Chabad messianism

Messianism in Chabad[1] refers to the belief within the Chabad-Lubavitch community—a prominent group within Hasidic Judaism—regarding the Jewish messiah (Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ, mashiach or moshiach).

Central to this belief is the conviction that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty, is the awaited Messiah who is leading the Jewish people into the Messianic era.

A typical statement of belief for Chabad messianists is the song and chant known as yechi adoneinu ("long live our master", Hebrew: יחי אדונינו).

[14] After Schneerson's death, a later Halachic ruling from some affiliated rabbis said that it was "incumbent on every single Jew to heed the Rebbe's words and believe that he is indeed King Moshiach, who will be revealed imminently".

[23] Yehuda Eisenstein records in his book Otzer Yisrael that followers of Hasidic Rebbes will sometimes express hope that their leader will be revealed as the awaited messiah.

[24][page needed] According to research by Israeli scholar Rachel Elior, there was a focus on messianism in Chabad during the lifetime of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the father-in-law of Menachem Schneerson.

The upsurge in messianic belief among Chabad adherents begins in the 1980s, when followers of Menachem Schneerson began believing that he would be the messiah, a hope that was initially kept quiet until the early 1990s.

[10][17][18] Beginning with his very first farbrengen as Rebbe, Schneerson spoke of this generation's mission to complete the Dira Betachtonim, and urged everyone to do all within their power to help the world reach its ultimate state of perfection, when godliness and goodness will be naturally apparent and prevalent, with the final redemption.

[26] In 1984, another Israeli Hasid, Shalom Dov Wolpo, raised the issue publicly by publishing a booklet identifying Schneerson as the messiah.

Eventually the rebbe appeared to reverse his ban, and soon after began encouraging publicly a song identifying him as the messiah, going so far as to authorize one of Wolpo's articles to be translated and published in a newspaper.

A few months later, a few people did muster the courage to start singing at an intermission in a Shabbos farbrengen a less overt song that implied that the Rebbe was the messiah.

[44] In light of some criticism about the insistent tone of these words, on one occasion Schneerson explained: This has always been the hope and yearning of the Jewish people – that the Messiah should come now, immediately.

Each Jew clearly prays and pleads three times a day in the amida, while standing before the Al-mighty (at that time a person is certainly speaking the truth, and saying what he means) et tzemach David avdecha me’hera tatzmiach [that we merit the final redemption and coming of the Messiah speedily], and then continues ki lishuatcha kivinu kol hayom, that he hopes for this the entire day!

It was during this period of illness and inability to communicate that the messianic movement reached its greatest fervor, and became more vocal of their hope that Schneerson would soon be the mashiach.

[47][48] The Rebbe, who had been paralyzed and speechless since March the previous year, would join the daily prayers on a special balcony that was built for him to easily be wheeled.

They cited various midrashic statements to fuel their ecstasy as to the imminent revelation of the messiah, and some of them drank and toasted l’chaim and danced before and during the funeral – an act that shocked many admirers of Schneerson across the Jewish world.

In the week after the Rebbe's death, the Wisconsin Chronicle editorialized and wrote how many Jews now find it difficult to believe that messiah will ever come: "Most modern Jews can't help but shrug at some claims that Schneerson is, or was, the most likely candidate in our time to be the Messiah, the King David-descended redeemer who according to tradition will inaugurate the final age of world peace and plenty.

When [David] 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.".

During his life, numerous rabbis and Jewish leaders expressed their views that Menachem Mendel Schneerson had the potential to be the messiah of the generation.

[54]: 105 In America, numerous Litvish leaning rabbanim have also spoken negatively of this form of messianism, including Elya Svei, Aharon Feldman, Shlomo Miller, Moshe Heinemann and Chaim Dov Keller, who all issued harsh criticism.

"[75] Other American Torah authorities, such as the Ungvarer Rav Menashe Klein, Moshe Heinemann, Yehuda Henkin, Chaim Brovender and Ahron Soloveichik argue that while there may be sources for messianism, it is a shtut (foolishness) that should not be followed.

that the Rebbe can still be Moshiach, in light of the Gemara in Sanhedrin, the Zohar, Abarbanel, Kisvei Arizal, S’dei Chemed, and other sources, it cannot be dismissed.

"[80] Senior Reform rabbi and humanitarian activist Arthur Lelyveld was also critical of the messianist trends within the Chabad movement describing the organisation as having a "cult like" atmosphere.

[84] Two incidents concern the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the topic of Chabad messianism: A 1996 statement from Agudas Chasidei Chabad said: With regard to some recent statements and declarations by individuals and groups concerning the matter of Moshiach and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of sainted memory, let it be known that the views expressed in these notices are in no way a reflection of the movement's position.

[87]A statement from Vaad Rabonei Lubavitch said: Belief in the coming of Moshiach and awaiting his imminent arrival is a basic tenet of the Jewish faith.

[88]Within sociology and anthropology, the Chabad identification of Schneerson as messiah can be analyzed in terms of charismatic authority, a type of leadership developed by Max Weber.

This opposition appears constrained by the Jewish community's lack of hegemony in the areas of belief and heresy, and by Chabad and Hasidism's prior neutralization of the messianic impulse by focusing on individual spiritual fulfilment and redemption.

Despite the controversy, Chabad messianism, whether it is deemed as heretical or not, does not appear to have resulted in the type of trauma or damage to the Jewish people as with the Sabbatean movement.

[91] Opposition to Chabad messianism on theological grounds may also be traced to a tension within the Jewish tradition over the definition of Judaism as either a religion or an ethnicity.

Orthodox Jewish polemics that challenge Chabad messianism on these grounds may be understood as an effort to revive the self-definition of Judaism as a religion and to impose a theological approach that emphasizes the categories of orthodoxy and heresy.