Historian Bryan Mark Rigg has left another stunning comment on MentalBlog:
There is really no agenda, but to find the truth. I approached Deutsch several years ago, but he is not a trained historian nor was he very helpful. He actually has self-published his own work, so his books must be used with caution. This is not to say that there are not good researchers out there who self-publish, but if you do not go through a serious process of getting proof-readers, editors and fellow-historians to look through and check your work before publication, then you will not be taken seriously and your work will not be as strong as it should be. Although Deutsch has done alot of research, no one really takes him seriously which is sad.
MM Schneerson's studies---yes, he studied in some capacity in Berlin, but he did not get degrees. Now, if you talk to many people at 770, they will tell you that he had all these degrees and worked for the Navy building ships or on some secret project. THis is simply not true. There is no agenda here. This is just one example of how many Chabad leaders get caught up in building a muyth that is only based on a tiny piece of truth. We I started working with Lubavitchers, I felt that being so pious, they would be driven to find the truth and appreciate it. Well, they are only interested in truth that shows their movement 100% in a good light. This is the danger. If you are not able to look at your history with all its good and bad, then you will continue to make mistakes. Also, I came from a Christian background before I learned of my Jewish background in 1992. With this background and learning about Chabad, I have come to realize that Chabad is very similar to Christianity. They hold up their Rebbe to be perfect and without sin, and as many of you know several of them beleive he is the Messiah, and this is alot like Christianity. Although there are several good Christians out there, there have been too many throughout history who have taken that ideology that they are right and have found the true way to do horrible things to non-beleivers. The seeds of such mistreatment and intolerance are also there with Chabad, or any religious group, who beleives they have the perfect way and a perfect leader that all should follow. So, my creed is to follow the truth. Remember MM Schneerson said that he perferred ungly truth to beautiful lies, yet few in the Chabad community follow his beleif.
Ask them about the JI Schneersohn's take on the Holocaust, and most do not even know--this is interesting commentary within itself. They do not know because it is radically different from MM Schneerson's take and Rebbes are not suppose to contradict one another. It is such a sad story--it makes me shake my head. We humans sometimes do so much to hold onto ideas without any evidence--Allah is Good, Mohammed is his Prophet, Jesus died for your sins, Church of Christ has the only way to salvation, the Rebbe is the Messiah, etc.
Now to Kotler and Kalmanowitz--They took help from everywhere they could. Kotler was appauled by the Rebbe's focus on the MEssiah and his spiritual campaign, especially throughout 1942-1943 when all energy should have been focused on rescuing lives. So, Kotler and Kalmanowitz would have gladly received help from the Rebbe, but such help never came from the Rebbe. He only condemned them for their un-kosher ways. For the record, I wanted to find the Rebbe acting like Kotler and Kalmanowitz. That would have been a beautiful conclusion to the story. Rabbi Weisfogel, who was Kalmanowitz's assistant said of the Rebbe "He was a moral failure at this time to condemn us and the Jewish people as a whole for the Holocaust when he in turn did hardly anything except rescue his books and few students' lives."
For the record, if I was a buisness man, as many Lubavitchers encouraged me to be, I would not have mentioned his dealings in the US after his rescue. As one Lubavitcher at 770 told me "If you do this, you will get thousands of dollars and go all over the Chabad world and give talks." Yes, I said, but that is not the truth. To this, he was silent.
Bryan Rigg | 03.23.05 - 11:28 am | #
As I noted earlier, the Rebbe's degree is from a small, junior college-like, technical school in Paris. He was threatened with expulsion because his grades were low.
Rigg is far too honest to do what Sue Fishkoff did and prostitute himself to the Chabad spin machine.
Fishkoff may now be a rich whore, but Brigg remains an honest man.
For more on Barry Gourary, o.h., and the Holocaust see my comments here.
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