Habad, the Rebbe and the Messiah in the 21st Century
by Naftali Loewenthal, UCL (London University)
This is the text of a paper delivered at an international conference held at New York University,6-8 November, 2005, called "Reaching for the Infinite: the Lubavitcher Rebbe - life, teachings impact". The conference was organised by Professors Lawrence Schiffman and Elliot Wolfson, both of New York University, helped by Naftali Loewenthal.
A Habad Theology in the 21st Century
This paper seeks to explore a possible contemporary Habad theology which emerges from the teachings of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, particularly as regards his statements regarding the imminence of the Messiah, in the context of other aspects of his thought. It is the contention of this paper that the Rebbe did not have 'one' project, and that even his messianic thrust was not one dimensional.
The central teachings of the Rebbe were Ahavat Yisrael in a way which deconstructed all borders, resulting in the special forms of outreach and inclusivism which he created and promoted, Ahavat Hashem and Ahavat HaTorah in an intense form which he sought to extend to others, leading to what is called the 'personal redemption'; and he yearned for the ultimate fulfilment of these values, as traditionally defined, with the coming of the Messiah, the general redemption. He sought to impart to others a sense of yearning for the Messiah believing that through this a person's love of G-d and love of one's fellow are enhanced to the optimum. Further, he believed in the crucial power of the individual in all aspects of Divine service, including the messianic process, and wished to empower the individual with a sense of the significance of "avodah bekoach 'atzmo", service with his or her own effort.
The endeavour to define this theology is in the context of the author's view of the perceptions of the non'meshichistim' who comprise the dominant leadership of the central Habad movement, Aggudas Chassidei Chabad, and the large majority of the shluchim, the global emissaries who form its spiritual elite1. Note that we are not speaking here of the possible idea that the messianic dream of the Rebbe was a transitory project, a messianic opportunity which failed. This is not how it is seen by the official leadership, figures like the international Habad speaker and 'mashpia' (spiritual guide), Rabbi Shmuel Lew. As we understand the issue, for him and the official leaders of Habad the values we have just listed are paramount, together with the theme of a spiritual relationship with the Rebbe and his guidance, enduring beyond the grave.It should be noted that while this paper seeks to present the views of Rabbi Lew and others like him, based on numerous discussions, it remains the work of the author and is therefore subject to error and misrepresentation in this attempt.
Either/Or - Both/And
There are attempts, from within Habad and from some scholars, to define the Rebbe's thought and activity as just one theme: the attempt to bring the Messiah. All his activities are seen only in that context. This simplistic approach misses the multiple and even ambiguous nature of the Rebbe's endeavour. We claim total centrality also for the theme of ahavat Yisrael, which was repeatedly emphasised by the Rebbe throughout his leadership, including in his last public talk two days before his stroke in 1992. At the same time, he believed that this ahavat Yisrael, this concern, this positive "act of goodness and kindness" will hasten the redemption. But this is not an either-or situation; it is both-and, borrowing from Eve Tavor Bannet's post-modern theory. Both-and means that multiple levels of significance are maintained simultaneously. Yes, Habad outreach and Hesed activity have a messianic force; but at the same time they are of central importance in their own right.
The issue here also concerns the way that the messianic process and goal is conceived. Does Lubavitch messianic belief as taught by the Rebbe increase the significance of the other, l'autre, in whatever form, or decrease it? Our reading of the Rebbe is that a paramount theme in his teachings is the highlighting of the significance of the 'other', such as the woman, the non-traditional Jew, the elderly, the prisoner, the child, and even the non-Jew. This dovetails with the goal of redemption but is not eclipsed by it.
The Letter of the Baal Shem Tov
A core text for the understanding of Rabbi Menahem Mendel's thought is the Sacred Epistle of the Baal Shem Tov, which he strongly promoted. This text describes a spiritual journey of 'ascent of the soul', in which the Baal Shem Tov encounters the Messiah. "When will you come?" he asks. "When your wellsprings burst to the 'outside'".
My reading of this, in the light of the Rebbe's teachings and activities, is that it combines 3 elements: 1) the finding and enfranchising of the "outside", the excluded, the lost and the forgotten, the "other" 2) the spiritual empowerment of all, including the "other", through the "wellsprings", which the Rebbe defined as Habad hasidic teachings, which burst out of their sacred enclave, inspiring the individual with love of and intimacy with G-d, bringing a personal level of redemption 3) the idea that the general redemption, the ingathering of the dispersed Jews, the re-building of the Temple in Jerusalem and attainment of world peace, will come through this process.
