Online Encyclopedia
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 18, 1902-June 12, 1994) was the last Rebbe of the Haredi Jewish movement of Chabad Lubavitch. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel (known as the Tzemach Tzedek), his namesake.
In 1950, upon the death of his predecessor, father-in-law, and cousin Rabbi Joseph Isaac (Yosef Yitzchok) Schneersohn, known as the "Previous Rebbe" or Rebbe Rayat"z (an acronym of his name), Rabbi Menachem Mendel assumed the leadership of the Chabad sect of Hasidic Judaism. Their last names differed: The new Rebbe spelled his name "Schneerson", without the "h" of his predecessors' "Schneersohn". He was to lead the movement until his death in 1994, greatly expanding its worldwide activities and founding a network of institutions of Jewish study and outreach.
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Biography
Early life
Born in Nikolaiev, Ukraine, he received mostly private tuition. He was enrolled in the secular Yekaterinoslav University for part-time study of mathematics at the age of 16. His father Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneerson , a renowned kabbalist who served as the Chief Rabbi of Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk) from 1907-1939, was his primary teacher. He intensively studied Talmud and Rabbinic literature, as well as the hasidic view of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah. He married Chaya Mushka Schneerson in 1929 and went to live in Berlin, Germany, and study engineering and philosophy at one of its universities. Lubavitch publications state that he received "degrees at Heidelberg", although this is probably anecdotal. During his time in Berlin, he forged friendships with two other young rabbis studying in Berlin: Joseph Soloveitchik and Yitzchok Hutner.
France
In 1933 Rabbi Schneerson moved to France. According to histories authorized by Lubavitch, he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, though official school records are ambiguous on this matter. He learned to speak French which he put to use in establishing his movement there after the war. The Chabad movement in France attracted many Jews who immigrated there from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
America and leadership
In 1941 Rabbi Schneerson escaped from France and joined his father-in-law Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn in the Crown Heights section Brooklyn, New York. He spent some time working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In 1942, his father-in-law appointed him director of the movement's central organizations, placing him at the helm of a budding Jewish educational and hasidic outreach empire across the United States, Canada, Israel, and North Africa.
His father-in-law passed away in 1950. His followers immediately began pressuring Rabbi Schneerson, then known as the Rama"sh--an acronym of his name, to succeed his father-in-law. At first he steadfastly refused, saying that his father-in-law "lived on". In that "vacuum", another candidate for leadership emerged: Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok's elder son-in-law, married to his elder daughter. Rabbi Gurary, known as the Rasha"g, failed to capture support among the Hassidim, who continued pressuring Rabbi Schneerson to relent and accept the position of Rebbe. On the first anniversary of his father-in-law's passing, he finally relented and became Rebbe.
Rabbi Gurary became a devoted follower; however, his son Barry resented what he perceived as Rabbi Schneerson's "usurpation" of what he thought should have been his father's position. Various intra-family disputes arose. For example, when invaluable books and manuscripts from the Chabad library began to go missing, Rabbi Schneerson's wife, Chaya Mushka, suspected her nephew Barry and ordered a surveillance camera installed, which then confirmed her suspicions. This led to a protracted battle in Federal Court over the library's ownership. Barry Gurary claimed that the library was a family heirloom and as the previous Rebbe's sole grandson, he claimed ownership of it. Rabbi Schneerson countered that the library was the collective property of the Chabad movement. Barry's mother, Hanna, sided with him, while his father remained staunchly devoted to Rabbi Schneerson, leading to a deep rift in the Gurary family. On the fifth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet , the court handed down its decision--an overwhelming victory for Rabbi Schneerson. His followers commemorate this day each year as Didan Natzach a kind of "V-Day".
