The Forward reports on the lawsuit over control of the main Lubavitch synagogue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn:
…There probably would not have been a protracted lawsuit if it were not for the fact that the views of the young vandals coincided with the elected leaders, or gabbais, of the religious congregation in the basement of 770.
In his affidavit, the lead gabbai, Rabbi Zalman Lipskier, wrote that “the real issue in dispute involves conflicting views on how our faith views the passing of the Grand Rebbe Schneerson and whether or not at this time he may be referred to publicly as the Messiah.”
Lipskier and the other gabbais were chosen most recently in a 2005 election that was open to Lubavitch community members in Crown Heights. The gabbais have long been able to control discourse in the synagogue because they have run the day-to-day affairs in the downstairs area of the building. For the lawsuit, they have submitted documents showing that they pay the electric bills and also that they have paid for the entryway in which the offending plaque was installed.…
A recent visit to the synagogue downstairs indicated the strong influence that the messianic gabbais have over the sanctuary. During the services, most worshippers joined in a spirited prayer that celebrated the rebbe as the messiah. On the northern wall of the sanctuary is a long banner that says “Live Our Master, Teacher, Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever.”
“What does it mean, he is alive?” said Yitzhak Fuchs, a 47-year-old congregant who was standing outside in a worn suit.
“We learned the king messiah is not going to die. He is going to disappear, but he’s not dead,” said Fuchs, who, like many of the other worshippers, wore a small, yellow lapel pin with a crown and the word messiah in Hebrew.
The unanswered question at the core of the lawsuit is whether the global leadership of Chabad — men like Rabbi Yehudah Krinsky and Rabbi Yisroel Shemtov — actually disagree with Fuchs and the gabbais about the rebbe’s status as messiah.…
In the court case, the global leaders of Chabad avoid commenting on the messiah issue, and state that the matter to be settled is one of real estate and not religious dogma…
In the basement at 770, the fervent messianists appear to be carrying the day for now. Despite repeated attempts to install a new plaque [mentioning the Rebbe's death, not his "disappearance"], the only sign of it today is a gap in the wall, with messy streaks of plaster. In the middle of the gap is a brown stone that was originally put there by the rebbe. As men walk into the synagogue at all hours, they touch the stone and kiss their fingers.
As many of us have pointed out, there are no clear statements from Chabad so-called anti-messianist leadership stating that the Rebbe is not the messiah, and I have yet to meet a shaliach (Chabad representative) who would say the Rebbe is not the messiah. The Forward piece quotes Rabbi Dr. David Berger who believes the real division in Chabad today is over whether the Rebbe "died"* and will reappear as the messiah or whether he has simply "disappeared" and will reappear as the messiah. *[But this death is not viewed as death is in the wider world. See here for an example of this.]
As usual, Berger has missed the forest for a tree. The anti-messianists say the Rebbe died only because death is how the world understands what happened to the Rebbe. Saying the Rebbe did not die or is still alive makes the movement look bizarre and hurts fundraising and outreach. But privately, these people do not refer to the Rebbe as deceased in the way the world understands death.
For their part, the messianists don't play those games. They believe the Rebbe is still alive and did not die, did not experience death – and they say so.
The difference between the two camps is only over how to publicly deal with the event they refer to as Gimmel Tammuz (the date of the Rebbe's passing).
The Forward itself errs when it describes 770 as the Rebbe's "home." (Although it could be argued the Rebbe lived there after his stroke.) It was the home and office of the Previous Rebbe, and the home of his older son-in-law Rabbi Shmaryahu Gurary and his family. It became the Rebbe's office when he took over leadership of Lubavitch after his father-in-law's passing.The Rebbe and his wife had a home on President Street a few blocks from 770.
Read the entire Forward piece here.