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In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead; in the twentieth century the problem is that man is dead. Erich Fromm |
Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 5, 1902 OS – June 12, 1994 NS), known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe (hasidic leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn.
In January 1951, a year after the death of his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, he assumed the leadership of the Lubavitch movement. He led the movement until his death in 1994, greatly expanding its worldwide activities and founding a worldwide network of institutions to spread Orthodox Judaism among the Jewish people. These institutions include schools, kindergartens, synagogues, Chabad houses, and others, and are run under the auspices of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational branch of the Chabad movement.
Some viewed his focus on messianism as controversial. During his lifetime many of his followers have considered him to be the Jewish Messiah, and even after his death, many await his return as the Messiah.
Born in Nikolaiev, Ukraine, Schneerson was the eldest of three sons of Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, an authority on Kabbalah and Jewish law who served as the Rabbi of Yekaterinoslav from 1907 to 1939. He had two younger brothers, Dovber and Yisroel Aryeh Leib, both of whom were reported to be of unusual character. His younger brother DovBer was mentally disturbed from childhood and spent his years in an institution for the mentally disabled near Nikolaiev. He died in 1944 at the hands of Nazi collaborators.
The youngest, Yisrael Aryeh Leib Schneerson, was close to his brother, and often traveled with him. He was widely viewed as a genius and studied science. In the late 1920s he became a Communist, later becoming a Trotskyite. After he left the Soviet union he stopped being an observant Jew. He changed his name to Mark Gourary and moved to Israel where he became a businessman, but later moved to England where he began doctoral studies at Liverpool University but died in 1951 before he completed them. His wife died in 1996 and his children—Schneerson's closest living relatives—currently reside in Israel.
During his youth, Schneerson received mostly private Jewish education. He studied with Zalman Vilenkin from 1909 through 1913. In 1977, the Rebbe said of Vilenkin: “He taught me and my brothers Chumash, Rashi and Talmud. He put me on my feet. He was an illustrious Jew...” When Schneerson was eleven years old, Vilenkin informed the boy's father that he had nothing more to teach his son. Schneerson later studied independently under his father, who was his primary teacher. He studied Talmud and rabbinic literature, as well as the Hasidic view of Kabbalah. He received his rabbinical ordination from the Rogatchover Gaon, Yosef Rosen, and from Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg (also known as the Sridei Aish). Part of a series on
Schneerson's mother said her son never attended any Soviet school, though he took the exams as an external student and did well on them According to Avrum Ehrlich, he immersed himself in Jewish studies while simultaneously qualifying for Russian secondary school. Throughout his childhood Schneerson was involved in the affairs of his father's office, where his secular education and knowledge of the Russian language were useful in assisting his father's public administrative work. He was also said to have acted as an interpreter between the Jewish community and the Russian authorities on a number of occasions.
In 1923 Schneerson visited Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn for the first time. It was presumably at that time that he met Schneersohn's middle daughter, Chaya Mushka. He became engaged to her in Riga in 1923 and married her five years later in 1928, after being away in Berlin. He returned to Warsaw for his wedding, and in an article about his wedding in a Warsaw newspaper, "a number of academic degrees" were attributed to him. Following the marriage, the newlyweds went to live in Berlin. The marriage was long and happy (60 years), but childless.
Schneerson and Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn are related through Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Chabad Lubavitch.
Schneerson studied mathematics, physics and philosophy in Berlin, Germany for five semesters from mid-1928 through 1930. Professor Menachem Friedman found his records amongst the students who "audited courses at the university without receiving academic credit." While he was there, he composed hundreds of pages of original Torah discourses, subsequently published as "Reshimot," and corresponded with his father on Torah matters, which were published in the 1970s in the book "Likuttei Levi Yitzchak—Letters."
His brother, Yisroel Aryeh Leib (known to Lubavitchers as 'Leibel' and to others by his secular name, 'Liova'), joined him in Berlin in 1931, traveling with false papers under the name 'Mark Gurary' to escape the Soviets. He arrived and was cared for by his brother and sister-in-law as he was seriously ill with typhoid fever. Leibel attended classes at the University of Berlin from 1931 to 1933. In 1933, after Adolf Hitler took over Germany and began instituting anti-Semitic policies, Mendel and his wife helped Leibel escape from Berlin, before themselves fleeing to Paris. Leibel escaped to Mandate Palestine in 1939 with his fiancee Regina Milgram, where they later married. Despite Leibel's secularism, the two brothers maintained a relationship.
