The Dark Side Of Chabad

Larry Derfner writes in the Jerusalem Post:

Evidently, it was anti-disengagement saboteurs from the messianic wing of Chabad who scattered nails and oil on the highway into Jerusalem last week, says Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra. On the same day the highway was boobytrapped, some young Israeli rabble who'd taken over a Palestinian house in Gaza stoned a Palestinian teenager under an IDF soldier's care. The house, which was spraypainted with Kahanist slogans and the warning "Sharon, we'll murder you, too," had messianic Chabad flags flying from the roof and Chabad posters pasted to the walls. These are just the most recent examples of the ultra-nationalist lethality coming out of Chabad, which for decades has been, without question, the most dynamic, high-profile Jewish movement in the world.

A decade ago, it was a pair of Chabad yeshiva students from Gilo who printed up the infamous photomontage of Rabin as an SS officer, according to police who arrested them a few weeks after the assassination. (Shin Bet informer Avishai Raviv's only involvement in the episode was to point out the posters to a TV reporter at the rally.) Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, who was indicted for racist incitement in a book he authored praising Baruch Goldstein's massacre, is a veteran Chabadnik. Overseas, people think the Chabad movement does nothing but mitzvot. All they hear about is Chabadniks bringing Yiddishkeit to the Jewish masses, handing out kiddush cups by the thousands and holding Pessah Seders for homesick Israeli travelers in Thailand. And this is true, in part: Abroad, the dominant personality traits of the movement really are mitzvot and outreach. But not in Israel.

In Israel, for all the tefillin that Chabadniks lay on Israeli guys' arms, for all the shmura matza they bake for Pessah, the most significant, influential thing the movement does is spread political poison. I know this is not all of Chabad, that there is a messianic wing associated with radicalism and violence, and then there's the mainstream wing that disassociates itself from that sort of thing. But while I know that not all Chabadniks are admirers of Baruch Goldstein and Yigal Amir, I don't think the line between dangerous, messianic Chabad and harmless, mainstream Chabad is as hard and unbreachable as spokesmen for the mainstream like to claim.

The main political difference between the two camps is not over ideology but over tactics; my hunch is that on the ground, there's a lot of overlap. And until mainstream Chabad actively and publicly ostracizes the messianic wing, until it goes after them like an enemy no less despised than, say, Ariel Sharon, I'm afraid that good Chabad cannot wash its hands of bad Chabad. They may be rival camps, but they still belong to the same movement. In the end, Chabad is Chabad.

Further, on the issue of overlap, there is a considerable degree of it between Chabad and the Kahanist movements (the latter being officially outlawed in Israel and the US, but still, of course, flourishing in both countries). The two Chabad yeshiva students who printed up the Rabin-SS photomontage were also members of Kahane Chai, according to then Jerusalem police chief Aryeh Amit. And at a February rally in Jerusalem of Chabad rabbis, where Sharon was accused of collaborating with the Palestinians to bring on another Holocaust, Kachniks and fellow-travelers were more than welcome.

"On one side of the stage, [Kahanist leaders Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [Baruch] Marzel mingled with Chabad luminaries; on the other, Dov Lior, chairman of the Committee of Rabbis in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and known for his political extremism, was accorded a place of honor," wrote The Jerusalem Report. (Lior, of Kiryat Arba, gave a eulogy at Baruch Goldstein's funeral, saying the mass murderer "took action for no other reason than to sanctify the holy name of God.")

Acts of criminal insanity by Chabadniks in Israel haven't been limited to the issue of Greater Israel, either. In March 1997, a mob of more than 200 Chabadniks in Lod sacked a Jehovah's Witnesses church, torched it, made a bonfire of its Bibles and danced around the flames singing their anthem "Long live our master... King Messiah for eternity," according to Jerusalem Post accounts. And while Chabad in the Diaspora isn't known for the bloody-mindedness that characterizes much of the movement in Israel, neither is it completely free of the odd, dark impulse. A friend of mine who used to pray regularly at a Chabad synagogue in Florida told me that in the days after Rabin's assassination some congregants openly voiced their approval, expressing the regret only that Shimon Peres had survived.