Dissolving the Division
To a considerable extent the Sages have a divided view of the Jewish people: the righteous will inherit Olam Haba, but the wicked will not do so. Thus the Mishnah in Sanhedrin states: "All Israel have a share in the World to Come… And these are the ones who do not have a share in the World to Come: one who says the Revival of the Dead is not written in the Torah, [and so on]...."2.
The Rebbe combats this sense of division3. In an essay published in Brooklyn in the mid 1940s he answers the following question: "I have heard it said that according to Habad hasidic teachings, every single Jew, whoever he might be, even a total evildoer all his life, may G-d protect us, has hope [yesh lo tikvah]….. This seems very surprising, and seems to be contradicted by several passages in Scripture and by our Sages". Then follows an article of a dozen pages by the Rebbe, quoting Habad teachings, the Arizal and re-interpretations of Talmud and Midrash, expressing the idea that yes, every Jew somehow or another will eventually be fully connected with G-d and will have a portion in the World to Come4. The essay concludes with a quote from the kabbalistic work Emek Hamelekh "Blessed be the G-d of Abraham, the man of Kindness, ish hahesed , Who never ceases His kindness and Truth from His people Israel, so that none of them will be lost…. so that every Jew inherits the World to Come…"5 This ideal feeds into the outreach activities which were beginning at that time under the Rebbe's direction, and the sense of Hesed, kindness, is the key to his later work as hasidic Rebbe.
The sense of division into righteous and wicked also characterises the Sages' view of the Jewish people and the Redemption. In a passage in the Passover Haggadah, based on the Mekhilta, the Wicked Son is told that if he had been in Egypt he would not have been redeemed because of his wickedness6. But Rabbi Menahem Mendel set out to bridge the gap between the Wise Son and the Wicked Son, in a campaign in 1952, with a public letter to Yeshivah students explaining that each of them are the 'Wise Son' who the Haggadah places next to the Wicked Son so he they can communicate with him and influence him for good. He asks them to live up to this responsibility in Jewish society, not only at the time of Pesach, but throughout the year7.
A talk twenty five years later helps us see the link between outreach and the redemption:
Since in the redemption from this final Exile not one single Jew will remain in Exile we have to search out for every Jew, wherever he might be, and make sure that he has at least one Mitzvah, so that he should not remain naked, because on this depends the redemption of the entire Jewish people.8
Certainly, every step in strengthening Judaism in an epoch of secularised modernity will help to bring the Messiah.The Talmud states, echoed by Maimonides "If the Jewish people repent, they will be redeemed"9. The Rebbe believed that the redemption was imminent, in a process that began with the Previous Rebbe's interpretation of the holocaust but then became his own, in is own way. At the same time his intense concern was that every Jew would be part of that redemption, no-one would be abandoned, and that this was also the only way for the redemption to come. The idea that the righteous could separate from the wicked - the enclave view of haredi orthodoxy, expressed in the famous Psak Din in Michalowce in 1865, which concretised the haredi perspective on the Jewish people and, by implication, Jewish history, was here being totally rejected. The enclave redemption had not taken place. The route to the promised redemption would be to include the entire Jewish people, wherever they are and however secularised they might be.
For the official leadership of Habad the redemptive goal of global outreach activity does not obscure the straightforward aim to strengthen Judaism and the inclusivist view of the Jewish people, with a sense of facing the emergency of assimilation10. The Jewish people are one, and the entire Torah relates to each person. If he or she can be induced to carry out one Mitzvah, this has infinite value, for that person, and for the entire Jewish people. One Mitzvah draws another, and lives and lifestyles change. Habad sees this process as the vital challenge for the Jewish people in our age. It affects individuals and communities, and as Fertziger has described (in his paper in this conference), was adopted with Lubavitch influence by a number of other orthodox outreach organisations, incidentally, often with strong personal encouragement by the Rebbe.
Bati LeGani
We are considering a phenomenon which is text driven. There are texts, whether scriptural or rabbinic, there are interpretations of texts, and these lead to specific interpretations of reality and specific behaviour in real life. The halachic process is a foremost example of this, and the daily life of an orthodox Jew is closely defined by texts and their interpretations. Habad perspectives are dominated by texts, both Talmudic-halachic, and specific hasidic teachings.