Some students of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, have asserted that Schneerson met Soloveitchik while they were studying in Berlin. Soloveitchik's daughter Dr. Atarah Twersky recalls Soloveitchik saying that Schneerson visited her father in his apartment and the former asked the latter why he was studying in Berlin if his father-in-law was opposed to it. Other sources deny this. According to Soloveitchik's son Rabbi Dr. Haym Soloveitchik, Rabbi Soloveitchik only saw Schneerson pass by in Berlin and they did not meet while there.
In 1933, Schneerson moved to Paris, France. He studied mechanics and electrical engineering at the École spéciale des travaux publics, du bâtiment et de l'industrie (ESTP), a Grandes écoles in the Montparnasse district. He graduated in July 1937 and received a license to practice as an electrical engineer. In November 1937, he enrolled at the Sorbonne, where he studied mathematics until World War II broke out in 1939. Schneerson lived most of the time in Paris at 9 Rue Boulard in the 14th arrondissement, in the same building as his wife's sister, Shaina, and her husband, Mendel Hornstein, who was also studying at ESTP. Mendel Hornstein failed the final exams and he and his wife returned to Poland; they were killed at Treblinka in late 1942. On June 11, 1940, three days before Paris fell to the Nazis, the Schneersons fled to Vichy, and later to Nice, where they stayed until their final escape from Europe. Schneerson learned to speak French, which he put to use in establishing his movement there after the war. The Chabad movement in France was later to attract many Jewish immigrants from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
In 1941, Schneerson escaped from Europe on the Serpa Pinto, which embarked from Lisbon, Portugal. It was one of the last boats to cross the Atlantic before the U-boat blockade began, and joined his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. Seeking to contribute to the war effort, he went to work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, drawing wiring for the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63),pointed him director of the Chabad movement's newly-founded central organizations, placing him at the helm of building the movement's Jewish educational, social services, and publishing networks across the United States, Israel, Africa, Europe and Australia. However, Schneerson kept a low public profile within the movement. He would speak publicly only once a month, delivering talks to his father-in-law's followers.
During the 1940s, Schneerson became a naturalized US citizen. For many years to come, he would speak about America's special place in the world, and would argue that the bedrock of the United States' power and uniqueness came from its foundational values, which were, according to Schneerson, '"E pluribus unum'—from many one", and "In God we trust." In 1949, his father-in-law would become a U.S. citizen, with the Rebbe assisting to coordinate the event. A special dispensation was arranged wherein the federal judge came to "770" to officiate at Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchak's citizenship proceedings, rather than the wheelchair-bound Rebbe travel to a courthouse for the proceedings. Uniquely, the event was recorded on color motion film.
Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn died in 1950. The two main candidates for leadership were Schneerson and Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary, Schneersohn's elder son-in-law. Schneerson actively refused to accept leadership of the movement for the entire year after Schneersohn's passing but was eventually cajoled into accepting the post by his wife and followers. On the first anniversary of his father-in-law's passing, 10 Shevat 1951, he delivered a Chassidic discourse, (Ma'amar), and formally became the Rebbe.
Schneerson believed that the American public was seeking to learn more about their Jewish heritage. He stated, "America is not lost, you are not different. You Americans sincerely crave to know, to learn. Americans are inquisitive. It is Chabad's point of view that the American mind is simple, honest, direct—good, tillable soil for Hassidism, or just plain Judaism". Schneerson believed that Jews need not be on the defensive, but need to be on the ground building Jewish institutions, day schools and synagogues. Schneerson said that we need "to discharge ourselves of our duty and we must take the initiative".
Schneerson placed a tremendous emphasis on outreach. He made great efforts to intensify this program of the Chabad movement, bringing Jews from all walks of life to adopt Torah-observant Judaism, and aggressively sought the expansion of the baal teshuva movement. His work included organizing the training of thousands of young Chabad rabbis and their wives, who were sent all over the world by him as shluchim (emissaries) to spread the Chabad message. He oversaw the building of schools, community centers, youth camps, and "Chabad Houses", and established contacts with wealthy Jews and government officials around the world. Schneerson also instituted a system of "mitzvah campaigns" called mivtzoim to encourage Jews to follow Orthodox Jewish practices. They commonly centered on practices such as keeping kosher, lighting Shabbat candles, studying Torah, laying tefillin, helping to write sifrei Torah, and teaching women to observe the laws of Jewish family purity. He also launched a global Noahide campaign to promote observance of the Noahide Laws among gentiles, and argued that involvement in this campaign is an obligation for every Jew.
