Chabad-Lubavitch related controversies

Main article: Chabad

Chabad-Lubavitch is a branch of Hasidism. Its founder Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi was twice arrested by the Russians on trumped up charges, but went on to oppose Napoleonic emancipation of the Jews; one of his sons later converted to Christianity. The conduct of the sixth leader, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn during the Second World War was been criticised by scholars and contemporaries. Its seventh leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson's theology has been controversial especially in the light of its use by some followers to deify him; he sued his nephew over a theft stemming from an inheritance dispute; became active in Israeli politics and was criticised heavily by Rabbi Elazar Shach for his messianic focus. Chabad messianism, the belief that Schneerson is the messiah and will return or that he never even died has become commonplace within the movement since the mid 1980s, and has led to a split within Chabad and a breakaway movement.

Since his death in 1994, and the decision not to appoint a successor, the movement has fragmented into competing factions. Financial battles have been ongoing between these factions since 1995, and the contested control over the headquarters in Brooklyn has led to strife and rioting. The loss of Schneerson's central and undisputed authority and the resultant fragmentation of the movement, has been blamed for a string of local scandals and controversies that have plagued the movement in the past decade.

Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the movement, was arrested by Tsar Paul I on two occasions on trumped up charges but released both times. In the face of Napoleonic invasion, Liadi sided with the Tsar, believing that emancipation and freedom would lead to spiritual malaise.

During his life, the controversies between the Hasidim and Mitnagdim intensified in many ways. Some issues involved in the disagreements were the rules for ritual slaughter as well as the conduct and phrasing of prayers. As a result, Rabbi Schneur Zalman and his followers were subjected to bans, though in part due to the changes made to Hasidic thought this lessened during the lives of his son Dovber Schneuri and grandson Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. Although Schneur Zalman once attempted to see the Vilna Gaon to persuade him to legitimize the Hasidim, the Vilna Gaon refused to speak with him.

Arrests

In 1798 Liadi was arrested on suspicion of treason on trumped up charges and brought to St. Petersburg where he was held in the Petropavlovski fortress for 53 days.

Again in 1800 he was arrested and again transported to St. Petersburg along with his son Moshe who served as an interpreter, as Liadi spoke no Russian or French. He was released after a few weeks but was banned from leaving St. Petersburg The elevation of Tsar Alexander I a few weeks later led to Liadi's release.

According to scholars Liadi's first arrest was not the result of anti-Hasidic Mitnagdim agitators fabricating charges, or officials seeking extortion monies. An accusation was made on May 8 1798 by Hirsh ben David of Vilna accused Liadi of trying to assist the French Revolution, by sending money to Napoleon and the Sultan. It appears that there was no such person as Hirsh and the authorities were attempting to stir up internecine fighting among the Jews.

Liadi and Napoleon

While most Jewish leaders supported Napoleon or remained quiet about their support, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi openly and vigorously supported the Tsar. While fleeing from Napoleon, Liadi wrote a letter explaining his opposition to Napoleon to a friend, Rabbi Moshe Meizeles:

Should Napoleon be victorious, wealth among the Jews will be abundant. . .but the hearts of Israel will be separated and distant from their father in heaven. But if our master Alexander will triumph, though poverty will be abundant. . . the heart of Israel will be bound and joined with their father in heaven. . . And for God's sake: Burn this letter.

Alan Dershowitz argues that Liadi was clear about his intent - suffering was good for the Jews. Suffering would inspire asceticism and bolster the Hasidic cause. Dershowitz goes on to take issue with what he interprets as a view that Judaism requires suffering to survive.

Others defend Liadi, arguing that Napoleon had been attempting to arouse a messianic view of himself in Jews, opening the gates of the Ghettos and emancipating their residents as he conquered. He established an ersatz Sanhedrin, recruiting Jews to his ranks, and spreading rumors about his conquest of the Holy Land to make Jews subversive for his own ends. Thus his opposition was based on a practical fear of Jews turning to the false messianism of Napoleon as he saw it.

