The Soul Hears Chassidus

Rav Hillel asked the Mittler Rebbe whether he should still review Chassidus in towns where the people have no idea what Chassidus means. The Mittler Rebbe answered, "The soul hears the words of Chassidus." He found the idea in the verse "Flowing from Lebanon" (Shir HaShirim 4:15). The word Levanon is spelled with the letters lamed, beis and nun. Lamed and beis add up to thirty-two, the thirty-two paths of Chochmah, and nun is fifty, the fifty gates of Binah. When the soul hears Chassidus, a flow streams from that source into the ha'ara, the radiance of the soul, which gives life to the body. The result is a strengthening of "asei tov," expressed in the 248 positive mitzvos, and of "sur mei'ra," expressed in the 365 prohibitions. Only part of the soul clothes itself in the body, and this is the radiance. The essence, Levanon, remains above. A simple person who hears Chassidus does not grasp it at all, yet his soul possesses chochmah and binah, which do understand, even though he is unaware of it. So there is an effect on him: the flow from Levanon, from the intellect of the soul.