Schneerson never visited the State of Israel, where he had many admirers. One of Israel's presidents, Zalman Shazar, who was of Lubavitch ancestry, would visit Schneerson and corresponded extensively with him. Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon, Moshe Katzav, and later, Benjamin Netanyahu, also paid visits and sought advice, along with numerous other less famous politicians, diplomats, military officials, and media producers. In the elections that brought Yitzhak Shamir to power, Schneerson publicly lobbied his followers and the Orthodox members in the Knesset to vote against the Labor alignment. It attracted the media's attention and led to articles in Time, Newsweek, and many newspapers and TV programs, and led to considerable controversy within Israeli politics.
He lobbied Israeli politicians to pass legislation in accordance with Jewish religious law on the question "Who is a Jew" and declare that "only one who is born of a Jewish mother or converted according to Halakha is Jewish." This caused a furor in the United States. Some American Jewish philanthropies stopped financially supporting Chabad-Lubavitch since most of their members were connected to Reform and Conservative Judaism. These unpopular ideas were toned down by his aides, according to Avrum Erlich. "The issue was eventually quietened so as to protect Chabad fundraising interests. Controversial issues such as territorial compromise in Israel that might have estranged benefactors from giving much-needed funds to Chabad, were often moderated, particularly by...Krinsky." Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits argued that Chabad moderated its presentation of anti-Zionist ideology and right-wing politics in England and downplayed its messianic fervor so as not to antagonize large parts of the English Jewish community.
Beginning in the Winter of 1979, during the tumultuous days of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Schneerson directed his emissaries to make arrangements to rescue Jewish teenagers from Iran and place them in foster homes within the Lubavitcher community in Brooklyn. This mission, while not political in nature, was a tremendous undertaking which originally started as a secretive quest in order not to jeopardize the safety of the Iranian Jewish Community at large. Many of Schneerson followers in Brooklyn were asked to open their homes to these Jewish children and help save their lives from another potential Holocaust in the making. The new Islamic government in Iran was vocally opposed to the existence of Israel and created a genuine concern in world Jewish circles by accusing many in the Jewish community of being Zionists. The execution of the leader of the Iranian Jewish community , Habib Elghanian had made this a tangible threat to the very existence of the community. Ultimately, while more than a dozen members of the Jewish community were executed by the new Iranian government, Jews were allowed to continue to live in Iran and there would be no Holocaust. Hundreds of Jewish children from Tehran and other major cities in Iran were flown from Tehran to New York with the help of Schneerson's emissaries, placed in foster homes in Crown Heights and educated in Chabad schools. Many would adopt the Lubavitcher lifestyle and later, some even served as Chabad emissaries and religious leaders. Many others would later reunite with their biological parents after their parents and other family members emigrated to the United States.
In biblical scholarship, Schneerson is known mainly for his scholarly analysis and Hasidic thoughts on Rashi's Torah commentary, which were annotated by his aides. In halakhic matters, he normally deferred to members of the Crown Heights Beth Din headed by Rabbi Zalman Shimon Dvorkin, and advised the movement to do likewise in the event of his death. While Schneerson rarely chose to involve himself with questions of halakha (Jewish law), some notable exceptions were with regard to the use of electrical appliances on Shabbat, sailing on Israeli boats staffed by Jews, and halakhic dilemmas created when crossing the International Date Line. Schneerson was known for delivering regular lengthy addresses to his followers at public gatherings, without using any notes. These talks usually centered on the weekly Torah portion, and were then transcribed by followers known as choizerim, and distributed widely. Many of them were later edited by him and distributed worldwide in small booklets, later to be compiled in the Likkutei Sichot set. He also penned tens of thousands of replies to requests and questions. The majority of his correspondence is printed in Igrot Kodesh, partly translated as "Letters from the Rebbe". His correspondence fills more than two hundred published volumes.
Schneerson rarely left Crown Heights in Brooklyn except for frequent lengthy visits to his father-in-law's gravesite in Queens, New York. A year after the passing of his wife, Chaya Mushka, in 1988, when the traditional year of Jewish mourning had passed, he moved into his study above the central Lubavitch synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway. It was from this location that Schneerson directed his emissaries' work and involved himself in details of his movement's developments. His public roles included celebrations called farbrengens (gatherings) on Shabbats, Jewish holy days, and special days on the Chabad calendar, when he would give lengthy sermons to crowds. In later years, these would often be broadcast on cable television and via satellite to Lubavitch branches around the world.