I know that Chabad does a lot of good in the world, that it's brought a lot of Jewish soul to people who are much better for it. I have a relative, an ex-Israeli who came to Los Angeles as a poor college student in the early Sixties, who says he was first drawn to Chabad because it had the only synagogues in town where he could get a free seat for the High Holy Days. A complete opponent of settlements, he's still with Chabad, gives them tons of money, and says his rabbi never takes sides in Israeli political controversies. Myself, I hired a highly-recommended Israeli Chabad mohel to circumcise my youngest son. He was a jolly guy and did a fine job.

But while Chabad definitely has its good side, for the duration of this Israeli summer, at least, it would be a good idea to focus on the bad side. Masses of Chabadniks are making plans to try to stop the disengagement – and not just by laying tefillin.

Comments

[rebeljew]

Shmarya

It is unfair to tar Chabad with this brush. It is unmistakably true that many radicals are Chabad and that there exists a strain of extremists among Chabad that disrespect laws and human life. I would even say you could make a case for tolerance of political and vigilante extremism in Chabad.

What you cannot say is that Chabadniks are all like this or support this. I think there is a mindset that gravitates to both philosophies, but they are separate.

[Dovid]

rebeljew
i beg to disagree , it is not a matter of few radicals . all these acts mentioned are 100 % the consequence of chabad philosophy to those who care learning about it . it's in full "obedience" to the rebbeim , from the alter rebbe to the latest . they are very consistent from the tanya till rebbe shneerson !
it is not that some are nice , kind and well behaved and others are fanatic on their own . no sir , they are all the same - identical clones with military discipline . they maintain several faces according to the current need in a given circumstance .

[Dovid]

they will "appear" to avoid politics , if they feel that it will affect their fundraising .
there is nothing honest about their fetishist love of their "fellow jew" .
they appeal to people to perform their fast and easy pet mitzva du jour to hasten th messiah , not because G-d so commanded .
Checking the mezuza , is promoted as a renewal of an insurance policy .
they will conceal messianism if they feel that it will affect their fundraising .
etc....
there is no other enlightened face . it is just that sometimes , as fundraising dictates , they conceal temporarily the dark face . the one and only !

[rebeljew]

I was actually echoing a thought directly from the article above. There are many Chabadniks that are fed up with the radicalism. Though it is not uncommon to find someone in Chabad who hates or disparages America fo instance, it is also not uncommon to find outstanding people who go out of the way to extol its virtues. It is almost like a schizophrenic movement that cannot decide whether it is modern or charedi.

[Paul Freedman]

But what "is" Chabad? There are Messianists in Brooklyn and there are Messianists in Boston and Messianists in Kfar Chabad and there are Messianists hanging out with Kach and I'm not sure that we have the same people involved--participants overlap but I have the feeling that mobs of Israeli Chabadniks burning down Jehovahs Witness property, or scattering nails on highways, or stoning Arabs doesn't so much indicate an ascendant faction of Chabad but a relatively "rootless element, primarily young, absent "yichus" or long-standing ties to Chabad, that is attracted to violent Messianism precisely because increasingly its members have no experience with
Chabad as it existed when the Rebbe was alive and, at least nominally, projecting an earthly flesh-and-blood authority.

[rebeljew]

Paul

Well said. A "rootless element" covers it.

[Ariel Sokolovsky]

By the grace of G-d
Shalom uBrocha!
The author of the article wants to see Chabad to resemble something like Shas party ministers few years ago.
He almost equates protesting disengagement in general with throwing nails and oil on the roads which endangers innocent people and serves the proponents of the disengagement it's not endorsed in halocha in general even from the perspective of those who wish apply "din rodef" to an individual it's surely not endorsed by even the most radical Chabad rabbis/mashpiim at least I'm yet to hear or read one say such a thing therefore it must be presumed that people who do it even if they screem "Yechi" all day are doing it on their own accord if in fact it's not done by provacateurs as has been discussed in other news reports. Correct me if I'm wrong but all of the media who are reporting about the nails on the roads have so far given no proof as to the identity of the individuals involved the entire act of spiking road next to Kfar Chabad is illogical from the perspective of someone who is a Lubavitcher even if he'd believe it's right to do this in general which is unlikely as explained above a person would be hurting his own neighbors 99.9% of whom are against disengagement anyway.
Brocha vehatzlocha!
Ariel Sokolovsky
Long Live our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever!