Rabbi Schneerson undertook to intensify the outreach program of the movement, bringing in new followers from all walks of life, and aggresively sought the expansion of the baal teshuva movement. Other Orthodox Jews were bothered by the fact that Lubavitch outreach efforts extended to them as well as to non-affiliated Jews. The Satmar sect attacked him for not sufficiently opposing Zionism, a philosophy considered heretical by that group. The proximity of Crown Heights to Satmar enclaves in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the "conversion" of some prominent Satmar Hasidim to Chabad caused friction, culminating in an incident in which a group of Lubavitchers walking through the Satmar enclave in Williamsburg on their way to visit a synagogue to spread Rabbi Schneerson's message were set upon and beaten by a mob. Nonetheless, Rabbi Schneerson and Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe, held each other in high esteem.
Vision
Part of his vision was the training of thousands of young Chabad rabbis and their wives, who were sent all over the world by him as shluchim (Hebrew: "emissaries") to further Jewish observance.
He oversaw the building of schools, community centers, youth camps, college campus centers (known as "Chabad houses"), and reached out to the most powerful Jewish lay leaders and non-Jewish government leaders wherever they found themselves. The United States Congress and President issue annual proclamations declaring that the Rebbe's birthday, usually a day in March or April that co-incides with his Hebrew calendar birth-date of 11 Nisan (a Hebrew month), be observed as Education Day in the United States.
Rabbi Schneerson instituted a system of "mitzvah campaigns" called mivtzoim; these encouraged Jews to be keep kosher, observe Shabbat, learn more Torah, help in writing a Torah scroll , taught women to observe the niddah laws of Jewish family purity (laws pertaining to menstruation and ritual immersion afterwards in a pool of water known as a mikveh), accepting a belief in Moshiach (the Jewish Messiah). They went out to street-corners, and rode in "mitzva tanks", mobile outreach centers, encouraging Jews to increase their religious observance. He also launched a campaign to promote observance of the Noahide Laws among gentiles.
Rabbi Schneerson's activities spread to many surprising parts of Judaism. Since the time of the Rebbe Shalom Dovber, Chabad had been involved with the Sephardic world. Rabbi Schneerson was revered by Rabbi Israel Abuchatzirah (known as Babba Sali), Rabbi Meir Abuchatzirah , Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu (a former Chief Rabbi of Israel ). The latter two often visited him in New York, while the others maintained a correspondence with him. In the late 1970s, Rabbi Schneerson joined with other organizations to orchestrate an exodus of Jews from countries such as Iran, laying the framework for Sephardic Hasidim. There are currently several Sephardic Chabad congregations.
Scientists who called on him, such as Herman Baranover , professor of physics at Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva, Israel, noted that he had a keen understanding of scientific issues. Baranover himself, a Russian-Israeli authority on solar energy, is an active member of the Lubavitch sect. He frequently turned to Rabbi Schneerson for advice on his scientific research. According to the billionaire mining magnate Joseph Gutnick of Australia, it was Rabbi Schneerson who pointed out to him the precise geological points on a map of Australia to commence mining for gold. He was also given guidelines in his search for diamonds. Gutnick was subsequently appointed by Rabbi Schneerson as his main representative to the Israeli government, and was instrumental in the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister of Israel in 1996.
Rabbi Schneerson rarely chose to involve himself with questions of halakha (Jewish law). Some notable exception were with regard to the use of electrical appliances on the Sabbath, sailing on Israeli boats staffed by Jews, and halakhic dilemmas created when crossing the International Date Line. Responsa literature on the subject reflect the great deference that prominent arbiters of halakha showed Rabbi Schneerson.
He hardly ever left Crown Heights, except for frequent lengthy visits to his father-in-law's gravesite, the ohel ("tent"), in Queens. Upon the death of his wife in 1988, he further secluded himself, first in his home on President Street and after the traditional year of mourning, moved into his study above the central Lubavitch synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway which is known as "770" - "Lubavitch World Headquarters".