Bati LeGani, the final discourse of Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Schneersohn, was published in order to be studied on 10 Shevat 1950, the day he passed away. The discourse begins with a quotation from the Midrash commenting on Bati LeGani, "I have come into my garden", from Song of Songs. This states that at the beginning of creation, the Divine Presence, the Shekhinah, was together with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This was the goal of creation.However, as a result of their sin, the Divine Presence departed to the first firmament, and as a result of subsequent sins departed further and further from the world.
Then came seven Tzaddikim who, one by one, drew the Shechinah back towards the world. Moses, who was the seventh "and all sevenths are precious" was able to bring the Divine Presence back to the world, by virtue of its residing in the Sanctuary (in the Holy of Holies). Thus when the Sanctuary was built, declares the Midrash, G-d, the Divine Presence, stated "I have come 'back' to my Garden". The discourse continues with the idea that "Ve-asu li Mikdash ve-shakhanti betokham - betokh kol ehad ve-ehad" - the Divine Presence dwells in the inner Sanctuary which is within each individual. As I have discussed elsewhere, this is actually an expression of the 'personal redemption'.
The Rebbe's first discourse, said on 10 Shevat 1951, when he formally accepted leadership, expounded the opening lines of Bati LeGani, seeing them as empowering him and his generation and giving them the possibility and hence responsibility to bring the Messiah:
It is this that is demanded of each and every one of us of the seventh generation... Although te fact that we are in the seventh generation is not the result of our own choosing and our own service, and indeed in certain ways is perhaps contrary to our will, nevertheless 'all sevenths are precious'. We are now very near the approaching footsteps of Mashiah, indeed, we are at the conclusion of this period, and our spiritual task is to complete the process of drawing down the Shekhinah... into our lowly world."
However, the theme of the Messiah was not the only content of Rabbi Menahem Mendel's first discourse in 1951, and the talks (sihot) which he gave accompanying it.
Another central theme was that of Ahavat Yisrael, in its simple sense and also the 'spiritual' Ahavat Yisrael of outreach. Thus while the chain of six previous Habad leaders is central to the theme of the special empowerment of the 'seventh generation', in this first discourse the Rebbe also told a story concerning Ahavat Yisrael about each of them, beginning with the story of Rabbi Sneur Zalman being absent from the synagogue on Kol Nidrei night because he had chopped wood to make a fire and cook soup for a woman who had given birth, who had been left all alone in her cottage while everyone else went to the synagogue11. The discourse also emphasises that the way that a person achieves religious spirituality for himself is by helping others to become religiously inspired12. Interpreting a verse in Genesis, Vayikra sham Avram beshem Hashem - al tikra vayikra ela vayakri - (13:4) - Abraham inspired others to call to G-d, and by virtue of this, said the Rebbe, Avram himself was able to call to G-d.
Before the discourse the Rebbe announced that in America it is customary to make a "statement", what today we might call a 'mission statement'. He then made a "statement" concerning the inter-relation of Love of G-d, Love of Torah and Love of one's fellow. Without the latter, Ahavat Yisroel, the former are incomplete, and vice versa. Ahavat Yisrael does not mean only providing food and drink, he said, but bringing the other person to feel Love of G-d and Love of Torah13.The Rebbe made a further point immediately after the discourse: that the difference between Habad and other forms of Hasidism is that in Habad "m'darf allein to'n", one has to make the effort oneself, not just rely on the Rebbe14. That means that every Jew has a role in the quest to make the world a 'dwelling for the Divine'.
Thus from the very beginning of the Rebbe's leadership, 10 Shevat 1951, we therefore see intertwined the key themes of Ahavat Yisrael, of helping others become religiously inspired, of working with one's own effort, all of which leads towards the coming of the Messiah.
The Script
For some 40 years of the Rebbe's leadership there was a "script", defined by the Rambam, in a much quoted passage:
If there will arise a king from the house of David studying Torah and involved in Mitzvot… who will compel all Israel to walk in the path [of Torah] and to strengthen its breaches… he can be considered "possibly" the Messiah… if he succeeds and he builds the Temple in its place and gathered the scattered of Israel, he is definitely the Messiah…
This is how many people in Lubavitch saw the Rebbe. He was fulfilling both the Bati LeGani discourse, by being the 'seventh', and the depiction by the Rambam of a 'possible' messianic figure. They hoped he would succeed, and therefore be the 'mashiach vaday', the definite Messiah. Meanwhile, with his guidance and encouragement, they implemented the ideal of making the "wellsprings" of Jewish spirituality and, now additionally defined, of normative Jewish observance burst to the outside, in virtually every possible way.
