Reply To: Chassidus

The Gra also said that chassidim were too involved in D’veykus, so they completely missed the zmanim for krias Shema and Tefillah. The Chassidim claimed that tefillah without D’veykus was worthless, so it was better to daven late without D’veykus.

The Chassidim also claimed that learning Torah was no longer that important. They said tefillah was now more important. They claimed this changed because as the generations lowered in stature, the need for tefillah to connect to Hashem became stronger. The Gra, along with many other Rabbonim, opposed this.

The Maggid of Mezritch (I believe – I may be wrong about who it was) claimed that he had a dream where he was told that the teachings of the Besht should be spread to all, and once that happened, Mashiach could come.

I find this hard to believe. We have always been taught that the Torah was given to all at Har Sinai so that EVERYONE saw it, and therefore it can’t be denied. So if there was to be a change in the way we should do things, why should it come through a dream to one person? Shouldn’t it also have been a mass revelation? How does it differ from, say, Christianity, who also believe there was a change in how to serve God, which was passed down through a select group?