It was from "770" that he directed his emissaries' work. He would hold court around the clock involving himself in every detail of his far-flung movements' developments. People making appointments to see him would be summoned at all hours of the night. He did not sleep much. The highlight of his public role would be displayed during special celebrations called farbrengens on Sabbaths, holy days, and special days on the Chabad calendar when he would lead the packed hall with long talks called maamorim or sichos, and with songs called nigunim, that would last all night. They would often be brodacast via satellite to Lubavitch branches all over the world.
Later life
In 1977 he suffered a massive heart attack while celebrating the hakafot ceremony on Shmini Atzeret. Nonetheless, he insisted on finishing the ceremony with the customary dancing. Despite the best efforts of his doctors to convince him to change his mind, Rabbi Schneerson refused to be hospitalized. This necessitated building a mini-hospital in "770." Although he did not appear in public for several weeks, he continued to deliver talks and discourses from his study via intercom. On Rosh Chodesh Kislev , the first day of the Hebrew month of Kislev , he left his study for the first time in over a month to go home. His followers celebrate this day as a great holiday each year with a feast of thanksgiving to God for his miraculous recovery.
In 1991, he faced an anti-Semitic riot in his neighborhood of Crown Heights which became known as the Crown Heights Riot of 1991. The riot began when a car accompanying Rabbi Scneerson's motorcade returning from one of his regular cemetery visits to his father-in-law's grave accidentally struck an African American child who subsequently died. In the rioting, a young rabbinic student was murdered, many Lubavitchers were badly beaten, and much property was destroyed.
In 1992 he was felled by a serious stroke while at the grave of his father-in-law. The stroke left him unable to speak and paralyzed on the right side of his body. Nonetheless, he continued to respond daily to thousands of queries and requests for blessings from around the world. His secretaries would read the letters to him and he would indicate his response with head and hand motions.
Despite his deteriorating health, he once again refused to leave "770" . Several months into his illness, a small room with tinted glass windows with an attached balcony was built overlooking the main synagogue. This allowed him to pray with his followers, beginning with the Rosh Hashana services and after services, to appear before them by either having the window opened or by being carried onto the balcony.
During these appearances his followers would chant , what would come to be a very controversial "mantra" among the Lubavitchers : Yechi Adonenu Moreinu v'Rabbeinu Melech Hamoshiach l'olam voed! - "Long live our Master our Teacher and our Rabbi King Messiah forever and ever!" This has become the Lubavitch "battle cry" as they have continued to wage a campaign to convince everyone else that the deceased Rabbi Schneerson is the actual "King Messiah" and that he somehow "lives on".
When sung before him in has last months, he evidently vigorously encouraged the singing by swaying to and fro and swinging his hand, as he had done at the numerous farbrengens over the years. From this the Lubavitchers "extrapolated" that he acceded to their wish that he be the "Messiah". Some say they even had a crown of gold made for him, ready to be placed on his head when the right moment arrived. But that moment never arrived, as he died unable to verbalize and say anything to confirm his followers' longed-for dream that he be the actual long-promised Jewish Messiah.
Sucession
The Messiah question, combined with a Chabad tradition that the Messiah would come after the seventh Rebbe, probably complicated his sucession. A new Rebbe of Chabad was never instated.
As for the organisation's activities, he was succeeded by Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Krinsky as chairman of the three principal Chabad-Lubavitch unmbrella organizations: Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Machne Israel and the Kehot Publication Society. Rabbi Avrohom Yitzchok Shemtov succeeded him as chairman of the Central Comittee of Agudas Chasidei Chabad, the structure overseeing the above three primary organizations. The Rebbe had held both these chairmanships during his lifetime as leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Political activities
United States
Politicians of all stripes came to see him, regardless of their party political affiliations. Be they Democrats or Republicans, they sought his support. Generally, Lubavitch tends to support more conservative politicians such as those who back school prayer, are anti-abortion, pro-Israel, and are generally supportive of Bible values, about which Rabbi Schneerson was publicly vocal. Aspirants for the job of mayor, governor, congressman, senator, in the states of New York and New Jersey would come calling and have their pictures with the rebbe published in newspapers with large Jewish readerships and voters. Towards the end of his life, thousands of ordinary people would line up to receive a dollar bill from him personally, which was to be donated to charity, and a quick blessing from him.
