In response to this piece by Professor Yehuda Bauer, we have the following rebuttal from Chabad:
How the Rebbe understood the Holocaust
By Eliezer Shemtov
In his op-ed in Haaretz on June 1 ("God as surgeon"), Prof. Yehuda Bauer refers to the opinion of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe regarding the Holocaust.
Without responding to his unwarranted, unacademic, personal attacks against the Rebbe, I think that Bauer gravely misunderstood the nuances and delicate concepts that the Rebbe was conveying in his 1980 letter to Knesset member Chaika Grossman.
The letter to the late MK Grossman was written to an individual whom the Rebbe surely understood to be in a position to correctly understand its contents without more explanation. I am sure that Prof. Bauer, too, writes in one language when corresponding with colleagues and in another when writing for the general public. Nothing in the letter to Grossman contradicts anything the Rebbe said before or after; anything said before or after simply expounds upon and clarifies the concepts written in that letter in a relatively condensed manner. The quoted letter is published in "Likutei Sichot" (Vol. 21, page 397). I would suggest that any serious student of this issue study that letter in its entirety and original before forming any opinion.
Following, however, are some of my personal insights into the matter:
In the letter, the Rebbe was responding to MK Grossman's published questions regarding the Rebbe's published views.
The Rebbe first expresses his astonishment at the fact that she based her criticism on an unedited version of the Rebbe's talks, which was subject to slight misquotes or lacking adequate context, and admonished her for publishing criticism without first checking with him what he meant to say.
The Rebbe then establishes in no uncertain terms who the "good guys" and who the "bad guys" are. When referring to those who perished in the Holocaust, we say "Hashem yikom damam" - meaning "may God avenge their blood." We refer to them as kedoshim, holy individuals. When referring to Hitler and his like, we always add the epithet "yemach shmo," that is, "may his name be obliterated." The Rebbe then goes into a lengthy, detailed explanation of his view, addressing the issues at hand point by point in a detailed albeit condensed way.
Prof. Bauer quotes the Rebbe as saying that "Hitler was a messenger of God in the same sense that Nebuchadnezzar is called 'God's servant' in the Book of Jeremiah (Chapter 25)." How do you, Prof. Bauer, explain Jeremiah's reference to Nebuchadnezzar?
The Rebbe, with this quote, simply draws attention to the biblical precedent seeing in each and every event the hand of God, however inexplicable to the human mind or painful to the human heart. Bear in mind that Nebuchadnezzar was not rewarded, but punished, for what he did.
In his letter, the Rebbe points out both a similarity as well as a distinction between Nebuchadnezzar and Hitler. Whereas the massacres in Jeremiah's times are understood to be a punishment, the Rebbe insists that the Holocaust cannot be understood in this way. The comparison with Nebuchadnezzar was merely intended to make the point out everything that happens in this world is part of God's design, however incomprehensible it might be to the mortal mind.
Here we find yet another example of the inaccuracies appearing in Prof. Bauer's article. He writes: "The Rebbe's stance, therefore, is clear: The Holocaust was a good thing because it lopped off a disease-ravaged limb of the Jewish people - in other words, the millions who perished in the Holocaust - in order to cleanse the Jewish people of its sins. The 'surgery' he spoke of was such a massive corrective procedure that the suffering (i.e., the murder of the Jews) was minor compared to its curative effect."
This is a gross misinterpretation. Prof. Bauer misunderstood the comparison to surgery. Careful reading of the letter will show that the example of surgery is brought only in order to illustrate how something as horrible as an amputation, although beneficial, can seem criminal to the uninitiated. It is by no means brought in order to imply that those that perished were "amputated" for the benefit of the survivors.
The Rebbe clearly writes that although we have no understanding as to why the Holocaust had to happen, we do believe that it is for the benefit primarily of those that perished (not merely for the benefit of the survivors). The Rebbe does not attempt to explain what the benefit is; he simply asserts that it must be for the (eventual?) benefit of those who perished (especially taking into account our belief in resurrection and the world-to-come).
The Rebbe points out that even when the one going through the surgery knows that it is for his benefit, he still cries out in pain, as do those nearest and dearest to him. It is perfectly normal and theologically acceptable for a believing Jew to cry out in pain and clamor to God for mercy, when suffering or when witnessing the suffering of others.
These are just a few examples of how slight inaccuracies in quotes and context can generate conclusions totally contrary to those intended. One must be more careful when quoting our sages and their words and make sure that it is done accurately before taking issue with them.
Rabbi Eliezer Shemtov is director of Beit Jabad del Uruguay in Montevideo.
There are several schools of thought in classical Judaism about why bad things â mega bad things â happen to the Jewish people. Most are predicated on God's involvement in the bad, and explain that by saying we do not truly understand the 'evil.' If we could view it from God's perspective, the reasoning goes, we would only see good.
A favorite example given is the operating theater. Imagine waling into a gallery overlooking an operating room. There behind the glass is are people dressed in white cutting off a man's leg. You have never seen surgery. You do not even realize there is a medical treatment called surgery. What do you think when you see the 'horror' below you? You scream, you try to get the 'butchers' to stop mutilating the man. But, in truth, what these men are doing is saving the life of that patient.
