Schneuri expanded on the elucidation of Chabad philosophy, so that his followers could understand and internalise its spirituality. The path of Chabad demanded and valued inner depth and refinement over external emotional fervour. In the devotion of Chabad, the service of prayer became the central time for self-transformation, through the unique Chabad approach of profound intellectual meditation (Hisbonenus) on Chasidic philosophy during prayer. While businessmen could fulfil their weekday prayer obligations in the regular way, in the early generations of Chabad, it was expected that the Sabbath could offer individuals time to extend their prayers in mystical rapture. In Chabad lore, stories are related of legendary Chasidim who would spend hours devoted to personal prayer, through meditation accompanied by Chasidic melody (Niggun). In his "Kuntres HaHispaalus" (Tract on Ecstasy), now translated into English, Schneuri writes a document in Jewish thought. While personal accounts of the mystical life are rare in Judaism, in this work Rabbi Dovber guides the devotee through the many intellectual and emotional levels of Chabad meditation. It differentiates between the external emotional fervor of general Chasidism, with the Chabad ideal of inner ecstasy in prayer. It is related that Rabbi Schneur Zalman's prayers were so ecstatic that he could not contain their outer emotional expression, and without self-awareness, would roll on the floor or end up in a different location. His son Schneuri, meanwhile, would pray for hours in static ecstasy, until all his clothes would be soaked in perspiration.
