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Idealogical Head Of Edah Haredit Passes Away, Group Now Seen As Rudderless

The Jerusalem Post reports on the passing of what it terms the "mythological political leader" of the anti-Zionist Edah Haredit, Rabbi Yosef Scheinberger. To me, the most interesting bit of information is the yichus of Rabbi Scheinberger and therefore of his grandson, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, the haredi street riot leader turned Zaka founder turned – haredi street riot leader:

Sheinberger's family was directly related to the Sanz Hassidic dynasty.

Edah Haredit was built on anti-Zionism. All major anti-Zionist haredi leaders are hasidim. Neturei Karta's theology is largely based on the works of three hasidic rebbes: Yoel Titlebaum of Satmar, the Munkatcher Rebbe known as the Minchat Elazar, and the fifth rebbe of Lubavitch, Sholom DovBer Schneersohn.

By contrast, the origins of Religious Zionism are largely Lithuanian. Even the hasidic founders of RZ were, for the most part, hasidim from the Belarus-Lithuania region. Examples of the latter would be Rav Kook and the lesser known but influential Smargoner Gaon.

The Rebbe and Rabbi JB Soleveitchik

[Hat Tip: The Town Crier.]

Satmar Violence

30 years ago a Chabad "mitzvah tank" was attacked in Williamsburgh by a mob of Satmar hasidim. The mob broke the RV's windows and injured several of the Lubavitchers. They also hurled the above rock through a window of the RV, narrowly missing a Lubavitcher. Chabad's side of the story is told here.

The Rebbe's First Cousin

The Rebbe's first cousin, a daughter of the Rebbe's father's brother, was Israeli poet Zelda Schneerson Mishkovsky. Known simply as Zelda, she won the Bialik Prize and was widely read – and loved. Born in Russia in 1912, she passed away in Jerusalem in 1984. She had made aliya with her mother in 1926. Marcia Falk has translated a her poems, and a bilingual edition has been published. The following poem is taken from that work (you can click on the image for a larger version):

Zelda remained Orthodox her entire life. Marcia Falk's book contains a brief biogrophy that should be of interest to many Chabadniks.

A special thank you to Schneur for his help on the genealogy of Zelda and it's link to the Rebbe.

Jewish Mass Murderers

Sever Plocker writes:

…An Israeli student finishes high school without ever hearing the name "Genrikh Yagoda," the greatest Jewish murderer of the 20th Century, the GPU's deputy commander and the founder and commander of the NKVD. Yagoda diligently implemented Stalin's collectivization orders and is responsible for the deaths of at least 10 million people. His Jewish deputies established and managed the Gulag system. After Stalin no longer viewed him favorably, Yagoda was demoted and executed, and was replaced as chief hangman in 1936 by Yezhov, the "bloodthirsty dwarf."

Yezhov was not Jewish but was blessed with an active Jewish wife. In his Book "Stalin: Court of the Red Star", Jewish historian Sebag Montefiore writes that during the darkest period of terror, when the Communist killing machine worked in full force, Stalin was surrounded by beautiful, young Jewish women.

Stalin's close associates and loyalists included member of the Central Committee and Politburo Lazar Kaganovich. Montefiore characterizes him as the "first Stalinist" and adds that those starving to death in Ukraine, an unparalleled tragedy in the history of human kind aside from the Nazi horrors and Mao's terror in China, did not move Kaganovich.

Many Jews sold their soul to the devil of the Communist revolution and have blood on their hands for eternity. We'll mention just one more: Leonid Reichman, head of the NKVD's special department and the organization's chief interrogator, who was a particularly cruel sadist.

In 1934, according to published statistics, 38.5 percent of those holding the most senior posts in the Soviet security apparatuses were of Jewish origin. They too, of course, were gradually eliminated in the next purges. In a fascinating lecture at a Tel Aviv University convention this week, Dr. Halfin described the waves of soviet terror as a "carnival of mass murder," "fantasy of purges", and "[m]essianism of evil." Turns out that Jews too, when they become captivated by messianic ideology, can become great murderers, among the greatest known by modern history.…

Some of those 38.5% were former Chabad hasidim, including the men who arrested the 6th Lubavitcher rebbe in the event we know as Yud Beis Tammuz.

[Hat Tip: Tzemach Atlas.]

Chabad's Anti-Zionism: The Rebbe Rashab's Letter

Chabad was viciously anti-Zionist until after the founding of the State of Israel. When Jews could have fled Europe and gone to Israel or America, Lubavitch rebbes opposed leaving Europe. The 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe, a vicious anti-Zionist in his own right, told followers there would be no war and that it was safe to stay in Europe. He did this from Warsaw in the summer of 1939, less than four months before WW2 began with the bombing and invasion of Poland. He was rescued by the American government. What did he ask for as he was brought to safety from amidst the destruction and horror? To save more Jews? No. The man asked for the rescue of his silver collection and his rare book collection – Sherlock Holmes in Yiddish translation along side of "sefarim". Not a peep from the holy man's mouth about saving Jews.

Click on the continuation link to read his father's – the Rashab, the 5th Lubavitcher Rebbe' – infamous letter on anti-Zionism, written about 1900 and widely circulated:

Was The Rebbe A "Good Guy"?

Sholomanarchy writes:

There is a pervasive mentality in the Frum world of "I don't like the direction that Lubavitch has taken since his death, but the Rebbe was a great man." I hear this expressed repeatedly in many different forms, and I wholeheartedly disagree.

One does not become a god overnight, there is a deification process that takes place. In a Western (Jeroboamite) theological context, deification requires two primary elements - the establishment of a godlike ideal, and the rejection of all others; אנכי and לא יהיה לך.

Yerov'om is viewed in the Talmud as a חוטא ומחטיא את הרבים, a sinner who causes others to sin. Yerov'om was a sinner because he rejected the original לא יהיה לך with his declaration of הנה אלהיך ישראל אשר העלוך מארץ מצריים.

He is considered a מחטיא את הרבים because, due to political motivation, he outlawed pilgrimage to the Yahwistic temple in Jerusalem; thereby coercing others into worshipping his twin idols, as stated elsewhere.

By implicitly or explicitly encouraging the various rites of deification associated with his life and teachings, the Rebbe turned himself into an idol. He built a "cult of personality" around himself, or allowed one to be built around him.…

This is difficult to argue with. It is spot on and as perceptive as one can possibly be. This is a true portrait of the last Chabad-Lubavitch rebbe and, by extension, of those who still follow him.

GUEST POST: Crown Heights Through the Eyes of a Child

Sholomanarchy writes:

I recall Yud Shevat 5753, during the height of the "balcony period". I was then a young boy in Cheder, and the messianic fervor had seized the Lubavitcher cult in its death grip. Walking to Oholei Torah that morning, I knew - WE knew - that today was going to be the day when the Rebbe finally reveals himself as Moshiach. I overheard Chaim Shaul Bruk (sp? Brook? Brooke? Burekeh? Burka? I don't really give a damn, he was a kugel-thrower), the fat one, mention that people were waiting at the airport in Israel with a white donkey.

It wasn't a hope, it wasn't a desire. It was a well-known fact to us children, the תנוקות של בית רבן. That was all I could think about, as we listened to Rabbi Zeligson drone on out of the Ma'amor Bosi Legani during the Pre-Shachris Chasidus Shiur that was part of the holiday program. That's what Itche Zalmanov and I spoke about during recess, instead of playing our usual 6th grade fantasyland games of "witchie" or "stupid robbers". When school let out early for the day, I ran the block and a half to 770 and squeezed my way through the masses of black Kapotes and blazers, hoping to get a good spot from which to view the long-awaited Hisgalus.

"Mincha now! Mincha now!" All over the neighborhood, Moshiach beepers go off; People run up Kingston towards Eastern Parkway. I pray with deep concentration, hoping that the Rebbe is watching me. Teka Beshoifar Godol Lecheiruseinu - it’s not just words, I can feel it; it’s about to happen. Perhaps if he notices how hard I'm trying to bring the redemption, he'll help me out when he's the king; I hope I get a candy-tree in my front yard.

