I was a bit taken aback by an article in the Jewish Press this weekend. Not by the actual substance of it, but by the focus.
This article in question was written by Rabbi Sholom B. Kalmanson, a Chabad spokesman from Cincinnati. His concern is that Chabad is not being given enough credit for founding Kiruv, religious outreach in America.
Let me amongst the first to re-assure him that Lubavitch was certainly in on the early goings of Kiruv. Were they the absolute first? Does that really matter? They are certainly the most successful in terms of sheer numbers of Baalei Teshuva. I doubt that any other group can claim anywhere near their number of successes. Of course there will always be some who claim this or that organization came first. And they take umbrage that Chabad makes the claim that it was first. But why is this of any concern to anyone, Lubavitch or otherwise?
That Lubavitch makes this an issue on this the eve of the 13th Yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe shows just how clueless they seem to be about the real problems that affect them. Their problem is an existential one. The fact is that the Messianism which is so pervasive in Chabad threatens to destroy the entire movement. The “Who came first” issue truly pales in comparison to that.
When Chabad has a group of Messainists going around to bars, offering drinks to patrons with the goal of promoting the idea that the Messiah, in the person of the Rebbe is risen and will return in a second coming, I should think that "who was first" should remain somewhere near the province of the famous Abbot and Costello comedy routine in in terms of the relative importance to the movement.
Though this "bar hopping" group claims hundreds of Chabad Rabbis support them, Chabad Rabbi Menachem Brod, a leader and spokesman for Agudat Zeirei Chabad, their youth organization in Israel, has disowned the initiative. He and other officials say that such activity is inappropriate.
This kind of rejection has always been the problem ever since the Rebbe died. Even the most strident Lubavitch anti Messianists never deny the claims of the Messianists, only the methods. Their opposition is always very fierce and condemning. But they never include disavowals. Here is the way Rabbi Brod put it:
"the campaign was giving Chabad a bad name. "
"Not a single Chabad rabbi has stood up to take responsibility for the campaign," said Brod."
"Whoever is behind it has no right to use Chabad's name"
"Asked if he believed that Schneersohn was the Messiah, Brod answered, "We hope that when the Messiah comes the rebbe will come also."
"But was Schneersohn the Messiah? "Some things are better off being handled by God."
No denials. Only a song and dance.
And this kind of response is typical of their denials. I have yet to see even one Chabad official say anything like the following: "The Rebbe is NOT the Messiah." Just the way any other Orthodox leader would say it about a revered Gadol of theirs who passed away.
So when Chabad officials say that the majority of mainstream are anti Messianist, I do not believe them. Not because they are lying to us, but because they are lying to themselves. They actually think that by purging the movement of the overt believers that they will then be able to maintain their beliefs privately. And no one will be the wiser. But their responses to date should not fool anyone. As can be plainly discerned from the quotes I mentioned.
Besides, as I’ve pointed out before, the Messianists seem to be winning… at least on the public relations front, but probably numerically too. They are the ones who garner the most publicity. And they are the ones who spend huge amounts of money promoting their Messianism in ads and in public events.
If the anti Messianists want all of Orthodoxy to respect their movement, They have to do two things. They have to come out with an unequivocal statement that the Rebbe is not Moshiach. Period. No qualifications. No ifs and or buts. No “well in theory it’s possible”. And they need to get serious about rejecting all the Messianists, they have to dissociate themselves completely from them and from their ideas of the Rebbe’s Messiahship. They cannot tolerate them any longer as just being a fringe group with good intentions gone wrong.
I know it’s hard. Most of the Messianists are good people. They are amongst the most dedicated and fervent Jews Lubavitch has. Sincere as cold be. They are the ones most likely to do the kinds of difficult projects that Chabad has become known for over the decades, like setting up a Chabad House in the middle of nowhere, just so they can do outreach. It’s hard to part with such otherwise valuable assets. They are Dan L’Kaf Zechus…the Messianists are judged favorably.
But they have to do this if they want to have the kind of respectability they deserve. And they do deserve it. They have contributed so much to the Jewish people. But without dissociating themselves completely from Messianism they will continue to get events like this bar hopping initiative. And all that great Kiruv becomes tainted.
So... were they the first to do Kiruv? Who cares?!
