Putin's Chabad Dog and Pony Show

The JTA reports:

A chief rabbi of Russia came out in support of Vladimir Putin as prime minister.

Rabbi Berel Lazar of the Chabad-led Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia called the possibility a “great present” in an interview with the Interfax news service.

Anointed presidential successor Dmitry Medvedev went on state television Tuesday to ask Putin to head his government following elections in March. 

“When president, Vladimir Putin has showed that he is equal to any task,” Lazar told Interfax. “If Putin considers the scenario offered by Dmitry Medvedev realistic, it will surely be a great present if the government is headed by the most efficient statesmen in Russia.”

Lazar's remarks stand in contrast to a statement he made Monday about the role of religion in politics. Following an endorsement of Medvedev by Putin that virtually guaranteed him the presidency, Lazar told Interfax that it is not "the matter of religious figures to agitate for any candidate."

Lazar is an embarrassment to Chabad and to Jews.

What motivates this man? Is it simply hunger for power? Or is it something, some scandalous bit of information, Putin has on Lazar or, perhaps, on Chabad or the late rebbe himself?

I think Lazar's lap dog mentality began with the former but has been cemented with the latter.

What does Putin have on Chabad?

I don't know. But I suspect one day, perhaps much sooner than Berel Lazar wants, we'll all find out.

Comments

[yidandahalf]

Shmarya, Can you run a bio for us; what else has he done in his life, what does he like, etc. etc.? At this point it seems to me an insatiable ego; a manic need for validation, recognition as SUPERJEW of All Russias. And of course money.

[Meir]

The irony of it all is Berel Lazar is a most humble person. I know Shmarya is convinced he is evil but if you knew him you would see his life is not about him at all. In matter of fact he is an example of what chassidim would say if G-d wanted a broom could shoot! or as the talmud says the same G-d that made oil light can make vineger do the job. the point is he is a man without a huge amount of charisma, he is not an intellectual although he is bright, he is not overly warm, he is shy by nature he is not the coniving type. He is 100% dedicated to the rebbe and his mission, He has no desire for wealth. As a yeshivah student he visited russia and arranged mitzvah tanks in NY. because he had been among those who had visited russia when it began to open up he had an opening to go on shlichus and he took it went and lived there in very difficult circumstances. No one was sure where things would be and what would happen there when he first went out there. You can know a lot about a person by his parents. Rabbi Moshe Lazar of Milan Italy is the sweetest man around. Berel Lazar was close to his grandfather as he studied in NY away from home. His grandfather was a well rounded Jewish activist and poet. He came from a hungarien chasidic background then hircshien and zionist to finally setteling in Lubavitch. You can visit his website here. http://www.zviyair.com/.

Those who know him can tell you his over riding concern are the Jews of Russia. It is not about him. This does not make him immune to mistakes but I think you are wrong if you think it is about self interest. It is dedication.

[YS]

What you said about Lazar is true only until prosperity reached Russia. Berel Lazar is a decent but very weak man who has sold out to a succession of highest bidders, beginning with his shrew of a wife and now ending with Abramovich and Putin. Putin indeed has a file on him, and it will all come out in due time. Then Chabad will drop him like a hot potato and Russian born shluchim who are now under Lazar will basically take over.

Sadly, Merkos in NY allowed Lavayov to buy Lazar legitimacy in Chabad after Lazar (and Lavayov) had lost official shlichus status for defying what the Rebbe had wanted for Russia.

However, dream on if you think Putin has anything on Chabad in general or chas vesholom on the Rebbe. Lazar and a couple like him are boils on the face of Chabad that will burst in due time. One boil named Aronov already burst. This one is next in line.

[Paul Freedman]

Maybe he just "went native" or Putin is a charming guy.

"shrew of a wife"

???

even yentas have good qualities, the necessary stomach to remain yoked to a weak man perhaps being one of them

[Fleishike Kishke]

Did Lazar get training to do the job he has? Whatever he knows, he's learned on the job. He was at the right place at the right time so now he's the Chief Rabbi of Russia. He is not the harmony of education and experience that the Chief Rabbi of Russia ought to have. Other than a myopic grasp of a few pages of Talmud, and a few Hasidic discourses "proving" Mendel was the Messiah what does Lazar know? He'd probably readily parrot that he is a "nobody" and all his "power" is only a result of (Mendel)his sender. He is obsequious to President Vladimir Putin because that's who is in office. When Vladimir Putin retires, Lazar or someone else will try to establish good relations with the successor. CHABAD has a simple mission. Collect money to support the promotion of the name and photograph of (Messianic) Mendel Schneerson. Does CHABAD in America care who the president is? They try to get themselves photographed with Bush as they did with Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The cozy up to “power” because it strokes their egos, and gives them legitimacy in the eyes of the desperate seeking help and the foolish looking to part with their money.

[YS]

even yentas have good qualities..

This is not a yenta. This is a cholerye. Not a strong woman (like most of the shluchos have to be in order to survive and succeed especially at the beginning), but someone even weaker than her husband who covers for her weakness by well, being mamash a cholerye - a sociopath with no concern for anyone but herself.

[Archie Bunker]

I agree Lazar is a disgrace but thinking Putin has something on the Rebbe is pure fantasy. Everyone knows that KGB-style smear jobs are not credible no matter who the target.

[YS]

I would have known during my years in Moscow if there were an incriminating file on the Rebbe because certain parties would have made it very public. Never mind that the thought is ridiculous; it just ain't so.

[Lev]

Meir, besides Hungarian origins of Lazar, you are greatly misinformed about anything pertraying Russia, including its Jews.
YS,"defying Rebbe's plans"?
I am anything but Lubavitch but I know that Rabbi M. M. Schneerson o'h,while highly exaggerating the numbers of Jews in then USSR, said that THEY ALL MUST GET OUT!
Lazar, in his turn, openly advocates re-immigration from Israel.
Fleishike Kishka, you are right in general as always but now compare Chief Rabbi Sitruk("speaks better French then me"-Chirack), Chief Rabbi Immanuel Lord Jackobowitz("Churchillian English") and a man who speaks Russian with the heavy weirid foreighn accent.
Nobody nowhere likes accented speech.
And now, Shmarya, YS and Archie Bunker, is "smetana"(top sour cream).
KGB WAS A JEWISH MIND'S CREATION!!!
In Moscow it occupied the building of the former "Russia" Insurance Company.
The successor agency is still there...
IT WAS THE BEST(and still one of the best) INTELLIGENCE SERVICES IN THE WORLD!!!
Joe McCarty correctly deducted that ITS tentacles were everywhere.
Liiitle opening of the archives in early 90s showed infiltration in ALL circles of the West.
Leutenant-Colonel of the State Security Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was a head of the "sluzba"(service) from 1998 to 1999.
That guys might have undesired for publicity info on anyone, maybe including us!
So, Shmarya's projection is quite reasonable and don't forget internal squabbles in Chabad after Rayatz death, Lubavitcher power, despite being one of the most anti-gentile hasidisms, in Imperial Russia, etc.
Again, KGB archives, which will never be fully open, might contain not only "smear", AB, but some horrid revelations...

[YS]

Lev, take your meds.

[Lev]

YS, read something else besides "sihos keidesh"

[Lev]

Shmarya, I often disagree with you but presense of the representatives of Messianic Judaism, and their insults, are what keep me going.