The final Kaddish is said, the last "Amen" drowned out by the ocean of faithful admiration. Thousands of voices rise in song to praise their king and wish him eternal life. He makes a barely perceptible gesture with his left hand, the throngs react as if by instinct, and the singing becomes even more fervent. Faster and faster the mantra is repeated, the words grating against each other as thousands of Chasidim jump up and down on their toes, caught up in the spiritual ecstasy of the moment.

It is so close, so imminent. Today is the fifty-second anniversary of his becoming our leader. The Rebbe himself, the head of the children of Israel, had promised that we were the generation of redemption. He has told us that Moshiach is already here, that we just have to open our eyes.

My eyes are opened. I can see it, can envision it. Any moment now, the Rebbe will stand up. He will swing his arms in his signature gesture. Not the left-handed tremor, not a fist banging on his lectern, not even a one-armed swing; but a full-fledged two-armed swing that will bring the walls of Golus crashing down. He will regain his voice, and the first words out of his mouth will be a resounding הגיע זמן גאולתכם – the time for your redemption has arrived!

The Rebbe makes a gesture to his lackeys, and they swing the curtains shut on the farcical ceremony. Today was not the long-awaited redemption; it was merely another instance of mindless adoration by the sheeple. Tomorrow will be the same – the curtains will open, the curtains will shut, and the masses will have gotten another fix of opiates.

Jewish Week Profiles Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch

Jonathan Mark writes in the Jewish Week:

…After Chabad ordination, he earned a business degree and in 1988 won first place in a national entrepreneurial competition. For many years he was the financial director for J & R Music World, and he still does business consulting. He wrote a critical biography of the Lubavitcher rebbe that earned him contempt within Chabad, though some fences are mended. But all the while, “I studied archaeology on my own and dreamed of creating this museum.”

Like most “attics,” the museum wasn’t quite officially founded but grew like Topsy and came of age in 2004 when it was validated by a five-page spread in the Biblical Archaeology Review. Its editor, Hershel Shanks, declared that this was the first museum that he knew of in the United States devoted to biblical archeology.

The rabbi, with “sweetness” and a “justifiable pride,” wrote Shanks, “has done what no one else in the United States (perhaps in the world outside of Israel) has done. ... All the big shots, all the people with access to the most sophisticated knowledge and current excavations, have not accomplished what Rabbi [Shaul Shimon] Deutsch has.”…

But what of that biography of the late Rebbe?

…Let’s leave the rabbi now to his busy life, for he has to get “food for Shabbos” to the poor, with scores of volunteers. And a lot of food is delivered, “$5.5 million worth,” says the rabbi, in the last year alone. He has men coming to his shtieble to daven, he has a weekly column to write for Hamodia, and he has to get ready for his weekly radio show on the Talkline network. …

Conspicuously absent from the list of Rabbi Deutsch's activities is the completion of that biography, originally planned to be five volumes.  Two volumes were printed. The most controversial material would be in volumes 3 and 5, but they are not published.

The Jewish Week doesn't note the threats Deutsch received on publication of volumes 1 and 2, the police protection needed or the Chabad-directed violence against him. It also fails to mention that the biography is incomplete. And it does not tell us whether Deutsch ever intends to complete that work. More than two years ago, Deutsch told me he was publishing volume three, and gave me some indication of when that would be. The time came and passed.

Just like Gary Rosenblatt, Mark's boss, passed on the Rabbi Mordechai Gafni clergy abuse story because Gafni was a friend of friends, Mark passes on the real story here. When journalists like Jonathan Mark write garbage like this, ignoring Chabad's criminal behavior and Deutsch's enforced silence, they fail us all, while at the same time encouraging violence and anti-democratic action, just as Rosenblatt encouraged and enabled Gafni's abuse.

Mark and Rosenblatt are the two most prominent Orthodox journalists in America. The operative word here is Orthodox, which increasingly should be read as a synonym for corrupt.

The Lies of the Rebbe, cont.

In his infamous 1983 letter to me responding to my pleas to help Ethiopian Jews, the late Chabad-Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote:

Equally, your claims regarding scholarships and other projects you mention in your letter are not logical and they do not fit in with the activities and duties of Chabad-Lubavitch institutions or representatives.

Of course, this was complete bullshit. Chabad had long been involved in using these same methods to save Iranian Jews. (So, to be clear, had Satmar.) But Chabad's operation had come to a halt early in 1982. And it was no state secret. Iranian Jews saved this way were very evident in Crown Heights and LA, and they didn't hide how they were saved. Many had moved from the US to Israel, as well.

Many of you questioned me on this point, claiming Chabad had not used student visas to save Iraninan Jews. Well, just to keep the record clear, here is why you were so very wrong:

One late afternoon in October 1978, Hertzel Illulian, a Chabad student from Brooklyn, was silently praying mincha outside the Intercontinental Hotel in Tehran. He took three steps back after reciting the Amidah, the service's central prayer, and found himself surrounded by a wall of men, secret police dressed in street clothes.

They threatened to cart him off to jail, eventually dismissing him and taking a local Iranian Jew instead.

This was a period of massive unrest in Iran, as pro-Ayatollah Khomeini supporters engaged in often violent street demonstrations against the shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who had imposed martial law and whose tanks and troops patrolled the streets. But Illulian, then 19, didn't feel scared.

"I was courageous," he said. "I had the purpose to save Jewish children."

He was an official Chabad student shaliach, or emissary, working on behalf of [Chabad's] Brooklyn-based National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, and armed with the coveted blessing of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Schneersohn. This was the beginning of his now-legendary mission to help transport about 3,000 young Jewish Persians, most ranging in age from 12 to 19, using I-20 student visas, from an increasingly dangerous Iran to safety in the United States.…

Illulian, who was raised in Milan, Italy, by parents born in Tehran, has a bona fide track record in this area. It was his idea to bring almost 3,000 young people out of Iran, working tirelessly from 1978 to about 1982 to accomplish it.

Sholem Hecht, rabbi of the Sephardic Jewish Congregation and Center in Queens, N.Y., who accompanied Illulian on his first trip to Tehran and assisted in the rescue, said, "There's no question he played a very special role in the history of Iranian Jews in America."

The Rebbe lied. Ethiopian Jews died. Period. End of story.

Omri Sharon's Bar Mitzva

Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his family celebrate his son Omri's bar mitzva – in Kfar Chabad.

More pictures here.

Alter Rebbe's Father A Misnaged

The father of the first rebbe of Chabad was an opponent of the hasidic movement and of his son, the Alter Rebbe (Ba'al HaTanya). From Assaf's new book, courtesy of Tzemach Atlas:

R. Yekusiel Yehuda Greenvald wrote a book about Toldos Chasidus in Hungary published in 1921. This story evidently is confirmed (embellished) in Chabad sources by R. Hayim Meir Heimlin who wrote about this in Beis Rabbi. Greenvald wrote that R. Boruch, the father of Rashaz opposed the new way of his son and left as far as possible to the place where Chasidus were still unknown, to Hungary. He left to be Melamed in Munkatch and then to Selush where he died. Only before he passed away he revealed his identity. Assaf writes about the mythological symmetry with father and son. R. Moshe also only revealed his identity before his death and was a wondering Jew just like R. Boruch.

Chabad sources I think would have you believe the Alter Rebbe's father accepted hasidut late in his life. This appears to be false, however. The gravestone that reads "Father of the Ba'al HaTanya" was probably paid for by his surviving son Yehuda Leib or his Schneerson grandchildren, all of who were Chabadniks.

The Conversion Of the Alter Rebbe's Son, cont.

Tzemach Atlas has a review of Assaf's new (Hebrew) book on hasidim, which contains a chapter detailing the conversion to Christianity of the Ba'al HaTanya's son Moshe:

…Assaf concludes the chapter by unceremoniously taking apart what was said or written about this parsha by Rayatz. Alas Assaf admits that because there is no archival evidence about R. Moshes death in the hospital technically there is a room for the Golus version or even for the version presented by some of the Maskilim that R. Moshe was a clerk in a government office in St. Petersburg. But unfortunately Rayatz not only used extreme creative hyperbola when speaking about this, he also changed the key facts in his own versions of the event.

