The Messiah Makes Miracles – Just Call Him On The Phone, And He Will Help You

Chabad.info reports on a new Chabad advertising campaign in Israel: The Messiah Makes Miracles and Wonders! It encourages people to call a telephone number and get "answers" and "blessings" from the Rebbe, who passed away in 1994. The "answers" and "blessings" come from consulting the collected volumes of the Rebbe's correspondence in an oracle-like fashion, randomly opening a volume and scanning the page for "answers" and "blessings."

Avi Piamenta and his son have composed and recorded a song for the campaign, as well. And, as you can see clearly in the picture below, the bus signs also say, "Yechi …." "Long live our master, our teacher, our rabbi, king messiah forever and ever!"

All of this – contacting a dead person for "advice" and "blessing," the idea that a man "makes" miracles, that a dead man is still alive and is the messiah to boot – is extremely problematic theologically and halakhicly. Contacting a dead man for "advice" and "blessing" is clearly avodah zara, prohibited biblically and rabbinically. For this, Chabad should be shunned. That it is not reveals the corruption and moral turpitude of what passes for Jewish leadership in this blighted age.

[Hat Tip: Ariel Sokolovsky.]

Comments

[Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky BostonChabad.com]

B"H
Shalom!
1)Thank you for posting this.
2)The practice of asking a blessing of a tzadik even after his passing has many sources in Jewish tradition as you surely well know. (There are those who object to it like the Rambam who lived in a Suny Muslim country and (by his own admission) tried to present Judaism in a way to get the most "respect" of gentiles and assimilated "rationalist" Jews living there. Yet Talmud is full of examples in support of this and other rishonim and acharonim disagree with the Rambam as even pointed out in one of the books you advertise on this site. The practice of goral-throwing lots using a holy book like Igrot also has sources in the Torah and Jewish tradition done by many Chassidim and Misnagdim (including the Vilna Gaon and the Brisker for example) Sefardim and Ashenazim and again the Rambam is basically the only one who objects to it as you surely know.)
Yet the miracles people experience are very real.
And one of those miracles is how you , Berger and the like continue to drive many people to Chabad thru unbalanced categorical criticism which continuously arouses extra curiosity in the topic much like the stuff at the Peisach seder table and is easily refuted.
Read this story for example : From Exile to Redemption in My Life
It is a miracle that someone like you who chooses to be lenient and tolerant on many issues. In one recent post bending over backwards to justify Conservative movements recent rulings essentially permitting homosexuality for example yet continue to persist in this.
A miracle akin to "hardening of Pharoh's heart in order to increase the miracles in the land of Egypt"...:-)
PS.
Again I'd like to express my thanks to the author of this blog for being 3rd-4th largest referrer of visitors to most of my Moshiach related blogs not to mention the pilegesh and Jewish polygamy blog http://Pilegesh.org which was also featured here.
I'd like to invite the illustrious author of this blog to drink Le'Chaim on Benedictine DOM the amazing drink enjoyed by Moshiach himself in honor of the continuation of this amazing partnership dedicated to promotion of Moshiach, redemption and now also helping other Yiddn. (see the "sticky post" on top of this blog) :-)

[patrossim]

those idiots are prostituting the concept of Gd, the concept of mashiach and the concept of family.

[patrossim]

It encourages people to call a telephone number and get "answers" and "blessings" from the Rebbe, ....The "answers" and "blessings" come from consulting the collected volumes of the Rebbe's correspondence in an oracle-like fashion, randomly opening a volume and scanning the page for "answers" and "blessings."

this must be a chinese creation adopted by lubavitch, check out this chinese product used by diviners at the entrance of chinese temples:
The Chinese fortune telling sticks have been used for hundred of years for divination and fortunetelling.
Shake the container of numbered sticks until the first sticks jumps out as the naturally chosen indicator of your future. Then read the numbered passage, written in poetic form to aid your future, and consider well its meaning in relation to your own lift. Held within the lacquered bamboo cylinder are 78 special, painted bamboo sticks. Each stick bears writing which represents a state of being, idea, action, situation, or suggestion. Characters from Chinese fables are painted on the cylinder in gold.
The ancient chinese divining tool.
Instruction manual included.
Made of fine bamboo

[patrossim]

this must be the result of crossing jewish idolaters with the wealth creating chinese locales in china, typically gratefully reffered to by the local emissaries as choziray.
if this is not darkei emori, what is?
and to think that poor king saul was punished for contacting his dead tzadiq du jour.
at least he used more heimish traditional methods rather than resorting to chinese divination, don't you think?

[Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky BostonChabad.com]

B"H
Jewish Journal: Who Can Be Moshiach?
By Rabbi Shlomo Ezagui,
Can Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson be the Moshiach (Messiah)? I say yes. My question to you, in the tradition of our sages, is: Who is your possible candidate? In the Talmud Sanhedrin, Rabbi Nachman says, if he (Moshiach) is from the living, it is me!! A little while later, we have the students of Shilo calling their teacher Moshiach; the students of Yinoin, the students of Chaninah and the students of Menachem, all calling their teachers Moshiach...

