In the last issue of the OU's fine magazine Jewish Action, one of the main pieces featured was by Neo-Chasidus leader Rabbi Judah Mischel, a glowing portrayal of the impact of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe.
The problem with the puff piece however, is that it totally left out the Rebbe's Moshiach campaign, which ended disastrously, with Chasidim proclaiming him openly (in giant billboards, large newspaper advertisements, etc.) for years as the Messiah, while the Rebbe took ill and ultimately passed away, a debacle that continues, to this very day, in various ways, in one form or another.
Such a blatant and gaping omission is deceptive, misleading, and irresponsible. It is like someone writing a book on FDR and leaving out WWII.
Reb Judah also was allowed to insert a statement of Lubavitch doctrine there of cheilek Elokah mimaal mamash, blurring the line between man and Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as if it was standard Orthodox theology, sans disclaimer.
What has happened to the O-U? Has it become a Chabad-Lubavitch mouthpiece?
Just because Neo-Chasidus leader Rabbi Judah Mischel is close to Lubavitch and was hired to work for NCSY, doesn't mean that the O-U and Jewish Action have to become Chabad-Lubavitch mouthpieces.
An ostrich mentality, hiding ones head in the sand, is not befitting for a great organization that runs a very important kashrus certification agency.
Lest one think that this is just an academic issue, it can lead to practical pitfalls, as seen in a recent Hachnosas Sefer Torah at Lubavitch Headquarters in Crown Heights. In it a sefer Torah was presented to Lubavitch HQ in honor of Prof. Dershowitz for his efforts on behalf of justice for Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin. A leading O-U official participated in the event, not only by attending it at 770, which is festooned with signs proclaiming the late Rebbe as messiah, but also by holding a sefer Torah (with a green cover) with a messianic inscription on it, proclaiming יחי המלך. Such actions send signals of acceptance of Lubavitch messianism, which is against the spirit of the resolution of the OU's partner, the RCA, after the late Rebbe's passing.
As an aside, there seem to be significant grounds to suspect S.M. Rubashkin of being a continuing believer in the late Rebbe as Messiah, namely 1) this event, held at the 770 congregation, which is under messianic domination, and 2) a letter that he wrote years ago referring to the Rebbe shlit"a many years after his petirah (see line five of page two).
Let us hope that in the future people will be more careful and responsible, and not send out mixed and improper messages.
A gutten chodesh.
I usually agree with you, and here too I agree on your main point.
ReplyDeleteHowever I must take issue with your mentioning of Mr. Rubashkin-for a few reasons:
1) Unlike most of the other people usualy discussed here, Mr. Rubashkin is a private invidual who is not spreading any Chabad philosophy or the like. Furthermore what you are saying about him is mere speculation, which amounts to nothing more than gossip.
2) Any negative comments abour SMR -especially when they come from an outspoken misnaged- may have the unintended connotation that the tremendous efforts and prayers for his freedom were somewhat not warranted CH"V . And although you obviouly don't mean that, you should nevertheless make such a disclaimer. Or better yet, don't bring him up for discussion at all.
Frankly, I am rather surprised that this usually upstanding forum has done this.
Thank you for all that you do .
Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteSMR is a public figure by now. He has been asked to speak in many places. Re my points being speculative - I think the second one is stronger than the first.
I will say, that to the haters of the world, we are all Chasidim. So klapei chutz we should be be'achdus. And be'emes, of course even klapei pnim and bichlal we should as well. :) However, achdus doesn't mean that all chilukei deios are banned.
שלום על ישראל
:)
I applaud your efforts but sadly I feel that they'll go for naught. I once spoke to a friend who shared following with me. He said that he asked his Rebbi why Chabad was so successful financially while most Yeshivas struggle and the Rabbi told him that Chabad was doing the Satan's work. It's as simple as that. This is the message that Dr. Berger was trying to get out to the public, but very few people care about this neo Christian movement. Make no mistake, there are many fine Lubavichers but the movement as a whole is very dangerous and the fact that they're supported by a large swath of mainstream Judaism makes them even more difficult to counter.
