Yehoshua Shalet against Mussar, Brisk, Chassiduth, and Breslov…

Mussar (generally, and especially the Novardok style and its offshoots): Making a business of making you feel like nothing as part of Avodath Hashem. That’s not Avodath Hashem but rather masochism.

Others’ problems are really none of your business. And it’s psychologically damaging to combat arrogance with abject humiliation, especially when few people these days have true self-confidence, anyway. Mussar is cultish and an insult to what Judaism really stands for: connecting to the Creator.

Brisk: Circular reasoning plus intellectual acrobatics plus ascribing divinity to the inane and mundanity to the divine. (They love the heretical doctrine of hilchatha c’bathra’ei and expand its definition ad absurdum.)

Furthermore, their method of psak is simply counting up the numerous shitoth and going with the majority even if the sum of the shitoth are contradictory or mutually exclusive. Last but not least, they claim not to be Chassidic but they revere their “Rebbe” as though he were ultimately infallible. Briskers are intellectually shallow.

Chassiduth (generally): A parody and caricature of true Judaism, possibly idolatrous. They make the tafel ikkar and the ikar tafel. Chassidim nowadays are basically Litvaks with a funnier accent and different nusach, but Chassiduth itself logically leads to cults like Chabad; Lubavitchers are akin to Christians.

Breslov: Just be happy and everything will be fine. If only life were that simple! Breslov is an insult to human intelligence. It reeks of New Age spiritualism and false promises. Most Breslovers are shallow and air-headed, looking for a quick fix to their emotional baggage. Not to mention their obsession with dancing in the street while blasting techno muzak. Seriously? Breslovers often claim to have all the answers. How insecure can you get?!