The Talmud goes further and says: If he is from the living, he could be Rabbi Judah, the prince, and if he is from the dead, he could be Daniel. The commentator Rashi says these are just examples of who Moshiach may be.

Maimonides, in his book of laws, tells how Rabbi Akiva called Bar Kochba the Moshiach.

My friends, this is the Jewish tradition. Jews believe fervently in the coming of Moshiach and placed "bets" on whom he may be, living or not. Moshiach is a basic principle of Jewish faith. If any other "religion" believes in anything similar to this faith, well, we all know imitation is the best form of flattery.

Maimonides formulated our 13 principles of faith. Number 12 is for us to believe "every day" in the coming of Moshiach.

"And though he tarry, I anxiously await his arrival every day." Many Jews have a tradition of reading this principle before and/or after their morning services, every day.

If someone were to ask, "What makes Chabad different from the Jews for Jesus?" I would respond in the true fashion of a traditional Jew, with a question: What is the difference between a Jew and a Christian?

For one thing, Jews are descendants of a common ancestry - Abraham Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah.

But most importantly, it's that Jews are bound to G-d through the rules of the Torah, all of them. We don't have NEW books or Reform books or even Conservative books, but as the Torah itself tells us, these rules are "for us and our children for all eternity." As the Rambam says, "this Torah will never change, forever." Since the Torah emanates from an eternal, infinite G-d, it never needs any changes or adaptations to new scenarios. Every possible situation has already been forewarned and addressed in the infinite eternal book of G-d's wisdom.

The Midrash recounts a beautiful story in the times of the destruction of the Second Temple. An unknown traveler told a Jewish farmer that from the noises of his cow, he could tell the Temple was just destroyed. A moment later, he tells this farmer that he hears Moshiach was just born, and his name is Menachem and he lives in the city of Biras Arba.

The Jew traveled to that town and told the mother of this baby, your child Menachem - Moshiach - will be blown away by the wind and concealed for a time, until it's ripe for him to come and redeem the world.

This is our tradition, our holy tradition and belief of thousands of years. Jews were killed and persecuted, always with the thought and belief on their lips that one day, in the times of Moshiach, all the pieces of the puzzle will come together.

Moshiach, as Maimonides tells us, is the "anointed one," descended from King David, who ushers in an era of peace and blessings for the whole world. It is said: "All our Prophets prophesized of this great day," and "anyone who does not believe in Moshiach denies the very core of the Torah and Moses the prophet."

Jeremiah, the prophet in the times of the great King Yoshiahu (Josiah) believed that the king, in his time, was Moshiach, and as a result started to gather the members of the 10 tribes for the ingathering of the exiles. The Talmud tells us that one of the first questions a Jew is asked and must report on when he returns his soul to his Creator is, "did you wait anxiously for the coming of Moshiach?"

Have you ever waited for something anxiously? You can't get it out of your mind. You do everything to finally get there. Right? Everyone around you can sense your anxiousness. That's the kind of "anxiously" we're talking about.

Rabbi Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, very clearly said this generation would experience the coming of this righteous redeemer. His first public Chassidic discourse chartered his vision, where he said it would be this generation that would draw the godliness of this great era, the era of Moshiach, down to this physical world. In 1970, he dedicated a Torah, which he called the Torah of Moshiach. The Rebbe said that it was with this Torah we would receive the Moshiach. There wasn't a talk in which the Rebbe did not express the imperative to do all that we can to make this dream and prophecy, finally, a reality.

The Rebbe was and is greatly respected as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, scholar of this generation. His accomplishments are monumental, and as a descendant of the scion of King David from his fathers' side, his teachings and his being carry much weight. In the tradition of the earlier sages in the Talmud, the Rebbe, in many different ways indicated, may be Moshiach.

I have a question for those reading this article: If you subscribe to all the traditional texts of our faith, have you considered, lately, who may be your Moshiach if he has the possibility of coming, in the words of Maimonides "every day"?

The Rebbe was once asked by a CNN reporter what his message to the world was. He said, "Moshiach is ready to come now; it is only for our part to do something additional in the realm of acts of goodness and kindness... a little bit more, and then Moshiach will come immediately!"

Rabbi Shlomo Ezagui is the spiritual leader of Chabad House Lubavitch of Palm Beach in Northern Palm Beach County. WWW.CHABADCENTERPALMBEACH.COM

[Shmarya]

Ariel, you're wrong.

Goral throwing, etc., is done with a Humash under certain controled circumstances. It is not done to contact the dead; it is about "contacting" God.

The rest of what you and Ezagul write is crap. Just because isolated opinions exist in the Talmud does not make those opinions kosher. The Talmud colected many opinions, but held like few opinions.

To take aggadic material and "paskin" from that, and to encourage others to do, is sheer irresponsibility.

[Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky BostonChabad.com]

B"H
Of course, to permit homosexuals to "marry" the Conservative Rabbis and yourself are willing to take minority opinion and stretch them to allow even more "wiggle room" to allow a simple person to connect to G-d however on his level you can't allow despite the fact that in this case it is permited by majority opinion among the rishonim and acharonim...
PS. It is highly surprising that a scholar such as yourself would state:
"To take aggadic material and "paskin" from that, and to encourage others to do, is sheer irresponsibility."
On the other hand this perhaps provides a clue to your "certainty" lack of familarity with the prevailing halachik opinions on the issues.
Not only that according to the Rambam's own approach to Oral Torah and Psak Halacha in our time even if 90% of poskim would agree with him on these issues which they don't there would be no obligation to listen to them if what they are saying doesn't make sense see the article by the posek (rabbinic advicer) of pilegesh blog on this here:

[Source of Jewish morality and psak halacha]

http://pilegesh.blogspot.com/2007/03/source-of-jewish-morality-and-psak.html

[Shmarya]

Ariel,

Those "minority opinions" I mention with regard to homosexuality are first and foremost opinions based on ACCEPTED Talmudic and later rabbinic legal opinions. It is common for poskim to string together lenient views, often in ways that don't at first blush make sense, in order to releive peoples suffering. These types of decisions are regularly made with medical halakha. I once was told by a rabbi who is also a physician that R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach gave a group of doctors a very lenient decision – so lenient that this haredi rabbi-doctor was shocked. He asked RSZA immediately afterward to explain the pesak. RSZA did that, going step by step from the question through the sources to the seemingly unrelated earlier answers from other rabbis on different questions, to the unification of all this, to his final, very lenient answer. The haredi rabbi-doctor asked RSZA how he could do this. RSZA replied that to ease suffering, it is proper to find way to decide leniently, and that this has been the practice of poskim throughout the ages. RSZA then gave copious examples of this.

But RSZA would not countenance taking a rejected Talmudic opinion or something mention in aggadita but not accepted as law, and using that to reshape Judaism. It is one thing to spare an individual pain, or the Jewish people pain; it is another to pervert the Torah to promote idolotry and foolishness.

There may be room for a posek to leniently decide that what you advocate is not avodah zara, but that does not make what you advocte kosher or acceptible for you or for others.

And, again, the opinions you rely on are not accepted by the Talmud or by later authorities.

You should really think very deeply about this. Keep in mind that when Shaul HaMelech illegally contacted the dead, he was answered. That did not make what he did correct or acceptible.

Just because your Igros oracle seems to work does not make it correct or acceptible.

Think about this.

[g]

Shmarya, why are you so adamant against belief in Jesus Schneerson ? C'mon, drink the kewl aid already and accept him as your saviour.

[Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky]

B"H
How about this a pregnant woman in Israel goes to the doctors they say her life will be in danger if she tries to give birth the Rabbis expert in medical halacha agree with the doctors...
The woman goes to the Chabad house of Rabbi Antizaddeh in Netanya and gets an answer thru Igrot to go thru with the birth. Doctors and her husband get upset he comes with her to the Chabad House and gets same type of answer thru Igros a healthy baby is born and named Menachem Mendel...
Still not willing to search for some wiggle room ?:-)
(I personally verified this story by the way)
For the benefit of your readers here it is bellow with my comments:
Monday, August 08, 2005
THE DOCTORS SAID AN ABORTION WAS MANDATORY...
By the grace of G-d

Shalom uBrocha!

It's writen about the Rebbe King Moshiach:
1. And a shoot shall spring forth from the stem of Jesse, and a twig shall sprout from his roots.
And a shoot shall spring forth from the stem of Jesse And if you say, ‘Here are consolations for Hezekiah and his people, that they shall not fall into his hands. Now what will be with the exile that was exiled to Halah and Habor, is their hope lost?’ It is not lost! Eventually, the King Messiah shall come and redeem them.
a shoot [This is symbolic of] the royal scepter.
and a twig an expression of a sapling.
and a twig shall sprout from its roots and the entire section, and at the end (v. 11), "And it shall come to pass, that on that day, the Lord shall apply His hand again…[from Assyria]… Hence, [it is obvious] that this prophecy was said to console those exiled to Assyria.
2. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and heroism, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
3. And he shall be animated by the fear of the Lord, and neither with the sight of his eyes shall he judge, nor with the hearing of his ears shall he chastise.
And he shall be animated by the fear of the Lord He shall be filled with the fear of the Lord. [ed enos mera il luy in O.F., and He shall be enlivened.]
and neither with the sight of his eyes shall he judge For, with the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is within him, will he know and understand who is innocent and who is guilty.
Yeshayahu - Isaiah 11

The story bellow clearly shows this manifest:

By M. Melamed

It was late at night and on Binyamin Boulevard in Netanya, the lights went out one by one. The street emptied out and the nighttime silence descended on the entire area. One house still had the lights on. It was the house of Rabbi Moshe Antizadeh, the rav of the Iranian shul. R’ Moshe was sitting and learning in his living room.

The Iranian community in Netanya had gotten used to the fact that their rabbi wasn’t an ordinary rabbi but also a Chabad Chassid. When they had any sort of trouble they knew they could ask him to help them write to the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh. The miracle stories that resulted were the talk of the town.