Hiding the Script
Then came a series of steps in which the script was hidden. The first was the passing of the Rebbe's wife in February 1988. Immediately after this he made a legal Will, and began a series of steps which can be seen as preparing for his own demise, including a talk about what will happen when he passed away, a topic of which people who loved him didnot want to think15.
The second was the fact of the Gulf War, which the Rebbe initially saw as having great messianic significance - again, text based, on account of a Midrashic passage which seemed to 'fit' the current events. However, the Messiah did not come, and in a remarkable talk in April 1991, the Rebbe declared that despite all that has been done so far, it has not worked, the Messiah has not come, "and the proof of this is the fact that we are still in Exile, and in particular, in a state of inner Exile as regards the service of G-d". He is therefore asking everyone else to "do what you can" to bring the redemption16.In a public address two days later the Rebbe said:
Every Jew, men, women and even children, has the responsibility to increase in their service [of G-d] in order to bring the Messiah… What is the service? To add in [study of] Torah and [observance of ] Mitzvot, to study the revealed Torah and the inner dimension of Torah, and to keep Mitzvot behidur, meticulously… and [to engage in] the general task of spreading out Torah and Judaism, and the spreading of the wellsprings to the outside which is particularly effective for bringing the Messiah… and all this with a strong sense of yearning and longing for the redemption…17
To this was added the idea that people should study Torah teachings relating to the concept of the redemption, in Scripture, Talmud, Midrash and hasidic teachings, which has resulted in the production of a Torah commentary in some 30 volumes focusing on the redemptive dimension of the text.18 There were a number of responses to this. One was a determination fully to live up the values and the message of Lubavitch Hasidism. As expressed in a children's camp song of that time "Rebbe, I'll be what you want me to be". A person who loves G-d, loves the Torah, and has Ahavat Yisrael. Another was a desperate determination to do whatever one could to bring the Messiah, which eventually led to the rise of the meshichist faction in Lubavitch. A third response was typified by that of Rabbi Shmuel Lew: he saw this as meaning two things. One, that "we do not know the script". The Gulf War, as interpreted in the light of the Midrash, had seemed to spell out a simple messianic scenario. However, this is not the script, and whatever the script is has not been revealed to us. Second, he saw the Rebbe as a leader telling people that there are things they have to do. It is in our hands. The emphasis is avodah beko'ach atzmo.
Prepare the World - In an Acceptable Way
On a number of memorable occasions during 1991-1992 the Rebbe expressed very forcefully the idea that the redemption would soon take place. He told the Conference of Shluhim in October 1991, that the main purpose of their 'mission' is to prepare people and the world for the redemption. However, he added, in a much quoted phrase, this must be "be-ofan hamitkabel", in an acceptable way19. For the official leadership of the movement this was a key statement.Indeed, they felt, the messianic idea is central to Judaism, and it should be expounded in a central way as the ultimate goal of Jewish teaching, of Torah study and observance of the Mitzvot. However, it should be in a way that will be meaningful to people, and acceptable: be-ofan hamitkabel. For orthodox Jews to live in a state of expectancy of the messiah is, they felt, acceptable and correct in terms of the key texts of Jewish thought. For Lubavitchers to try to promote this sense of expectancy, they felt, is part of the general Lubavitch task of transmitting religious or even mystical concepts to citizens of a secular modern world. However, they also felt that this directive from the Rebbe meant the avoidance of extreme statements, what Rabbi Favish Vogel, a leading figure in Lubavitch UK calls 'hagshamah', reducing subtle messianic ideas into billboard slogans with pictures of the Rebbe declaring him to be the Messiah. Hagshamah is a term relating to interpreting the system of the 10 sefirot in too simplistic a way, leading to a seeming challenge to the ideal of the oneness of G-d. The leadership saw billboard statements that the Rebbe is the messiah as reducing the Lubavitch goal to the status of outlandish fanaticism. They saw such actions as mitigating against the Rebbe's instruction. Instead of making the subtle messianic idea something meaningful and "acceptable", it was being made ridiculous20. There were a number of vigorous protests against such statements by the Rebbe himself21. Further, at the same time as encouraging belief in the imminence of the Messiah the Rebbe strongly endorsed all other aspects of Lubavitch work, scholarship and spiritual endeavour, together with a strong emphasis on the authority structure of the Lubavitch movement, which was being severely challenged by the meshichistim22.
