Better Dead Than Reform? Chabad, It Seems, Says Yes

RebelJew has an incisive post on rabbis – Chabad rebbes prominent among them – who told their followers to remain in Europe rather than escape to life and freedom in America or Israel:

Around the Chabad observance of Yud Shvat (the yahrzeit of the 6th Rebbe), much discussion is expended on the Holocaust, anti-Zionism, mesiras nefesh, and particularly, the ultra-frum response that kept hundreds of thousands from fleeing Europe. The 6th Rebbe of Chabad indeed advised that, given the proper service of Jews, there might be no war.…Other gedolim advised their followers to stay, counseling that a secular Zionist Israel or a free America would cause damage to the people's frumkeit. Similarly, at Chaf Dalet Teves, the yahrzeit of the first Chabad Rebbe, much discussion centers on the fact that the first Rebbe supported the oppresive Czar over the forces of egalite' under Bonaparte.

As a justification in these cases, Chabadniks will point out that frumkeit remained strong in Russia, but it did not in France. Similarly, they felt it was better for the people to die in Europe than to live in America and risk diminishing their Jewish observance.…

RebelJew points out that France at the time of Napoleon was not "frum," and that nothing much is left of pre-war European Jewish learning, while yeshivot flourish in Israel and are supported by the government there, and America has an exponentially growing, flourishing haredi community.

He also writes:

However, my question is on the logic. Since when do we push away pikuach nefesh vadai on a safek (perhaps they will lapse in frumkeit). Would not a better course have been to save themselves and the people and then attend to them in the new places with extra kiruv, extra leadership, as has occurred thoughout the history of Judaism? Now, we get to the real point. Did these Rabanim not have faith in their own ability to lead? Did they prefer millions of dead Jews or Jews living in squalor and oppression to having to face up to their own insecurity in their abilities to shepherd the flock? Was it more important to keep them nursing from pure dogma than to save them from almost certain death?

And this is the question I would like you to answer: Better dead than Reform? Is there any defense for this behavior by Chabad rebbes and other gedolim? I don't think so. Do you?

Comments

[Yochanan Lavie]

The rabbis are merely flesh & blood. Worshipping them is idolatry. Daas Torah is a form of rabbi worship.

[schneur]

No rabbi or for that matter secular Jewish leader could forcast the Holocaust or the Communsit War against Judaism until they actually happened.Even our Zionist friends did not advocate a mass emigration from Europe to Israel. The only people talking of a evacuation was Jabotinsky and his disciples.
I would estimate that a good 50% of all Orthodox Jews in the US today are children of Jews who came to these shores after 1933.
The rabbis were correct about America few of the Jews who came here prior to WW2 could give their Judaism over to their children.
Even in a MO stronghold like Teaneck , my conversations there reveal about 40% of the Jews there to be children of Holocaust survivors and of German refugees.Basically all Jews who arrived in the uS prior to 1933 were lost even though rabbis, etc were also here.
Very little of western European Jewry remained religious either. there too the New orthodoxy is comprised primarily of either Sefardic Jews or children of survivors.
Yes Russian Jewry underwent its own Enlightenemnt , but hundreds of thousands of Jews remained frum there until well after the Communists took power.
The arguement presented here only makes sense if you believe that the rabbis posessed Daas Torah and could for see events, but in terms of normal behavior the rabbis thought that America andf other countries were not suitable for Orthodoxy and in fact they were not wrong.
Only a MASS MOVEMENT OF RABBIS, ROSHE YESHIVA, Rebbes and CHASSIDIM AND oRTHODOX DIE HARDS AFTER THE wAR TOGETHER WITH A FEELING OF A 614 cOMMANDMENT AS ENUMERATED BY FACKENHEIM CHANGED THINGS IN THE US. This 614 Commandment was the most crucial factor in the growth of orthodoxy after WW2 in North America.

