The Kotzker Rebbe
The light of Moshiach ben Yosef shone again. In the Chassidic camp, in the Polish village of Kotzk. His name was rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgensztern, the Kotzker Rebbe. The Kotzker Rebbe was an utterly non-Chassidic Chassid, very much into learning, and he wanted Talmidim that were very much into learning. And he wanted the Truth. Citing Rabbi Gavin Michal, who also has a blog here: "His obsession with Truth was just too much for mere mortals. A movement based on an unconditional commitment to Truth is doomed to fail before it even starts."
According to the Zohar, year 5600 was the year the gates are opened for the sources of the wisdom from below and the wisdom from above. This was also the time that the Kotzker Rebbe had penetrated so far into the world of Truth, the place where the soul of Moshiach is rooted, that it had dawned upon him that there is no Halachah in the world of Truth, though there is Halachah in the world below. The Halachah was therefore extraneous to his Judaism. This was burning in his soul, and it had to go out.
One Shabbat, a short time before Kislev 5600, the Kotzker Rebbe decided it was time to explain this to his Talmidim. He should have known that when the appropriate time for a revolution arrives, it may also be that there is an appropriate place. He had made his home in Kotzk, not in Eretz Yisrael. Besides, his Talmidim were Talmudic scholars, it is hard to see how they could accept such a thing. It could be that he knew all this, and proceeded anyway. His message was so disturbing to most of the crowd that had followed him, that most of his Talmidim left their Rebbe, starting the Chassidut of Izbica. Thus, the Shamash was hidden again.
"The printer printed - and they follow him.
Would it please the printer to print something else, they would have acted differently."
“I too do not believe in the same G-d that an atheist doesn’t believe in.”
“Other Chassidim believe that man’s soul is reincarnated into this world in order to affect a tikkun –
But in Kotzk we believe that man is put onto this world in order to affect a tikkun in G-d Himself!”
By true love of Israel, we learn to love the whole world.
(The Kotzker Rebbe)
According to the Zohar, year 5600 was the year the gates are opened for the sources of the wisdom from below and the wisdom from above. This was also the time that the Kotzker Rebbe had penetrated so far into the world of Truth, the place where the soul of Moshiach is rooted, that it had dawned upon him that there is no Halachah in the world of Truth, though there is Halachah in the world below. The Halachah was therefore extraneous to his Judaism. This was burning in his soul, and it had to go out.
One Shabbat, a short time before Kislev 5600, the Kotzker Rebbe decided it was time to explain this to his Talmidim. He should have known that when the appropriate time for a revolution arrives, it may also be that there is an appropriate place. He had made his home in Kotzk, not in Eretz Yisrael. Besides, his Talmidim were Talmudic scholars, it is hard to see how they could accept such a thing. It could be that he knew all this, and proceeded anyway. His message was so disturbing to most of the crowd that had followed him, that most of his Talmidim left their Rebbe, starting the Chassidut of Izbica. Thus, the Shamash was hidden again.
"The printer printed - and they follow him.
Would it please the printer to print something else, they would have acted differently."
“I too do not believe in the same G-d that an atheist doesn’t believe in.”
“Other Chassidim believe that man’s soul is reincarnated into this world in order to affect a tikkun –
But in Kotzk we believe that man is put onto this world in order to affect a tikkun in G-d Himself!”
By true love of Israel, we learn to love the whole world.
(The Kotzker Rebbe)