Rabbi David Berger author of “The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference” forwarded an e-mail correspondence from “the Rabbis’ Forum”. It was a discussion on the issue of how far Lubavitch, specifically their flagship Yeshiva at 770 Eastern Parkway has gone in its Rebbe worship. There is a video of a Mincha at 770 which is quite frightening. It apparently shows that at the beginning of Mincha, the Lubavitch Mispallelim leave a big opening for the Rebbe to come to his chair, and they do the same thing at the end, when the Rebbe leaves... exactly as it was in the Rebbe's lifetime. Furthermore, to quote Rabbi Berger:
“...there is independent evidence that the phrase "Avinu malkenu ein lanu melekh ella attah" is said by these chevre with the Rebbe in mind as "atzmut u-mahut placed in a body" understood in an utterly literal fashion.
I find it disingenuous of those in positions of leadership in Lubavitch who claim to be anti-Meshichist to say that the Lubavitchers there are an insignificant but vocal minority. That would be like saying that what the Yeshivaleit and Yungeleit in Lakewood believe represents an insignificant minority of what Charedim actually believe. Or to say that JTS activities are not representative of the Conservative Movements beliefs. You cannot claim that your home base institution ...which has been glorified by many (if not most) Lubavitchers as the virtual Beis Hamikdash in our time... is not in any way representative of their mainstream beliefs. If, as some of them claim, 770 is in captive Meshichist hands then they ought to disavow it in its entirety. But instead they still go on pilgrimages there and consider many of these people only misguided. Well misguided implies that they are not so wrong.
This adds fuel to my beliefs that calling a Lubavitcher an Anti Meshichist is a misnomer. The vast majority believe at some level that the Rebbe is at least possibly the Christos (Greek, for the Messiah). And those who are overt Meshichists might as well say Yechi... the Rebbe, Christ!
And now, to have an actual video recording of the type of behavior Rabbi Berger describes makes the problem even greater than I feared.
The only thing that makes me a bit cautious on the matter is Rabbi Michael Broyde’s observations and comments. He is a respected Dayan on the RCA Bet Din. He saw the video twice and concluded that it was not a manifestation of Avodah Zara. I have a good deal of respect for his integrity and judgment on these matters. OTOH he is also a man who is quite often Dan L’Kaf Zechus. Did he go too far in judging 770 so favorably in this way? I don’t know, but the description of that video provided by Dr. Berger makes it very difficult to believe anything less than what he (Dr. Berger) has concluded: that Lubavitchers should be far more suspect of their beliefs than here-to-fore believed.
Of course the problem becomes immense when one considers how deeply they are involved in all aspect of our lives without our even being aware of it. The Rubashkin organization that provides a huge proportion of kosher meats to the market is populated by many Shochtim who are both Lubavitchers and non-Lubavitchers. None of the Hechsher organization that give their own Hechsherim on Rubashkin products (such as the OU and KAJ) are Makpid whether their Shochtim are Lubavitch or not. That means anyone who uses these products is in danger of eating meat that was slaughtered by a very pious looking Jew who happens to believe in Apikursus. Lubavitcher Shochtim are all over the place. This would make it almost impossible to eat any kosher meat because of the very strong possibility it being Shechted by a Lubavitcher who has deified the Rebbe even if he hasn’t done so publicly. How can we know what in the heart of a Lubavitcher Shochet? ...and with the type of things taking place at 770, Lubavitch World Headquarters, it seems to me that the danger is more than remote.
If Rabbi Berger is accurate in his observations and conclusions we have a big problem and it isn’t being addressed properly at all and the scandal of indifference in the Orthodox community is growing ever greater!
If Lubavitch wants to re-claim any credibility with the rest of the Orthodox world it needs to do a lot more then they are doing now. They need to remove all vestiges of Moshichism from 770, renounce any claim that the Rebbe is Moshiach and join the rest of Klal Yisroel in some tangible way such as becoming members of Agudath Israel of America. At this point, only something like this would convince the rest of Orthodoxy of the sincerity of their claims that they are anti-Meshichists.
Words are no longer enough.