In 1977, Schneerson suffered a massive heart attack while celebrating the hakafot ceremony on Shemini Atzeret. Despite the best efforts of his doctors to convince him to change his mind, he refused to be hospitalized. This necessitated building a mini-hospital in his headquarters at "770." Although he did not appear again in public for many weeks, Schneerson continued to deliver talks and discourses from his study via intercom. His chief cardiologist Dr. Ira Weiss later stated that despite his own protestations against the Rebbe's being treated in 770, in retrospect, it had turned out to be the correct decision and, "The Rebbe, in fact received better medical care in 770 than he would have had we taken him to the hospital." On Rosh Chodesh Kislev, he left his study for the first time in more than a month to go home. His followers celebrate this day as a holiday each year.
In 1983, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, the United States Congress proclaimed Rabbi Schneerson's birthday as "Education Day, USA," and awarded him the National Scroll of Honor.
As the Chabad movement grew and more demands were placed on Schneerson's time, he limited his practice of meeting followers individually in his office. After his heart attack in 1977, he stopped seeing his twice-weekly practice of Yechidut—private audiences with whomever would request an appointment—although community leaders and Israeli government officials would still occasionally meet with the Rebbe in private. In 1986, Schneerson again began to regularly greet people individually. This time, the personal meetings took the form of a weekly receiving line in "770". Almost every Sunday, thousands of people would line up to meet briefly with Schneerson and receive a one-dollar bill, which was to be donated to charity. People filing past Schneerson would often take this opportunity to ask him for advice or to request a blessing. This event is usually referred to as "Sunday Dollars." Beginning in 1989, the events were recorded on videotape. Posthumously, hundreds of thousands these encounters were posted online for public access.
Following the death of his wife in 1988, Schneerson withdrew from some public functions. For example, he stopped delivering addresses during weekdays, instead holding gatherings every Shabbat. He later edited these addresses, which have since been released in the Sefer HaSichos set.
According to Ehrlich, towards the end of his life, particularly after his heart attack in 1977, Schneerson's scholarship began to fade. One of Schneerson's editors, David Olidort, "told how most of Schneerson’s aides and editors adored him and saw him as virtually infallible, despite their numerous corrections of his failing scholarship." The frequency of his talks, however, certainly began to increase. After 1990, he spoke publicly, on average, at least twice a week—every Shabbos afternoon, as well as once during the week.
Some of Schneerson's followers believed he was the Jewish Messiah and have persisted in that belief since his passing. The reverence with which he was treated by followers led many Jewish critics from both the Orthodox and Reform communities to allege that a cult of personality had grown up around him. Moshe D. Sherman, an associate professor at Touro College wrote that "as Schneerson's empire grew, a personality cult developed around him... portraits of Schneerson were placed in all Lubavitch homes, shops, and synagogues, and devoted followers routinely requested a blessing from him prior to their marriage, following an illness, or at other times of need."
From his childhood and throughout the years of his leadership, the Rebbe explained that his goal was to "make the world a better place," and to eliminate suffering. In 1954, in a letter to Yitzchak Ben Tzvi, Israel's second President, the Rebbe wrote: "From the time that I was a child attending cheder, and even before, the vision of the future Redemption began to take form in my imagination – the Redemption of the Jewish People from their final Exile, a redemption of such magnitude and grandeur through which the purpose of the suffering, the harsh decrees and annihilation of Exile will be understood..."
In 1991, he declared to his followers: "I have done everything I can [to bring Moshiach], now I am handing over to you [the mission]; do everything you can to bring Moshiach!" A campaign was then started to usher in the Messianic age through "acts of goodness and kindness," and some of his followers placed advertisements in the mass media, including many full-page ads in the New York Times, declaring in Rabbi Schneerson's name that the Moshiach's arrival was imminent, and urging everyone to prepare for and hasten it by increasing their good deeds.
In 1991, Schneerson was indirectly involved in the start of a riot in his neighborhood of Crown Heights. The riot began when a car accompanying his motorcade—returning from one of his regular cemetery visits to his father-in-law's grave—accidentally struck two seven-year-old African American children, killing one boy. In the rioting, Australian Jewish graduate student Yankel Rosenbaum was murdered, many Lubavitchers were badly beaten, and much property was destroyed; also, rioters hurled rocks and bottles at the Jews over police lines.
In 1992, Schneerson suffered a serious stroke while praying 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. During this time, the belief in Schneerson as the Messiah became more widespread.