ReplyDeleteWell, that is no reason to give up. אדרבה! We all know that in the end the Satan will not prevail.
DeleteLB
By no means am I giving up the fight. The Maccabees not only had to fight the Greeks, perhaps their bigger struggle was with the Hellenized Jews. It's so sad that we not only have to deal with this new brand of Christianity, but there are many respected and accomplished voices in the frum community, Rabbinic and lay alike who constantly sing Chabad's praises. I would ask these sycophants, have you ever heard similar pronouncements from Chabad? Has their leadership ever acknowledged, for example, the wonderful Satmar Bikur Cholim network, or NCSY's tremendous Kiruv work just to name to? Obviously that's a rhetorical question.
Deleteתורת אמת will not be forgotten from כלל ישראל, as we are taught - כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו. Yes, there is much confusion among the masses, but that is the עלמא דשיקרא בעיקבתא דמשיחא.
ReplyDeleteLubavitch is not always successful, financially and otherwise. If you look beyond their glitzy PR, and are an astute observer, fissures in their edifice are visible. Many shluchim struggle.
They are most successful among ignorant Yidden. Among frum well-educated בני ובנות תורה they are quite weak.
It is another challenge of many challenges of the modern world. Iy"H however, it will be overcome, and the true Moshiach will arrive, hopefully soon. As we learn from Chanukah, the פך השמן הטהור, the cruse of pure oil, remains, even if sometimes covered or obscured.
Chazak! :)
Let's hope you're right. I wouldn't take Chabad lightly however, because they're doing Satan's work.
DeleteGreat point. And I think the recent Shluchim conference illustrates this perfectly.
DeleteEvery year by this dinner they produce beautiful videos that celebrate the achievments of randomly selected Shluchim. They illustrate how these shluchim got to wherever they are and the incredible work they do.
This year's presentation focused on the shliach to Slovakia. They show how he had found a Jew in his thirties and how they reached out to him. And then the climax of the night was when this particular Jew spoke to the conference, declaring how proud he is to be a Jew.
On the outset it seems quite moving. But then on second thought one wonders; this is all they have to show ? From thousands of shluchim ?? The man is not religious (although what they achieved is commmendable -he is proud to be a Jew, and that's a wonderful thing) . Can they not find one single baal teshuva ? Apparently not.
It's exactly like you said . Much glitz but pitiful little real accomplishments.
R. Yudel Krinsky is pretty good at PR. He has been at it for many years, so he and his associates, like R. Kotlarsky, are quite experienced by now. Many people are swayed by it.
DeleteThe shluchim conference banquet extravaganza has become a centerpiece of their PR. They make claims like they are 'the largest Jewish organization in the world'. But they are not even the largest Chasidic group!
Hopefully the עם חכם ונבון will have some seichel and see beyond the fluff.
I believe there are quite a few people who were brought close by them who then went on to a Yiddishkeit like our's. There are also ("FFB") people of Chabad-Lubavitch backgrounds in non-Lubavitch mosdos for a long time already, who don't wear their background on their sleeve. So the situation is more complex than an inflammatory sound-bite description, however appealing it might be. We need to be aware and vigilant, but also careful and accurate.
ReplyDeleteI certainly accept your statement that there is much to recommend Chabad and I'm not by any means calling for a Crusade against them. This said, Avraham Avinu taught us that we must not treat Avoda Zara lightly. Is this an overstatement? I'll direct you to a Youtube video of Rabbi Shlomo Cunin in which he definitively declared that the Rebbe runs the world.