[rebeljew]

Ariel

So unlike you to be so self deceived. To deny that there are radicals that are more than tolerated in Chabad is ludicrous. Witness a certain Rabbi H who implicitly PRAISED the murder of Rabin along with 100 Chaverim. Step one: remove head from sand!

[Paul Freedman]

Rebeljew

But I'm not convinced that Ariel's experience is outweighed by evidence of radicals being tolerated, a certain Rabbi H or whomever (or that for certain the road vandals were Chabad). It would be nice to have some "social science" info on this: numbers of Chabad adherents, generational ties, influence of central authority (or lack of central authority), how organization has changed from the 70's, the 90's, today--whether there have been communal understandings of who is a member of Chabad and who is just hanging out, etc.

[Paul Freedman]

Rebeljew, Ariel

To be more specific--let's say there is a "radical" guy over here who says "disengagement is very bad but violence is not permitted", and over here is someone is affiliated with Chabad in some way who says "disengagement is very bad" but maybe isn't so clear about the non-violence part of it, and some guys over there who call themselves Chabad, say "Yechi" all day, and get down and physical.

Is there a Chabad "standard" by which it would be clear that this guy is Chabad and that guy really isn't?

[Ariel Sokolovsky]

B"H

Shalom uBrocha !

"Ariel

So unlike you to be so self deceived. To deny that there are radicals that are more than tolerated in Chabad is ludicrous. Witness a certain Rabbi H who implicitly PRAISED the murder of Rabin along with 100 Chaverim. Step one: remove head from sand!

Posted by: rebeljew | July 8, 2005 07:36 AM

"
Rav Hecht felt as many Jews including Yigal Amir did/do that Rabin was a rodef in a sense that thru his actions he was placing millions of Jews in danger (unless one choses to believe the theory of Barry Chamish see http://www.yigalamir.com ) (which is what actually happened as a result of Oslo accords as you know) while it's not the way of Chabad to go around killing politicians since Yigal did what many frum Jews and rabbis felt was a correct way to act he did it realizing the full consequences for himself his act was not motivated by money but (arguably misguided) idealism there was a place to praise him even by people who wouldn't personally do this like many in Crown Heights praise Tzfatim for changing the plaque but for various reasons wouldn't do it themselves.
The problem is in this case nails and oil on highway near Kfar Chabad there is no source in halocha for such behavior by a Torah observant Jew it places innocent people in danger not to mention damages their cars even if one would do this in a place totally populated by the supporters of disengagement (it's obvious that private citizen holding/ advocating an opinion is much more removed from the status of a rodef even when it's interpreted the way it was as it applied to Rabin and to place them near Kfar Chabad is a double chilul Hashem, stupidity and meshugas which has no basis in halocha or Chassidus (unless a person is a prophet and G-d told him to do this for whatever reason (see Tanach for various seemingly wierd/crazy things some prophets did by Hashem's orders to shake people up to provoke them to reconsider their ways kind of shock therapy [still as far as I remember none of them did anything like this that hurts innocent people] ) which I highly doubt is the case here)
So in principle how is this different than Arab terorrism indiscriminate harm to innocent people including those who presumably support such a cause?
Besides that there is no proof so far that the people who done this even claim to be Chabadniks (as far as I know they were not caught) various details of the incident sugest it was a provocation.

"Rebeljew, Ariel

To be more specific--let's say there is a "radical" guy over here who says "disengagement is very bad but violence is not permitted", and over here is someone is affiliated with Chabad in some way who says "disengagement is very bad" but maybe isn't so clear about the non-violence part of it, and some guys over there who call themselves Chabad, say "Yechi" all day, and get down and physical.