In 1922 Rayatz wrote a letter to one of the descendants of Zvi Heikin. In the letter there is R. Moshe’s dispute with Christian Theologians (a first mention of this by anybody). R. Moshe is then imprisoned, his cellmate suddenly dies and in the confusion R. Moshe escapes to go in the above mentioned Golus in Volyn area.

In 1942 Rayatz wrote a letter to a Schneerson family member who lived in Montreal. Here R. Moshe is lead by decree to a disputation to occur in Vladimir. The guards that accompany him fall asleep and R. Moshe escapes, and of course the date of the escape is 19 of Kislev! R. Moshe arrives to Orel. In Orel R. Moshe stayed with R. Moshe Leib Yakobson …. R. Moshe then goes to the Golus in Volyn. Assaf points out the Geography and the correlation with the Alter Rebbe himself (besides Yat kislev). The two towns mention[ed] by Rayatz[,] Vladimir and Orel[,] were on Alter Rebbe’s itinerary when he run from Napoleon.…

TA also notes:

… Assaf tells about pivotal moments that he discovered in the archives. R. Moshe attempted (without his family) to join the caravan of his brothers and Alter Rebbe in winter of 1812 when they were fleeing Napoleon’s army. He was arrested by the French in Shklov, the French interrogated him and after concluding that he was a spy, they sentenced him to death. The French then understood that he “was not all there” and let him go.…

…After the war the Schneersons moved to Lubavitch. R. Moshe was with his brothers there even after the incident [conversion] and his family made valiant attempts to protect him from Christians who now claimed his soul. This didn't prevent R. Moshe from writing from Lubavitch that he would rather be a Russian Orthodox than Catholic.…

The Truth v. Hasidic Hagiography

The Forward has picked up on the controversy surrounding David Assaf's new book on the hasidic movement, noting, in this review by Allen Nadler, that the book is surprisingly difficult to purchase unless you have an in with a bookseller. Why would that be?

Of course, we all know why. Booksellers like to live.

Here is Nadler's recounting of Assaf's revelations regarding Moshe, the son of the Alter Rebbe who converted to Christianity:

The chapter that has created by far the most Internet chatter concerns the conversion to Christianity in 1820 of Rabbi Moshe Schneerson, the youngest son of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyadi, venerated founder of Chabad/Lubavitch. In it, Assaf offers a complete history of the efforts at distortion and repression by Lubavitcher apologists, horrified by the conversion of their founder’s son, and by their enlightened opponents, who could not have been more delighted by it.

Let’s begin with the Hasidim. Although this tragic episode has not been unknown to historians, neither has it exactly been part of the standard official history of this most high-profile of Hasidic dynasties. In fact, the sixth Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneerson, in his published chronicle of Chabad history went so far as to deny that the conversion ever took place. According to Schneerson’s hagiographical account, Rabbi Moshe was compelled to engage in a theological disputation with the Catholic priest of his town, in which he was of course victorious, and then was forced to flee for his safety. Rabbi Moshe, according to Schneerson’s account, spent the remaining years of his life as a lamed-vovnik — the classic anonymous saint of rabbinic mythology — and was buried anonymously in the Ukrainian shtetl of Radomysl.

As Assaf demonstrates, this fanciful tale has no historical basis whatsoever. Instead, Assaf concludes that Rabbi Moshe’s conversion is best explained as a result of the well-documented, though unspecified, mental illness from which he suffered since childhood. And he offers proof. As he explains, while searching the Belorussian State Archives in Minsk, historian Shaul Stampfer recently came across a treasure trove of documents verifying Rabbi Moshe’s apostasy — including a letter of intention to convert that was addressed to the Catholic Priest of the Belorussian town of Ula (where Moshe served as rabbi), and his actual baptismal certificate, dated July 4, 1820. For the skeptical, Assaf includes reproductions of these documents in his book and adds that it is almost certain that shortly after his conversion to Christianity, the rabbi was consigned to St. Petersburg’s famed mental hospital, Obuchovskaya, where he died.

Note the "history" written* by the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe is completely false.

Nadler also recounts Assaf's version of the suicide of the Seer of Lublin, of Sqverer and Talner violence against Breslov that makes inter-Satmar fighting look tame, and more.

Best yet, he mentions Tzemach Atlas's mentalblog.

* The Rayyatz spent an hour each week telling this "history" to a Yiddish writer, I believe named Meckler. Meckler produced pieces that were published under the Rayyatz's name, after the Rayyatz approved each one. Then the pieces were combined into the two-volume "history" sold in most Chabad Houses and online. No wonder Chabad's archives are closed to most scholars.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet

Menachem Mendel is reporting Rabbi Louis Jacobs passed away over Shabbat. Baruch Dayan HaEmet.

UPDATE: Paul Shaviv notes in the comments below and on AJHistory that Rabbi Louis Jacobs was the expert witness retained by Chabad during its fight with the family of the 6th rebbe to prove gifts given to a hasidic rebbe become the property of the hasidic movement and not of the rebbe himself.

It so happens that Rabbi Jacobs was wrong – hasidic history, including Chabad hasidic history, is full of examples where gifts to a rebbe became the private property of that rebbe. Furthermore, the 6th rebbe had privately purchased most of his library, and most of those purchases were of secular books, including titles like Sherlock Holmes in Yiddish.

That aside, Baruch Dayan HaEmet.

Bryan Mark Rigg's Book On Rescue Of Freirdiker Rebbe To Be Made Into Documentary Film

Bryan Mark Rigg's book, Rescued From The Reich, is being made into a documentary film. His earlier work, Hitler's Jewish Soldiers, has already been made into a documentary by the same team of filmmakers. It premiers on Israeli TV on Yom HaShoa.

Rabbi Kopul Rosen #5: More Chabad Myths Surface

Chabad appears to be unable to leave the Rabbi Kopul Rosen story alone. CrownHeights.info has lengthly article based on a piece written by Rabbi Nachman Sudak that contains many of the lies found in Rabbi Tuvia Bolton's recent article. Worse yet, these lies were printed in Kfar Chabad Magazine #196. [Images of the article are found below.] This again proves that Chabad creates myths of the Rebbe's greatness and "supernatural" powers. Every miracle story Chabad tells about its Rebbes should be viewed with suspicion. If the Rabbi Kopul Rosen stories are any indication, they are mostly lies.

[Hat tip: Dovid Lerner.]

UPDATE: Rabbi Jeremy Rosen writes:

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. At least now I know the source of the myth. On the one hand Rabbi Sudak was indeed 'involved' and close to the events. On the other his imagination has got the better of him because he has so many details completely wrong, such as changing the school curriculum ( any pupil of that era will attest that nothing changed) or the blood transfusions ceasing. My father spent the last month of his life in an Oxford clinic receiving  blood regularly.

But by now I am reconciled to the fact that certain circles, in enhancing a myth, truth is irrelevant!

It is clear no Chabad rebbe stories can be trusted. Are some true or partially true? Sure. But many are just like this one, made up of lies and wild exaggerations. And there is no way to tell them apart.

Please click the images to enlarge.

Kopul Rosen #4: Chabad & The Gospel Of Mark

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen writes in this week's Something Jewish:

I find it fascinating that the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament contains a similar story of a man being warned not to reveal a miraculous healing, but publicizing it anyway. It seems that it’s not just the Second Coming that some people in Chabad are borrowing from Christianity! If people can invent nonsense like this to bolster their belief systems, then every story they tell becomes suspect. Myths and lies certainly won’t help bring ‘Moshiach Now’!

It was my mother’s Yahrzeit this week. Out of respect for her memory, let alone my father’s, zl, I hope someone in Chabad has the integrity and authority to put an end to this for the sake of its own good name.

Kopul Rosen 1, 2 & 3.

