Chabad-Lubavitch Crypt Scam Backstory

 As posted here a while back, Chabad-Lubavitch operatives diligently promote the notion of people visiting the grave of the late leader of their faith, and have been stepping up their efforts in that direction, encompassing non-Jewish politicians as well now. Thus we have Eric Adams, NYC Mayor who was charged in various corruption schemes, now in dire straits as he winds down his term, visiting there multiple times, as well as the GOP candidate for USA President in the last election. While in the past, before their leader's passing, they tried to get people to visit him at their Crown Heights headquarters, now they have transferred that to their cemetery (especially the establishment Krinsky-Kotlarsky wing, which is not happy with the explicit messianism at the main Crown Heights synagogue, which is controlled by their opponents - on the other hand, the grave complex is under the control of the more restrained Chabad PR wing).

So we know why the Chabadskers promote and encourage such visits. But what about the politicians who visit? What might they be thinking? A recent clip posted online provided some interesting insight with regard to the matter. One of President Trump's cabinet secretaries and a friend of his, gave some of the backstory behind their visit there this past October (click to hear). (h/t crownheights.info).

Following is a relevant excerpt from the recording:

"we decided we're going to go out to "the Ohel"...the people who wear black hats think he's the messiah.. they have a crypt for him where you write a note and put a note in...we'd probably win 60,000 of those kind of votes"

This shows you how some ignorant people are fooled by the Chabad-Lubavitch sect.

"the people who wear black hats think he's the messiah"

No, the members of the Chabad-Lubavitch faith, not normative Jews who wear such attire. Chabad-Lubavitch does not represent black hat wearers overall. The Habad are neither a majority of Orthodox Jews, a majority of ultra-Orthodox Jews, nor a majority of Hasidim even. They are just a sect that makes a lot of noise and PR.

"they have a crypt for him"

That is a good one, a fitting term for the resting place of the late leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch faith.

"we'd probably win 60,000 of those kind of votes"

What a joke. If politicians think they win 60K votes with that visit they are delusional.

The Chabadskers are now trying to fool people by trying to get them to believe that their crypt gets a greater number of visitors than it does. How? They say that it gets x amount of visits a year. They don't tell people that a large amount of the visitors are members of their Lubavitch faith who go there multiple times a year (e.g. on various Chabad-Lubavitch holidays, when they get engaged, and so on), so they are repeat visitors. Just like with websites, which are measured by the amount of unique visitors, rather than just the amount of hits they get, similarly, to take the measure of a site, one must look at more than just simple attendance numbers. Normative Jews generally do not visit there. The visitors are typically Chabad-Lubavitch members, people affiliated with them, perhaps some other desperate others too, and some politicians trying to pander and get votes.

Of course, that is only one example of many scams of the sect, taking advantage of the naive and gullible. Like the Chabad-Lubavitch clown in Ohio, declaring his late leader as Messiah in an address to the state legislature there recently. And on and on.

May הקב"ה, Almighty G-d, protect us from various scams and deceptions, whether financial, spiritual, such as the crypt of the leader of a sect that leads people astray, or otherwise.

Chabad-Lubavitch "Conservative Judaism"

It has been said that Chabad-Lubavitch is the new "Conservative Judaism". As is known, "Conservative Judaism"(which actually turned out to be, de facto, a more moderate version of Reform "Judaism"), a prominent Jewish "denomination" in the USA, which was considered the largest for decades in the post-WWII period, has been in steep decline more recently. Not coincidentally, in that same time period, Chabad-Lubavitch has expanded noticeably, by appealing to the constituency of the "Conservatives", namely Jewishly (relatively) ignorant Jews, who nevertheless wanted some manner of connection to Judaism, but were wary of too much. It was said that in the Conservative movement, the laity was not observant of the standards set out for them by their religious leaders. Chabad-Lubavitch, over time, took market share from the Conservatives by underselling them. While Conservative Temples charged hefty membership fees, and had strict  requirements for bar mitzvah candidates (such as a certain amount of months of bar mitzvah lessons and Jewish education), Chabad-Lubavitch offered religious services without those restrictions. They also posed as being more authentic, Orthodox, even Hasidic. However, as is known, Chabad-Lubavitch and its representatives have also taken liberties with their ignorant constituents who they picked up from the non-Orthodox and unaffiliated sectors.

A main marker differentiating Orthodox and non-Orthodox Judaism, which led to many disputes and conflicts in the past, was the mechitzah, separating the genders at religious services. While this is observed by Orthodox in general, among Chasidim it is expanded to a greater extent of separation, e.g. higher barriers, opaque, even outside religious services, etc.

Among the Chabad-Lubavitch however, one sees a deterioration in this basic, this fundamental of Orthodox Judaism, and certainly Hasidism. 

For example, recently, on the great holiday of Purim, a number of very prominent Chabad-Lubavitch megillah readings were mixed-gender, as the trademark practice of the non-Orthodox.

For example,

1) At Columbia University

2) In Washington, DC, under prominent Chabad operative Levi Shemtov, one of the most prominent Lubavitchers in the USA.

Corrupting Chanukah wasn't enough for them, now they defile Purim too?

We see here a great danger of modern-day Chabad-Lubavitch. Without a living Rebbe, and with a system which gives their operatives (especially prominent and well-connected ones) major leeway in setting up programming, PR, and fundraising, they can cut corners and worse, and stoop to various inappropriate and unorthodox gimmickry and arrangements, and even get away with such shenanigans.

Their own late leader, as I recall, taught that people should be brought up to Judaism, rather than Yiddishkeit brought down to them (chas veshalom). But in today's Chabad-Lubavitch, with their great focus on PR and appearing "with it", venerable and fundamental Torah principles can fall by the wayside. 

May הקב"ה protect us from the faux "Yiddishkeit" of Chabad-Lubavitch, its army of propagandizers ("influencers"), fellow travelers, and its ignorant constituents.

In the zechus of our rejection of עבודה זרה, as our ancestors did in this time period in ancient Egypt, may we be zoche to גאולה בקרוב.

א גוטען חודש