By Rabbi Dovid Markel
In the famous letter from the Ba-al Shem Tov to his brother in-law, concerning his visit to the Garden of Eden on Rosh HaShana of the year 5507, he writes:[1]
“I asked Moshiach: ‘When will the master come?’ He answered: ‘With this you shall know: When your teachings will be famous and will be revealed in the world and your wellsprings will be spread outwards from this that I taught you and you understood, and they too will be able to make unifications (yechudim) and ascents (aliyot) like you. Then, all the kelipot will be defeated and it will be an auspicious time and salvation.’”
While the first part of Moshiach’s statement that he will arrive when “your wellsprings will be spread outwards” is often quoted, the second statement that Moshiach will arrive when “they too will be able to make unifications (yechudim) and ascents (aliyot) like you,” rarely is.
This seems to insinuate that Moshiach will not come until the average Jew will know how to make kabbalistic yechudim and spiritual aliyot in the same manner as the Ba-al Shem Tov.
The Ba-al Shem Tov himself was so taken aback by this that he writes: “I was shocked by this, and I had tremendous pain concerning the great length of time that it would take for this to occur.” He was only placated when he learned three segulot and three holy names.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s battle cry has always been that we are to spread the wellsprings of the Ba-al Shem Tov in order to usher in the messianic era; but what has become of the second half of the prescription of creating unifications and ascents?!
This can perhaps be understood however, through understanding the following story:
Once, the Magid of Mezritch, the holy Rabbi Dovber, was visited by an old acquaintance of his from the days before he was a chossid.
This friend, although a businessman, was no simple fellow and was accustomed to pray with the kabbalistic intentions recommended by the Arizal.
When the man observed the lengthy prayers of the Magid, he was somewhat perplexed. He too prayed with all the kabbalistic formulas, yet his own prayers only took a fraction of the time.
When he confronted his friend about this, instead of responding, the Magid asked him about his business.
The friend responded, that although, thank G-d, he was able to be primarily involved in Torah study, for a few months during the year he would travel to Leipzig to purchase merchandise to sell in his village.
The Magid pressed him: “Why waste time from precious Torah study?! Would it not be more worthwhile to close your eyes and imagine the journey, the stops and the purchases? While it would surely take some time, it would not take nearly as long as the actual trip to Leipzig!”
The friend was bewildered and wondered if perhaps the Magid had lost the plot. Exasperated, he cried out, “But I need the goods; how can I just imagine it?!”
“Aha,” exclaimed the Magid, finally clarifying, “I too need the ‘goods;’ it is not merely enough to imagine the unifications prescribed by the Arizal, I must actually do them—and that takes some time.”
The ascent and unifications that are to take place during prayer are not to merely happen in one’s head. Rather, through prayer one should actually become elevated and united with the Almighty.
If one were to ask the average chossid if he focuses on yechudim during prayer, he would probably either be perplexed as to what you are referring to or deny altogether that Chassidism focuses on making yechudim during the prayers.
He is however, completely wrong. Not only is Chassidic prayer all about yechudim—albeit in a non-kabbalistic manner—the entirety of Chassidism is about making the ultimate yichud. Indeed, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe remarked concerning the above story that “with deep contemplative thought, we can actually ‘be there.'”
The entirety of Chassidic thought is to drive in the point that literally “ain od milvado,” that in truth, there is nothing at all apart from G-d. Although we may perceive a reality separate from Him, it is patently false.
Both the ego of the world and the existence of the world are based on a false premise:
We are only able to have ego when we imagine that we exist irrespective of G-d. This though, is untrue; we are brought into being by G-d every moment and therefore we are completely dependent on Him.
In reality, the very existence of this world is also G-d, as there can be nothing apart from Him—thus, in actuality, the world as we see it is non-existent but merely an expression of G-d.
These two concepts are respectively referred to as “the lower yichud” and “the higher yichud.” Nine generations of Chassidic rebbes have poured an endless amount of ink and spoken for countless hours to ingrain this point—that the singularity of G-d’s existence should become our sole reality.
It is this unification of the two names of G-d—HaShem—and—Elokim—that Chassidus focuses on. True, in our prayers, chassidim do not imagine these two names coming together to form a single word, but that is only the external aspect of the unification—not its essence.
The essence of the above unification is that our reality should be transformed, to the extent that we realize that our entire perception of nature and the world we live in is false; for in reality, it is all the deepest expression of G-d.
When I was studying in Yeshiva, there were two expressions that our dear Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Akiva Wagner, would constantly repeat. He probably hoped that these two statements would become the mantra of his student’s lives and that they would live by their message.
Indeed, these two statements are so associated with him, that if someone were to ask any one of his students to imitate their beloved rabbi’s expression of Chassidic ecstasy, they would surely repeat both of these idioms.
After hours of teaching at a Chassidic gathering, he would without fail exclaim: “Emes HaShem le’olam” and “Elokus be’pshitus, ve’olamos be’hischadshus.”
Respectively, the above expressions mean that the “Truth of G-d is everlasting and permeates the world” and “G-dliness should be our obvious reality and that the world should only be a theoretical reality.”
These two themes are perhaps what is meant in the letter of the Ba-al Shem Tov, that “they too will be able to make unifications (yechudim) and ascents (aliyot) like you.”
The ultimate unification (yichud) is the realization that the essence of G-d permeates all things and that all that exists is in reality, an expression of Him.
Similarly, the critical ascent (aliya) that Chassidus demands of us, is that we should not be sunken in the corporeality of the world, but instead be truly conscious that the only true reality is G-d and that all else in theoretical.
May we indeed effectuate this ultimate unification so that we can usher in the time that the verse (Yishaya 11:9) describes: “The world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the ocean bed!”
[1] Kesser Shem Tov, Pg. 4.
