Question:
It is often said that a person shouldn’t turn the study of mussar (ethics) into the main part of the day. Instead, one needs to spend most of his time learning Torah. Is this also true regarding the study of chassidus [that it should not become more important than one’s Torah learning]? After all, studying chassidus is a study of the pnimiyus (the inner dimension of Torah) of Torah…
Answer:
Mussar, at its inner essence, is a wisdom. This is stated by the Ramchal in the beginning of Mesillas Yesharim: “Fear of Hashem is a wisdom [to learn about], and it, alone, is wisdom.” Similarly the Gra writes in the beginning of sefer Mishlei that the sefer Mishlei is entirely mussar, and at its root, it is daas (understanding, or wisdom). Chassidus, at its inner essence, is also a wisdom. The root of chassidus is in the spiritual area of chessed, which corresponds to the kav yemin, the “right line”, which also corresponds to chochmah, wisdom. This is especially true about the very innermost depths of chassidus, which corresponds to the secret level of wisdom, razin d’razin, the “secrets of the secrets”.
Thus, the intended meaning [of not spending too much time learning either mussar or chassidus] was referring to the “external” part of mussar and chassidus, but not to the “internal” wisdom that is within mussar and chassidus [which may be studied for a lengthier amount of time, since it is in the category of wisdom].
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