A Lesson For Rebbes & Hasidim: A Responsible Transfer of Leadership

Cambodia has chosen a new king:

For the ailing Sihanouk, King Sihamoni's appointment will bring huge comfort.

The 81-year-old former monarch ruled Cambodia for more than half a century, and had been troubled by the prospect that the Khmer royal line would die with him.

He was also concerned that - even if the monarchy continued - there could well have been a succession battle after his death.

Cambodia's monarchy is hereditary, but any descendent of the past three kings can be chosen, and there were dozens of potential candidates to chose from.

"My abdication allows me to give our country, our nation and our people a serious opportunity to avoid mortal turmoil the day after my death," Sihanouk wrote recently on his website.

There's a profound lesson in this story to be learned by rebbes and hasidim alike.

Comments

[Zalman Alpert]

Well the problem in Cambodia was a multiplicity of potential candidates. The current Prince Sihanouk had many wives and many children. The 7th Lubavitcher rebbe had 1 wife and no children. The 6th rebbe had 3 daughters and only 1 grandchild. The 5th rebbe had only 1 son ie the 6th rebbe .Thus the only potential legitimate candidate to be rebbe was the only great grandson of the 5th Rebbe Rabbi Sholem Ber (Bere) Gourary. He was eliminated for several reasons.:1 His father Rabbi Shmaryahu Gourary was passed over as 6th rebbe , thereby angering the son.2. the son played no role in the Chabad of the period of 1950-1994. 3. Bere was not a Lubavitcher Chasid in terms of personal life style. 4. The famous book trial of the 1996-1998 period make Bere a personna non grata in Lubavitch.5. The 7th rebbe did not care for Bere after he refused to betray his father in the 1950-51 struggle for leadership in 770.
So who could have a legitimate claim on the mantle of Chabad leadership in the 8th generation ?
There were no frum great grand children of the 4th rebbe the Maharash. So we would need to go back to the 3rd rebbe who died in 1866.(the Zemach zedek)
Believe it or not there are only a few descednants of his that are frum ,namely Rabbi Sholom Ber Schneerson and his 2 sons. Or Rav Baruch Shimen Schneersohn of Tchebin a Galician scion of the 3rd rebbe wh himself was a Belzer chassid,. Reb Baruch Shimen also has 2 sons who are roshe yeshiva in Jslm. The grandchildren of his (Rabbi Sholom Ber) sister Hadassah Carlebach, Rabbi Shmuel Butman,(who I believe styled himself a candidate for the position) his brother in law the famous Chozer Yoel Kahan etc.The rebbe did not like the father of . Sholom Ber Schneerson, namely R , Schneur Zalman Schneersohn of Paris who thought of himself as a potential rebbe. (By the way Barry Gourary was not a great fan of Rabbi SZ either , although he spoke of him in twith the greatest respect)
On the other hand the rebbe could have chosen a leading chasid to take over indicating his decision during his lifetime. This would have broken the Schneersohn dynasty.There was talk of Rabbi Zalman Labkovski thinking of himself as the next rebbe!!
In addition the Rebbe's brother's grandsons were not frum as of yet.Even though Rav Helperin of Jslm refused to categoically dismiss the sons of Dalia Roitman as potential candidates in an Israeli newspaper interview.
So what would I have done, I would have tried to groom one of R. Sholom Ber Schneerson's sons. If they were not worthy (which is a distinct possibility) I would have tried one of Reb Baruch Shimen's sons who received a Galician education.That probably would not have worked either.They were too charedi and closeted to run Lubavitch in the 21st century.
If that did not work perhaps some one like Yitzchok Dovid Groner of Melbourne could have been groomed.
What I am showing is that the rebbe had a major problem once he decided to elimate Rabbi Gourary from the picture. It would have taken a tremendous sense of confidence as leader of Chabad to enact his decision.
I do not believe the Rebbe with all his leadership abilities felt he had the right to choose new leadership for Chabad, in a violent departure from previous leadership transfers.
Had the Rebbe died in 1978 after his MI , I am sure that Rabbi Shmaryahu Gourary would have taken the reins of leadership. Bere Gourary told me that several leading Anash contacted him (the son Reb Bere) then to sound hom out about taking over. Amongst these men was his 2nd cousinRabbi Jimmy ZT"L, who told him "you are it" I spoke to Barry Gourary about the whole issue of a successor years prior to the petirah of the rebbe and all he told me came true, after 1994. He was a true navi. He told me that all my theories were nonsense, and that once it was a truism that the rebbe had shown no closeness to anyone in his lifetime there would be no 8th rebbe. I can not reveal all he told me for obvious reasons. But there is much more concerning talks between his mother and her sister the rebbe's wife Mushka Schneerson.
Did the rebbe leave a will ?? Only Yudel Krinsky knows for sure. I am still amazed that some young Lubavitcher does not launch a serious investigation into this issue. As the years pass, and the issues are more remote my guess is that some people around the rebbe could be persuaded to talk now.
One thing is certain there will be no 8th Lubavitcher rebbe.

[David]

Scott, Your site is quite hateful and its clear you have issues. Try a shrink. Hasids are not saints and you seem to suggest that they must be. Take some meds guy. You must be a Christian bigot, a Jew who hates Jews or Islam. either way spending all this time to create this KAKA tells me you need help. In the end ..its what a person does for others and how he lives his life that counts. Take a lesson from Torah and read Divrim 6 vs 4.