Kopul Rosen #3: More Lies From Rabbi Tuvia Bolton

The publication of Rabbi Jeremy Rosen's exposé of Chabad's twisting and exaggeration of his father's story has drawn a lot of attention inside Chabad. And the author of Chabad's most deceitful version, Rabbi Tuvia Bolton of Kfar Chabad, Israel, has taken to promising at least some readers that he would correct and update his version. One such reader emailed me with a link to Rabbi Bolton's "correction," which turns out to be an edited version of the story that replaces Rabbi Kopul Rosen's name with the anonymous "Rabbi J.," and that keeps many of the lies of the original version intact. And, Rabbi Bolton nowhere mentions his errors or publicly apologizes for lying about Rabbi Rosen's relationship with the Rebbe, and his passing.

How can anyone trust anything Chabad publishes or says when its rabbis lie like this?

[Hat tip: Shoshana.]

[Here's a PDF of Rabbi Bolton's "corrected" version: Download tuvia_bolton.pdf ]

UPDATE: Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky has kindly forwarded Rabbi Bolton's weekly parsha hashavua email, in which Rabbi Bolton 'apologizes' and promises to post a "revised" version on his website's archives:

APPOLOGY [sic] I have been informed that some of the details of last week's (Parshat Yisro) story are incorrect.  Mainly that, unlike what I wrote, Rabbi Kopol [sic] Rosen's relation to Chabad in fact had always been positive. My appologies.  A revised edition will be published in our archives.

That "revised edition" contains the lies noted immediately above.

Rabbi Kopul Rosen, #2

Rabbi Kopul Rosen on a visit to Kfar Chabad.

I have updated the guest post from Rabbi Jeremy Rosen, on his late father Rabbi Kopul Rosen's relationship with the Rebbe and Chabad, with scans of the original story as published by Chabad of Great Britain in "Challenge: An Encounter With Lubavitch Chabad." Suffice it to say the original story backs Rabbi Rosen's charges. Another Chabad myth destroyed.

[For the sake of clarity and to keep the comment thread together, I have blocked comments for this post only. If you want to comment, please do so on the original post below. Thank you.]

Guest Post: Kopul Rosen & The Rebbe – Myth Refuted

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen has sent in the following article about his late father, Kopul Rosen's, z'l, relationship with the Rebbe. The comments in square brackets [ ] are Rabbi Rosen's corrections to Rabbi Tuvia Bolton's article as published by Chabad in Israel. They have been indented for clarity and readability.

My comments? Another Chabad myth destroyed:

Chabad Fantasy
By Rabbi Jeremy Rosen

The Lubavitcher Rebbe was undeniably a great man and arguably the greatest Jew of his generation. Many of his followers have done outstanding work around the globe. But sadly as with every large organisation they have their crooks, their swindlers and their liars. Amongst their failings is an exaggerated tendency to maximise miracles the Rebbe performed (while ignoring his limitations) and frankly lying to suit their own propaganda.

For many years there has been a story circulating that my father who died in 1962 was promised he would be cured by the Rebbe provided he did not tell anyone. But he did and that’s why he died. These stories caused my late mother as great deal of distress and at one stage she actually planned to take legal action. I have just had it brought to my attention that this dishonest story is still being disseminated. You can find a copy of this Chillul HaShem here  HYPERLINK "http://www.ohrtmimim.org/Torah" http://www.ohrtmimim.org/Torah .

The facts of the situation are that in the autumn of 1961 my late father (spelled Kopul) was diagnosed with a particularly virulent form of Lukaemia and he was being kept alive by regular blood transfusions. The Doctors described his condition as terminal. Initially he kept on repeating that he was in the hands of God, not fallible human doctors, but as he deteriorated his initial optimism began to wane.  An old friend Rabbi Laizer Spector wnt with him to visit the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York. (My uncle – who had been going regularly to see the Rebbe before these events – had gone before my father.) My father was tremendously impressed by the Rebbe who encouraged him to devote his remaining time to preparing himself to meet his Maker. He suggested my father grow his beard full, wear a gartel when he prayed and study the Tanya daily. The visit certainly gave my father a lot of spiritual comfort. When he returned he wrote many letters to friends and pupils telling them that he was nearing his end but facing it with confidence. Things deteriorated of course and in the winter he went to New York again for a final visit to the Rebbe. He kept very detailed notes of both visits so we have written evidence apart from his own memory.

The Rebbe reassured him that he would live to dance at his daughter's wedding (she was two at the time). One can argue whether this was honest or not. Let us assume he was just trying to give him courage or speaking mystically. But medically there was no chance of recovery. He died less than two months later.

Although I have never joined Chabad, when I was a rabbi in Glasgow I arranged for Chaim Jacobs to come as the Chabad emissary and indeed he was employed by my Synagogue, Giffnock, until he could get on to his own two feet. The Rebbe blessed my first marriage and was instrumental in my returning to Carmel as Headmaster. I made several trips to New York to see the Rebbe and to get Chabad teachers to come to Carmel . But no, I am a fellow traveller rather than a believer.

All this is by way of introduction. Here is the body of this regurgitated myth:

‘The scene is London 1963.

[My father died in 1962.]

Three religious bearded Jews are sitting around a table and one, a noted Rabbi and community leader by the name of Rabbi Koppel (sic) Rosen was weeping. Usually he was known almost as well for his disdain toward the Chabad Chassidim

[Strange. When I was in Beer Yaakov yeshiva in 1957 he came to visit and together we went to Kfar Chabad to meet some friends of his. He was responsible for getting Lord Wolfson to fund the building of Lubavitch House in Stamford Hill in the 1950’s and he was a very old friend of Reb Laizer Spector, ZL one of the main early supporters of Chabad in London who actually went with him to the Rebbe the first time. My father was in contact with the Rebbe long before, as letters exchanged between them in the fifties on various issues attest. Incidentally although my late father was sent to Mir Yeshivah and became a great admirer of Rav Yerucham Levovitz ZL after whom I am named and the Mussar movement, he was actually born into a family of Radomsker Chassidim and the Chasidic atmosphere was a far more formative aspect of home life than the Lithuanian.]

as he was for his erudition.

[Whose erudition? His own? He lived for Torah.]

Whenever there was an opportunity to belittle or even vilify Chabad he took it.

[Really? I’d like to hear one person say he ever heard my father belittle Chabad.]

But now it seems that things had changed.

Several weeks later Rabbi Rosen was standing before the Rebbe. It had all come about so suddenly, he had always shuddered in rupulsion (sic) at the name Chabad

[Oh no not that lie again!]

and now it was so obvious that the Rebbe was unequaled in holiness and knowledge that he was actually shaking with excitement.  But the Rebbe wasn't enthusiastic about his idea of becoming a Chassid. "Chassid?" he answered, "I am willing to accept you as a partner.  But not a Chassid."

[My father kept very detailed notes of his meeting and only the first part of this about being a partner can be found amongst them.]

Rabbi Rosen stayed for over a week in Brooklyn

[He has got the two visits confused and time scales wrong]

and every day he felt better and better, in some ways better than ever before in his life.  For the first time the hatred

[Hatred? What hatred? Of whom? My father never bore grudges nor hated anyone. Chabad? Them why had he been helping them for so long?]

he had always carried in his heart was gone. That Shabbat he attended the 'Farbrengen' (gathering) of the Rebbe. Rabbi Rosen was elated.  After the Farbringen he told everyone  he met of the amazing miracle that was happening to him;. how just reading the Tanya and seeing the Rebbe completely cured him of the worst disease and made him young again.

[There was no cure, no remission. But I agree he did feel tremendous spiritual elation from being with the Rebbe.]

When the Shabbat was over he called home and told his wife to advertise the miracle until everyone knew.

[Rubbish, confirmed by my mother.]

Rabbi Rosen never felt better in his life.

[He was on constant blood transfusions!]

He exclaimed that he was healthy and he felt it would last for ever. "I'll begin by telling everyone about my miraculous recovery!" He exclaimed enthusiastically.

[His letters, notes and conversations say nothing about this at all.]

But the  Rebbe emphatically stopped him. "No! You must tell no one!

[Complete piffle.]