[rebeljew]

Schneur

Daas Torah, the omniscience of the Rebbe or the Alter Rebbe, that is the product being sold by these stories. They think it is a virtue to have died in Europe or to be oppressed at the hands of the Czar. I say they were shirking their duty as leaders. Add to that they claimed or were claimed to be supermen. I see no evidence that they were supermen.

You say noone could have forecas the Holocaust. Yet many did, especiallly in the 30s. Yet, no Rebbe's did. Again, no evidence of amzing insight or superpowers of any type.

[yehudi]

Schneur makes some good points.

However,

1) let us not forget those Jews that came before 1933 that stayed Orthodox and passed it on. There were die-hards there too.

2) Baalei tshuvah today are a dynamic source of strength in the frum community. From where are they from ? It seems that many are from the derided group that came early who lost some of their descendants. So that group still lives on through them.

3) The focus on who is/was/remained 'frum' obscures certain points. Some of the 'frum', like the overly-praised 'survivors' (isn't every Jew a survivor?) were/are perhaps 'frum', but were ganovim and had other such 'maylos'. 'Frum' isn't everything.

I would like to know where it says that chabad believes their previous rebbis were omniscient. I have heard a number of stories of chabbad rabbeim, told by chabadnkis, that clearly showed a lack of omniscients on the part of the seven rebbes of the chabad movement.

[chief doofis]

I am a 4th generation American. My great-grandfather arrived after the 1905 pogroms. My grandchildren are attending Yeshiva. It was difficult to remain observant in the U.S., but not impossible. DON'T KNOCK US!!

Besides, look who's talking. After 2,000 years, the "Orthodox" Chabadniks, are raising a generation that is at best Amei Ha'arets, and includes in its ranks thousands of believers in a False Messiah (is Reform really worse?), and hundreds (if not thousands) of people who deify a human!! Reform Judaism may resemble the Saduccees (not really), Chabad Elohists resemble Osiris worship!! (The Yehi crowd are merely Sabbateans) Perhaps, better Reform than Chabad. At least, many Reform Jews have either become Baalei T'shuva, or support Torah institutions. How many Chabadniks will return to Judaism, and renounce their false Messiah, let alone those who must renounce their idolatry?

[Harold]

And the Reform actually believe in humane slaughter of animals.

[leon]

see bartenura on avot 3:17.

[leon]

here's the Bartenura on Avot (3:17):

Im ein kemach ein Torah, of what use is his kemach to him? Since he has no Torah, he would be better off if he had no kemach and starved to death.

You could look it up.

[leon]

oops!

make that: im ein Torah, ein kemach.

that could be an exageration leon. I think what it is saying is that if a person lives their entire life as a bad person, and never does teshuva, only then would it maybe have been better if they had not lived. But as long as a person is alive, they have the chance in a single moment to do complete teshuva, and we want a person to live as long as possible hoping that they will do teshuva, even on their deathbed.

[EileenK]

I'm no scholar of religious history, but I know there have been at least two revivals in Judaism in the 20th century. There was the revival in Germany of the 1920's that created the Orthodox/Modern Orthodox (if you prefer) movement. There was a revival after World War II (according to Hella Winston anyway), and there was a revival in the early 1980's. I went from being raised in a secular home to being fairly observant while I was at college in the early 1980's.

I wonder if Judaism have the ability to sweep in a fresh influx of interested and observant new blood every generation or so. I also wonder if Jewish revivals in the United States move in synch with Christian revivals.

And yes, I do think the rebbes and other leadership were afraid of competing with what a free and prosperous society had to offer. Call me cynical if you like. The sad part is I think Judaism can more than hold its own. It does take some consumer friendliness though.

