Cardinal Hlond Correct Jewish Atheism Rebbe Schneerson

The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, by Samuel C. Heilman, Menachem Friedman. 2010

Pre-WWII Poland: Jewish Self-Atheization. Jewish Underworld. Nazis Spared Some Jews. Schneerson the Messiah?

This book originated in part, from Martin Marty and his Fundamentalism Project. Because many of the researchers are religious liberals, they may have a negative bias against tradition-minded religionists—hence the many vehemently negative reviews of this book. My review includes broad themes that go beyond this book.

THE SELF-ATHEIZATION OF POLAND’S JEWS

Rabbi Schneerson thought that his duty was to lead Jews back to God. In doing so, he was continuing what his ancestors had been doing, (quote) The idea that the Jewish people were entering the messianic period was one that Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak had inherited from his father. Shalom DovBer Schneersohn had been overwhelmed by the rapid decline of traditional observant Jewish life at the turn of the nineteenth century. The secularization and political and social emancipation, the assimilation of European Jewry, and the increasing interest among many in a secular Jewish Zionism were for him unthinkable. How could Jews abandon the genuine faith of their fathers? (unquote)(p. 143).

The foregoing attitudes parallel those of Polish Cardinal August Hlond, who has been frequently criticized for his 1936 statement in which he referred to Jews as freethinkers.

THE JEWISH UNDERWORLD IN PRE-WWII POLAND

Many societies have organized crime rings, and the pre-Holocaust Jewish community of Poland was no exception. In 1928, there was a Lubavitcher wedding, officiated by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak (1880-1950) in Warsaw. It took an unfortunate course, (quote) As festive as the wedding was, it was marred by an event that made all the newspapers. Even though “ushers had been placed at the entrance…and only guests with official invitations were allowed to enter” the reception, during the proceedings in the courtyard of the yeshiva, the affair was mobbed by the uninvited and the curious who wanted to watch. Into this crowd, pickpockets and thieves from the Jewish underworld insinuated themselves. As a result, many of the most valuable gifts that had been brought to the couple were stolen, including perhaps most prominently a rare letter from the Ba’al Shem Tov that the maternal grandfather of the bride, Avraham Schneersohn, had brought for the occasion. Purses disappeared. In addition, many of the homes of the guests—who the thieves knew would be in attendance at the wedding—were robbed. The thefts made headlines in the Yiddish press. (unquote). (p. 103).

JEWISH TRADITIONALISM: PAST AND PRESENT

The modern Lubavitcher movement differs, in several respects, from past movements that strove to preserve traditional Jewish ways. For instance, most Hasidim had emphasized the voluntary ghettoization (self-segregation) of Jews, otherwise known as an enclave culture (pp. 159-160), and the use of Yiddish and traditional dress, etc., as a means of reinforcing and preserving Jewish distinctiveness. (p. 5). The Lubavitchers do not.

Religious Jews had tended to be anti-Zionist, because Zionists tended to be secularists, and because many religious Jews believed that only the messiah could legitimately restore the Jewish state. (e. g, p. 4, 58, 188-189). In contrast, Rabbi Schneerson, initially hostile to Israel (pp. 197-198), eventually embraced it. (p. 188-189).

The approach towards the USA also differs between the Lubavitchers of old and those of new. Prejudices between Jews and Christians always went both ways, and each commonly had thought of the other as governed by base instincts—especially those who engage in nontraditional ways. The authors write, (quote) American posed similar challenges for Lubavitcher ideas. At one time excoriated by the Lubavitchers and other European Orthodox Jews as a TREFENE MEDINA (impure state), it has become a refuge that welcomed tens of thousands of Jews, including the Lubavitchers themselves. What should the new attitude to that country be? (unquote). (p. 58).

CONTRARY TO HOLOCAUST UNIQUENESS MYTHS, THE NAZIS DID NOT AIM FOR THE DEATH OF EVERY SINGLE JEW

The Schneerson lineage of rabbis, and certain other Jews, survived the eventual Holocaust by bribing the Nazis to be allowed to leave Nazi-ruled Europe (in this case, in 1940)(pp. 130-134). It has been argued that the Nazi enmity against Jews was unique in that, whereas non-Jews who fell into Nazi hands could sometimes be released, Jews never could. Such was obviously not the case.

RABBI SCHNEERSON SUPPORTED ORAL PRAYER IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Rabbi Schneerson became one of the few Jewish leaders who opposed the U. S. Supreme Court decision (ENGEL V. VITALE) that banned prayer in public schools in 1962. (p. 163). The rabbi contended that such a prayer could be the only opportunity for contact with God that a child has all day. (p. 293).

WHO IS THE MESSIAH? DOES ISAIAH 53 REFER TO THE MESSIAH, OR TO ISRAEL?

Towards the end of his life, Menachem Mendel Schneerson was increasingly thought of not just someone pointing to the messiah, but even as the messiah himself. Interestingly, some of his followers adopted what usually are considered Christian understandings of the messiah. Thus, after the rabbi’s stroke, Isaiah 53:4-5 was taken as reference to a suffering messiah (p. 240), and applied to Schneerson in hopes of his recovery. When the rabbi died, some of his followers supposed that he would be resurrected (e. g, p. 246, 254, 261), thus believing the messiah as someone who would die and then rise bodily from the dead.