Sohbet According to Buber

But how was man, in particular the "simple man," with whom the hasidic movement is primarily concerned, to arrive at living his life in fervent joy? How, in the fires of temptation, was he to recast the Evil Urge into an urge for what is good?...How, in his meeting with creatures and things, grow aware of the divine sparks hidden within them? How, through holy kavvanah [intention] illumine everyday life? We do, indeed, know that all that is necessary is to have a soul united within itself and indivisibly directed to its divine goal. But how, in the chaos of life on our earth, are we to keep the holy goal in sight?...Man needs counsel and aid, he must be lifted and redeemed...A helper is needed, a helper for both body and soul, for both earthly and heavenly matters. This helper is called the zaddik [murshid, guide]...It is he who can teach you to conduct your affairs so that your soul remains free, and he can teach you to strengthen your soul, to keep you steadfast beneath the blows of destiny. And over and over he takes you by the hand and guides you until you are able to venture on alone. He does not relieve you of doing what you have grown strong enough to do for yourself. He does not lighten your soul of the struggle it must wage in order to accomplish its particular task in this world. And all this also holds for the communication of the soul with God. The zaddik must make communication with God easier for his hasidim, but he cannot take their place...The zaddik strengthens his hasid in the hours of doubting, but he does not infiltrate him with truth, he only helps him conquer and reconquer it for himself...again and again he emphasizes the limits of mediation. One man can take the place of another only as far as the threshold of the inner sanctum...Within these limits the zaddik has the greatest possible influence not only on the faith and mind of the hasid, but on his active everyday life, and even on his sleep, which he renders deep and pure...As a zaddik once said: "I learned Torah from all the limbs of my teacher." This was the zaddik's influence on his true disciples...[emphasis added].

As Buber was quick to point out, however, the influence between zaddik and hasid is mutual.

Here we come to the very foundation of hasidism, on which the life between those who quicken, and those who are quickened, is built up. The quintessence of this life is the relationship between the zaddik and his disciples, which unfolds the interaction between the quickener and the quickened in complete clarity. The teacher helps his disciples find themselves and in hours of desolation the disciples help their teacher find himself again. The teacher kindles the souls of his disciples and they surround him and light his life with the flame he has kindled. The disciple asks, and in his manner of asking unconsciously evokes a reply, which his teacher's spirit would not have produced without the stimulus of the question.

[Selected from Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim: Early Masters, pp. 4-8.