tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post106219035429788278..comments2024-03-05T21:22:43.426-05:00Comments on parshablog: Dvar torah for Shoftim #4: Was the Lubavitcher Rebbe a Navi Sheker?joshwaxmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03516171362038454070noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-62255758948027216202014-05-23T11:47:00.390-04:002014-05-23T11:47:00.390-04:00While it may never have been his intention to proc...While it may never have been his intention to proclaim himself as the messiah during his lifetime, the Rebbe is straddling a very fine line towards becoming a moshiach sheker or worse as his thousands of followers revere him alarmingly close to the point of deification. The attitude of chabad towards the rebbe is eerily reminiscent of early christianity, i.e. a cult of personality in which the deceased leader is elevated over time to a higher and higher pedestal until he reaches a super human or godlike status, ultimately supplanting G-d Himself (chalilah). It seems that this is what is transpiring with Chabad to me. I don't believe the Rebbe viewed himself as the messiah but whether or not he really did remains a hauntingly ambiguous question. menachem rephunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04884639737624332933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-62024325082315036162008-09-11T13:36:00.000-04:002008-09-11T13:36:00.000-04:00The Rebbe may very well have been a navi, but a ne...The Rebbe may very well have been a navi, but a nevu'ah must be said in the name of Hashem. If Moshe Rabbenu looked up one morning and said "it looks like rain, better get an umbrella", would anyone call that a nevu'ah? Supposing that it didn't rain, would anyone call him a nevi sheker for it? Of course not. Only if he had said "ko amar Hashem, it's going to rain", would it be a nevu'ah, which must come true.<BR/><BR/>Back in 1992, R Sholom Ber Wolpe, the great champion of the Rebbe's status as a navi, commented on the fact that the big nevu'ah that was being touted had not in fact been said as a nevu'ah, and the idea that it was a nevu'ah had been added in a footnote. He speculated that the reason the Rebbe had chosen to do it this way was so as not to be machshil those who would not believe it. Had he openly said "I am a navi, and ko amar Hashem..." then anyone who disbelieved it would be guilty of a terrible sin; in his great chesed he chose not to say it in this way, so they would be patur. Of course in hindsight we have a different explanation, but the fact remains that he didn't say it as a nevu'ah, and even R Wolpe admitted it.Milhousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14350874508580081286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-69181499122720192062008-08-30T21:21:00.000-04:002008-08-30T21:21:00.000-04:00That said, let me stress that I understand and app...That said, let me stress that I understand and appreciate your sentiment, in favor of a tzaddik. However, as you no doubt know from my other posts, I am very much in favor of carefully evaluating claims of prophecy for accuracy, especially in a messianic context or where it leads to major theological divergences.<BR/><BR/>This is, indeed, the mandate imposed upon us by the Torah in parshas Reeh.<BR/><BR/>Kol Tuv,<BR/>Joshjoshwaxmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149022516101476797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-46019874820015427732008-08-30T20:58:00.000-04:002008-08-30T20:58:00.000-04:00This is not a criticism but rather a defense. I am...This is not a criticism but rather a defense. I am explaining why the Rebbe is *NOT* a navi sheker -- because he was not a navi.<BR/><BR/>Not being a navi is not a criticism. You and I are not neviim either. And Rav Moshe Feinstein was not a navi either. Nor is my own rebbe. This is not a criticism.<BR/><BR/>And since I am not you, I will not retract.<BR/><BR/>However, if you would like to explain how I have my facts wrong instead of merely asserting this is so, please feel free to do so.<BR/><BR/>Kol Tuv,<BR/>Joshjoshwaxmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149022516101476797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-38141009098379567802008-08-30T20:49:00.000-04:002008-08-30T20:49:00.000-04:00You dare to criticise a tzaddik on the internet. ...You dare to criticise a tzaddik on the internet. You have your facts wrong, I would retract it if I were you.Devorahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00793434651294780439noreply@blogger.com