Still others argue that Dershowitz's interpretation is correct, but that Liadi's "fears were borne out by the events of the next two centuries. When emancipation did come to European Jewry, it came as a gradual process, and the traditional Judaism had by then developed an array of intellectual and moral responses (most notably, the Chassidic and Mussar movements). Still, the spiritual toll of freedom was high: traditional Jewish life was all but wiped out in France and Germany by the upheavals spearheaded by the French Revolution, and while it persevered in Eastern Europe until the eve of the Holocaust, many fell prey to the winds of anti-religious "enlightenment" blowing from the west. We can only imagine what the toll might have been had Napoleon conquered the continent in the early years of the nineteenth century."

Moshe Schneersohn

Main article: Moshe Schneersohn

Scholar David Assaf uncovered evidence that Rabbi Moshe Schneersohn (or Zalmanovitch or Shneuri), the youngest son of the founder of Chabad, the Alter Rebbe, had befriended an artillery officer. The officer then got Schneersohn drunk at a party and convinced him to convert to Christianity. Assaf also uncovered evidence that there had been a campaign by Chabad followers to erase this fact from the history books. Schneersohn had been a Rabbi in the Belorussian town of Ula. According to Chabad accounts, including the history of the Chabad movement written by the sixth Rebbe, "Rebbe Moshe" was forced to flee and spend the rest of his life in hiding after winning a disputation with the local priest (similar to Nachmanides's forced move after winning the Disputation of Barcelona). Chabad accounts state that he was buried in an unmarked grave in Radomysl, Ukraine.

Documents found by historian Shaul Stampfer document Schneersohn's conversion to Christianity. The original documents are located in the national historical archives in Minsk, the capital of Belarussia. These include a letter in to the local priest in which he states his intent to convert, his baptismal certificate, which was dated July 4, 1820. The documents also show that after his conversion he worked for the Tzar to assist in the conversion of other Jews.

In the letter in which he stated his intention to convert he wrote that the Jews had tried to prevent him from doing so by watching him constantly, beating him and threatening him. He wrote: "I have remained steadfast in my desire to take upon myself the true faith of Jesus Christ, to which the holy books and all the prophets testify." After conversion he changed his name to Leon Yoleivitch. He returned to visit Lubavitchi, where his brother was the Rabbi, but fled, ultimately dying in a mental institution in St. Petersburg.

Dovber Shneuri

Main article: Dovber Schneuri

The succession of Rabbi Dovber Schneuri to his fathers post was not straightforward as a senior disciple of his father Aharon HaLevi of Strashelye was a popular and respected figure who differed with him on a number of theological issues.

Strashelye breakaway

Main article: Strashelye (Hasidic dynasty)

When R' Schneur Zalman passed away, many of his followers flocked to one of his top students, Aharon HaLevi of Strashelye He had been Shneur Zalman’s closest disciple for over thirty years. While many more became followers of the Mittler Rebbe, the Strashelye school of Chassidic thought was the subject of many of the Mittler Rebbe's discourses. R' Aharon HaLevi emphasized the importance of basic emotions in divine service (especially the service of prayer). The Mittler Rebbe did not reject the role of emotion in prayer, but emphasized that if the emotion in prayer is to be genuine, it can only be a result of contemplation and understanding (hisbonenus) of the explanations of Chassidus, which in turn will lead to an attainment of "bittul" (self-nullification before the Divine). In his work entitled "Kuntres Hispaalus" (Tract on Ecstasy), the Mittler Rebbe argues that only through ridding oneself of what he considered disingeuous emotions could one attain the ultimate level in Chassidic worship (that is, bittul).

Sholom Dovber Schneersohn

Main article: Sholom Dovber Schneersohn

The Rebbe Rashab, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn (1860–1920), writes in a letter:

"Yud-Tes Kislev,...the festival on which `He redeemed our soul in peace,' and the light and vitality of our souls were given to us, is the New Year for Chassidus - which our saintly forebears, [the Rebbeim of their respective generations,] have bequeathed to us - i.e., the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov.

Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner was opposed to the term "Rosh Hashana Le-Chasidus", which Chasidim had coined for Yud Tes Kislev (the day that Reb Schneur Zalman of Liadi was released from prison). He felt that the term "Rosh Hashana" used in the Mishna and the Talmud, should be reserved for the four Rosh Hashanas mentioned there, and that Chabad has no right to invent a new one...

