Rav Schachter on the Rav and the Rebbe...
This is a very interesting video interview with Rav Herschel Shachter about an encounter he had, while accompanying the Rav, with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Kind of shows that while the Chassidim (purported) of the Rebbe poo-pooed anything not Lubavitch, the Rebbe himself NEVER had an issue with other forms of Kosher Judaism. Note also, it was always the very Chareidi Rabbanim and their followers who had their issues, not normal, middle of the road Yiddishkeit.
Hattip: DovBear.
5 comments:
I am not so sure about this. I think the Rav would DEFINITELY have had the same issues others had with the Rebbe. He either was not aware of it at the time, hope the Rebbe would do teshuva, or thought it was a lost cause.
Chabad hates everyone else, this is true. But this is because of the Rebbe. I think he probably wanted to make the Rav a Chabadsker. This is probably why the Rav did not come again. Did the Rebbe ever go to him? Nope.
Listen, there's no love lost between me and Chabad. At all. But I do think the Rebbe was different from his Chassidim. I do acknowledge that he made a few drastic mistakes, as I mentioned in my post, but that makes him human, not evil. And it's quite possible he truly believed Moshiach would come in his lifetime, which is, after all, one of the thirteen Ikarim.
I KNOW what the Rebbe said about the Chazon Ish. . . I KNOW that he did not think there is any other form of Judaism save Chassidim. And I know that he maintained that his Chassidus is the real deal. Because of his ethnocentricism, his messages to his people which gave them the impression that he is Moshiach (why is there no other chassidus like this? Surely the Rebbe is to blame for his messages), and his obstinant refusal to learn the issues and change the course he was setting for hundreds of thousands of trusting people, the Rebbe is responsible for the malaise and laughinstock that is Chabad today. No one else.
A better man would have listened to the 'frummer' Roshei Yeshivas if he REALLY cared about the future of his chassidim and Chabad. His messianic ambitions overrode everything.
There is a chiyuv to believe that moshiach will come, and to await for it every day. There is no obligation to insist it is you when there is no evidence to support such a (to be perfectly frank) meglomanical claim. Aside from ONE element stated in the Rambam, there was no reason for the Rebbe or any SANE THINKING person to allow himself to be swept into this madness.
Again, I don't disagree with you about most of what you say. If you have sources for some of the above (Chazon Ish, his thoughts that his was the only "proper" Judaism), I'd love to see it. If you'd like to guest post on this topic on my blog, you are welcome to do so as well. You've obviously had a TERRIBLE experience with Chabad or grew up being taught how absolutely evil it is. And for the most part, I ABSOLUTELY agree with you, and I DID grow up Lubavitch.
And, as I admitted, he did indeed make some drastic mistakes, no doubt about it.
See http://chabadlibrary.org/books/admur/tm/16/13/158.htm
. . .ois lamed ches. The Rebbe forces a justification for Foyleh Kahan's evil comment about the CI being jealous of every cheder boy in Chabad because they learn chassidus. I can get it for you on audio, as well.
I had no bad experiences with Chabad per se, and I was not raised in a Litvishe family. But I did see blogs like antitzemach and "spoke" with enough meshichistin to become tired of the Rebbe and the horribe consequences of his mistake.
It was this sicha which made me lose all respect. Such tortured reasoning to support an untrue remark indicates to me that the Rebbe hated anyone who was not Chassidish. There is not in recent history an equal example of a relatively ordinary Lithuanian Rosh Yeshiva--a great talmid chochom, the works--who would say this of a deceased Chassidish Giant among Giants at least one, if not two, generations older than him.
Post a Comment