Controversy Solution to Marketing Chabad Chasidus: Both are necessary - Rabbi Chaim Dalfin

A good night of Shabbos. Parshas Lech Lecha taf shin pey zayin. Look how beautiful it is here in Brooklyn. In good old Brooklyn. It's a sunny blue sky with greenery sandwiched in between two houses. Can't get any better, right? Let me tell you something, my dear friends. Over the last month or so, there's been a very interesting dialogue. Some would say controversy, but a discussion on one of the Chabad websites. I believe anash.org is the is where it's at. About what is true authentic Chabad Chassidus, Chabad Chassidus. I don't want to go into all the details and all the ideas. You can read it for yourself. The basic question is do we keep to the old-fashioned Chassidus and the way we teach it in the Yeshiva, the the tradition, the mesorah, or do we tweak it? Do we AI it it? ChatGPT it? Do we Do we Do we kind of modernize it a little bit in our expounding and explaining and delivering of the information? I I might be oversimplifying the issue, but that's the way I see it. And I say, and who am I? But my humble opinion is, or maybe not such humble opinion, both are right. You need to make clear in your delivery and in your teaching and your sharing of Chabad Chassidus and the mesorah, the tradition, because if you water it down too much, it's not Chabad Hasidism. It's psychology, it's sociology, it's philosophy, it's self-improvement. It's all kinds of isms. It's all nice and good. And helpful, but it's not Chabad Hasidus. Chabad Hasidus has a structure, has a methodology, has a system, has words, verbage, language. That's Chabad Hasidus. Sometimes it's difficult, sometimes it's easier. And that's why we need teachers, and good teachers, and we need people to explain things to people who don't follow exactly. So, that's one truism. The same truism applies to the tweaking of the Masorah. The tweaking of the tradition. I've been teaching Hasidus for over 45 years. And I can tell you there is no one, not one person that has attended any of my classes or list- or listened to any of my podcasts or lectures, or read my books, who concludes Rabbi Dolph is a modern uh Chabadnik. Just looking at this beard and at this haircut and these suspenders, I smell Chabad, I breathe Chabad, I was born Chabad, and after 120, I will return to Hashem as a Chabad Hasid. And I'm proud of it. And that's my message to you. I want you to be proud of being Chabad. I want you to be excited about being Chabad. There's no need to roll up your beard, make yourself nice. I'm not saying that that's a sin. I'm not saying in certain professions at certain times it's it's necessary. I'm talking about the average fellow Hashem gave you this beautiful beard. The Rebbe Rashab says it, it's not me saying it. He says he talks about not rolling up your beards because you want to kind of hide your Hasidism. If you do it because of a of a legitimate reason, no problem. I'm just giving you an example. It's a shallow example, but it's an example. Trimming your beards for sure not, right? Being stylish. Looking to Tanya dal Rebbe in the Igros Hakodesh mentions the one of the reasons for Yosef for the with the punishment associate with the with the klipah of God them, levushim, you know, garments, being fancy with fancy clothing and things like that. So again there too, there are people who use it for the sake of shlichus, for the sake of the Rebbe, for the sake of Hasidus, and that's between you, Hashem, your mashpia, yourself at kishba shalom amita, making your own accounting whether you're doing it for Hashem or you're doing it for your own self and feeling good. And sometimes you have to feel good about yourself. Cuz if you feel crummy and this makes you feel good and this way you'll produce more, it's an acceptable way. Here is not the platform to discuss what is or what isn't and how and where that you need to have a private discussions with those people who you respect and counsel with. So, we need to tweak Hasidus, but it has to be Hasidus that's being tweaked, not psychology. When someone will hear you saying, "Oh, I'm moonlighting, I'm gaslighting, it's trauma." Like we we we all of a sudden bring in an entire different language as though and and and supposedly we're teaching Chabad Chassidus and someone who hears it says, "Wait a minute. This is uh This is psychology. This is self-improvement. This is all of the latest fads and and approaches to mental health. Mental health has become a buzzword. And I used it myself for my book called Tanya on mental health. Why? Because the book I originally wrote in 1994-95 and Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski endorsed it. Right? It was called uh Your Better Self. As the years went on, I saw that people are moving away really from the self-improvement world to the more mental health world. So, we tweaked it under Tanya Mental Health, but the word Tanya is there. It's not mental health based on neo-Chassidism. It's Tanya. Clearly, it says the word Tanya and a big beautiful picture of the Alter Rebbe with a picture of a a brain. So, you know what we're talking about. So, this is my point. I don't think there would be any disagreement between the two sides if both of these messages that I'm sharing and the way to share them would be apparent. The problem and issue is that each side contends that the other side is hiding the other the other side completely. So, I'm sticking my two cents in cuz that's part of what a Jew does, right? It's for the better for the purpose of growth, for the purpose of development. And to truly understand the new young generation, okay? There are people didn't grow up with authentic Hasidus. Didn't have the teachers, didn't see the Rebbe, didn't hear a Mimer, didn't have Yechidus. Right? So, they depend on those that did. Those of us that did have an obligation to share authentic Hasidus, authentic truth. And to and to really take a liking and and and a willingness to deal with the new culture that's out there, the new methodologies of of self-improvement and psychology and everything else and to bring that into the world of Hasidus. Not to take Hasidus and bring it into psychology and self-improvement and water it down completely where it's not felt or heard that it's Hasidus. May Hashem help us that we take this thought out of Shabbos, we use it in a way that we will benefit and truly be together and continue discussing and talking, ultimately seeing Moshiach Tzidkeinu. Everyone have a wonderful and the best Shabbos ever. Be well. Good Shabbos.