[Prophecies of the Rebbe over 50 years YouTube video click here to watch]

B"H
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eCpO2qwFZO8
more interesting videos:

http://www.youtube.com/chabadvideos

[Schneur]

A few replies to comments on my comment.
I never knocked those very few American Jewish families who were able to transmit their Orthodoxy to their children. On the contrary these people deseve praise.
To the gentlemen who said "are'nt we all survivors." Can you tell that to my late father who was a POW from Oct 1939- Mid 1940 and spent until May 1945 in various death camps , concentration camps and slave labor camps. Tell that to my late mother who spent from July 1941 - May 1945 in Concentration/death camps. Try selling that in that glib manner to those who survived Auschwitz, to those who fought as Partisans , to those hidden under ten feet of dung hiding from the Germans.
Yes sir we all are survivors especially American Jews in 1939-1945 who could not even proclaim 1 fast day for their brethern in Europe being slaughtered after all eating Chinese and Delli is the ikkar of American Judaism.

[chief doofis]

My main point was that chabad was formerly at the "vanguard" of Orthodoxy. Their insistence on death as a preferable alternative to the seductions of America, was so "amazing". Look at them now, was Reform really a worse alternative than the greatest heresy in Jewish history, Chabad has provided us with our first False Messiah since the 1660's (Frank didn't count), and our first deified human since Christ!! (At least Christians admit that they believe in a different religion) the chabadniks portray themselves as bonafide Jews!

[Rebecca]

Schneur, I understand why you feel angry when a commenter said "aren't we all survivors?" - there was of course a huge difference between the experience of Jews living in America during the war and those trapped in Europe, the difference between life and death. Nonetheless it is offensive for you to tar all American Jews during the war with the same brush. My grandfather, for one, did his best to bring European relatives to the U.S. before the war by sending them affidavits. What prevented them from being saved was the tiny immigration quotas for people from Latvia and then the beginning of the war. My grandfather was a member of a Reform synagogue, but he believed in trying to save people from death.

[Itzhak Schier]

There were so few visas available to any safe haven that the point of debating this is moot. The gedoilm were putting forth their greatest hopes, reassuring Yidden, and beseeching Hashem to stop the destruction but...

No one will ever understand the Shoah, and if we do want to understand it, then we must do all we can to bring Moshiach so that Hashem's will is finally revealed as we are reunited with the six million kedoishim who were murdered during the churban.

[rebeljew]

Itchak

These gedolim stressed how unacceptable it was to flee to places like Israel and America, even in the face of certain death. And then THEY WENT and SAVED THEMSELVES!!!!! It is not a moot point, as they were able to escape. The question is whether their logic was good or not.

[Shmarya]

Of course, that explains why many of those same gedolim told Jews not to leave Europe when visas WERE available. Please. They were wrong.

[Itzhak Schier]

When and where were there visas available? US? Forget it. Palestine? Doubtful. Even if people had listened to Jabotinsky he would not have been able to pull off his plans.

Also, the fact is, like it or not, that in a tragedy, people act to save their leaders first. The Satmar Rov ZYA did NOT save himself; it is not clear why Kasztner selected him to join the one transport that he ran properly but such was the case. The others - I have no idea (no one is quite clear re: the Gerrer Rebbe and what he even told his followers) and when I see that the Shoah was clearly a gezeira which we don't understand, I have no desire to speculate. I only know that they rebuilt Torah communities throughout the world and therefore, I accept whatever happened, however it happened, imperfect as it may have been during those horrible times, as Hashem's will.

When Moshiach comes, we will see what was what. Until then, it is one historian against the other and chances are NONE is right!

[Michoel]

Doofis--w/o getting into the debate--I am confused about your math and counting and when someone calls himself a "4th generation American". On my father's side of the family, my great-grandfather immigrated here from Romania in 1890 (he missed the Civil War by 15 years but was in the US early enough enough to serve in the Spanish-American War!) His son, my late paternal grandfather (born in upstate NY in 1900), so he was the first-generation American Jew--no? My father, born in 1930 was the 2nd-generation American Jew and I, born in 1970, am the 3d generation! If your great-grandfather only came in 1905, how do you figure you're fourth generation? Do you count the immigrant himself as "first generation"? I am confused, maybe I am the real doofus!

[aryeh]

please explain why czarist russia was pikuach nefesh vadai?
also its a question of totally assimilating