So it didn’t surprise R’ Moshe when somebody knocked at his door at that late hour. He opened the door to see a woman who looked obviously in distress. He invited her in and asked how he could be of assistance.

The woman broke down as she said she had heard that you can write to the Rebbe…

THE DOCTORS SAID AN ABORTION WAS MANDATORY

After she calmed down, she began to relate her tragic story. “I am married for nearly ten years and I still don’t have any children. I’ve undergone medical treatment and three months ago I was told that I’m finally pregnant. I was thrilled of course, but my joy was short-lived.

“A few weeks ago I wasn’t feeling well and after a series of tests, the doctors said there’s a malignant growth in my uterus and I must have it removed. Since they can’t treat the growth while the fetus is in the uterus, they told me I have to abort within a week so they can start treatment as soon as possible.

“I’ve gone to the top doctors in the country and they all say I must abort, and every additional day endangers my life and increases the chance that the usual protocol won’t work to stop the malignancy from spreading. They say that will give them no choice but to remove my uterus.

“I’ve seen a number of rabbonim and after telling them what the doctors say, the rabbonim say I can do the abortion because, “ha’ba l’horgecha, hashkeim l’horgo” (if someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him [first]).

“I’ve come to you in order to write a letter to the Rebbe for a bracha that the abortion go okay, without complications, and that the treatment that I’ll start right after that be successful. They should be able to get rid of the growth without having to remove my uterus, so I’ll still have a chance of having children.”

THE REBBE SAID: IT’S OUT OF THE QUESTION

R’ Moshe listened to the woman’s tragic story and said, “You’ve come to ask the Rebbe about a matter that concerns life and death. This is extremely serious and when you write to the Rebbe, you must tell him all the details and agree to follow whatever the Rebbe says.”

The woman nodded her agreement, took a pen and began to write her letter. R’ Moshe sat nearby and said Tehillim, praying that the woman would get a bracha for a refuah sheleima.

When she finished writing, she put the letter into a volume of Igros Kodesh and after she accepted the Rebbe’s Malchus by saying Yechi, R’ Moshe began to read the Rebbe’s letter.

When the woman heard the opening words of the Rebbe’s answer, she nearly fainted. The Rebbe explained at length the great prohibition in aborting a baby. He went on to explain how it is out of the question negated from any standpoint, both physically and spiritually. At the end of the letter, the Rebbe wished success in all matters.

“The Rebbe is telling you explicitly that you may not have the abortion done,” said R’ Moshe.

The woman looked at him in shock, not believing that a sane person could confidently tell her to oppose all the biggest doctors.

“Are you serious?” she asked skeptically. “Am I really supposed to ignore the warnings of all the doctors? It’s my life we’re talking about!”

Mrs. Antizadeh was present and her heart went out to the woman. She asked her husband to read the Rebbe’s answer again. Perhaps this woman’s situation was different. R’ Moshe took another look but the Rebbe’s answer was quite clear: no abortion!

He looked up from the letter and softly said to the woman, “I absolutely understand your feelings. It’s very hard to accept the Rebbe’s answer when all the doctors say the opposite. But thanks to my experience in similar situations, I can tell you: When the Rebbe says to do something or not to do something when it entails danger to life, listening to the Rebbe brings bracha and success, and not listening can entail real danger. I’m telling you – if you want to do the best thing for yourself and your baby, don’t do the abortion.

“I am absolutely confident that if this is what the Rebbe says, he also takes full responsibility for your wellbeing. The only thing that remains to do is to pick up the phone and tell the doctors that you will not be doing the abortion. Believe in the Rebbe’s words and you will see miracles take place.”

The woman left the rav’s house, her mind in a turmoil. In her ears rang the doctors’ warnings; that if she didn’t do the abortion now, they would have to remove her uterus in order to prevent the growth from spreading. On the other hand, there was the Rebbe’s clear answer. The Rebbe’s blessing for success at the end of the letter gave her some hope that perhaps she would give birth to the child she had waited for these ten years.

THE OPINION OF ANOTHER DOCTOR

The next day was Friday and on his way to shul, R’ Moshe saw the woman and her husband standing near the door, waiting for him. Before he had a chance to greet them, the husband exclaimed, “How can you take this upon yourself? You are taking advantage of a woman who is already on the brink of collapse. Do you want to leave me a widower?”

R’ Moshe stayed calm under attack and waited for the husband to calm down. Then he repeated what he had said the night before. “The Rebbe’s answers in the Igros Kodesh are not a game. People in worse situations were saved by listening to the Rebbe, and so you would be best off strengthening your bitachon in the Rebbe’s words. If you listen to the Rebbe, you’re assured of success.”

The husband didn’t look as angry but he still remained adamant about not listening to an answer that opposed all the doctors and rabbonim. For the next 24 hours he thought about what R’ Moshe had said. The strength and emuna had reached deep into his heart and on motzoei Shabbos he and his wife went to the rav’s house. They wanted to write to the Rebbe, asking him to consider the sensitive and dangerous situation and to perhaps permit the abortion.