Following the death of his wife in 1988 he withdrew from some public functions and became generally more reclusive. In 1991, he stated that: "I have done everything I can do to bring Moshiach, now I am handing over to you (his followers) the keys to bring Moshiach." A final campaign was started to bring the messianic age through acts of "goodness and kindness" and massive advertising in the mass media such as many full-page ads in the New York Times urging everyone to contribute toward the messiah's imminent arrival.
Rabbi Schneerson paid close attention to, and rejoiced in, the fall of communism in Eastern Europe starting in 1989. Under the Bolsheviks his father-in-law had been imprisoned and tortured and had his massive collection of writings confiscated, and the movement banned on pain of exile to Siberia. Once the Iron Curtain fell, he wasted no time in flooding the former Soviet Union with hundreds of new shluchim. During the Desert Storm war against Iraq in 1990-1991, messianic fever ran high as Rabbi Schneerson interpreted events in the light of Torah and midrash, declaring that: "Moshiach is already here, all we need to do is to open our eyes to see him."
Israel
Rabbi Schneerson never visited the State of Israel, where he had many admirers and critics. One of Israel's presidents, Zalman Shazar, was a religiously observant person of Lubavitch ancestry and his visits to Schneerson were reunions of sorts. Prime Minister Menachem Begin and later Benjamin Netanyahu also paid visits and sought advice. In the elections that brought Yitzhak Shamir to power, Rabbi Schneerson publicly cajoled his followers and the Orthodox members in the Knesset to vote against the Labor aligment leading to articles in Time and Newsweek and many newspapers and TV programs.
During the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, he called in public for the Israel Defence Forces to capture Damascus in Syria and Cairo in Egypt. He was vehemently opposed to any withdrawals by Israel's armies from captured territories, and was against any concessions to the Palestinians. He lobbied Israeli politicians to legislate on Who is a Jew to declare that "only one who is born of a Jewish mother or converted according to halakha (Jewish biblical religious law) is Jewish". This caused a furor in the United States where Jewish philanthropies cut off their financial support of Lubavitch since most of their members were connected with Reform and Conservative Judaism .
Controversial legacy
Meshichist representation
Hasidism has been charged by other Orthodox Jews with creating a cult of personality since its inception. These charges resurfaced with greater intensity as Rabbi Schneerson's influence increased. His followers had an extremely high level of devotion to him; they believed that he was infallible, and many proclaimed that he was the messiah. They believed implicitly in his vision, that he had supernatural powers of insight, "prophecy", and powers to change the world. Behind closed doors many other Orthodox Jews began to call Lubavitch a cult.
Rabbi Schneerson's death was a major event in Orthodox Judaism. Many of Chabad's opponents were unsure of what would become of the movement without its head. Some Chabad Hasidim were thrown into shock and disbelief. Others were disillusioned. Yet others proclaimed that it barely mattered. Those that were accustomed to "believing" that he was the "Messiah", postulated that another "step" in the drama of Messianic redemption had been played out, and that their leader would soon return to redeem the world.
During the funeral procession many Chabad Hasidim cried, but some danced in joy at what they believed was the signal of the "messianic age", which they stated would certainly appear within a "few hours", if not a "few days". Hours and days passed and nothing happened. Many of his followers are still waiting for him to appear. As the number of Chabad Hasidim is difficult to estimate, and no formal surveys have ever been conducted, it is virtually impossible to guess how people reacted in the long run.
Some Hasidim openly declared that Rabbi Schneerson had not, in fact, "died" at all; some saying that he had "shed his mortal body" or that he was "in hiding", waiting for an appropriate time to "reveal himself", in keeping with some of Schneerson's interpretations of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) that he articulated after the passing of Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn.