Instead of statements about the Rebbe, the leadership sought to raise the level of the concept of the Redemption and the Messiah in Jewish consciousness. In this task, many Lubavitchers felt, it was also important to reach out to the orthodox and even the haredi communities. While the Rebbe's Mitzvah Campaigns such as Tefilin, Mezuzah or Mikveh related to the acculturated Jews, the idea of teaching the relevance of the Redemption and the Messiah related to everyone. For in creating a modus vivendi with modernity, even the haredi world had seemingly pushed the concept of the Messiah into a ritualised role, such as the conclusion of a derashah, but without the sense of yearning that had periodically characterised pre-modern and also early modern Jewish thought. Lubavitchers looked approvingly at the urgent sense of the imminence of the Messiah in the writings of the Hafetz Haim, at the beginning of the 20th century, and the campaigns he tried to initiate in preparation for the advent of the Messiah, such as the study of the laws of Sacrifices in the Talmud. An anthology of letters by the Hafetz Haim on the theme of the imminent Redemption, translated into English, was published in 1993 by a Lubavitch scholar23.A non-Jewish CNN journalist visited the Rebbe early in 199224 and was told that "Acts of goodness and kindness will hasten the Redemption". This effectively broadened the project of the Messiah into a universal goal, based on universal actsof good, in line with the Rebbe's earlier teachings on the Seven Noahide Laws and the idea of the significance of all humanity before G-d. Then after a stroke in March 1992, in June 1994 the Rebbe passed away.
An important step was now taken by Rabbi Yoel Kahn, who for over forty years had been the leading transcriber and communicator of the Rebbe's teachings. Two weeks after the passing of the Rebbe, Rabbi Kahn published an article in the Israeli based Chabad magazine "Kfar Chabad". This spoke collectively of the mood of the Lubavitch movement, and of the tone Rabbi Kahn's own enthusiastic articles which had appeared in the months before the Rebbe passed away. The key point was the author's admission that he and others had extrapolated from the Rebbe's words in an erroneous way. They should have stopped at the point where the Rebbe stopped, and not taken any steps further.
I and my colleagues erred by adding to the Rebbe's words certain ideas which seemed to be implied [but which he had not said]…. Even when the Rebbe says two things which seem to imply a third thing (like one plus one equals two) - we cannot say whether that third thing is correct. Certainly we should not publicise it in the name of the Rebbe25.
Here in effect was a key admission. The Rebbe had spoken repeatedly and intensely about the imminence of the Messiah, and about the importance of preparing oneself and the world for the Redemption. But he had not overtly claimed to be the Messiah. His followers had extrapolated: one plus one equals two. And in this, wrote Rabbi Yoel Kahn, faced with the passing of the Rebbe, they had gone too far.
Relationship with a Departed Rebbe
In the view of the official leadership, the point is not the identity of the Messiah. The task of the individual is indeed to prepare himself or herself, and the world, for the Redemption. The role of Rabbi Schneerson remains as the inheritor of the Habad-Lubavitch spiritual mantle in the seventh generation, and since "all sevenths are precious", as stated in the Bati LeGani discourse of 1950, and he therefore has the responsibility and the power to achieve the completion of the age-old task of the Redemption. How can he achieve that, having left the world? Through the redemptive power of his teachings and his spiritual-activist movement, transforming and vivifying the individual at whichever point he or she might stand in the religious spectrum.Shelly Goldberg's recent PhD: "The Zaddik's Soul after his 'Histalkut' (Death): Continuity and Change in the Writings of the Leaders of Habad"26, focuses on Habad teachings on the relationship with departed Tzaddikim. Goldberg sees a new focus in the teachings of the sixth leader, and even more by the seventh Rebbe. Rather than emphasise the sense of connection of the soul of the hasid with that of the Tzaddik, there is instead a focus on the empowerment that the Tzaddik imparts to the hasid for his or her actions in this world27.