Rabbi Sholom Dovber said in 1907, "that this is the generation of Moshiach without a doubt ".

Joseph Issac Schneersohn

The response of the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn to the Holocaust has been condemned from a number of quarters. Bryan Mark Rigg wrote his PhD thesis on the subject an Cambridge University. He quotes Rabbi Alex Weisfogel, secretary of Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz of the Vaad Hatzalah as saying that Kalmanowitz and Aaron Kotler were appalled at Schneersohn's focus on "bringing the messiah" while the war continued. Weisfogel said of Schneersohn:

He was a moral failure at this time to condemn us and the Jewish people as a whole for the Holocaust when he in turn did hardly anything except rescue his books and few students' lives.

Rigg argues that while "he employed every means possible to escape Europe, when he arrived in the US, "he did not approach those very same people to help rescue those who had to remain in Europe. However, he did approach those people in the government to rescue his library, which he did get out in 1941. Also he started condemning people who were organizing amazing rescue efforts like rabbis Kotler and Kalmanowitz of the Vaad-Hatzala." He forbade his followers from leaving Russia in the 1920s and 30s, declaring that those who did were "deserters". Chabad scholar Avrum Erlich writes:

In Yosef Yitzhak’s case, the consequences of staying in the Soviet Union were disastrous for the obedient Hasidim; moreover, as there was little for those who stayed to do, their sacrifice was largely in vain. While he prevented his followers from leaving Russia, Yosef Yitzhak himself eventually migrated to the United States, long after it became impossible for many of his followers to escape Communist persecution.

However after the war ended, in 1945, he set up a relief organisation to assist the survivors of the holocaust.

In 1927, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok said, "In my days moshiach will come For I am not old..."

Two years later he repeated this idea, "This is the last period before Moshiach. Moshiach is already here ... Those who have a good sense of hearing can hear him etc..."

Reb Itche Der Masmid

Shortly after the passing of the Rebbe Rashab, when the drawers of his writing table were opened, those present found the Rebbe Rashab's will. It clearly indicated that Rabbi Yosef Yitchak should be the one to lead the chassidim. Nevertheless, not all of the chassidim accepted Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak as their new leader. Famed chassidim such as Rabbi Yacov Landau, who later became the chief rabbi of Bnei Brak, Israel, did not accept Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak as their new leader. Some of the elder chassidim even tried to persuade Rabbi Yitzchak Horowitz, commonly known as Reb Itche Der Masmid, to become their Rebbe. In fact, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah gave Reb Itche Der Masmid the Rebbe Rashab's shtreimel, which in many Chassidic circles is an indication of succession.

The Malach

Main article: Malachim (Chassidus)

Another incident which occurred was with Rabbi Chaim Avraham Dov Ber Levine haCohen, also known as The Malach (lit. the angel). He was the tutor of Joseph Isaac Schneersohn when the latter was a child, but personal differences caused Rabbi Levine to break with Chabad. Torah Vodaas, in order to inspire its students, used to encourage its students to visit knowledgeable rabbis and Rabbi Levine was one of them. Eventually, some of the students styled themselves as Rabbi Levine's followers. This quasi-Hasidic group, known as The Malachim, is rather antagonistic towards Chabad and only acknowledges the legitimacy of the first four Chabad rebbes. The Malachim themselves did not choose a successor to Rabbi Levine. Today, the Malachim are a marginal group.

The dispute was apparently over the tutelage of Yosef Yitchok. According to the Malachim, Levine caught him reading a secular book and told his father about the incident. Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the fifth Rebbe of Chabad, did not believe that his son would do this and called tutor and tutee to talk with him. When Yosef Yitzchok promised that he had not read the book, the father accepted his word, and Levine resigned his post.