The husband wrote the letter and put it in a volume of Igros Kodesh. The Rebbe’s answer was that if they still had doubts, they should consult with another top doctor.

The couple agreed to do this and to listen to what the doctor would tell them to do. R’ Moshe referred them to a world-renowned doctor who works at Hadassa Hospital in Yerushalayim. This doctor is a relative of a Lubavitcher in Netanya, and he had heard many stories about the answers from the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh. He had seen quite a few brachos fulfilled and he agreed to examine the woman.

The examination on Sunday showed that the growth wasn’t as big as it seemed in earlier exams. This doctor was also of the opinion that an abortion had to be done, but unlike the other doctors, he said it didn’t have to be done so fast. He recommended waiting another week. Before they left his office, he encouraged them to have faith in the fulfillment of the Rebbe’s brachos.

TREMENDOUS SIMCHA AT THE BRIS

After a nerve-wracking week, in the course of which the couple did their best to strengthen their belief in the Rebbe’s words, they went back to the doctor’s office in Yerushalayim. She was taken in immediately, due to the seriousness of her condition, and the doctor had the results within a very short time.

His surprised but happy face broadcast the news. “A miracle has taken place. The Rebbe was right, once again! The tests we just did show that the growth is gone! There is no trace of it! There is no need for any treatment, and of course, no abortion is necessary!”

The woman found it hard to believe the news and insisted on another exam to verify the astounding news. Another test confirmed the miraculous results: there was no growth and the woman was fine!

A few months later, the woman gave birth to a healthy boy. The bris was celebrated with tremendous joy as the parents, and their relatives who heard the miracle story, praised Hashem for giving us the Rebbe King Moshiach Shlit"a , may he be revealed immediately!
(Few months ago I met Rabbi Moshe Antizadeh in 770 and he personaly verified the truth of this story.)
With respect and blessing.
Ariel Sokolovsky
To ask the Rebbe King Moshiach Shlit"a question thru Igrot Koidesh (Holy Letters) online go to www.Igrot.com
permanent link to the story is here:
http://moshiachtv.blogspot.com/2005/08/doctors-said-abortion-was-mandatory.html

[Shmarya]

So? It proves nothing. The baby and mother had a chance of surviving the birth even without your Igros Oracle. And you write nothing about such "consultations" that failed.

Further, as the Shaul Hamelech episode proves, the issue is not the effectiveness of the "consultation." The issue is that it is forbidden regardless of its effectiveness.

Now, just to add more to the mix, let's say little Mendel grows up to be a mass murderer or he fires the shot that sparks WW3, or the like. Who would be correct then? You oracle or halakha?

[TheRed]

Ariel, stop spamming this forum with your painfully drawn out miracle stories. I've heard similar miracle tales attributed to the music of Simon and Garfunkel, and I believe they amount to about the same worth: efes.

You are taking the life of a controversial yet unquestionably learned man and turning it into shameful, ludicrous nonsense, as are the rest of the Messianists out there.

R' Schneerson is no doubt turning over in his (completely present, non-imaginary) grave and wondering what he did to deserve such a legacy of absurdity.

If you care about him at all, and if he ever touched your heart, let him be dead in peace. We have learned that the righteous accomplish more in their death than in their life, but you and your followers seem hell-bent on preventing that.

As my uncle, a Holocaust survivor, tells other survivors who dream of their lost relatives and siblings: "Get over it. Dead is dead."

[Paul Freedman]

This descent into necromancy has not only prostituted the mystical traditions-- now reduced to a mumble-jumble of silly innovations and pilpulistic excuses to "explain" how a dead man, incapable of action, incapable of speech, incapable of making a blintz, as mute, insensate as a rock, is not only capable of making miracles (why he communicates through your random periginations through a bound volume), but alive, and indeed eternally alive--but, and not incidentally, re-contextualized the roots of the haskalah. One of the more interesting outcomes of Chabad's degeneracy into superstition should be a rectification in the secular scholastic world of the over-estimation of the sophistication of Chabad, of the cogency and coherence of its self-understanding through the generations, and a more sympathetic understanding of opponents of chasidic superstition.

[Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky]

