The satmar rov’s statement about the derech of the besh”t being lost nowadays isn’t so hard to understand. In context, the chofetz chaim said thet the hisnagdus of the Gaon would only apply in his time to chabad and breslov. The rest of the chadidish world adopted a post-kotzk, down to earth approach which emphasized the themes of the talmidei habesh”t without a kabalah centered approach for the hamon am. What the satmar rov is saying is that kotzk, hungarian rebbes, beis Chernobyl, and others are not practicing the original mahalach of the besh”t, and i think that’s pretty universally accepted. He’s adding that those who claim to be a total shalsheles, that the besh”t’s original mahalach is still the way we should “fir zich” nowadays, are mistaken and do not understand the chadidus that they so fervently study. I’m not sure if the statement was meant to be against chabad… it’s entirely possible, as chabad is basically the only group left who emphasizes the study of chasidus as “maskilim” and not “ovdim” to use chabad lingo. They call the last half of the tanya the “poilisher prakim” for a reason.
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