Menachem Mendel Schneerson

File:Rebes.jpg

Sixth Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch Joseph Isaac Schneersohn (1880-1950) left, with his son-in-law and successor Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), right, the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, in a painting.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Chabad leader, took the reins of the movement shortly after World War II and became the Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty following the death of his father-in-law in 1950. At the speech where he accepted leadership, he proclaimed the defining theme of his tenure. He stated that his purpose as the seventh Rebbe and the Chasidim as the seventh generation, was to complete the work of bringing the Shechina back into this world and bringing the Jewish Messiah. He further stated that the previous Rebbe had not finished this work, but because of the unusual character of his self-sacrifice was still present to lead the charge in bringing about the Messianic Age:

Beyond this, the Rebbe will bind and unite us with the infinite Essence of HaShem [God]... When he redeems us from the exile with an uplifted hand and the dwelling places of all Jews shall be filled with light... May we be privileged to see and meet with the Rebbe here is this world, in a physical body, in this earthy domain - and he will redeem us.

While the Lubavitcher Rebbe was immensely popular among his Chassidim, controversy was rampant during and after his reign.

A Rebbe as "the essence of God"

In 1951 Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson in his first sermon as the Rebbe he described his father-in-law the sixth rebbe, and Rebbes in general, as being "the essence and content of God, clothed in a body". This is brought down in his collected sermons Likutei Sichos He asks rhetorically: "How can one make a request of a rebbe - isn't that surely a problem of speaking to God through an intermediary?" (Which is anethmatic to Judaism.) He notes that while his answer is novel, and not found in other Hasidic sources one must answer that in truth "One cannot ask [this] question. . . since Atzmus u'mehus alein vi er hat zich areingeshtalt in a guf" or "[a Rebbe] is the essence and substance of God enclothed in a body".

In recent years some critics, notably Rabbi Dr. David Berger and Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller, expressed their concern that this is a major innovation by Schneerson that "deifies" the Rebbe, which is contrary to Orthodox Judaism. Chabad writers counter that these reactions are based on misunderstandings of Kabbalistic terminology used by Rabbi Schneerson, and that similar expressions can be found throughout non-Chabad Hasidic and Kabbalistic literature.

Defenders point to similar statements attributed to the Baal Shem Tov and the Ohr ha-Chaim. They point to a quote from Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi that "He who breathed life into man, breathed from Himself". Therefore a person's soul is "truly a part of HaShem above". They argue that in the light of these statements Schnnerson's 1951 comments are not a departure from normative Jewish thought. Critics respond that Schneerson himself noted on a number of occasions that his comments "were not found in any other sources" and stressed their revolutionary nature.

In 1961, ten years after Schneerson had first talked about Atzmus, senior chabad rabbis were using the term to describe him. In a letter dated Tamuz, 5721, Rabbi Avraham Pariz, rabbi of Kfar Chabad wrote:

Within the holy body of the Rebbe, 'Atzmus Ein Sof baruch Hu' [the esence of infinate God] resides. This tells us that whatever the Rebbe says or writes, 'Atzmus Ein Sof baruch Hu' is saying and writing, so to speak.

Views on his predecessor

Schneerson spoke very highly of the six Chabad Rebbes that preceded him, in particular the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson.

Schneerson describes certain types of souls who, “it is as before the Tzimtzum, that G-dliness is the simple reality, and they have to exert themselves, and bring proofs that there also is an existence”. He refers to these souls as souls of Atzilus, and uses Moses and the Rebbe’s of Chabad as examples of these souls.

Schneerson mentions that the Chabad Rebbe’s “trace their lineage back to the House of King David, of the tribe of Judah,” and says about his father, Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, that he actually “descends from the offspring of David.”

He refers to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak as “the Nasi (leader) of our generation”, “the only messiah of our generation”, and someone “who by his own right is infinitely greater than the people of his generation.” He says that God chose and designated Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak to be, “'your judges' and 'your instructors', and the prophet of the generation, who will give rulings and instructions relevant to the avodah of all Jews, and all people in this generation, in all issues of Torah and Mitzvos, and also about general day to day living, and also about 'all your actions'”.

Schneerson on the Holocaust

Schneerson compared the Holocaust to the amputation of a rotting limb. Schneerson argues that the Holocaust may be beneficial on a deeper level of perception, and argues that God can be compared to a surgeon who amputates a limb to save a patients life:

"... is incurably diseased ... The Holy One Blessed Be He, like the professor-surgeon...seeks the good of Israel, and indeed, all He does is done for the good.... In the spiritual sense, no harm was done, because the everlasting spirit of the Jewish people was not destroyed."