Is there a Chabad "standard" by which it would be clear that this guy is Chabad and that guy really isn't?

Posted by: Paul Freedman | July 8, 2005 10:37 AM
"
There are various descriptions of what's a Chabadnik ranging from someone who descends from Chabadniks and keeps Chabad customs to the Rebbe's statement that every Chossid believes that the Rebbe is the Moshiach (see Sicha Purim 5747) which seems to imply that if someone doesn't he is not in the category of "every Chabad Chossid" the issue is if a person believes the Rebbe is Moshiach he must also believe that he must act in accordance with the Rebbe's teachings (see http://donkeymoshiach.blogspot.com/2005/06/appointing-king.html ) and I have yet to hear anyone prove from the Rebbe's general teachings or even private letters to individuals that the Rebbe King Moshiach Shlit"a encouraged directly or indirectly indiscriminate acts of violence against innocent people men women and children like throwing nails and oil on a highway or the like and thus I have yet to hear a Chabad Rav or Mashpia encourage or approves of this. Since Shmarya likes to dig up dirt I challenge him to find such a person (such long and fruitless search will take his time away from posting other nonsense here:-) .
PS. I read a letter of the Rebbe King Moshiach Shlit"a to Jew in London where he says in part that the reason why for example no-one goes around forcing Jewish stores to be closed on Shabbos in London is that the Jewish community doesn't have such power (unlike in previous generations in some places) the Rebbe further explains that as far as the Land of Yisrael is concerned, his insistence that it should be governed as much as possible according to halocha even though he doesn't believe the State of Israel is the beginning of redemption flows from his understanding that halocha should ideally be enforced as much as possible on the communal level even while we are still in golus (this PS was posted with full understanding that Shmarya will probably use it to "prove" that the Rebbe King Moshiach Shlit"a is in support of "Taliban" http://www.moshiachlisten.com/taliban.html . In which case I can quote the Sicha about the fact that in the time of redemption there will be judges, advicers, but not enforcers see Sicha Shabbos Parshas Shoftim 7th Day of Elul, 5751
http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sichos-in-english/49/20.htm :-)
Gut Shabbos!
Brocha veHatzlocha!

Ariel Sokolovsky
http://moshiachtv.blogspot.com/2005/07/moshe-never-died.html
Long Live our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever!

[Paul Freedman]

Ariel, the charedi community of Israel receives a lot of financial support from politicians. If many frum Rabbis really, truly believe that Rabin's conduct as Prime Minister of an elected government (even one in galus, and responsible for Oslo to boot) justified shooting him in the head, they should publicize this so that those who truly believe that it is not a positive thing to go around shooting politicians in the head can, perhaps, re-evaluate where their money is going. People who voted for Rabin, people who didn't but believed in his right to be Prime Minister without assassination had their rights hurt just as (if differently and less immediately obvious) an "innocent" civilian who runs over nails strewn in the road.

[Paul Freedman]

Ariel responded to my above post with a reply that whose length is interpreted as spam. I continue to believe that: a) since the criteria for extrapolating whether a secular (or religious) leaders' political actions are harmful are subjective, then b) voluntary elimination of "rodefs" in a secular government (democratic) when that elimination is undertaken by religious believers based on their self-nomination as the sufficient interpreters of halachik traditions of rodef vs., say, pikuach nefish, to act as judge, jury, and executioner in order to, as it were, begin the "redemption" of a state or kingdom or enforce daas torah generally is a prescription for anarchy and is absolutely unacceptable--to my knowledge we have no universally accepted Sanhedrin that hs the authority to even begin to sanction this. I bring you the opening of the response--the full article length reply can be found at http://donkeymoshiach.blogspot.com/2005/07/reply-on-another-blog-that-doesnt.html

pf

Ariel's partial reply:
--------

By the grace of G-d
Shalom uBrocha!

