Veteran teachers of Chassidus share their tips and advice about how to give a successful Chassidus shiur and how to handle the difficulty in conveying deep information to different types of audiences.
FOCUS ON THE POINT
R’ Yeshaya Goldberg
teacher in Tomchei T’mimim in Ramat Aviv
R’ Yeshaya Goldberg not only gives standard Chassidus classes in yeshiva, but also gives a one minute (more or less) “shiur” in Chassidus via Smartphone to tens of thousands of people every day. With this shiur he briefly conveys a Chassidic idea based on the Rebbe’s teachings.
R’ Goldberg has this to say from his vast experience:
The first important tip, in my opinion, has to do with preparing the shiur. The one giving the shiur needs to pick a specific point which the shiur will focus on. He needs to have one or two points, not more, and this is what he will be conveying and teaching.
Every topic includes numerous details and related concepts. The many details can easily confuse the listeners who will lose their way. When there are numerous details it can confuse not only the listeners but also the one giving the shiur himself.
So I recommend choosing a specific point when you prepare the shiur and plan on having those attending the shiur leaving with it and taking it home with them. Some people want to add more and more topics or details based on the premise that if there is a shiur and there are participants, then one ought to convey as much as possible: the parsha, something about the holiday, a Chassidic idea, etc. This is a mistake.
Of course, during a shiur you can expand and develop the idea but it needs to revolve around the point you originally chose. You can add ideas, stories, parables and insights, but they should all serve the central idea that you want to convey.
How do you establish this focus?
As I said, at the preparation stage, when you review the maamer or the chapter of Tanya or the text you want to teach, you need to learn it well and pick a point which you decide you want people to take with them. It can even be presented as the introduction to your class, ‘Today we will talk about how we get the mind to control our emotions.’ It is important for you to be clear on what your point will be.
When there is a focal point, it can help the one giving the shiur deal with people on different levels. Usually, simple people get confused with more details but when there is a point, they are able to stick to it. And if you also have people on higher levels of intellectual understanding in the shiur, it is important that they too understand what the topic is that you wish to convey. Of course, for them you can explain and develop it more.
I follow this principle in my daily message that is conveyed by Smartphone, even though sometimes the brevity is at the expense of depth.
I think we see this in the Rebbe’s teachings too, in his sichos and maamarim, in which there can sometimes be the deepest points but, by the Rebbe, each of these points appears in a sentence or two that express it in relatively simple terms. True, the Rebbe also goes on at length, but the verbosity comes after a concise summation of the key point as in the expression, ‘and the Nekuda (point) of the explanation in this is,’ and only then comes the stage where the Rebbe begins to explain, expand and develop that which he presented earlier. Everyone should adopt this in the Chassidus shiurim that they give.
Everyone ought to commit to giving a shiur, for people today need and want Chassidus. There are many places today where you can get tips and ideas for give shiurim in an effective way. You can also learn how to do this as part of a structured course; the main thing is that by now we should have a taste of the Geula when ‘the earth will be full of knowledge of G-d like waters cover the sea.’
THE BEAUTY IN LEARNING SICHOS
R’ Roi Tor
shliach in Emek HaMaayanot
R’ Roi Tor gives ten shiurim a week, in Chassidus, Tanya, sichos on the parsha, and of course Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. He has a variety of audiences, from men learning in an evening kollel in Beit Shaan to kibbutznikim who are not yet observant. There are all kinds of people who want to learn Chassidus.
Some people construct a shiur based on a certain sicha. They take a sicha, learn it well, and convey it “as is,” albeit in their own words. The truth is that a sicha consists of many details; each person can take a different aspect of the sicha and derive chayus and geshmak from it. When I give a shiur on a sicha of the Rebbe on the parsha, I look for a sicha that I personally connect with and find the point which excites me. When I connect to the point, there is a good chance that I will be able to get other people to connect to it too.
Most of the time, unless it’s a learned audience, I don’t learn inside with them. In the shiurim that I give, I see that people really connect to the story of the parsha and so I always begin with the story of the parsha or the section that I will be discussing, and only afterward do I start developing the point in the parsha and try to teach it with the special depth that the Rebbe provides.
It is very important not to stick to the structure of the sicha. There are sichos in which the Rebbe begins with a series of questions and he “attacks” the idea from all sides, but people generally don’t keep track of it all, all the more so when you present a possible answer and the refutation of that answer until arriving at the final conclusion. It pays to stick with a strong question or two that are down-to-earth and interesting, to briefly state the explanation and the idea, and only then can you expound on the deeper message, which is the part that really speaks to people and grabs hold of them.