Importance of 770 Eastern Parkway

The centrality of 770 to messianist thought is explained by Chaim Dov Keller. Since one of Maimonides preconditions that a true messiah must fulfill to become "Moshiach Vadai" - "certain messiah" is to rebuild the temple, the messianist must view 770 as the temple to justify their beliefs, since otherwise he failed one of the conditions and thus cannot be the messiah.

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A float at a 2007 parade in NYC shows the facade of 770 Eastern Parkway featured as part of a model of the Third Temple.

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Rabbi M.M. Schneerson describes the importance of 770 Eastern Parkway:

"And we may explain, according the above, that as regards Bais Rabeinu shBeBavel in this generation - it means the house - the Bais Hakneses and Bais Hamedrash - of my holy father-in-law, the Nasi of our generation. In this generation, the last generation of exile and the first generation of redemption ... through the lowest place on earth we will elevate together with it all other places in the world - this will happen through the "Bais Rabeinu" ... from which light emanates to the entire world, making the entire world into Eretz Yisroel ... where all the Shuls and Yeshivos in the entire world will be connected to the Bais Hamikdosh, in the true and complete redemption through Moshaich Tzidkeinu, the Nasi Hador, who is also the Moshiach - the redeemer of Yisroel -of the generation - and also, and this is key, he is also the Nasi of Chasidus, through the dissemination of whose wellsprings accomplished the coming of King Moshiach ... and with this we can understand the magnitute of the loftiness of Bais Rabeinu - the priamry Mikdash M'at in this last exile ... which is "the place of the future bais hamikdash itself", and not only that, but there will be revealed the future Bais Hamikdash, and from there is will go to Jerusalem, as we stated. And we may add, that this idea is suggested in the name of "The House of Rabbeinu" in our generaiton: ... for the "house" of Rabbeinu - its number is 770, and this number is the established way that the house is referred to in the mouths of all of Klall Yisroel, for they refer to Bais Rabeinu as "770", which is Gematria "foratztah", as in "uforatzta yama v'kedmah etc." ... and according to all we have said about the loftiness of the House of our Teacher in Bavel, that it is the place of the Bais Hamikdash in the future, and that in it will be revealed the Bais Hamikdash and from there it will return to Jerusalem -- we understand what a great merit it would be for each and every member of Klall Yisroel to give of his energy and money - and whoever gives more, is all the more so praised - as a preparation for the coming down if the revelation of the future Bais Hamikdash immediately and right away, mamesh!"

Chabad library controversy

Main article: Barry Gurary

A family dispute arose about the library of the sixth Rebbe which also brought an internal family rivalry between Rabbi Barry Gurary (supported by his mother) and his uncle the seventh Rebbe (supported by the "Rashag", Barry's father) into the public spotlight. Barry Gurary's grandfather, the sixth Rebbe, collected a vast library of Judaica, which included several rare volumes. Barry believed, on his mother's word, that certain of the books in the library had been left to him.

This, as well as the Sixth Rebbe's known closeness to his grandson, suggested to some that Barry was a potential heir to the Sixth Rebbe, as the only male descendent. However, when the Sixth Rebbe passed on, Barry was only twenty years old, and could not be seriously considered (Both Ehrlich, pp. 339-342, based on the testimony in the books case, and Deutsch, based as well on internal documents, agree to this). (See more at the Hasidic Judaism and Baal Shem Tov articles) Afterwards, he drifted away from the movement, no longer considered heir material.

In 1984, some 34 years after his grandfather's passing, Barry Gurary entered the library and clandestinely removed numerous Jewish books, including a first edition Passover haggadah worth over $50,000, and a Siddur (Jewish prayer book) that was said to have belonged to the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism, and began selling the books. One illuminated Passover Haggadah dating back to 1757 was sold for $69,000 to a Swiss book dealer who soon found a private buyer to pay nearly $150,000 for it. His uncle, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Chabad Rebbe, was infuriated by these actions. He demanded that the volumes be returned. When Barry refused, also refusing his uncle's summons to Beth Din, Schneerson pursued the case in the civil courts. On legal advice the Lubavitchers decided to obtain a temporary restraining order in the hope that this would resolve the matter.