But it was too late.  Rabbi Rosin (sic) had already advertised

[Strange that none of his family knew about this myth.]

After a few months he contracted a cold which developed complications

[He had leukaemia!]

and, as the Rebbe forsaw (sic), he passed away.

Today, said the Rebbe, we should advertise to ALL the world that the time for Moshiach is here!  Soon all the sick will be permanently healed, war and hatred will cease to exist and eventually even the dead will rise!  It depends on us to do all we can to bring....Moshiach now!!!’

Boobah Maisehs and lies will not bring the Moshiach NOW!!

Frankly if he/they can invent this, then every story they tell becomes suspect. I just hope someone of honesty and truth in Chabad sees this and puts an end to it for the sake of their good name.

UPDATE #1, 2-21-06: Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky sent in scans of the Rabbi Kopul Rosen story as originally published by Lubavitch in England. The story is told by Rabbi Rosen's wife, Bella. As is easily seen, the story has little in common with the myth later created and circulated by Chabad.

Please click on each image below for an enlargement. All are taken from "Challenge: An Encounter with Lubavitch Chabad," published by the Lubavitch Foundation of Great Britain, 1970.

UPDATE #2, 2-24-06: Rabbi Bolton has "corrected" his version of the story – by lying even more. As I noted in a new post above:

The publication of Rabbi Jeremy Rosen's expose´of Chabad's twisting and exaggeration of his father's story has drawn a lot of attention inside Chabad. And the author of Chabad's most deceitful version, Rabbi Tuvia Bolton of Kfar Chabad, Israel, has taken to promising at least some readers that he would correct and update his version. One such reader emailed me with a link to Rabbi Bolton's "correction," which turns out to be an edited version of the story that replaces Rabbi Kopul Rosen's name with the anonymous "Rabbi J.," and that keeps many of the lies of the original version intact. And, Rabbi Bolton nowhere mentions his errors or publicly apologizes for lying about Rabbi Rosen's relationship with the Rebbe, and his passing.

How can anyone trust anything Chabad publishes or says when its rabbis lie like this?

[Here's a PDF of Rabbi Bolton's "corrected" version: Download tuvia_bolton.pdf]

UPDATE #3, 2-24-06: Rabbi Jeremy Rosen writes in this week's Something Jewish:

I find it fascinating that the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament contains a similar story of a man being warned not to reveal a miraculous healing, but publicizing it anyway. It seems that it’s not just the Second Coming that some people in Chabad are borrowing from Christianity! If people can invent nonsense like this to bolster their belief systems, then every story they tell becomes suspect. Myths and lies certainly won’t help bring ‘Moshiach Now’!  

It was my mother’s Yahrzeit this week. Out of respect for her memory, let alone my father’s, zl, I hope someone in Chabad has the integrity and authority to put an end to this for the sake of its own good name.

Kopul Rosen 2, 3 & 4.

Israel's Chabad Postage Stamp

New Book On Crown Heights Riots

Available here.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet – Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, 106

Photo credit: Michael Nagle for The New York Times, 2004.

Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik, the oldest living Chabad follower, has passed away at the age 106. He left behind more than 300 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

New York Newsday coverage. New York Times coverage.

Israel To Issue Chabad Postage Stamp

Israel is issuing a Chabad postage stamp. The Jerusalem Post reports:

A new Israeli stamp depicting the red-brick Brooklyn house of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, will be released soon by the Israel Postal Authority's Philatelic Service. The New York house - known widely by its address, 770 Eastern Parkway - is accompanied on the face of the stamp by two Jewish symbols - Shabbat candles and tefillin.

Many Orthodox and haredi groups have opposed dedicating postage stamps to the memory of great rabbis and sages because the glue on the back is licked to affix them to envelopes - an act of disrespect. But showing "770" avoids the problem that would exist if the Rebbe's face were shown on the stamp. In addition, the "messianic" faction of Lubavitch hassidism refuses to admit that Schneerson, the seventh Chabad Rebbe, died nearly 12 years ago.

Sam Malamud, president of Inter-Governmental Postal Consultants (IGPC) group (the Official Postal Agency in the US for the Postal Authority) said: "We anticipate an immediate sellout of this issue worldwide. Considering the fact that the Rebbe has and continues to touch the hearts and minds of more people then any other Jewish figure in modern history, everyone whose lives have been affected by the Rebbe will want to collect this historic postage stamp. The global admiration and respect associated with the Rebbe and Chabad may possibly make this the most sought-after Israeli stamp ever issued," he said.

What the Post fails to mention is that Sam Malamud is a prominent Chabad follower and, as head of IGPC, has the power to make his prediction come true, no matter the actual demand. That being said, I'm sure the stamp will be a huge seller, even without Malamud's help.

The Rebbe, King David And The Maharal Of Prague

One of the important foundations of Chabad's messianic belief is the Rebbe's supposed descent from King David through the Maharal of Prague, who himself traces a direct male line to King David – but is it so? I think not. And here is why:

1. The Maharal's lineage was traced through his purported "great-great-grandfather," Rabbi Yehuda Leib (Liwa) HaZakein.* Problem number one: The Maharal did not claim this descent and did not name this Yehuda Leib as an ancestor. Problem number two: Unlike what is written in Meir Pereles' 1727 "genealogy" of the Maharal, Yehuda Lieb HaZakein did not die in 1440. His tombstone shows his date of death 100 years later, in 1540. Why is this a problem? Because the Maharal was born about 1522, and Ashkenazim did not name children after living relatives, especially after a living patriarch of a very advanced age. So Yehuda Leib HaZakein is not the Maharal's ancestor, and lineage through him to the male line of King David through Shlomo HaMelekh is not possible.**
2. There is another, less well known, possibility for the Maharal's Davidic descent, this through Yehuda HaNassi. But this "line" is really not a line. It lists the Maharal's father Betzalel and grandfather Chaim (both of Worms) but stops there. This would indicate that this genealogy was written after the Maharal's passing and without his input. Further, because of the lack of details – and because of a 1300-year-gap between the Maharal's grandfather and Yehuda HaNassi – this line of descent cannot be taken seriously.
3. The Maharal was a great and popular Jewish leader. It became the custom in the Dark Ages (if not earlier) to ascribe Davidic descent to popular rabbis. This often led their descendants, several generations removed from the ascription, to believe this ascription was the literal truth, even though it was most always simply wishful thinking on the part of the populace. I believe this is what happened with the Maharal and his descendants, including the Rebbes of Chabad.

* This is the Yehuda Leib who was originally attributed with making a golem. The legend later was transposed, and Yehuda Leib HaZakein replaced with the Maharal.
** Details of this mistake by Pereles and its long-term repercussions can be found in Neil Rosenstein's article reviewing Shlomo Englard's critical research in Avotaynu XII, #1 1996.

The Beating Of Chana Gourary

Tzemach Atlas links to a post on CrownHeights.info that contains links to audio files of a farbrengen (informal talk within a hasidic gathering) given by the titular head of worldwide Chabad, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky. In this talk Rabbi Krinsky admits the Rebbe's sister-in-law, the eldest daughter of the sixth rebbe, was beaten and blinded by a Lubavitcher rabbinical student (second audio file about 1/3 of the way in), admits that Chabad did everything in its power to stop the Rebbe from being deposed by a New York court regarding his incitement of that incident, and frequently refers to the grandson of the sixth Lubavitcher rebbe, Barry Gourary, as the "sitra achra."

For those who do not know, "sitra achra" is a kabbalist term that denotes the evil "force" opposite the goodly "force" of God's will. In hasidic street usage, "sitra achra" would be the equivalent of the devil and its opposite would be God. (In truth, the evil "force" is controlled by God, too – it is what allows us to have freedom of choice by choosing good over evil.) While unspoken, the problem is Rabbi Krinsky uses the term in a way that shows the polarity is different here: Barry Gourary is the devil and the Rebbe is God.

Rabbi Krinsky also admits that the oldest son-in-law of the sixth rebbe, known as the Rashag, was often ridiculed by Lubavitcher rabbinical students – including Rabbi Krinsky – during the early years of the Rebbe's leadership. As I saw personally, this continued into the 1980's.

