Mourning Lubavitchers Trying to Reconcile Faith with Reality

A week after the death of the Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, some of his followers in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn were coming out of mourning and trying to reconcile their faith with reality.

Lubavitchers — many of whom once professed with perfect faith that the rebbe would rise from his hospital bed to usher in the messianic age — are now taking a second look at the traditional messianic texts, including Schneerson’s own teachings on the subject.

Although within the Lubavitch movement there had long been controversy over whether Schneerson was in fact the Messiah or merely the best candidate for the job, the concept of messianism, some say, was Schneerson’s primary message and the driving force behind his efforts to spread Jewish observance.

There is also substantial disagreement over whether — and how much — emphasis should now be placed on the messianic aspects of the movement.

A spokesman for the international Lubavitch headquarters in Crown Heights said that most Lubavitchers were still too caught up in mourning to start contemplating messianic questions.

And Agudas Chassidei Chabad, the movement’s umbrella organization, which is run by Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, the rebbe’s longtime aide, has tried to downplay the messianic component of the rebbe’s life and death.

The group issued statements dissociating itself from those who are not “respectful of the honor of God and the honor of” the rebbe, referring to those playing up the messianic angle.

It urged followers to concentrate on the concept of “hiskashrus,” the rebbe’s teaching that a righteous person’s spiritual presence is greater than his or her physical presence.

In the wake of his death, however, some followers believe that the best way to continue the rebbe’s work is to figure out how to bring the Messiah.

TIPPING THE BALANCE TO BRING MOSHIACH

“The rebbe was not about building Judaism so Jews could live as Jews in America,” said Rabbi Yosef Katzman, who organized a meeting Sunday to discuss messianism in the post-rebbe era. “The rebbe was about building Judaism so Jews would tip the balance and bring the Moshiach.”

Hundreds of Lubavitchers gathered at the Oholei Torah Yeshiva in Crown Heights, where a series of speakers said that while the circumstances surrounding redemption had changed, the inevitability of redemption itself had not.

Katzman said that the new messianic scenario depended on followers, including emissaries sent by Schneerson to run Lubavitch outposts around the world, continuing to work toward the messianic “prize.”

“Keeping the eye on the prize,” said Katzman, “is what’s going to keep us sane, what’s going to keep us alive and what’s going to keep us connected to the rebbe.

“Although earlier I did not have to plan on it, because there’s no point in planning on it, and according to Torah you should always think positive, and the scenario fit very well the way it was, it does not mean that another scenario –which we also found and we knew that it exists in Torah — will not be the scenario,” he said.

Devotees of Schneerson — who died June 12 at 92 following a heart attack and a long illness — are busy studying the rebbe’s writings, which they hope will lead them to some insight about how to proceed in the wake of his death.

“Would the rebbe have left us without a way to bring Moshiach?” Katzman asked rhetorically.

Rarely have the intricate Jewish laws and commentaries on the concept of the Messiah been so scientifically scrutinized in Crown Heights.

Outside the lecture hall Sunday, black-hatted men argued anxiously over ancient commentaries, trying to make sure that new interpretations had a real basis in Jewish texts.

Others said they maintained their faith but wanted to know how to explain events to people outside their fervently Orthodox world.

“Those who believed before are not despairing, because if you have faith you don’t despair,” said Katzman. “However, they want to know what to answer to other people outside Lubavitch who say, ‘Oh, how did you say it and it turned out not true?'”

NOT SO DIFFICULT TO BRING MOSHIACH

While some Chasidic groups have insulated themselves from the outside world, under Schneerson’s directives the Lubavitchers actively sought to make connections with Jews at all levels of religious observance.

Speakers urged members of the highly visible sect to remain steadfast in their faith.

“When there are people in the press telling the world that we are a messianic sect, baruch hashem (praise God)! What else is there?” asked Rabbi Moshe Lazar, a Lubavitch emissary in Milan, Italy.

Lazar also downplayed comparisons being made between claims that Schneerson will be resurrected and the Christian belief in the second coming of Jesus Christ.

“We must not say certain things that the goyim (non-Jews) say?” Lazar asked rhetorically. “Moshiach is our concept. They took it from us!”

And as if to ensure compliance, speakers on Sunday imposed a healthy dose of Jewish guilt on their audience.

“The rebbe tried so hard to inspire us and we failed,” explained Rabbi Isser Zalman Weiss-berg. “He was so upset because he realized it isn’t so difficult (to bring Moshiach).

“How are we going to face the rebbe? We’re going to have to face him,” warned Weissberg. “We’re going to have to face him very soon.”

Many of the people who had gathered to hear the speeches were already aware of the difficulties but were determined to forge ahead.

“We’re constantly waging a battle from within to keep faith,” said a 28-year-old woman, who said she had come to the meeting in order to gain strength. “You have to force yourself not to despair.”

But the woman insisted she could weather the hardship. “Is it overwhelming? No. Are we becoming stronger from it? Yes. It’s just a test.”