Rabbi Schneerson argued that the volumes were not the "personal possession" of Gurary's grandfather, but the "communal property" of the Lubavitch Hasidim. In making this argument, basing himself on a letter from his father-in-law indicating that the books were the heritage of the entire Jewish community he implied that possession of the books legitimized a succession claim; therefore Barry's alleged theft constituted a challenge to his long-undisputed leadership of the Chabad movement. The organizational body that represents Lubavitch Chassidim - Agudas Chasidei Chabad (ACC), filed suit to retrieve the books.

In 1986, the court ruled in favor of ACC, and that ruling was upheld on appeal in November 1987. The volumes were returned to the library. The Lubavitcher Rebbe then proclaimed this day as a special time of rejoicing for Lubavitch which they called Didan Notzach (which basically means "our case won," implying that it was God who helped them win).

Chana Gurary

After Schneerson had delivered a passionate talk on this subject in the Main Sanctuary at 770 Eastern Parkway on a Saturday afternoon, a Lubavitcher hasid who had been present at the talk entered her apartment on the second floor of the same address and violently assaulted her, hospitalising her. The Hasid was evacuated to Israel where he lives to this day.

The conclusion of the case and the acrimony that went along with it meant that Barry Gurary and his mother Chana Gurary became completely estranged from the Lubavitch community. In fact, when it came time for Chana Gurary to make arrangements for her final resting place, she and Barry negotiated a burial place with Rabbi Moshe Leib Rabinovich, the Munkatcher Rebbe of Borough Park, Brooklyn. Chana was laid to rest in the cemetery of the Munkaczer Kehilla in Deans, New Jersey, and not alongside her husband.

Elazar Shach's critique

Rabbi Elazar Shach long-time leader of Lithuanian Judaism was involved in a number of public disputes with Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson the Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement from the 1970s through Rav Schneerson's death in 1994. Rav Shach accused his followers of false Messianism. When certain elements in Chabad actually identified Rabbi Schneerson as the possible Messiah, Rabbi Shach advocated a complete boycott of Chabad, its institutions and projects by its constituents. He objected to the call for "forcing" the Messiah's appearance, an idea avocated by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. When once asked which religion was theologically closest to Judaism, Shach responded "Chabad". Pointing to an assertion by the Rebbe in a passage dealing primarily with his predecessor that a rebbe is ‘the Essence and Being [of G-d] placed into a body,’ Rabbi Schach spoke of nothing less than Avodah Zara [idol worship]. His followers refused to eat meat slaughtered by Lubavich shochetim or to recognize Chabad Hasidim as adherents of authentic Judaism.Rabbi Shach also compared Chabad and Rabbi Schneerson to the followers of the 17th-century false messiah Sabbatai Zevi. Chabad representatives dismissed the comparisons, noting that whereas the Sabbateans deliberately violated religious laws on the assumption that a "new Torah" would emerge during messianic times, Chabad preached that only strict adherence to tradition would bring the redemption. Chabad also claimed that its veneration of the rebbe was not at odds with Jewish tradition.

Shach once described Schneerson as "the madman who sits in New York and drives the whole world crazy."

In addition to Rabbi Shach's objections to some Chabad members venerating Rabbi Schneerson as the Messiah (both before and after his death), the two also disagreed on various issues of Jewish law and philosophy, but particularly politics. Chabad strongly opposed peace talks with the Palestinians or to relinquishing any Israeli territory under any circumstance, while Rabbi Shach alternately supported both left and right-wing parties in the Israeli elections. During the 1988 elections, Schneerson encouraged Israeli Haredim to vote for Agudat Israel over Rabbi Shach's newly-formed Degel HaTorah party. In response, Shach's newspaper, Yated Ne'eman, ran several articles documenting various Chabad writings and statements that supported Shach's contention that Lubavitch was becoming a breakaway sect of Judaism focused around Schneerson as the Messiah.

