"Dry" Chassidus

(Picture courtesy of healthstylesexercise.com)

The other night, a friend who has recently become interested in Chassidus asked me about some Chassidishe seforim. He told me that he had recently purchased a number of the well-known early classics, tried learning some of them with his chavrusa, and quite honestly found some of them to be rather "dry".

I explained to my friend that a person cannot approach learning Chassidshe seforim in the same manner that he approaches running on treadmill. Although a person may see tangible and immediate results from routine physical exercise, learning Chassidishe seforim requires true humility, and depending on how accessible the sefer is, it may require years of perseverance, sometimes with little or no noticeable gain.

I advised my friend not to become discouraged by a perceived lack of progress since sometimes the progress remains hidden for a significant amount of time. I shared with him my experiences learning Degel Machaneh Ephraim and told him that his situation is analogous to a pregant woman in the early weeks of her pregnancy. A foolish person might say that she is absolutely no different than any other women around her since outwardly there is no sign that she is pregnant, yet inside her their is a life growing larger and larger with each passing day.