It also should be noted that the sixth rebbe's library, the source of the dispute that led to the beating, contains many interesting secular books collected personally by the sixth rebbe beginning when he was still a child. Included were editions of Sherlock Holmes in Yiddish and other works of fiction. Chabad, despite what Rabbi Krinsky says on the audio files, could not go to an independent beit din (religious court), because no independent beit din would have awarded the library to them. The secular court was untroubled by the normative Jewish law regarding inheritance, and by the presence of secular books – which by the estimates I've seen made up a large part of the collection. A beit din would have awarded those books – all of them – to the surviving male heir, the sixth rebbe's grandson, Barry Gourary. And so, Chabad did what haredim so often do – whatever was most convenient.

Chabad's 'Science' Exposed: Of Lice And Men

The Florida Sun-Sentinal has early coverage of Chabad's Torah and Science conference:

But the main focus will come Wednesday with a keynote address by William A. Dembski, a champion of intelligent design and the first evangelical Christian ever to address the conference. Dembski, of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will share the dais with three Jewish experts who will look at various facets of evolution.

Ask Rabbi Sholom Lipskar, one of the conference organizers, about the topic, and he sounds much like a conservative Christian.

"The moral and ethical morass today -- hate among nations, juvenile delinquency, drug addiction, family breakdown -- comes from people not believing there is a higher authority that owns and directs the world," said Lipskar, of The Shul of Bal Harbour. [This must be the problem! Quick! Let's tell Osama Bin Laden about religion!] "But when we look to purpose and meaning, a superior authority, things fall into place, socially and spiritually."

Lipskar met head-on the suggestions by some that intelligent design is meant as a "back door" to putting religion in schools. "It's not a back door, it's a front door!" he said. "But the objective is not to make people religious. It's to make them understand that the world was put into place by an intelligent being. We are not random chemical reactions."

To have a conference on Torah and Science whose keynote speaker is a Baptist is, shall we say, unusual. But even more unusual is to have a keynote speaker with no peer-reviewed work, and for the conference to present that work as peer-reviewed science. Even worse, that speaker is sharing a presentation with scientists, including Yeshiva University's Rabbi Dr. Moses Tendler, who give his presentation authority it would not otherwise have.

Coincidentally, RebelJew points out that Chabad's view of science is, shall we say, heavily warped by extreme apologetics like this, on spontaneous generation:

… The literal meaning of Torah’s words must always be upheld. Terrible damage has been caused by the attempts in the past — and that are again being made — to “smooth” some people’s inner confusion and perplexity by arguing that the words of Torah should be understood non-literally. [Yet,  Rishonim did understand parts of the Torah non-literally.]

This is especially forbidden when dealing with areas that are relevant to practical Halacha. The question that you mentioned is of this variety: The existence of spontaneously generated worms is mentioned with regard to the laws of Shabbat, since such creatures may permissibly be killed on Shabbat. It is therefore obvious that there is no issue of a parable here; we are talking about real, live, and factual entities.

It is also forbidden to undermine the literal meaning of the verses with regard to the six days of creation — days, not eras! — since it is connected with the fundamental concept of the Shabbat day, which was established on the seventh day of the world’s existence, as well as with specific laws concerning Shabbat.

On the other hand, there is no need to ignore the seeming contradiction. Someone whose faith is strong is not bothered by such a contradiction, since the foundation of our faith is that the Torah of truth is the ultimate truth. However, if some people do feel bothered by what seems to them to be a contradiction, it is obviously necessary to examine seriously and in detail the root of the contradiction, and to prove the mistake in a specific experiment or theory. It is also possible that an unjustified generalization or inclusion has been made in the extrapolation of some scientific result or another.

The issue with spontaneously generated worms is very simple. True, experiments do allow for following the process through which a worm [larva] develops from an egg. And, when there are also explanations for the process of how these eggs were laid, that allows for the conclusion that these specific worms were created through a reproductive process. However, when eggs found in rot are identified as belonging to a specific species of worm, and the worms found there also bear signs of belonging to that species, that in no way proves that it is impossible for these worms to have appeared without the eggs, through spontaneous generation.

RebelJew's riff on this is very important and should be read. Even more important is knowing the name of the co-author of the above Chabad quote – it is none other than Dr. Herman Branover, the co-head of Chabad's Torah and Science conference and an avowed messianist. Worse yet, the entire quote is a paraphrase of a letter written by the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, the 'Sorbonne'-educated 'scientist,' Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

So much for the science of charlatans.

Moscow's Chief Rabbi Deemed "Threat" To Russia's National Security, Permanently Banned From Russia

Moscow's chief rabbi, Pinkhas Goldschmidt has been banned from Russia for almost three months. At first, we were told his visa expired. Then there were rumors of a fight between Rabbi Goldschmidt and Chabad supporter Vladimir Slutsker, who headed the Russian Jewish Congress until his removal three weeks ago. Now the JTA is reporting that Russia's Internal Affairs Ministry has deemed Rabbi Goldschmidt an enemy of the state and permanently blocked Rabbi Goldschmidt's return to Russia.

Rabbi Goldschmidt's 'crime'? Russia does not say, but it would appear to be a combination of the following: Supporting democracy, opposing Putin's return to Stalinism, and not being Chabad. (All three are legal in Russia. None, however, are good career moves.)

In this sordid saga, one voice has been conspicuously silent – Chabad's 'chief rabbi' of Russia and Putin lackey Berel Lazar – who has not spoken up in support of Rabbi Goldschmidt. Lazar is a thug. It's time he was treated as one.

Earlier FailedMessiah.com coverage here.

Bloghead coverage here.

Mentalblog here.

Rebbe's Cousin "Neo-Nazi"

Yehudi Menuhin's son has been removed from his father's foundation for espousing "neo-Nazi" views. Lord Menuhin, Lord Isaiah Berlin and the Rebbe were all equal Schneerson cousins. All are direct descendants of the Alter Rebbe. Menuhin's father was, like the 5th and 6th Lubavitcher rebbes, a noted and very public anti-Zionist.

Rabbi David Berger Not Invited To NYU Rebbe Conference

Steven I. Weiss has a post on Rabbi Dr. David Berger explaining his current position on Chabad. Rabbi Berger also notes that he was not invited to present at NYU's academic conference on the Rebbe to be held next week. The conference – organized by Chabad apologist Lawrence Schiffman and Chabad rabbi Dr. Naftali Lowenthal, and funded by Chabad supporter and apologis George Rohr – appears to have only two potential critics of Chabad out of perhaps a dozen or so presenters. The only biographer of the Rebbe, Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch, has also been left out of the mix. This may be because, unlike Rabbi Berger, Deutsch is not an academic. Still, he has the only biography in existence, and has broken new ground with his work. Both Berger and Deutsch are pariahs within Chabad; this may be the real reason neither is presenting.

The lone critic of Chabad on the agenda is Alan Nadler, an academic expert on the Vilna Gaon and mitnagdim.

SIW is covering this event for the Forward. If his recent comments and his history of reporting on this issue are any indication, Chabad will get off easy – but not too easy. But Chabad doesn't have to worry. Their mole at the Forward will eventually take care of matters by deleting Weiss reports from the Forward's website.

Chabad.org Vrs. Truth

Today is the yahtzeit of Rabbi Shmuel Schneersohn, the 4th rebbe of Lubavitch. Chabad.org incorrectly notes:

After the death of the saintly Tzemach Tzedek in the spring of 5626 (1866), Rabbi Shmuel was elected to succeed him as head of the Chabad Chassidim.

In actuality, there were four other brothers, older (and some say wiser) than Shmuel, who sought the post of Rebbe of the town Lubavitch. These brothers already were rebbes of other towns, having been sent to them years before by the Tzemach Tzedek. Shmuel was not. Shmuel fought them and eventually retained control over the town of Lubavitch and the graves* of the Mittler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek. But he was not the rebbe of all or even most of Chabad hasidim. Most followed the other brothers. In fact, streams of Chabad hasidut other than Lubavitch existed into the 1950's. Agudas Chasidei Chabad, a.k.a. Aguch, was founded by an amalgum of different Chabad streams, most prominently Bobroisker.