The problem here is not with the Rebbe's analogy or Professor Bauer's understanding (or lack there of) of it. The problem is the Rebbe made statement's without carefully thinking about how they would be viewed by people who are not steeped in the particular theology espoused by him. A more current example of this lack of forethought comes from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef who, not so long ago used the explanation of the Ari for the Destruction of the Second Temple and the deaths that surrounded it to explain the Holocaust. Rabbi Yosef's remarks were met with a similar firestorm of disapproval.
I wrote a piece for the American Jewish World explaining â but not necessarily endorsing â Rabbi Yosef's position. That piece was in response to a piece similar to Professor Bauer's, this one written by an old friend, Holocaust scholar Stephen Feinstein. I recall Rabbi Moshe Feller, the head Chabad rabbi in the upper Midwest, being very pleased with that piece and hoping the JTA would pick it up. (The JTA did not.)
My piece didn't change Stephen Feinstein's mind, largely because the fine distinctions needed to make these types of analogies work â in this case, the amputated limb is not itself bad, per se â are difficult to accept for those who do not buy into this line of reasoning to begin with.
Going back to the example of the Ari, he was explaining the Destruction of the Second Temple 1500 years after it happened. But what he was really doing without expressly saying so was explaining the Expulsion from Spain less than 100 years after that tragic event, roughly the same distance between it and the Ari's generation as the Holocaust and ours.
The Rebbe would say after this experience that it is wrong to explain or justify the Holocaust. It is simply too close, to raw, and no explanation will be accepted.
I would say that a God who needs to treat an illness by roasting alive hundreds of thousands of Jewish babies is not much of a God. The Rebbe, I think, would reply that an illness that requires the roasting of those babies as treatment must be a horrible, horrible illness.
In essence, this is exactly what is happening today between Professor Bauer and Rabbi Shemtov.
The Rebbe's explanation requires belief in a perfect, kind and just God who does no evil. To accept that requires accepting unspeakable horrors as good, divinely mandated and endorsed. For most people, even believing people, this is very difficult to do.
The Rebbe's words cut like jagged-edged swords. They were widely publicized and hurt many, many people, especially survivors.
The Rebbe meant no harm, but harm was done, nonetheless.
Professor Bauer's words are not "unwarranted, unacademic, personal attacks against the Rebbe." They are words of a survivor, a man who saw unspeakable horrors and spent his life documenting them so the world would not be able to forget, not be able to sweep a few million butchered Jews under the rug.
What Chabad should do is admit the Rebbe's error, his lapse of judgment, and then move on. But Chabad will not do this because it will never admit that its rebbes were anything less than perfect.
Please click to enlarge.
JEM, a division of Chabad, so to speak, today released a video that contains a picture of the Sorbonne registration document of Menachem Mendel Schneerson. They're dated November 30, 1937. There are no records of any tests taken and passed or of degrees granted. It seems the Rebbe registered, perhaps to avoid deportation to Russia, perhaps to audit classes, perhaps for both reasons.
In summary, the Rebbe took classes for fewer than 1.5 semesters at the University of Berlin even though he lived in Berlin for about seven years. He was not granted any degree.
He studied, and did poorly in both grades and attendance, at a technical college in Paris. He eventually graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering. This college is not part of the Sorbonne.
He then registered as a student at the Sorbonne. There is no record of any tests taken and passed or of degrees granted. All there is is the initial registration document.
A friend of Barry Gourary told me today that Barry told him years ago that his uncle (the Rebbe) was a perpetual student hanging out at these universities, never in any degree-granting program. He audited a few classes and hung out the rest of the time – that would be years of simply hanging out.
Chabad's "discovery" of the Rebbe's registration document seems to confirm this.
Why would the Rebbe make himself seven years older than he actually was? My guess is to avoid a possible draft into the French or, if deported, Russian army. In 1937 the Rebbe was actually 35 years old. By 1940 Britain had extended its conscription age to 40 because of a shortage of soldiers. Making himself seven years older – 42 – made it far less likely that he would be conscripted.For details on the Rebbe's time in Berlin and Paris, including the discovery of his technical college degree, read this:
Download Golan-Habad_eng.pdf
UPDATE #1, 10-9-07 5:00 PM CDT – I spoke with a consular official at a French consulate in the US. I asked about the French draft during 1935 to 1940. She spoke with a French military officer who told her that all had to register at 18, most were called up by 19. The maximum age for induction into a combat unit was 40. There was no maximum age for serving in non-frontline units.
I've also been told the Rebbe used 1895 as his birth year in French documents dating to at least as far back as 1935. In other words, he claimed to be 40 years old when he was in fact seven years younger, and did so at a time when a war with Germany was very likely.
I firmly believe he did this because it made him too old to serve in a combat unit and, until he graduated as an electrical engineer in 1937, age was his only possible exemption from frontline service. (The French system regularly exempted doctors and other community servants and it used others, like engineers, in non-frontline capacities.)So the date listed on the Sorbonne documents may not have been used for any other reason except that it matched the Rebbe's passport information.
That the Rebbe avoided the Soviet Draft in the late 1920s is not surprising. Many Jews, especially religious Jews, did this and did so for very good reasons.
There is more to this story than I can print here at this time. The Rebbe had a complicated relationship with France. Look for more information to surface on that complex relationship during 2008.