DeleteNext consider Dr. Berger's assertion that 8 leading Chabad Rabbis described the Rebbe as,"G-d clothed in human form." Despite your insinuation, those who are trying to alert the Jewish world about the danger which Chabad poses are not guilty of overreaction. I think it's worth noting that when a Misnagid criticizes Chabad, other frum Jews like yourself get bent out of shape, but never is heard a discouraging word when a Lubavicher speaks Kefirah about the Rebbe. Oh excuse me Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky adamantly denied that there are any Lubavichers who Daven to the Rebbe as Rabbi Herschel Schechter from YU claimed. As Dovid Lichtenstein stated, "Rabbi Kotlarsky is in charge of over 2000 Chabad Mosdos, so you know he can be trusted." When dealing with Chabad you've got to take the gloves off and get down and dirty, because they'll use any means at their disposal to further their agenda.
I am not defending the problematic elements of Chabad-Lubavitch. I am putting forth the idea that there could be ניצוצות of קדושה there that we can be מעלה with Hashem's help. As the Alter Rebbe said (posted on here in the past) Moshiach will be a non-Chasid. So we can try to start that job and perhaps Moshiach will finish it, hopefully soon.
DeleteI'm sure you mean well, but Chabad 1.0 asserts that the Rebbe is Moshiach and there is NO Lubavicher who questions this fact. If the Baal Hatanya actually said that Moshiach will not be a Chosid it should be publicized, but it will never be accepted in Chabad. To be frank, you're trying to be Dan L'Kaf Z'Chus, but Chabad has crossed the line and so they must be treated as a real threat to Torah Judaism. I understand that it's hard for most people to admit they're wrong, but your justification of Chabad is a case of misplaced Rachmonus.
DeleteHere you can see one of our posts about the Alter Rebbe saying that Moshiach will be a non-Chasid (which contains a link to the first post here about it as well) - https://mrlitvak.blogspot.com/2014/11/moshiach-will-be-misnaged-seventh.html
DeleteI am middle aged and I have yet to meet even one Jew who became a real Baal Teshuva through Lubavitch (and I've met many baaleli teshuva).
ReplyDeleteMost of their products are confused and have very miscontrued version of Torah.
Lubavitch is mekarev to Lubavitch, not to Judaism. It's that simple.
I'm not sure I would agree with that statement although you're right in that Chabad will put Tefilin on a Mechalel Yom Kippur and then proudly declare that he's a pure Tzaddik.
DeleteI think your point is well taken and should be developed. To be fair, many great Jews were first exposed to the religion by Chabad, including at least one prominent non Lubavich Rosh Yeshiva. To this point I think that the Chabad mitzvoh campaigns which take Judaism to the streets do serve a valuable function. On the other hand, and this speaks your thesis, those who become Baalei Tshuvas through Chabad and remain in their auspices, as a rule, never actually become legitimately frum. The reason is very simple. Judaism begins with understanding that there's Hashem and Chabad replaced G-d with the Rebbe. Lubavichers believe that the obligation of a Jew in this world is to please the Rebbe and to that end they tell their charges to grow beards, eat Cholov Yisroel and the like. Doing Mitzvos is certainly important but when Hashem is removed from the equation you get a very distorted form of Yiddishkeit. What happened to Matisyahu is a classic example of the flaw of Chabad Kiruv.
DeleteYou make some good points, however, we must keep in mind that Lubavitch is a large group and not all Lubavitchers are the same and cut from the same cloth.
DeleteYou're absolutely right, but wouldn't it be nice if a responsible voice from within Chabad would voice some displeasure when his cohorts make their outrageous statements. We speak of the "Thin Blue Line" which call for policemen to stick up for each other. Chabad, as per its media machine must present to the outside world that they're completely unified.
Delete"Chabad will put Tefilin on a Mechalel Yom Kippur and then proudly declare that he's a pure Tzaddik."
ReplyDeleteJust to play 'devil's advocate', they could perhaps cite the gemara that if someone is mekadesh isha על מנת שאני צדיק, אפילו אם הוא רשע גמור she is mekudeshes, שמא הרהר תשובה בדעתו - קידושין מט:ב.
However, we need to keep perspective.