This has caused a large part of the Jewish community to renew their denouncements of Chabad as being outside the pale of Judaism altogether. Many Orthodox rabbis, especially those associated with Lithuanian Judaism teach that Chabad is effectively becoming a new "religion", similar in its development to Christianity. The Lubavitch however, continue to lead a very strict Orthodox life-styles adhering to their strict application of the Shulkhan Arukh (code of law) and halakha. Opposition has not stymied the Lubavitchers; it has hardened their resolve to fulfil their rebbe's mission of ushering in the "messianic age".
The controversy is aggravated by the fact that the charges come from a long standing opposition to Chabad and Hasidism. During his lifetime, his main critic in the Orthodox "Lithuanian" yeshiva haredi world in Israel, was their own paramount leader, Rabbi Elazar Shach . He was Rabbi Schneerson's fiercest critic, continuously denounced Lubavitch as "heretics" and their leader as misguided or worse. However other Hasidic heads , the prominent hasidic rebbes in Israel such as those of Ger, Vizhnitz, Belz , never said anything in public against Rabbi Schneerson, viewing him as part of the world of chasidus - hasidism.
Another major proponent of the opposition to Chabad is Professor David Berger, a Modern Orthodox Rabbi and professor of history at the City College of New York . Berger gained prominence for his fierce opposition to Chabad, advocating ostracism of prominent Rabbis affiliated with the movement and boycotts. He has been behind efforts to bring about condemnations, and has written books on the subject. Berger specialized in earlier false messsianic movements in Judaism, has written essays and a book proporting to show that many followers of the late Lubavitch Rebbe revere him not just as Messiah, but literally as "God" .
There is also a continuing battle within Chabad Lubavitch over the legacy of Rabbi Schneerson. As few are willing to discuss their private views, there is little that can be truly known about what is mainstream in Chabad views, but such a high profile movement can be studied given its gigantic output of religious and political materials.
His Weltanschauung
A controversial belief among Hasidim first appeared in the Tanya mentioning that every Jew is endowed with a "spark of holiness" that is from the Creator. Based on the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the Baal Shem Tov and the Ohr Ha'Chaim , Rabbi Shneur Zalman taught in the name of the Zohar that "He who breathed life into man, breathed from Himself." He taught that the "Holy One Blessed Be He, Torah, and the people of Israel are one." This would explain Rabbi Schneerson's belief in reaching out to every Jew no matter where.
Hasidism taught that a person became a vehicle (merkava in Hebrew) for the deity when he performed a mitzvah. The Tsadik, being the "righteous" Leader, or 'Rebbe", was a human who performed only that which was commanded, was constantly such a vehicle.
The views of Rabbi Schneur Zalman were adopted and expounded upon by various leaders of Hasidism including Rabbi Elimelekh of Lizhensk. Rabbi Schneerson, in the year after the passing of his father-in-law, termed these beliefs into the concept of atzmut v'mahut melubash b'guf- "Essence and Being constricted into a body". Quoting his late father-in-law, Rabbi Schneerson taught that a Rebbe is literally Atzmus unget'n in a guf ( Yiddish:) "the essence, of God, clothed/incarnated in a human body". (Source: Likutei Sichos II: p. 510-511). While the term received little attention at the time, it was later used to shock those who have no exposure to these sources.
His writings and collected discourses have been published in many languages.
Time Line
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External links
Writings available online:
Chabad sites (see also Chabad Lubavitch):
- Chabad Lubavitch Global Network
- Site for Rebbe Schneerson
- Hundreds of videos of Rebbe Schneerson
- Rebbe's Resting Place
- A Biography of Ideas
Messianic Chabad sites
Historical sites:
- Proclamation of Education and Sharing Day 2002 by President George W.Bush also honoring the 100th birthdate of Rabbi Schneerson
- Numerous proclamations by President Reagan citing work of Rabbi Schneerson and promotion of the Seven Noahide Laws