An important factor is the fact that the Rebbe himself would continuously visit the Ohel (grave) of the Previous Rebbe. He generally spoke of the Previous Rebbe as the leader of Habad, and when people gave him 'kvitlakh' he would read them at the Ohel. It has been suggested that he was instructing people in a style of relationship with a Rebbe which focuses on the Ohel rather than a living person28. He repeatedly quoted regarding Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak "Just as previously he served [his flock] so too now he is serving [his flock]"29, at the same time emphasising the need of the follower to connect with the departed Rebbe through studying his teachings. For Habad in the 21st century, the hundreds of volumes of hasidic teachings from the chain of Habad leaders and from the Rebbe himself constitute the channel whereby the individual man and woman is empowered to fulfil his or her individual task in the context of the general, central goal of Jewish teaching: to reveal the Shekhinah, the Presence of the Divine in the world, with the coming of the Messiah and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Final Discourse of The Rebbe
The last discourse which the Rebbe edited, beginning with the words Ve-Atah Tetzaveh30, was published in time for Purim Katan31 5752, two weeks before the stroke on 27 Adar I. In an unusual but not unprecedented way, the Rebbe distributed printed copies of this discourse to hundreds or possibly thousands of men and women, who came flocking to 770 tostand on line in order to receive it from the Rebbe's hand. After the stroke, which prevented him from any kind of public speaking, Rabbi Yoel Kahn noted the special significance of this discourse and wrote an article about it. After the Rebbe passed away, most leading figures in the Habad community began to pay special attention to this discourse, with the sense that it would function for the new phase of the Habad movement as a complement to the earlier Bati Legani. In many Habad communities it has become part of the ritual associated with tha Yarzeit of the Rebbe, in the same way as the earlier Bati LeGani is used for the Yarzeit of Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak. It is therefore studied in three sections by the community after each of the three prayer services on the day of the Yahrzeit.
VeAtah TeTzaveh speaks of the way that one's relationship with a leader, be it Moses, Mordekhai or the Previous Rebbe (and by extension, the seventh Rebbe) enables the individual to reach a closer bond with the Divine, intensified through yearning for the Redemption.
Through the generations of Habad, the power of mesirat nefesh (self-sacrifice) is depicted as expressing the innermost dimension of the soul. However, in this very untypical discourse, the Rebbe defines a further and deeper level of the soul, expressed in yearning for the Messiah. The fact that a person yearn for the Messiah takes the person beyond the hint of self-satisfaction implicit in the time-honoured hasidic theme of the Personal Redemption. The Rebbe presents the idea of a person who is in such an exalted spiritual state that for him it is as if the Temple was never destroyed, someone who is genuinely illuminated by the revelation of the Divine. Nonetheless, states the discourse, if there remains "a remote corner", pinah nidahat, which lacks that revelation of the Divine, then this ideal person is deeply disturbed, tsutreiselt32. This yearning for the Messiah can be seen as the ultimate altruism, a longing for universal goodness and revelation of G-dliness, which is not satisfied by spiritual illumination of one's own self or one's own enclave.
This force of yearning for the Messiah transcends the otherwise supreme goal of mesirat nefesh also in another way. Mesirat nefesh is a stance which comes into its own in a time of oppression; yearning for the Messiah is also relevant in a time of material and even spiritual wellbeing33.
Ahavat Yisrael
In the earlier generations of Habad, the theme of mesirat nefesh became a mode of "translating" exalted spiritual goals into terms meaningful to the broad reach of the Habad following. In this final discourse the Rebbe presents yearning for the Messiah as the path for personal holiness, through which the very essence of the soul, at the point where it is rooted in the Divine Essence, is communicated in the daily life and outer qualities of the person. According to the Rebbe's discourse this leads to a higher level of realisation of the central Habad-Lubavitch value: Ahavat Yisrael, love of one's fellow.
In Rabbi Shneur Zalman's Tanya, Love of one's fellow is presented as an exalted goal, the essence of the entire Torah - as expressed by Hillel: "this is the entire Torah, the rest is commentary"34 - which can be attained by implementing the spiritual teachings of Tanya, namely by magnifying the spiritual above the physical. As regards physicality, people may be divided, but spiritually they are united "as regards the soul, all Israel are brothers, only the bodies are separate"35.In the Rebbe's final discourse, the power of yearning for the Messiah is expressed by the fact that it leads not just to an Ahavat Yisrael based on the union of souls, but also as regards the physicality of oneself and others. For the power of yearning for the Messiah is to bring an unprecedented spiritual focus on the physical dimension, so that the physical aspect of the person is sensed as being rooted in the essence of the Divine. Consequently, the physical is no longer seen as a barrier to true love for others. One is joined to the 'other' in love not only because of their soul, but also because of their physical self36.