B"H
You and I know that it is a practice of many Jews to ask blessings of tzadikim it is based on the Zohar , Talmud Midrashim and is permited Shulchan Aruch .
The prohibition to ask of the dead using a necromancer like king Saul did has another reason to it.
The prohibited necromancer uses goish magic practices rooted in avodah zorah - foreign worship. By using necromancer as opposed to a prophet or a priest with urim ve tumim a Jew falls under the influence of "other side" if the necromancer is succesfull a Jew starts relying on him and neglects Torah , practical commandments doesn't come to the temple on sholosh regalim etc. and instead gains loyalty to the necromancer and respect for his "acrediting agency" (:-) )some goish academy of magic in Babylon or Egypt perhaps. It becomes a question of national security if too many people ask necromancers (assuming according to Ramban , Shulchan Aruch and others that necromancers and the like have some powers which are derived from impurity or that they are highly skilled con artists or delussional according to the Rambam)
Going to the graves of the tzadikim or goral thru Igrot interpreted by another observant, G-d fearing Jew at the "miracles phoneline" clearly enhances ones spiritual, mental and phisical state like going to a prophet it strenghtens ones connection to G-d and His Torah and places one one the path of teshuvah out of love for G-d out of recognition that He runs the world that "Yesh Navi beYisrael" - "There is a prophet in Yisrael."
Whoever fights against this fights against G-d intentionally or unintentionally.
Yet at the same time one can once again marvel at the greatness of G-d who took you 4 years ago and made you into a virtual one man army promoting Moshiach thru fighting against him in a highly counterproductive way (and at the same time leveraging popularity/fame/infamy achieved thru this to prommotte a number of causes some of which are truly worthy) All it took was one letter of Moshiach that was delayed for 19 years that released all this stored energy within you like a fission a-bomb ...:-)
Shabbat Shalom.

[Shmarya]

As the Ben Ish Hai notes (end of Ellul, I think in year one), when one prays at the grave of a tzaddik, one prays to God ALONE, not to the Tzaddik, and it is God ALONE who answers.

Again, you pervert (unintentionally, to be sure) Judaism with your Rebbe-worship.

[TheRed]

[I]Whoever fights against this fights against G-d...blah blah..."[/I]

And we've reached the crux of the issue, as we do when any absurdist dogma is held under the microscope: whoever disagrees is, of course, a heretic.

Meaning, of course, that if I am somehow derelict in my belief that a spoonful of some rebbe's chulent can revive the dead, I stand in opposition to G-d's design of the universe.

Do you listen to yourself when you speak, or do you just kind of drift in and out?

[Alex]

The idea of a second coming of the messiah is in and of itself an idea foreign to Judaism. Once the prospective messiah is dead before doing the things that the messiah is supposed to do, he can't be the messiah anymore.

Chabad should admit that a dead man can't be the messiah.

[AC]

Ariel,
Not only are your points without actual basis in reality, they are way too long.
If you have a statement to make, please make it in a short paragraph so maybe someone can read it quickly and refute in a short time frame.
When you write 10 paragraph statements, they usually go unread by anyone but Shmarya.

[Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky]

B"H
[I]Whoever fights against this fights against G-d...blah blah..."[/I]

And we've reached the crux of the issue, as we do when any absurdist dogma is held under the microscope: whoever disagrees is, of course, a heretic.

Meaning, of course, that if I am somehow derelict in my belief that a spoonful of some rebbe's chulent can revive the dead, I stand in opposition to G-d's design of the universe.

Do you listen to yourself when you speak, or do you just kind of drift in and out?

Posted by: TheRed | April 29, 2007 at 10:36 AM

Meaning that if a man takes for granted that people get miraculious answers thru Igrot , know the Rebbe's prophecies that has been fulfilled over 50 years and are still being fulfilled chooses to ignore halachik implications of this trying to find reasons to discount and mock it he is fighting against G-d.
This describes Shmaryah and unintentional describes someone who does the same while not having the knowlege Shmaryah has not being upset at the Rebbe over 1 letter from 1984 and building a whole platform on that foundation.
A person who inherited the brains of a close student and secretary of the Tzemach Tzedek the 3rd Rebbe of Chabad the Illui of Smargon

[pts]

the supposed tzaddiq is no tzaddiq.
it's a former megalomane who created a makhshil to our people mess on a grandiose scale.
a "messeet umediach". kemaomor hanovee yeshayahu, "ein bo metom". all his followers meshichisten in the open or crypto meshichisten for business purpose are a modern day cyber "eer hanidochos".
may g-d forgive those of us who see all these abiminations happening in front of our eyes and don't scream all the way to heaven.

[Nate]

I wonder if one should be riding on those buses? Supporting A"Z.

[she]

of course it’s bull
conversing with the dead, man
but she tries everyone
including mr. sandman
and after all so many
framed a hanged man
what’s wrong with him
she does not understand, man

[Anon]

--Further, as the Shaul Hamelech episode proves, the issue is not the effectiveness of the "consultation." The issue is that it is forbidden regardless of its effectiveness.--

Shmarya, be real, since when do you care about "forbidden"? All you care about is to achieve the results you thinks are best based on your warped sense of justice. I happen to think that this writing letters to RMMS is a load of crap, you basing your objection on what is forbidden is laughable.

[Patrossim]

Anon,
if you think it's laughable, laugh.
but know that you are the cynic yosheiv kranot and SR is exposing those that are murdering judaism. you think is crap, but you have to fight and eradicate this heresy.

[Anon]

Patrossim, yes there are those that are murdering judaism but Shmarya is one of them. I think this whole meshichist business needs to be eradicated. But, to think for a moment that Shmarya cares about judaism is just naive. In fact Shmarya has much in common with the meshichist movement - primarily that they are both harmful to judaism.