"
Ariel, the charedi community of Israel receives a lot of financial support from politicians.
"
1) I guess you don't mean the same politicians mentioned here:
http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=15987&showrashi=true
see Rashi there on verse 11 and note the Rebbe's explanation that every Jew owns 4 amos in the Land of Yisrael and whoever gives it away is stealing among other things and personal gain mentioned in this Rashi is obvious to anyone with his eyes open who have read about the personal investments of the various politicians involved in the so called "peace process" casino in Jericho comes to mind and other things. These guys are lucky to still be alive as in many other countries their deplorable actions would have lead to a millitary coup long ago, but see Rashi here on verse 9 http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=15986&showrashi=true to understand why most of them are still alive.)

2) It's not only the chareidi
" Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a professor at Yeshiva University and respected authority on the halacha, informed the media that according to Jewish religious law anyone perceived as a rodef should be killed.
"

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:lIfCENFQTwwJ:www.againstbombing.com/Rabinmurder.htm+hecht+rabin&hl=en

By 1995, the question of whether Rabin and Peres merited death had acquired widespread currency. One ultra-Orthodox newspaper published a symposium on whether Rabin deserved to die and the appropriate means of executing him. Later, the newspaper answered its own question with an editorial stating that Rabin and Peres "must be placed before a firing squad." As one moderate settler leader later lamented, "Hundreds of people heard the word rodef used in connection with the late prime minister months before the murder."

If many frum Rabbis really, truly believe that Rabin's conduct as Prime Minister of an elected government (even one in galus, and responsible for Oslo to boot) justified shooting him in the head, they should publicize this
"
It was widely publicized at the time do a search for rabin rodef or rabin moser you'll see.
When someone
***

so that those who truly believe that it is not a positive thing to go around shooting politicians in the head can, perhaps, re-evaluate where their money is going.
***
As I said it's not a position of Chareidi community it was a position voiced by many in across the spectrum of Orthodox community at the time, some have retracted their words after the fact though
"In a statement issued by the RAA, Hecht was quoted as saying, "I quoted Jewish law as codified in Maimonides that conveys the seriousness of taking action that endangers human life. I never said nor meant that [the] Maimonides ruling was to be applied, heaven forbid, against Rabin or any other person."
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:jPaqtO8HscoJ:www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/2394/edition_id/40/format/html/displaystory.html+hecht+rabin&hl=en

People who voted for Rabin, people who didn't but believed in his right to be Prime Minister without assassination had their rights hurt just as (if differently and less immediately obvious) an "innocent" civilian who runs over nails strewn in the road.

Posted by: Paul Freedman | July 8, 2005 03:45 PM

It should be obvious to any thinking person that the right of the person to be prime minister or his right to life is conditional on his actions not endangering the lives of others.
If you don't agree perhaps you should start a campaign to censor Tanach Talmud Rambam etc. of any overt or indirect incitement to elimination of those who have the status of "rodef" or "moser" since this is practicly imposible perhaps a better idea would be for politicians to make sure their actions don't place them into halachik position of a rodef or moser making their asasination simply a matter of expediency.

[I Love Hashem]

This website is so full of rubbish- this is ridiculous! I guarantee that most of the people who say bad things about the Rebbe HAVE NEVER EVEN MET A SINGLE CHABADNIK AND EXPERIENCED THEM. THEY HEAR THIS LOSHON HOROH FROM A PERSON THAT HEARD FROM ANOTHER PERSON. Granted, there definitely are Chabadniks that lead the entirely wrong and violent derech, but these people are not supported by all of the major Lubavitch Rabbonim such as Rabbi Groner and many more. It is disgusting not to give these Rabbonim the benefit of the doubt, I guarantee that Rabbi Groner hates these actions, they only give Chabad a bad name.

In addition, the Israeli media perverts the Chabad movement to an extreme and makes up stories that never even happened.

[Moishe]

Your PROTESTING the fact that there are some wonderful people who are trying to stop the disengagement?

These guys are heroes sorry to tell you.

[jeff davis]

Barry Chamish is a mentally deranged fruitcake with intimate ties to Holocaust Deniers and Neo-Nazis (see www.barry-chamish.com) and a long history of "seeing" UFOs and space aliens!