Service with One's Own Effort
The final message of this discourse concerns the idea of Avodah beKo'ah 'atzmo- the service of the individual, with his or her own effort. Although the discourse starts by explaining the way the Rebbe connects the person to G-d, it ends by focusing on the person's own service. As was his style throughout his leadership, the Rebbe expresses this in terms of his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak:
So it is also with the Moses of our generation, my father in law the Rebbe, the Nasi of our generation, that his service was to arouse and reveal the Emunah ('faith') which is in every single Jew on account of the essence of their soul, in such a way that after that they will undertake their service with their own power…37
As we have seen, this theme was expressed in the Rebbe's first public declaration as Rebbe: in Habad one does not just rely on the spiritual force of the Rebbe, one has to act with one's own power.
The themes of the Rebbe's final discourse can thus be summarised as follows: the Rebbe connects the person to Gd, in an intense way, leading to the ultimate level of spiritual altruism, a yearning for the Messiah, when Gdliness will be revealed everywhere and to all. Yet this yearning, and all other spiritual qualities, must emerge from one's own effort. The Rebbe provides an initial illumination, which must then be internalised and made his or her own, by the hasid. This is consistent with Shelly Goldberg's depiction of the power of the departed Rebbe in Habad thought. There is an energy which flows from the Rebbe to the hasid, but the effect of that energy is that the hasid himself or herself should act, with their own power.For Rabbi Shmuel Lew, this emphasis is crucial in order to understand the message of the Rebbe for the contemporary Habad movement. He cites another discourse of the Rebbe, a profound exploration of the messianic idea, Ketz sam laHoshekh "He puts and End to Darkness"38. This discourse, originally said by the Rebbe in 1964 but issued by him in 'edited' form in 1991, makes the striking statement that the Redemption can take place but somehow 'miss' the finite world. This is because Redemption in itself is the revelation of an exalted level of Divine radiance, which is intrinsically beyond the physical world. Hence the central task is to make the world, as it is, mitzad hagedraim shelo - 'in terms of its own limitations' - into a suitable vessel for this revelation of the Redemption. Only through that process can the true goal of a Divine 'dwelling in the lower world' be achieved.
No other Rebbe
This helps explain why there has been no attempt to try to appoint a new Rebbe. To a certain extent, within hasidic history, contemporary Habad can be viewed as following the Braslav model. But both Habad and Braslav have categories of their own, and each can be considered sui generis. For the official leadership and elite of Habad, there is no need for another figurehead. The Rebbe tried to put in place a number of mechanisms in order to provide spiritual and practical advice, such as the mashpia system for personal guidance. These do not substitute for the Rebbe himself, but then, in the eyes of most Lubavitch followers, nor would any other artificial leadership figure. It is noteworthy that a large proportion of the shluhim and shluhot round the globe today embarked on their shelihut after the Rebbe passed away.
They did so because the wide membership of the official leadership of the movement in the 21st century, feels he or she has a Rebbe, and a direction: the concerns of Love of one's fellow, love of G-d, and love of the Torah, leading to the Redemption. What about "how" the Messiah will come, the "script"? As Rabbi Shmuel Lew says: "we do not have the script". For what we have to do, he says, we do not need it. The script is from above; the task of Habad in the 21st century is from below, in this world, in order to create "a dwelling for the Divine, in the lower world", the purpose of Creation.
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1 See Rachel Elior, "The Lubavitch Messianic Resurgence: The Historical and Mystical Background 1939-1996" in Peter Schafer and Mark R. Cohen, eds., Toward The Millenium: Messianic Expectations from the Bible to Waco Brill (Leiden, Boston, Koln, 1998), 383-408. She calls the nonmeshichistim the 'shafuim', the sane ones, but we will call them here the 'official leadership'.
2 Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1 "All Israel have a share in the World to Come… And these are the ones who do not have a share in the World to Come: one who says the Revival of the Dead is not written in the Torah....".
3 See his Likkutei Sihot 11, 2.
4 Rabbi MM Schneerson, Teshuvot u-Biurim Kehot, 1974, reprinted from Kovetz Lubavitch, 1944-46.
5 Ibid., p.39. Naftali Bakharakh, Emek Hamelkh Sha'ar Reish d'Zeir Anpin, end of. Ch.45 (not ch.48 as printed in Teshuvot u-Biurim).
6 Rashi's commentary on the Torah quotes a view that in fact only one fifth of the Israelites went free in the Exodus. The others died in the three days of darkness.
7 Iggot Kodesh.. Menachem Mendel vol. 5 p. 308, letter of 11 Nisan. At the same time, the letter warns that one should be careful that the influence does not pass in the wrongdirection. .