As always, the Rebbe ends his sichos with “action is the main thing.” So it’s important to give people a practical point to hold on to and to leave with; not that they leave just with a nice vort or concept.
In any group study of the Rebbe’s sichos, you can always take the conclusion and bring it into the realm of the inner work that we all must deal with in daily life, whether in chinuch, shalom bayis, positive thinking, changing one’s middos etc.
As opposed to teaching a sicha, when I teach Tanya I learn and teach out of the text. It is hard to teach Tanya to people who are not observant, to convey that if they transgress the Torah then they are connected to the three impure klipos and in this spiritual state they are worse than an impure animal. It’s very important to prepare well and to convey things properly. It is certainly easier to teach Tanya to religious people who live with and are aware of the various nuances.
A religious audience of people involved in their Yiddishkait will almost certainly find Tanya amazing, and it has an incredible effect on them.
THE WAY TO GIVE A SUCCESSFUL SHIUR
By R’ Nadav Cohen
lecturer and author of GPS for the Soul
We’ve invited a guest speaker to the Chabad House, we advertised, we provided refreshments, we set up nicely, and many people showed up. There were new faces as well as old ones we hadn’t seen in a long time. The lecture was successful; everyone nodded and seemed to enjoy it. And when we asked participants how it was, they all reacted warmly and positively.
But, when we got together after the lecture and began asking, “So what did the speaker say, what was the point, what was the message?” suddenly the answers were vaguer. It was interesting, it was great, but what was the topic? It was spiritual, it was mystical, yeah, but what was the point?
The point? Uh, I don’t remember.
We have all experienced the situation in which we give a shiur and from the questions at the end we discover that people did not understand it at all.
When we set out to give a successful shiur to mekuravim, to people whose Torah knowledge is not extensive and who are not used to learning in a yeshiva style format, we need to prepare for this. This requires both quality and quantity time.
In Chassidus it is explained in many places that the preparation is no less important than the concept itself, and when the preparation is done right, it has a powerful effect on what follows. When the vessel is constructed properly, the light is drawn into it.
Preparation Also Needs Preparation
Before preparing a shiur, we need to learn the material we want to teach. The lecturer must know the material very well. For example, when you want to teach a sicha, you need to learn and understand it inside-out, to look up the footnotes, understand what the Rebbe is quoting and what the Rebbe is innovating, understand the question and the answers that the Rebbe suggests and refutes, understand the gist of the explanation and, obviously, the final answer. You need to be proficient in the material in such a way that you can teach the sicha without it having to be in front of you from beginning to end, or even starting from the end and working back to the beginning…
If you are able to get into the sicha at the beginning of the week, a few days before the shiur, great. This way, you can “live” with the sicha; think about it when you have free time. Try to really delve into what the Rebbe is trying to tell us, to fulfill the Rebbe’s horaa, both the practical and the spiritual horaa, how to look at and relate to the world. To seek where we can connect the message to our daily lives, where the ideas of the sicha pertain to chinuch, shalom bayis, work, the Chabad House, and even driving down the highway and standing in line at the bank. Chassidus permeates every aspect of life and we need to uncover where it can be found on every single level.
After the material is well established in your head, you need to start thinking about how to convey it. At this stage, you need to step outside of your own “garments,” to get out of the way you understand and relate to the sicha, and start trying to step into the “garments” of the mekabel, to think of him and how he can understand the sicha and from what angle he will relate to it.
In Parshas Mishpatim, Hashem explains to Moshe how to teach and how not to teach. On the verse, “and these are the laws which you shall place before them,” Rashi explains, “Hashem said to Moshe: Do not think to say that I will teach them the Halacha two or three times until they know it well, as it was taught, but I will not trouble myself to enable them to understand the reasons for the matter and its explanation. This is why it says like a set table before them, ready for anyone to eat.”
Hashem warns Moshe, don’t think that you will review the material until they know it by heart and you’ll save yourself the bother of preparing a lesson. Prepare a shiur like a set table before the person about to eat.
How do you prepare a meal for guests?
