, G-d forbid, he sees coarseness; when a person is himself refined, he sees the refinement in others.”
Reb Yosef Yuzik then asked: “Is one to grab the other by the throat?”
Replied the Rebbe: “By the throat, no; by the lapels, yes.”
Source:
Sefer Hasichos 5701 [The Talks of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok of Lubavitch, 1940-41] p. 136. See Ohr Hachassidus ["The Light of Chassidism"] pp. 215-224 for an in-depth treatment and analysis of this dialogue by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe shlita.