Despite his deteriorating health, Schneerson once again refused to leave "770". Several months into his illness, a small room with tinted glass windows and an attached balcony was built overlooking the main synagogue. This allowed Schneerson to pray with his followers, beginning with the Rosh Hashanah services, and to appear before them after services either by having the window opened or by being carried out onto the balcony.
His final illness led to a split between two groups of aides who differed in their recommendations as to how Schneerson should be treated, with the two camps led by Leib Groner and Yehuda Krinsky. Aides argued over whether Schneerson had the same physical makeup as other humans, and if the illness should be allowed to run its course without interference. Krinsky argued that the latest and most suitable medical treatment available should be used in treating Schneerson, while Groner thought that "outside interference in the Rebbe’s medical situation might be just as dangerous as inaction. They saw his illness as an element in the messianic revelation; interference with Schneerson’s physical state might therefore affect the redemptive process, which should instead be permitted to run its natural course."
Schneerson died at the Beth Israel Medical Center on June 12, 1994 (3 Tammuz 5754) and was buried next to his teacher and father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, at Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York, in 1994. The Ohel had been built around the Previous Rebbe's grave in 1950. Soon after Schneerson's passing, philanthropist Joseph Gutnick of Melbourne, Australia established the Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch Center on Francis Lewis Boulevard, Queens, New York, which is located adjacent to the Rebbe's Ohel. Following the age-old Jewish tradition of turning the resting place of a tzadik into a place of prayer, thousands of people flock to the Rebbe's resting place every week. Many more send faxes and e-mails with requests for prayers to be read at the grave site.
Starting with President Carter in 1978, the U.S. Congress and President have issued proclamations each year, declaring that Schneerson's birthday — usually a day in March or April that coincides with his Hebrew calendar birthdate of 11 Nissan — be observed as Education and Sharing Day in the United States. The Rebbe would usually respond with a public address on the importance of education in modern society, and holding forth on the United States' special role in the world.
After Schneerson's death, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives—sponsored by Congressmen Charles Schumer and cosponsored by John Lewis, Newt Gingrich, and Jerry Lewis, as well as 220 other Congressmen—to posthumously bestow upon Schneerson the Congressional Gold Medal. On November 2, 1994 the bill passed both Houses by unanimous consent, honoring Schneerson for his "outstanding and enduring contributions toward world education, morality, and acts of charity".
President Bill Clinton spoke these words at the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony: “ The late Rebbe's eminence as a moral leader for our country was recognized by every president since Richard Nixon. For over two decades, the Rabbi's movement now has some 2000 institutions; educational, social, medical, all across the globe. We (the United States Government) recognize the profound role that Rabbi Schneerson had in the expansion of those institutions. ”
In 2009, the National Museum of American Jewish History selected Schneerson as one of eighteen Jewish Americans to be included in their "Only in America" Hall of Fame.
There is considerable controversy within Chabad about Schneerson's will. It is widely accepted that two wills exist, the first will was signed by Schneerson and transferred stewardship of all the major Chabad institutions to Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky. This will is indisputable as it was officially filed and a record of its signing exists in the archives of New York State. The second will gave the bulk of control to three senior Chabad rabbis, Rabbis Mindel, Pikarski and Hodakov (contemporary of Schneerson) and gave Krinsky only a minor role. The only copy of this will, that was drafted by others, is unsigned. Supporters of Krinsky argue that the will was merely presented to Schneerson, who chose not to sign it. Supporters of the messianist camp, led by Leib Groner argue that the will was signed but that interested parties destroyed or hid the signed copy to gain power.
The first will, signed and dated February 14, 1988, transferred power over all Schneerson’s property and personal affects to Agudas Chasidei Chabad (AGUCH) (directed by Krinsky), naming Krinsky as sole executor. Avrum Erlich, a Chabad chronicler and scholar summarises the dispute:
“ After the [second] will was prepared, Schneerson said he would look it over before signing it, and that is apparently the last that was seen of it. Some Habad members believe that Schneerson never signed this will... others believe that even if the will was not signed, it is nevertheless indicative of his general view. There are still others who believe that a signed copy of the will exists, but was stolen from Schneerson’s drawer and hidden by an interested party who hopes to gain by its destruction. ”
Krinsky was called to testify before the Chabad Beit Din on the authenticity or otherwise of the disputed second will, but he refused to do so, contending that a local Crown Heights rabbinic body had no authority over international Lubavitch institutions. Krinsky's stewardship of the movement has been a bone of contention amongst Chabad followers and emissaries who see him as trying to control the movement by subsuming it under the umbrella of the AGUCH.
Zipora Galitski
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
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