*The graves were a major source of income for Shmuel and were an important reason he retained prominence.

Tzaddik? Maybe Not …

Napoleon crossing the Alps. Was the Alter Rebbe wrong in opposing him?

Why did the Alter Rebbe oppose Napoleon? In an 1812 letter to Rabbi Moshe Meiseles, head of the Alter Rebbe's spy ring that funneled information about Napoleon to the Tsar, the Alter Rebbe writes:

Should Napoleon be victorious, wealth among the Jews will be abundant and the glory of the children of Israel will be exalted. But the hearts of Israel will be separated and distanced from their Father in heaven. But if our master Alexander [the Tsar] will triumph, though poverty will be abundant and the glory of Israel will be humbled, the heart of Israel will be bound and joined with its Father in heaven.

The Alter Rebbe feared democracy and modernity. His decision to support the Tsar (if it was, in fact, helpful to the Tsar) led to 180 years of Jewish oppression and suffering, sparked the massive wave of emigration to the United States and accelerated assimilation. But, hey, that's okay – he was a tzaddik, right?

An academic treatment by Hillel Levine of the Alter Rebbe's opposition to Napoleon is found in Rachel Elior's book on Shabbatianism. Download hillel_levine.pdf

(Also see comments to this post for an earlier discussion of this topic.)

When Faith Trumped Baseball

Sandy Koufax would not pitch on Yom Kippur

As you read this piece, it's important to keep in mind that Rabbi Moshe Feller wanted to be a sports announcer and would have been one. What stopped him? His parents put the then 14-year-old on a train – kicking and screaming by some accounts – to Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn. Rabbi Feller would later leave Torah Vodaas for 770, and would eventually be sent back to Minnesota by the Rebbe to found Upper Midwest Merkos Lubavitch where he would have his fateful encounter with Sandy Koufax.

Tzaddik?

Napoleon Bonepart, "Armed Soldier of Democracy"

Jewish lore contains stories of dead tzaddikim who, when their graves were opened years after their deaths, had not decomposed. (Chabad claims this for at least one of their rebbes, I think the MAHARASH.) This is considered to be a sign that the deceased was a true tzaddik.

As many of you know, Chabad's founder Schneur Zalman of Liadi opposed Napoleon. He ordered several of his followers to spy for the Czar and worked to defeat Napoleon, who was known as the "Armed Soldier of Democracy." It is said that Schneur Zalman feared democracy, believing Judaism would flourish under oppression and tyranny but fail under democracy.

19 years after Napoleon's death on St. Helena, his tomb was opened and the body taken to Paris for reburial. After 19 years in the grave, Napoleon's body showed no sign of decomposition.

Was this a Divine endorsement of democracy?

Great-Grandson Of The Ba'al HaTanya Met US President Ulysses S. Grant

A great-grandson of the first Chabad rebbe, Schneur Zalman of Liadi, travelled to America from his home in Israel to raise funds for the Jewish community. While here, he met with President Ulysses S. Grant. Chaim Tzvi Schneersohn was the grandson of this man.

Read about it here. (First seen on Mentalblog.)

Rebbe's Claimed 'Sorbonne Education' Debunked

Tzemach Atlas has a post definitively debunking claims – made by the Rebbe himself! – of a Sorbonne education and degree.

It also debunks much of the Rebbe's claims about his education at the University of Berlin and calls into question his (or, perhaps more appropriately, his wife's) ability to be Shabbat observant in Paris. Read the entire details in the pdf file linked immediately below:

Download Golan-Habad_eng.pdf

Alter Rebbe's Son Christian Convert

Ha'aretz has a stunning article on 185-year-old documents from a Russian archive proving Moshe, a son of the first Chabad Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, converted to Christianity.

The documents also note that Moshe worked as an adviser to the Tzar for the conversion of Jews and that he suffered from a mental illness.

Chabad has consistently denied these facts for years, but the discovery of the documents has proved their denials false. Interestingly, the major proponent of the Chabad denials – and the lies made up by Chabad to 'prove' that Moshe did not convert – was the 6th Rebbe of Lubavitch, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. His son-in-law, the 7th Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson echoed his father-in-law's denials – and the lies constructed to make them plausible.

Mental illness runs in the Schneerson family. The Rebbe's great-grandfather, the oldest son of the 3rd Chabad Rebbe known as the Tzemakh Tzedek, was mentally ill and excused himself (or was excused) from rabbinic leadership because of his illness.

The 5th Rebbe of Lubavitch, Shalom Dov Ber Schneersohn, the father of the 6th Rebbe mentioned above, was clinically depressed and sought treatment from Sigmund Freud.

Some speculate that the 6th Rebbe's sad response to the Holocaust was the result of mental illness and a product of a delusional thought process.

The Rebbe also exhibited delusional thinking, noticed as early as 1951 by rabbinic leaders like Rabbi Hutner. The Rebbe was incapable of accepting correction or criticism from aides, had no close friends, no hevrusa, and no family members he remained close with. He held no family gatherings or reunions and did not attend family simchot. This type of behavior is common to charismatic leaders of religious cults, a form of narcissistic megalomania. The Rebbe's delusions about 'contacting' his deceased father-in-law, about his father-in-law's status after his passing as the current leader of our generation, his continual referal to Chabad rebbes as the 'messiah' of their generation, and other delusions about his own messianic status may very well be products of mental illness.

Ha'aretz writes:

Documents have recently come to light proving that the youngest son of the founder of the Chabad movement, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Russia, converted to Catholicism.

For 180 years, the conversion of Moshe Zalmanovitch (son of Zalman) has been difficult for Chabad hassidim and the hassidic world in general to accept. Now, it will be difficult to ignore.

Rumors of the conversion of Moshe and conversions in other Hassidic families were rife in the 19th century, fueled by members of the Enlightenment who, in spite of their world view, nevertheless excoriated such moves.

Chabad denied the rumors vehemently over the years, presenting alternative versions of the life of the rabbi's youngest son, a married father of four. But documents, copies of which are in Jerusalem, prove the rumors true. The original documents are located in the national historical archives in Minsk, the capital of Belarussia.

Five years ago, Tel Aviv University historian Prof. David Assaf wrote an article about Moshe for the Hebrew periodical Tzion, surveying evidence proving and disproving the conversion.

Assaf concluded that the facts were irrefutable: a conversion indeed had taken place. However, he expressed the hope that in the rich trove of archives in the former Soviet Union, undiscovered documents would shed more light on the subject.

Assaf's hopes were fulfilled. Following publication of his article, Hebrew University Prof. Shaul Stempfer searched the archives, and found two files of documents that had once belonged to the Catholic Church in the area of Mohilev in eastern Belarussia. The documents, written in Russian, Polish and Latin, are devoted to Moshe's conversion. The files were photographed by emissaries of the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People at the Hebrew University, and archivist Benjamin Lukin allowed Haaretz to look at some of them.

Letter to a priest

One of the most important documents is a letter written by Moshe on July 1, 1820. It was addressed to a Polish priest named Siodlovsky, in the Polish city of Ulla, where Moshe lived after his marriage.

The 36-year-old Moshe wrote he had long sought to become Roman Catholic.

He said the Jews had tried to prevent him from doing so by watching him constantly, beating him and threatening him. However, he wrote: "I have remained steadfast in my desire to take upon myself the true faith of Jesus Christ, to which the holy books and all the prophets testify."

The declaration was made before Christian witnesses, officers and clerks, whose names and occupations are noted in the document. They signed, certifying that the writer of the declaration was "of sound mind."

Thus, Moshe son of Zalman became Leon Yoleivitch.

Of sound mind? Opinions are divided on that point, to put it mildly.

Jewish sources, even those who deny the conversion, mainly agree that Moshe had suffered from mental problems since childhood.

On the other hand, senior Catholic figures who examined Moshe after his conversion tended to affirm the act, claiming he had pretended to be insane for fear of the Jews.

