By Katie Lauriello, Lead Copy Editor
On Thursday, Hillel House presented Rabbi Nissin Pewzner from Chabad of West Shore in Mechanicsburg, PA to speak about Chabad style Judaism. The event was held in the College Union Building Room 260, and pizza was offered for any attendants.
Pewzner explained that everything is viewed from the perspective of oneness in Chabad. There is no split between good and bad, and instead, everything is considered one as created by God. As a result of this, everything is precious.
“If you ever think through one lens, there’s no bifocals,” Pewzner explained. “There’s no two different lenses that view different things in life and different things in the world. There’s only one. There’s only one God, who created everything, and there’s only really one true existence. The fact that things don’t necessarily seem that way, that is only the way it seems. But ultimately, everything at its core is part of one, and our role in the world is to bring that out. Everything is all part of this oneness.”
Pewzner then explained the two ways people internalize this belief. The first is through an emotional process, which involves going to a rabbi or other godly person and joining them to absorb some of their spirituality. Then, one joins them in celebration.
The second way is the Chabad way. Chabad comes from the Hebrew words Chokhmah, Binah, and Da’at. According to these words, one first gets inspired with the idea according to Chokmah, which can roughly translate to wisdom. Then, in Binah, one understands the details of that idea. Finally, with Da’at, a person can relate and ascribe the idea to themselves and put it into practice using their knowledge.
After that, Pewzner discussed how this translates into life: “You are here in this world for a purpose and a mission, and everywhere you are is part of that purpose and mission. Whatever you’re doing, there’s always a job for you. If you weren’t needed anymore, you wouldn’t be here. So you’re obviously needed for something.”
Pewzner then explained the history of Chabad, starting with the founding of Chassidus by Rabbi Yisroel, the “Baal Shem Tov,” who was born in 1698 in Ukraine. He spread the idea of putting an increased focus on educating and uplifting the common people as well as bolstering the importance of prayer.
When Rabbi Yisroel died, he was succeeded by his closest student, Rabbi Dov Beer of Mezritch. After his death, a large group of his students decided to go to Israel, including the founder of Chabad. After realizing the difficulties of the journey, he went back to Lithuania, Russia, where he taught Chassidus from the intellectualist perspective and empowered people to study independently. From his teachings, Chabad was founded.
In order to get involved in being Chabad, Pewzner said that one should influence other people and spread the Jewish moral code in order to fulfill their mission. Chabad does this too as an outreach organization, through people teaching Judaism in different places and taking an active role in the Jewish community.
“There’s a mitzvah to love a fellow Jew as yourself. There’s a certain idea out there that the way you go fulfilling this mitzvah is by loving the Torah scholars,” Pewzner said. “The only way it is possible to unconditionally love another person is with this understanding that we’re all one. We’re all a piece of God.”
After his talk, the session then moved onto questions.
One student asked when Chabad came to America. Pewzner answered that one of the leaders of Chabad first visited America in 1929, but the movement only started growing in the coming decades after he moved there permanently in 1940.
Another student asked about the role of Jewish mysticism in Chabad. According to Pewzner, mysticism breaks everything into categories, whereas Chassidus explains everything as one. As a result, Chassidus ends up tying mysticism together with Judaism as a whole.
“Chabad is trying to get to the core of everything, and mysticism can be a very big part of that,” Pewzner explained.
One student asked how long Pewzner knew his purpose was to be a rabbi and if he ever thought about having another purpose. Originally, he had no intention of being a rabbi. However, he did go to rabbi school because it was heavily recommended for more practical knowledge, and in the end, he decided to follow the path to becoming a rabbi.
Once questions ended, the rest of the session was a discussion about Jewish life in Gettysburg.
