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| The Rebbe declares himself to be a Navi (RYGB) |
One reason is that I believed
that I had fully articulated those issues. One of the more problematic of which is the belief that their late Rebbe was Moshiach. A belief that continues at various different levels to this day - about 25 years after his passing. (A belief that is sadly still vibrantly expressed at their world headquarters at 770.)
The other reason is that they do so
much good in the world, I didn’t want in any way to contribute to harming that
effort.
A short while ago, however, a letter by the Lubavitcher
Rebbe was published at a Chabad website that at least implied that the Rebbe
did not fully understand the R’ Samson Raphael Hirsch’s Hashkafa of Torah Im
Derech Eretz (TIDE) in his explanation of why it should not be taught to the
American youth of his (our) day.
I thought that view deserved a rebuttal by someone whose
expertise on TIDE is unquestionable. So I asked Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer (who
has familial ties to TIDE as well as Chabad and Telshe) if he would be willing to do so. He
agreed and submitted a critique of that letter which I posted. (with an original
title that I regretted, apologized for, and changed as per Rabbi Bechhofer’s suggestion.) That
post was pounced upon by a leading Chabad
figure in Chicago. (Which I responded to in a subsequent post.)
About two weeks have passed since those two posts were published
here. That is a near eternity in terms of generating comments. Comments to my blog-posts are mostly offered on the day of publication and perhaps a day or two
later. But the commentary has not ended. It is ongoing. If one returns to those
posts they will see debate about the nature of Lubavitch between a Lubavitcher Chasid
and Rabbi Bechhofer. The focus is mostly about how Lubavitch sees their late
Rebbe. Some of it is eye opening even for someone like me who knows what all those
issues are all about. At least so I thought.
The conversation has also continued on Rabbi Bechhofer’s Facebook page. What has been revealed there perplexes me even more. How can anyone seriously believe all
that they do about their late Rebbe?
Rabbi Bechhofer linked to the two above-mentioned posts on that Facebook page and says:
It is worth slogging through and doing meleches borer on both the above-linked post on Reb Harry Maryles's blog and the follow up post.
I of course welcome anyone to do that. But it is on that Facebook page that I saw some of the things that make me wonder just how much I don’t know
about Chabad Chasidus that is so far off from normative Judaism. For example, how many
people know that the late Rebbe declared himself to be the Navi Hador? This can be seen in print (in Hebrew) above.
His Chasidim believe that not only was their late Rebbe a Navi,
a prophet who has direct communication from God, they also believe that he actually
performed miracles. His Chasdim will cite many examples of that.
There are some other items which I already know about and
have discussed in the past. But it is still jarring when I see other people mentioning
them. Such as the idea that their late Rebbe could never make mistakes. (See the
video at the top of that Facebook post.).
Or that the Rebbe is greater than
those that served on the Sanhedrin because he had a special ‘soul’ which they
did not have. Hence they could make a mistake (which the Torah provides a
Korban for) - but the Rebbe could not.) There is more but rather than
paraphrasing let me excerpt one comment about Lubavitch that is perhaps the most problematic of
all. It was made by Aishdas founder, R’ Micha Berger:
There is much to Chabad chassidus that seems like a different planet the hashkafos I was taught well before the messianism.
High on the list are the notions of rebbe as yechidah kelalis, as memutza hamisqsher and of course, "A rebbe iz Atzmus uMahus vos hot zich areingeshtelt in a guf - a Rebbe is [Divine] Self and Essence which has clothed itself in a body."(emphasis mine)
And for those who find that last one too startling to be believed, see Liqutei Sichos vol II, pg 509.
Given that "Yiftach bedoro keShmuel bedoro... keMoshe bedoro" is added to "Hashem medaber mitoch gerono shel Moshe", how could this generation's "Moshe" possibly make a mistake?
It gives me me no pleasure to say this - since I have
so much respect and admiration for what they do – and the sacrifices they make to do it. But
truth is important too. And it needs to be told.