Mentally unstable convert

Subsequently, the recently discovered documents reveal, even the priests realized that the new convert was mentally unstable, and sent him to the village of Lubavitch where his brother, the rabbinic leader Dov Baer, was living. Eventually, Moshe-Leon announced his intention to become Eastern Orthodox.

He was brought to St. Petersburg where he became an adviser to the Tzar, Alexander Nicolaevich Golitzin, whose vision was to convert the Jews. After his mental state deteriorated, he was sent to a clinic for nervous disorders in St. Petersburg, where he apparently died.

Assaf believes it was Moshe's mental state that led him to convert. Were there other motives, such as anger against his older brother, or pressure from a Christian friend?

These and other questions are the subject of a book written by Assaf that will be published this year. In any case, the documents and testimony, old and new, shed fascinating light on the history of the Jewish people in Russia.

Ha'aretz has printed a semi-official Chabad response here. The basic claim is that the newly-discovered documents are fakes and that 'mitnagdim' are out to get Chabad. I suppose after carbon dating proves the paper and the ink to be about 200 years old, Chabad will fall back on its rejection of science to make its 'case.'

The Truth About Yud Beis Tammuz

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn

Chabad portrays Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn's (hereafter, the Rayatz) decision to remain in Russia as follows:

He was the only Jewish leader who chose to remain in Russia following the communist revolution, and built a network of underground yeshivot and a Jewish support system that functioned clandestinely through all the years of communism.

At grave risk to himself and to his Chasidim, Rabbi Schneersohn thus kept the moribund embers of Jewish life alive. In 1927, he was arrested in his home in Leningrad, on accusations of counter-revolutionary activities. He was sentenced to three years in exile and sent to the isolated townlet of Kostroma in central Russia.

But is this the truth? Not exactly.

The Rayatz stayed in Russia because he believed communism was not going to last. Any danger to himself would be temporary. He also urged his hasidim to stay in Russia. Why? Russia would soon be safe for Jews again.

He was wrong. Russia would not be safe for Jews until the dawn of the 21st century.

But the Rayatz did build an underground network of yeshivot and a Jewish support system?

He did. But that network was largely funded by money from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The Joint funded Jewish schools, synagogues and institutions in Russia through the organization of Russian Jewish communities. The Rayatz became head of the organization by default. By 1925 virtually all of Russia's senior rabbis had chosen to leave, correctly perceiving that there was no future for Jews in Russia, leaving the Rayatz – who disagreed with them – behind.

The Rayatz took the communal money sent by the Joint and distributed it. But unlike his predecessors, the Rayatz funded (almost) exclusively Lubavitch rabbis and institutions. If he wanted to set up a school in a shtetl, and even if that shtetl already had a non-Lubavitch rabbi cladestinely teaching there, the Rayatz would still send money only to Lubavitchers. This allowed Chabad to dominate the Russian Jewish community as it forced more and more non-Lubavitchers out of Russia.

The Rayatz's handling of these foreign monies violated the conditions for the money set by the Joint and other funders. They wanted all efforts, even non-Lubavitch efforts, funded – just as they had been before the Rayatz took over the organization. But the Rayatz defied the Joint and continued to direct the funds to Lubavitch projects at the expense of other worthwhile efforts. By 1927, the Joint had decided to act, and was preparing to cut off funds to the Rayatz and publicly accuse him of misuse of the money.

It was at this point, just before the Joint was about to act, that the Rayatz was arrested by the Soviets and charged with treason.

As the struggle to free the Rayatz commenced, the Joint did not withhold funds or accuse the Rayatz publicly. Instead, it kept the misuse of funds private in order not to give the Soviets more ammunition to use against him. And it tried to have the Rayatz freed.

When Chabad's(1) efforts in America resulted in the Rayatz's release, the resulting publicity and the Rayatz's new hero status made the Joint leery of confrontation. Shortly after his release, the Rayatz fled Russia, leaving behind hundreds of hasidim he had promised never to leave.(2) The issue of the misappropriated funds became moot and was never acted on by the Joint.

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(1) These were not necessarily Lubavitch hasidim. There were several Chabad rebbes at that time and shortly before it, including the Bobroisker Rebbe. It was hasidim of these rebbes who worked along side Lubavitchers to free the Rayatz.
(2) He would repeat this just before the start of WW2, telling his followers during that summer there would not be a war and that Poland was safe. When September 1st proved him wrong, the Rayatz fled, leaving hundreds of his followers – including American yeshiva students – to fend for themselves. Many were killed by the Nazis. As Bryan Mark Rigg has shown, the Rayatz tried very hard to save his library and his silver goods – much harder than he tried to save his followers.

Chabad's Secret History Exposed: Most Descendants Of Rebbes Not Religious – Same True For The Descendants Of Their Hasidim

Historian of Chabad and hasidut Schneur Zalman Alpert writes:

… By and large most of the great grand children of the Tzemach Tzedek were modern people and their children were no longer religious. The same process occurred with the Chasidim themselves. Except for Lubavitch, the other branches of Chabad died out as the children of the Rebbes refused to take on leadership of a mystical nature and remained either Rabbis or in most cases lay people.

In all of Lubavitch today there is only one Schneerson family (a father and 2 married sons) who are frum and Chabad. Most [Orthodox] descendants of the Alter Rebbe in Chabad today are from a line that immigrated to Palestine in the early 19th century not the Schneersohn family that remained in Russia.…

One can also add that the 1st Chabad rebbe's son Moshe converted to Christianity and that today Chabad is hemorrhaging – by many estimates it is losing as many Chabad Jews to non-observance as it is attracting new adherents.

Read Schneur Zalman Alpert's entire comment here.

Bryan Mark Rigg Profiled By The Jerusalem Post

Bryan Mark Rigg, author of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers and Rescued From The Reich: How One Of Hitler's Soldiers Rescued The Lubavitcher Rebbe has been profiled in the Jerusalem Post:

Chabad Library Update

Chabad And Ethiopian Jews – The Shame Grows

Chabad And The Holocaust, Part 3: "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."

Chabad And The Holocaust, Part 2

Chabad And The Holocaust: A Legacy Of Shame

Rabbi Barry Gourary – Baruch Dayan HaEmet

All In The Family

Paul Shaviv has a fascinating post on Sir Isaiah Berlin and Slifkin-gate.

It seems that Sir Isaiah, Yehudi Menuhin and the 7th Lubavitcher rebbe were all equal Schneerson cousins and the rebbe's wife, Chaya Mushka (and daughter of the 6th rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn) used to travel to London to see Sir Isaiah's mother and attend the theater with her.

By the way, Sir Isaiah – an infrequent synagogue attendee – inherited from his mother the tefillin of the Alter Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Liady the founder of the Chabad dynasty. It was not uncommon for Lubavitch hasidim to make a pilgrimage of sorts to Sit Isaiah's home just to catch a glimpse of them.

Does anyone know where they are kept today?

Stalin Back In Favor As New Putin-Approved Statue Goes Up In Moscow … And Chabad Rehabilitates Stalin

A NEW statue of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin is to be erected in Moscow, returning his once-ubiquitous image to the streets after an absence of four decades, a top city official said yesterday.

Since Vladimir Putin became president in 2000, a number of Soviet symbols - including the national anthem and an army flag - have been restored to use, reflecting widespread nostalgia for the communist era.

But the rehabilitation of Stalin - denounced by Soviet leaders after his death in 1953 for encouraging a cult of personality and killing millions of real and imagined opponents - had remained out of bounds. Statues of him were removed from Moscow in the 1960s.

Oleg Tolkachev, Moscow’s senator in the upper house of parliament, said a monument was to be erected to Stalin and others who led the war against Hitler. A statue will also be built in the Belgorod region, near the Ukrainian border.

In another sign of Stalin’s growing appeal, many prime-time television shows have recently depicted him in a positive light.

For the Chabad role in this sickening affair, please see the post below.

For a look at Chabad's actions in Ukraine, see here.

Learn From History

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, the titular head of Chabad-Lubavitch has issued a statement on the 55th yartzeit of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe: