In honor of the 172nd Yahrtzeit of Harav Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izhbitz, 7 Teves
Rav Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica — known by his sefer Mei HaShiloach — was a disciple of Rav Simcha Bunim of Peshischa and Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk. He absorbed their relentless demand for authenticity, and then pushed it even further. The mission in Kotzk was to shatter illusion through severity, but the Izbitzer shattered it through intimacy.
One message the Izhbitzer emphasized a lot was that nothing in a person’s inner life is accidental. Actions, thoughts, impulses, confusions, and even desires all occur under Divine providence. In one of the most famous teachings in Mei HaShiloach, he writes:
,האדם אינו מתעורר מעצמו לשום רצון” “.רק כפי מה שהשם יתברך מעורר אותו
A person does not awaken in himself any will, except according to how Hashem, blessed be He, awakens within him. (Mei HaShiloach, Vayeshev)
This teaching is sometimes weaponized and sometimes dismissed, but often misunderstood. The Rebbe is not claiming that all actions are permitted, or that moral responsibility dissolves in the face of Hashem’s master plan. On the contrary, he is radically relocating responsibility. The question is no longer whether one has “unacceptable” inner material, but what one does with the material G-d has placed before him.
Most religious life, the Izhbitzer implies, is lived in flight. We borrow the language, posture, and spiritual temperament of others — “they” seem more disciplined, more consistent, more at peace — and we attempt to serve G-d from a place that is not ours. This can make us anxious, guilty, and, eventually, depressed! But the Rebbe calls this bluff. If a struggle exists in your inner world, then that struggle is the arena where you serve Hashem. To pretend otherwise is avoidance.
The Izhbitzer and his Torah refuse to allow a person to outsource religious responsibility to habit, culture, or borrowed virtue. The work is asking, with seriousness: Why did Hashem put me here? What is He demanding from me now?
For us, with all of our daily fracture and friction, this teaching is indispensable. It insists on integrity, and it forces us not to run away from an uncomfortable struggle or feeling. The Rebbe tells us, If it’s happening inside you, Hashem wants you to serve Him from there, not from somewhere else. Our mission in this world is to serve Hashem from where we are, and not from where we wish we were.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Nekuda Tova Listing.
