The Elephant in the Chabad House

Was the Rebbe Mashiach, and why does it matter?

I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration to say that Chabad-Lubavitch has completely captured the public imagination of what it means to be Jewish. If you stop a random stranger on the street and ask them to describe Judaism, the picture they will paint is more than likely influenced by Chabad. They are, almost quite literally, everywhere.

Rabbi Dr. Yosef Bronstein’s recent book, Engaging the Essence, details much that the broader Jewish world can and should learn from the approach of Chabad, as championed by the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shneerson of Blessed Memory. The book is well worth reading, with almost every page containing insights that are inspiring and thought-provoking.

Of course, the elephant in the room whenever discussing Chabad is the rampant messianism which the movement currently embodies, even if it does not openly champion. When most people think of Chabad, they think of one of two things: the rabbis on street corners asking people if they are Jewish and the signs on nearly every street corner in New York City proudly proclaiming that the Messiah is here. Rabbi Bronstein writes the following on the subject:

… the Rebbe left a trail of conflicting evidence regarding his own messianic aspirations, leading many Hasidim and academics to fervently assert or deny that he thought he was Mashiach. While it is impossible to be certain, my understanding of the sources lies between these two poles. To my mind, when one considers his teachings regarding the nature of the generation, the role of the nasi, together with his later formulations, it would seem highly unlikely that he never entertained the possibility that he would become the Mashiach.

However, the countering evidence indicates that these thoughts remained no more than that - a possibility. It would seem to me that he must have viewed himself as a candidate, even a likely candidate, for messiahship, such that if he and his generation fulfilled their mission then he could very well become the redeemer of the Jewish people…. Even if the Rebbe considered himself a candidate to be Mashiach, this never became a major topic in his talks. The allusions to his father-in-law or to possibly to [sic] himself as the ultimate redeemer - which I feel are not to be glossed over - are a negligible percentage of his output even in the later years. Similarly, the possibility of the Rebbe’s conception of his own candidacy to be Mashiach did not lead him to public expressions of self-aggrandizement or even to portray himself as beyond self-doubt. His status or lack thereof as the redeemer of the Jewish people did not greatly occupy his public declarations. This is borne out of by a short note he wrote right before his stroke: “There is no obligation to search for the identity of Mashiach.” Instead, he focused his efforts on what he considered to be the ultimate imperative - creating the messianic reality. As he emphasized, this mission required each person to do their own service of accessing their own yehida and revealing the Divine Essence in their own portion of the material world.

Regardless, as R. Bronstein alludes to, many not only proudly proclaim that the Rebbe is Masiach, but that he will return to life in order to finalize the world’s transition into the messianic age. Indeed, the past year saw multiple books published attempted to prove just that to those skeptical of the claim. Asked about whether or not Chabadnikim who believe this are heretical, Rav Aharon Feldman of Ner Yisroel wrote harshly as follows:

As for the meshichistim, they are not to be considered unbelievers (apikorsim). They are categorized the same as any other Jew: their shechitah and testimony are valid and it is permitted to include them in a minyan. However… it is still forbidden to support them or to give publicity to their opinions, for we are forbidden to support falsehood. All the more is that true in this case, where the danger exists that their belief might spread to the general Jewish community, and this one of the Torah’s teachings might be erased from Israel, God forbid.

Therefore, one who finds himself among Lubavitchers who observe their customs aimed at strengthening their peculiar belief (for instance, those who chant “yechi adoneinu hamelech hamashiach” at the end of davening) is required to leave or, if possible, to offer rebuke.

Furthermore, in my opinion it is clear that even though the meshichistim are not considered unbelievers, nevertheless they are presumed (b’chezkas) to be people who utterly lack understanding of the Torah. It is therefore out of the question to rely on their decisions and opinions in matters of Torah, even in issues that do not relate to Mashiach. Someone who can believe that out of all the deceased throughout the generations (including the Prophets, the Talmudic Sages, the Rishonim, and the giants of every generation until ours), the deceased Lubavitcher Rebbe is the most fit to be our righteous redeemer - such a person surely lacks proper judgment concerning Torah values. If one lacks the capacity for mature judgment, he is unable to determine any issue involving Torah.

It is therefore impossible to rely on the halachah-related opinions of such a person; still more is he disqualified to serve as a Rov or leader in Israel. Furthermore, one may not attend his lectures, for his words must be presumed to be in error; and even if he is speaking truth, the act of attending his lecture affords him honor in the eyes of others, causing them to respect his opinions relating to the Moshiach.

Professor David Berger, was even stricter in his book The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference that what he calls “Second Coming Judaism” must “be excluded from the Orthodox community” and that great care should be taken not to rely on such slaughter or witnesses in religious matters. He even wrote that one “must pray in private rather than attend a synagogue in which the standard messianist formula is recited.”

Given that it’s the season to talk about Jews whose followers believed them to be the messiah and may or may not have risen from the dead, it’s worthwhile to think about exactly what these beliefs (and the fact that they are spreading rather than shrinking) say about the current state of Judaism. Indeed, I recently watched a debate between a Christian theologian used Chabad beliefs to argue that it is easier now than ever to convince Jews to accept Christianity many Jews already believe in something so similar.

On the other hand, no one can question the good Chabad does for the Jewish people and the willingness on their part to travel to the corners of the Earth in order to inspire fellow Jews to live more actively Jewish lives is no doubt tied to their messianism. Do those ends justify such beliefs as means? Not necessarily, but it raises an important question: Why is it that “Jews for Jesus” are rejected so definitively while Chabad is accepted so universally? It can’t be because J4J beliefs are more well-known, since Chabad Messianism is quite in-the-open. Part of it may be that Chabad’s official channels do not take a public stance on messianism, but that can’t fully account for how few people challenge the belief.

The answer, I believe, lies in something that Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman wrote in his book Ani Maamin. Examining why and how the 13 Principles of Faith were utilized as boundary markers of legitimate Jewish discourse, Berman concluded the following:

when a proposition that runs counter to the principles is enunciated by an agent who is squarely within the camp of tradition, and whose utterance trucks no challenge to the rabbinic order, the view is tolerated… It is when the principles are denied within a context that authorities perceive as a challenge to rabbinic authority or to the stability of the halakhic order that they are deemed as heretical.

Chabad is nothing if not traditional defenders of rabbinic hierarchy. As such, if Berman’s thesis is correct, it is no surprise that they remain well within the Jewish mainstream. They uphold, rather than forgo, mitzvah observance and even spread it far beyond most are capable of.

Of course, critics of Chabad will continue to look for reasons to exclude and continue to advocate for how dangerous belief in a messiah who rises from the dead will be for Judaism. While they do so, Chabad will continue to introduce Jews across the world to Jewish engagement for the first time in their lives, providing kosher food and educational opportunities where no others are willing to settle.

Perhaps it is worthwhile, then, to take the Rebbe’s advice: stop worrying about who Mashiach is and start putting in the work to bring Mashiach sooner. Once Mashiach comes, the question will have its answer and that will be that.