When it comes to RSFM it's no secret that he was more "
noyteh" to
Chassidim, yet he's seen as a very universal, unifying figure to all sides - if they are sides at all. We see him as a figure that was only interested in building
Torah and those who will live by it. Scratching a bit beneath the surface will tell you that he tried to fuse the
Litvishe learning and the
Chassidishe derech when it came to Avodas Hashem - that too was pretty much common knowledge. We saw it in how he pushed his
talmidim to visit and learn from the
Chassidishe Rebbes of that time, like the
Modzitzer Rebbe and the
Klausenberger, Satmarer and
Lubavitcher Rabbeyim. And of course, how can we forget? his
Tanya shiurim and
lebedige tentz and
vareme nigunim. But this
reshimoh seems to go a bit further, making distinctions not unlike what we would see from the
Frierdige Rebbe, where clear distinctions are made between
Chassidus and contemporary
mussar and that
derech. And what may surprise you the most is that words came from a
talmid of the
Arugas HaBosem and
Unsdorf, not some
sharfe chossid who was raised on knocking
misnagdim and
mussar.
