As it happens to be, i was zocheh to build a relationship with 2 chasidishe rebbehs; I don’t consider myself chasidish, but i do spend time in that world both physically and in my learning – chasidus has had a very big influence on my hashkofos. I love genuine chasidishe Torah, and I have the utmost respect for all groups of chasidim who don’t believe their departed rebbe to be the messiah…even when i am at a loss for an explanation of some minhagim that seem to be at odds with halacha. But the “final say” to me is in the world of bais brisk when there’s any conflict between the two; that’s my personal mesorah and I don’t think it’s any more correct than chasidus; if things had gone a little different in my early 20s, i could have ended up a satmar chossid, but that’s not what hashgocha had in mind.
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