[Yochanan Lavie]

I am still astounded how the idea of a dead messiah can even be controversial, when it is so obviously not Jewish. However, that belief will become mainstream. Modern Ortho pulpits around the world are filling up with Chabad rabbis. Other charedim are not denouncing tthe messianic heresy (to the best of my knowledge). Chabad houses are sprouting like mushrooms after a rainstorm. Just like Wahabi Islam is now the norm (lehavdil), so too will Chabad be normative Orthodoxy.

Judaism of the future consist of 2 religions:

1. Reformism, which will be like Unitarian-Universalism with a Jewish flavor.

2. Chabad-chareidism, which will have a dead messiah.

I am afraid that Rabbi Solokolvsky represents the wave of the future.

[Brian Kresge]

I worry less about the splintering of movements (I mean, that's what we do!) than I do the presentation of Judaism we're conveying. They are treading into Jews for Jesus territory, when efforts are marked by the same sort of kitsch as a Hill Cumorah Pageant.

Rabbi Solokolvsky, perhaps you can answer this: what's the suspense date on the Rebbe leaving concealment? If it doesn't take place within this generation (setting aside that you believe it will), do you and those of like mind have a deadline where you'll say, "Okay, at the danger of fomenting a movement detrimental to normative Judaism, including Chabad Lubavitch, we're going to give up on this guy?" Where do you see your beliefs putting you when and if they don't come to fruition in the manner you expect? Will you find yourself validating the current situation with more exegetical exercises?

I imagine Jewish believers in Christ were performing the same kind of anagogic acrobatics right up to the point Christianity was de-Judaized (waiting for Jesus to come back), and they bequeathed that rich tradition of esoteric apologetics on to their goyim heirs. That left the body of Diaspora, in its varying states, to live with the "permanent negative other" status (to borrow from that guy that wrote "Constantine's Sword"), because the negative presumption of the mainstream was borne out by history. We've seen how that's worked out for Judaism from antiquity to modernity.

So where will it end? With, and only with the triumphant emergence of the Rebbe?

[Yochanan Lavie]

Brian: Good post. Now Shia Islam is going the same route with Ahmaniejad saying we "We want Moshiach (the 12th Imam)now, and we're going to bring him out of concealment by nuking the recalcitrant Jews."

[patrossim]

anon yochanan and brian,
wether we are in a state of fait accompli, depends on each and everyone of us.
how can we even consider it? we should be wearing sackcloth and sitting in the dark on the floor with ash on our forehead.
this has the potential of being worse than the hurban.
when the rabbis of old saw the blurring of lines between the christian neo-idolatry and judaism they decided to cut the umbilical cord that held the new heresy attached to the mother faith by instituting birkat haminim (which is really blessing G-d and cursing the minim) and totally excising them from our midst.
we still recite this blessing 3 times every week day, for a good reason. it should be mechaven for minim in every dor vador.
they, modern day minim, will become normative only if we, each and everyone of us allows it, if we do not eradicate them from our synagogues.
when they hire one of them to a hitherto normal shul, members should be screaming bloody murder.
there is no deliberation permitted with a sokolovsky, talking to him or any of his kat and or giving him/them a platform is bad.
to be nice to a creature of this sort one would describe him as an aberration.
but not only him, all of them. they are stealing our religion and distorting it.

[AC]

Interesting point patrossim,
I'm all for it, but do we draw the line with just chabad, or should we cut off the other sects too who have beliefs that conflict with our personal Judaism? How about the other chassidim who worship living rebbes? or the kabbilists which worship letters and vowels? or the ones who mumble 'kini hara' because they are afraid maybe they will be damaged by other peoples jealosy?
Another point; in a sense we all have our own "personal judaism" in which we have our varying degrees of beliefs which define our belief in God, some people's are obviously warped but how do we decide who's beliefs are too different when no one's hands are completely clean?

[TheRed]

AC: you make a solid point, but you must be careful not to blur the line between silly and potentially harmful behavior within the confines of Judaism.

Firstly, kabbalists and Chassidim may attribute too much power to their rebbes and letter combinations, respectively, but only the Chabad Messianists have adopted their object of attention as the Messiah. Now, many sects of chassidim have, at some time or another, announced that their rebbe was surely the Messiah, but only Chabad Messianists maintain this opinion after his death and furthermore distort parts of the Talmud and Torah to reflect this insanity. A Second Coming is not a Judaic concept.

While we all would be correct in assessing and improving our own idiosyncrasies, we must be alert enough to spot true danger when it arises.

[Yochanan Lavie]

AC and Red: Excellent posts. For me, I declare my personal vision of Judaism is mine alone. I take full responsiblity for it with Hakadosh Baruch hu, and don't try to impose it on others (although I am willing to share it, so others can take it or leave it). As for what I believe, I think we should hew closer to Tanach and cut out the mumbo jumbo (even though it's attractive on some level- I used to be into some of it). I am not into rebbe worship (living or dead), amulets, gematria, secret codes, etc. I think that stuff is syncretism- not core Judaism. But if you're into that- gei gezunte heit- just don't impose it on me. The problem with Chabad and the Israeli rabbinate is that they are coercive. (Chabad is coercive when they get a MO pulpit).