8 Lik. Sihot 16, 121.
9 T.B. Sanhedrin 97b. Rambam Yad Hil Teshuvah 7:5.
10 More subtle is the question of the relationship of the Lubavitch ideal with the 'hierarchical' view of the Jewish people, described by Adam Fertziger, in his Exclusion and Hierarchy (University of Pennsylvania, 2005). The Lubavitch view does not accept the stasis implicit in the hierarchical model. Each Mitzvah has its own power. A woman who does not observe Shabbat, should still be invited to attend the mikveh. The reality of such attitudes, contradicting the conventional hierarchical model, is seen in a study by Marlena Shmool, Women in the Jewish Community (Board of Deputies, London, 1994(?)).
11 Sefer HaMaamarim Bati LeGani vol.1, 33.
12 Genesis 21:33 says that Abram "called on G-d's Name", the aggada states "do not read vayikra 'he called' but vayakri 'he made to call' (Talmud Sota 10a). The Rebbe stated that both are interconnected: through making the other person call on the name of G-d, one is enabling oneself to 'call' Gd's name. Sefer HaMaamarim Bati LeGani vol.1, 35.
13 Sefer HaSihot, 5751, 123.
14 Ibid. 124.
15 The steps made by The Rebbe in preparation for his death are described in Binyamin Lipkin, Heshbono shel Olam (Machon Hasefer: Lod, 2000).
16 Sefer HaSihot 5751 vol.2, 474.
17 Ibid. 489.
18 Ibid., 501-2. David Dubov Yalkut Mashiach uGeulah (Kehot).
19 Sefer Hasihot 5752.
20 In Israel the official outreach section of Habad created a poster 'hikonu leviat hamashiah 'prepare for the coming of the Messiah' (ie: by becoming more religiously observant). The meshichist group put up posters with a picture of the Rebbe, reading baruch haba melech hamashiach, 'welcome King Messiah'.
21 Such as Shabbat Miketz 5752, when a song focusing on the Rebbe as the messiah was sung at the hasidic gathering on the Sabbath afternoon, and the Rebbe was very negative to this, saying "I should get up and leave".
22 When a prominent Habad supporter asked the Rebbe about promoting the concept of Moshiach in his home town, the Rebbe answered that the responsibility lies with the local Habad leadership "al Habad al atar le-hahlit. "
23 Moshe Miller (trans.), The Chofetz Chaim on Awaiting Moshiach (Targum Press/Feldheim: Jerusalem, 1993).
24 Information from Rabbi Shmuel Lew.
25 Kfar Chabad Tammuz 5754.
26 Unpublished PhD, Bar Ilan Universit, 2003.
27 Goldberg also speaks of the effect that the actions of the hasid have on the departed Rebbe in the upper worlds.
28 This suggestion was made by the late Rabbi Itchie Meyer Kagan, shortly after the passing of The Rebbe, in 1994, in a talk in London heard by the author. Rabbi Kagan was a prominent figure, working closely with Rabbi Berel Shemtov in Detroit, and was author of the Thought for the Week series in which, for the first time, the Rebbe's teachings were translated into brief English essays comprehensible to the layman.
29 Sefer HaMaamarim 5710 p.130.
30 Exodus 27:20. The discourse was originally delivered orally by the Rebbe in 1981.
31 14 Adar I in a leap year.
32 Sefer HaMamamrim Melukat vol.6 p 135. 33 Ibid. p.134.
34 Hillel's words 'that which you do not like do not do to others' are seen as encapsulating the concept of love of one's fellow. See Tanya 1, ch.32.
35 Ibid.
36 Of course this dovetails with the practical and halakhic ideal of Ahavat Yisrael and Tzedakkah: caring for others in a practical sense and physical terms. But if the earlier concept is that you care for him (physically) despite his physical weaknesses, because you are aware of the underlying granbdeur of his soul, the further level described in The Rebbe's final discourse is that one recognises the physicality of the other as meriting concern and love, quite apart from the soul. This can be seen as a further level of the quest to reveal the Divine "in the world".
37 Sefer HaMamamrim Melukat vol.6 p. 138.
38 The discourse is in Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat vol. 5, 329-337. It is discussed extensively in my "Contemporary Habad and the Paradox of Redemption", in Alfred Ivry, Elliot R. Wolfson, Allan Arkush (eds.) Perspectives on Jewish Thought and Mysticism, Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam, 1998, pp.381-402.