When you prepare a meal for guests, you don’t simply buy meat, vegetables, spices and eggs and put it all out on the table. You first cut it up, clean it, cook it, season it, and serve it in an appetizing way. It is all to enable your guest to eat easily and comfortably. This is precisely the way a teacher needs to prepare the material that will be taught so it will be the right amount for the student, with spices – stories, examples, parables – and conveyed in an interesting manner which leaves a good taste in the mouth and the desire to learn more. It’s all so that the student will be able to understand the material being learned.
THE SECRET TO SUCCESS: A CHAVRUSA
R’ Shimshon Goldstein
shliach in Pushkar, India
R’ Shimi Goldstein gives a shiur in Tanya for the many Israeli tourists who visit the Chabad House every day. Thanks to his shiurim, many people have committed to a life of Torah and mitzvos, with dozens of them having established Chassidic homes. And it all began with shiurim that he gave.
Apparently, the secret to his success is not necessarily the shiurim, as he himself relates:
Every evening, at seven o’clock, we have a Tanya class. Some of the people come to the Chabad House to eat, some come because they feel connected to the place, some come because a friend schlepped them; each one has his reason. Many of them join the shiur.
My shiur is only a means to an end. There are usually about twenty people in a shiur, out of which I notice one or two for whom the subject really speaks to their soul, and who are truly receptive to the deep ideas of Chassidus.
The main work begins after the shiur, in getting the one or two who are really interested to learn one-on-one with me. I think there is nothing like a chavrusa. A person can attend a shiur for twenty years in Chassidus or Tanya and nothing changes for him. I’ve met shluchim who wonder, “How do you manage to change the lives of so many people when we have people sitting at shiurim for years and nothing moves?”
My first tip then is to know that a shiur is important and that it is the “elixir of life,” which provides strength and spiritual fortitude. Every Jew must learn Torah and it’s important to have more and more of it. That being said, if you want to be mekarev someone to a life of Torah and mitzvos, pay attention during the shiur to see who is connecting to what you’re saying, and who has the potential to be drawn in further. It is with those people that I arrange chavrusa study. There are times that I have eight chavrusas a day.
Even when I’ve found two or three in a shiur who relate to the depth of what is being taught, I have learned not to study with the two or three together, but to have separate chavrusas with each of them. Being a chavrusa means to farbreng with him on his level and in his language. The connection is stronger and he is with you. This is aside from the fact that he understands you and lives with you, while in a shiur it’s in a makif way. A chavrusa is another world altogether than a general shiur.
Another tip – we learn from the Rebbe that every time he taught us a sicha, he began with a series of questions that aroused our interest. It’s a good idea to begin every shiur with a powerful question to generate interest and get people thinking. For example, on the introductory page of Tanya – which I am presently learning with a certain fellow who is a follower of a well-known idolatrous figure – there is the verse, “Because the matter is very close to you in your mouth and in your heart to do it.” You can read this and go further or you can develop it with a tough question: Moshe Rabbeinu gave us 613 mitzvos and each one has a myriad of details. The Torah is as broad and deep as the ocean, so how could Moshe, at the end of his life, tell us that Torah is so close to us when it is huge and so inaccessible? Is it really close? We can say that Torah is truer, more important, or even pure, but close? This question is meaningful to anyone who has any connection whatsoever to religion.
In general, to properly teach Tanya, you first need to learn it well (this applies not just to Tanya, but to any topic). When I came to Pushkar, I thought I knew Tanya; after all, I say it every day in Chitas. But that is bare-bones and it is usually read relatively quickly. In Chabad yeshivos, learning Tanya is done in the daily Chitas or in a half hour shiur in the morning in high schools when eyes are not yet open very wide (I would be happy to hear that things have changed recently and that Tanya has become more developed in yeshivos).
If you want to teach Tanya in a serious way, you need to learn it with all the main explanations, as much as possible. Then you take the chapter and turn it into a defined topic. Your audience has no understanding of the words and concepts of Tanya; it’s a foreign language to them. True, you should preserve the wording of the Alter Rebbe and I am particular about reading from the Tanya, but you also need to turn the concept into a clear topic so that a person will understand what it is the Alter Rebbe wants from him here, in this chapter. Each chapter needs to be a topic unto itself and you need to transmit it the way you speak with a friend.
PUT NESHAMA AND CHAYUS INTO A SHIUR
R’ Boruch Wilhelm
shliach in Nahariya
R’ Wilhelm gives several shiurim over the course of a week, mostly on Tanya. He gives a shiur in front of a large kollel, to a group of businessmen, and a shiur in the Chabad shul which is very popular and attracts nearly 70-80 people.
There are a number of important points for whoever wants to be successful in giving a shiur. These points are simple but important.
Every shiur that you give, even if you have given hundreds of shiurim in your life, has to be treated like it is your first and only shiur. All your attention needs to be focused on the shiur you want to give. You need to put serious preparation time into it, to know precisely what you want to say. Preparing for the shiur means knowing ahead of time who your intended audience will be, so you don’t say deep things to a simpler crowd and you won’t say simple things to an intelligent audience.
You can’t suffice merely with what is written, but need to add a lot with stories, ideas and insights. When you take the shiur seriously, your audience senses this and they will want to come back to hear more.
Another important point is that the shiur needs to be said with a lot of enthusiasm. Don’t be content with what it says in the text; put feeling into it. This gives life to the shiur. No less than the content of the shiur, the emotions and neshama that you put into it connect the audience to the shiur and to the messages you want to convey. In order to put in neshama, conveying the material needs to be done with passion and enthusiasm, with all your neshama.
If it’s a serious shiur with Torah content, it’s a good idea to bring source sheets so that people can look at the material on the page. This should certainly be done for a shiur with complicated content. It’s a good idea to bring other topics that relate to the shiur but are not written in the text in order to expand the audience’s knowledge and enrich them. When the sources are in front of them, they relate to the material more. There is another advantage in that they can take the source sheets home and be reminded of the content of the shiur, because people don’t always remember the subject that they learned from one week to the next.
The bonus in preparing source sheets is that you indirectly let your audience know that you came to the shiur well prepared. This will get them to treat the whole thing more seriously.
The call of the hour is for all of Anash and the T’mimim to go out and find a place where they can establish new shiurim or expand on an existing shiur, because people are seeking spirituality today, especially P’nimius HaTorah which goes straight into P’nimius Ha’nefesh and uplifts the neshama.
(Said at a Yom Iyun at the Chabad yeshiva in Tzfas)
RASHI SICHOS AND RAMBAM ARE GREAT ICEBREAKERS
R’ Moshe Blumberger
R’ Moshe Blumberger gives shiurim in Chassidus, Likkutei Sichos, and Tanya in various yeshivos and has acquired a lot of experience in giving over Chassidus to B’nei HaYeshivos.
I learn Chassidus with people who never learned Chassidus. Many of them are learning a sicha of the Rebbe for the first time in their lives. They may have heard of the Rebbe’s brilliance but were not exposed to his teachings. I am talking primarily about those who are not Chassidic.
In recent years there is more of an openness and interest in Chassidus. It is easier today to teach Chassidus than it was previously. It is not unheard of today to offer to learn Chassidus with people and for them to agree.
There is a basic difficulty in teaching Chassidus to people who never learned Chassidus before. Chassidus has a language of its own, not to mention unfamiliar concepts. So if you want to teach Chassidus, you need to prepare properly so as to know how to convey things clearly and bring it all into their world so they can relate to it.
If you want to be mekarev someone to Chassidic teachings, you can start by teaching the Rebbe’s sichos. You can take a sicha that deals with a Rashi or Rambam, Torah subjects that Litvishe types will appreciate, and then in the next stage, you can move on to the “inner dimension” of the Torah; the sweetness that Chassidus imparts to every topic including the Nigleh sichos.
There are some who will come with complaints about Chassidus and about the Rebbe but it is always preferable to focus on the content of the sicha. The light in Torah will chase away the questions, for the Rebbe’s teachings not only illuminate but also bring joy, and I say this from experience.
Another important tip for success in giving shiurim in Chassidus: a Chassid is someone who represents a certain image that people are really looking at and checking out. When you are mekarev someone to Chassidus, he is looking at you. If he is not sure that you are really a Chassid of the Rebbe in a way that every word of the Rebbe is part of your neshama and your emuna, he will not accept things from you and won’t follow you.
This is also true about the belief that the Rebbe is Moshiach and is chai v’kayam. If they don’t sense that you are comfortable with your belief 100%, they will find it hard to accept even a “regular” Rashi sicha from you. They want to be convinced that you fully believe in what you are saying, and when you teach Chassidus the implication is that this is Chassidus that is connected to the Rebbe, so you need to be fully in line with everything that is associated with the Rebbe.