The Tzaddik and the Redemption

The Malach traced the decline of the chassidic ideal over the generations to the terrible sufferings of exile. These sufferings should have driven the people toward their tzaddikim, through whom goodness and perfection reach the lower worlds. He saw the tzaddik as central to the redemption: Jews can rise spiritually only by gathering around him, while he in turn embraces them all and clings to Hashem.