[Ariel Sokolovsky]

B"H
In every era there is a "face of G-d" revealed to some and concealed from others.
The inner meaning of the evealation of G-d's face has to do more with knowing G-ds will knowing what's really going on behind the world events around us and how should we as Jews react to them.
When there is a prophet-tzadik-Moshiach known to you he can reveal "G-d's face" to others. When there isn't one around or his existance is concealed from you you are on your own and have to rely on your intlect to understand what's going on is it good or bad etc. should you protest the war in Iraq or support it if you want to be fulfilling G-d's will for example etc...
Look in the end of the book of Daniel starting with 2nd half of chapter 7 till the end:
http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=15773 the concept of concealment of Moshiach is also brought up in Rashi Daniel 12:12:
12. Fortunate is he who waits and reaches days of one thousand, three hundred, and thirty-five.
Rashi:
Fortunate is he who waits etc. Forty five years are added to the above number, for our King Messiah is destined to be hidden after he is revealed and to be revealed again. So we find in Midrash Ruth, and so did Rabbi Eleazar HaKalir establish (in the concluding poem of the morning service of the portion dealing with the month of Nissan): “and he will be concealed from them six weeks of years.”

[Patrossim]

http://www.mentalblog.com/2006/02/mashiach-at-store-near-you.html
access this and listen to the radio broadcast.
there is nothing benign in this tragic farce.
there is no room for live and let live.
no room to raise our hand signifying inability to do anything and walk away.
these devils are everywhere, from capitol hill to the entrance of your neighbourhood store, at every governor and mayor's office in between, every police station, the military chaplaincy, misrepresenting judaism, handing out a jewish business card while out to ruin judaism.
like the avoda zoreh of the tanakh they are:
al kol givaa rama vetachat kol eitz raanan.
poisoning the mind of the weak and ketanei emunah. the ignorants who never knew judaism, make a deffective "tshuva" to their false version.

[AC]

Well Patrossim,
I propose we don't limit this to Chabad. I see just as much danger in Kabbala and it's customs, which has truly taken over judaism starting about 1000 yrs ago.
It has changed almost every mitzvah and law from top to bottom into a superstitious mess.

[AC]

kapparot - how do we turn a paganistic custom, as verified by the mishna brura, the ramban and others, into a mitzva? throw in some kavanot by the arizal

chabad, na-nach-nachman, all the kemiyot and superstitions all stem from the acceptance of new age mysticism into judaism, probably starting way back in babel(!)

[Yochanan Lavie]

AC, I agree.

[rebeljew]

OK Ariel, your point about goral was heard. Do you have any igros picks for the 2008 election? Kucinich perhaps? Your 2004 pick from igros was right on the money. I'd be prepared to wager all the diamonds in Australia on your call.

(In case you lost your money in Gutnick's diamond mines in 1993, "prophecied" by the Rebbe in 1988, you can gain it back by betting on Ariel's candidate in 2008, as he will pick one by consulting igros or Tehillim or whatever. In 2004, he recommended this strategy as a fundraiser. Guess who he said the Rebbe's oracle igros or Tehiliim goral chose.) (Note" He backtracked afterwards, first saying that he consulted igros and later saying that he had consulted Tehilim so Ariel a Ariel kashia, but in this case mai nafka mina.)

[rebeljew]

Also, if you go to Ariels blog, note his interesting drasha showing that the perakim of Yeshayahu correspond to years, ie 5764 to ch 64, 5765 to ch 65 and so on. What more proof do we need that Moshiach has already come?

[Dave]

The problem is mysticism.
The way to eradicate mysticism is not to teach it. So we should maximize teaching of Torah, and try to stick to the peshat meaning as much as humanly possible. Also all references to heavenly beings other than G-d, any allusions to G-d having hands or wings, or G-d resting on Shabbat (G-d needs to rest??) or anything like that should be totally erased from the siddur. Also study of the Midrash must be minimized and study of Torah and halacha must be maximized, and furthermore study of the aggadah portions of the Talmud must be minimized and the halacha portions of the Talmud must be maximized.
By maximizing the rationalistic portions of our faith and minimizing the mystical portions of our faith, we shall succeed, for this generation, in the never ending spiritual struggle against avodah zarah.

I don't have time to rehash all this crap. I just want to point out that you will not find the word Chabad or Lubavitch anywhere on these obscene posters, because they are not Chabad or Lubavitch, ethicly, morally, legally or practicly!

[Patrossim :-)]

"they are not Chabad or Lubavitch, ethicly, morally, legally or practicly!"

anonymous
you are in denial. that does nobody good. chabad's holy of holies the "bamos of 770", are occupied by people "hamkatrim labamos".
it is amply evident now, that not only those clearly fools are at it, but "all" of chabad is nagua with this desease.
that is why those at the top can do nothing with this. because they are all "nagua".
they all spoke heresy at one time or another (they "all" still do too!)
wether u have time to hash or mash, is irrelevant!