Chabad Messianism - Prevalence of Messianism

Prevalence of Messianism

The prevalence of the various views listed above amongst Chabad supporters is disputed. According to David Berger in his book The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference and other observers, very few Chabad adherents will say that "the Rebbe wasn't/isn't the Messiah". Some will say that "he might be", but a very large number will say that he certainly is the Messiah. Indeed this appears to most observers to be the mainstream position — the difference between the Messianists and the anti-Messianists being over whether Schneerson is dead or not. Berger argues that:

He notes that in the movement's largest Yeshiva Oholei Menachem, the administration ordered that Yechi be recited. He said that the chief rabbi of Kfar Chabad was "one of the first signatories of a 1998 halachic ruling requiring belief in the Rebbe's Messiahship" as did 250 other Chabad Rabbis.

In a sworn affidavit, in a case regarding the control of 770 Eastern Parkway, Rabbi Sholom Kalmanson argued that while "most Lubavitchers believe that the rebbe is the messiah, others believe that while the scenario is possible, it should not be a public position. A very small minority have abandoned the notion that the rebbe is Moshiach."

A Chabad rabbi in Rechovot cited by David Berger argued in a messianist publication that "everyone knows that all Lubavitch Chassidim, despite the differing opinions, believe that the Rebbe is Melech HaMoshiach. This is the most open secret of the last decade."

Berger notes in a recent article for Yated Ne'eman that he is"unfamiliar with a single public declaration formally affirming that Lubavitch chassidim should not accept the belief that the Rebbe is the Messiah."

Schneerson's messianism or divinity is not advocated in any of Chabad's official literature.

According to Zalman Shmotkin, director of the website chabad.org, "People don't actually believe the Rebbe is the Messiah. They say they believe, but really they want, they hope, they pray. But believe this no." Of those who agitate for the belief that the rebbe was or is the messiah, Rabbi Shmotkin, the Chabad spokesman under Krinsky, said Chabad-Lubavitch leaders have “repeatedly condemned them in the strongest possible terms.”

Journalist Sue Fishkoff notes that the idea that most Lubavitchers are messianist is "a claim Lubavitchers say is patently absurd. Here everyone is treading on thin ice, for no one can know precisely how deep Chabad messianism goes. When Berger and other critics claim that it affects the majority of the Chabad movement, they have no greater statistical backing than do those who suggest it is on the decline."

Berger responds that many Chabad messianist are coy about their beliefs ostensibly not to scare people away. He notes that even Menachem Brod, the leader of the moderates in Israel, will not say that Schneerson is not the messiah.

Many of the major institutions of the Chabad movement are run by messianists. They tend to have more fire and enthusiasm in the Lubavitch chasidic teachings. Berger argues that "that the major institutions in the three primary population centers of Crown Heights, Kfar Chabad, and Safed are either dominated by overt believers in the Rebbe's Messiahship or suffused by that belief." He notes that in the movement's largest Yeshiva Oholei Menachem, the administration ordered that Yechi be recited. He said that the chief rabbi of Kfar Chabad was "one of the first signatories of a 1998 halachic ruling requiring belief in the Rebbe's Messiahship" as did 250 other senior Chabad Rabbis.

According to Berger and others even the most anti-messianist Chabad followers do not currently claim that the Rebbe is not the Messiah. The most senior openly anti-messianist rabbi is Yoel Kahn. Kahn does not however argue that Schneerson is not the Messiah, but does argue that he is dead. In a 2003 proclamation by Kahn "messianists" are condemned for saying Schneerson is alive but not for describing Schneerson as the Messiah. A pamphlet produced by the anti-messianist camp including Menachem Brod makes a similar point.

A report in Israeli daily Haaretz in February 2007 confirms Berger's assertions about messianism in Tzfat and in Crown Heights. The article describes daily rituals of tending to Schneerson's chair and praying for his long life in the synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway, and quotes students in Tzfat and 770 who appear to hold extreme messianist and even Elokist viewpoints.