Who is davening?

The Alter Rebbe was once travelling with a group of his Chassidim. Along the way, they encountered a chosid of R’ Chaim Chaikel of Amdur. R’ Chaim Chaikel was one of the foremost talmidim of the Mezeritcher Magid, who led a large group of Chassidim in Amdur (today called Indura, which is located in the northwestern corner of present-day Belarus, close to the borders of Lithuania and Poland).

Like many of the talmidim of the Magid, R’ Chaim Chaikel held the viewpoint “vetzadik be’emunosoi yichyeh – al tikri yichyeh elo yechayeh”, in other words that the Chassidim were not expected to learn and explore the concepts of chassidus and pnimiyus haTorah on their own; rather, they were dependent on the inspiration that was provided to them by the Tzadik.

As the Chassidim passed this particular Amdurer chosid, he was in the midst of davening. They observed how his davening was with extreme excitement and passion, to the extent that he was completely oblivious to the presence of the Alter Rebbe and his entourage. Being Chassidim, and chabad Chassidim at that, they were extremely honest with themselves, and they took note of the fact that this chosid’s level of davening surpassed their own. Although they didn’t comment, this caused them some consternation; if that was the case, then perhaps in fact the approach of the other talmidim of the Magid was more effective? If it enabled this chosid to daven in such a manner, then why were they working so hard on studying and understanding chassidus on their own, seemingly the approach of the other talmidei hamagid achieved better results?!

The Alter Rebbe recognized their concern, and told them: “In this case, it is not that chosid who is davening, it is, rather, R’ Chaim Chaikel who is davening. I want to achieve with my Chassidim (through chabad chassidus) that the chosid himself should daven (even though it won’t, then, be (necessarily) on the same level)”.