Chabad characterized Rabbi Shach's opposition to Rabbi Schneerson as being personal in nature, and stemming from private disagreements between the two leaders, but Shach's supporters defended his harsh criticism of Chabad, saying the movement represented a very real threat of turning religious Jews to apostasy. There have been similar concerns regarding Chabad Messianism that have since been raised among Haredi and Modern Orthodox communities in Israel and the United States. It has also been pointed out that Rabbi Shach was equally outspoken on many positions and issues affecting Jewish life that did not relate to Lubavitch, and that his rhetoric regarding Chabad was consistent with his personality as a leader who strongly defended Haredi Jews against any perceived threats to their beliefs or lifestyle.

In a conversation that he had with an American rabbi in the 1980's, Rabbi Shach stated, "The Americans think that I am too controversial and divisive. But in a time when no one else is willing to speak up on behalf of our true tradition, I feel myself impelled to do so."

It should be noted that in spite of his pitched battle against Lubavitch, Rabbi Shach nevertheless recited Tehillim when Rabbi Schneerson became sick. At the time he was asked for an explanation, and he obliged, “My battle is against his erroneous approach, against the movement, but not against the people in any personal way. I pray for the Rebbe’s recovery and simultaneously, also pray that he abandon his invalid way.”

Rabbi Shach often clarified his stand, both in speech and in writing, that the slander spread against him about his persecution of chassidim was something he could never forgive, for it had transformed him into a baal machlokes, a hate-monger, at a time when he loved peace and pursued it to the nth degree.

Other Haredi critiques

Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetsky expressed concern in the early 1980s that Lubavitch's nascent personality-centric thinking could morph into something more objectionable. He advised Bezalel Landau not to publish a few chapters in a book he had written on the Vilna Gaon that dealt with his opposition to Hasidism as such material could split families, pitting husband against wife. He noted that he should keep them in reserve in case "someone [yener] was to do an ugly thing [a mi'usse zakh]" a reference that Kaminetsky's son saysrefers to the Chabad movement."

Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner was opposed to the personality cult built up around the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and to the public projection of both the Rebbe and the Lubavitch movement, by the movement, through public media—print and broadcast journalism, books, film, and the like.

When the Previous Rebbe initiated the "La-Alter Le-Teshuva, Le-Alter Le-Geulah" campaign (a campaign to awaken Jews to repent that would bring the immediate redemption of the Jews from exile), Rabbi Hutner was against it. At the time, in the 1940s, the Lubavitcher Yeshiva had only an elementary school and no high school. Lubavitcher students of high school age were sent to Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, where Rabbi Hutner was the Rosh Yeshiva. Once, as Rabbi Hutner was walking down the hall, he noticed a flyer announcing the "La-Alter Le-Teshuva, Le-Alter Le-Geulah" campaign. Rabbi Hutner ripped it off the wall and called Lubavitch headquarters, warning that if he found even one more poster in his school, he would expel all the Lubavitcher boys.

Rabbi Hutner was also bothered by various new ideas instituted by Chabad. He was opposed to the term "Rosh Hashana Le-Chasidus", which Chasidim had coined for Yud Tes Kislev (the day that Reb Schneur Zalman of Liadi was released from prison). He felt that the term, used in the Mishna and the Talmud, should be reserved for the four Rosh Hashanas mentioned there, and that Chabad has no right to invent a new one....

Rabbi Aharon Feldman, dean of the Ner Israel Rabbinical College (Yeshivas Ner Yisroel) penned a public response to a question from a student asking how Orthodox Jews should relate to Chabad messianists in 2003. He made a clear distinction between what he termed the "Mishichists" and the "Elokists". He rules that it is forbidden to associate with Elokists under any circumstances due to their heresy and they cannot be counted for a minyan. He rules it is also forbidden to support the Meshichists in any way that lends credence to their messianic beliefs though they are not strictly heretics. He adds that even a messianist should not be given any public office since their judgement is compromised by their false beliefs.

Rabbi Elya Svei, one of the rosh yeshivas of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, said in his eulogy for Rabbi Elazar Shach, "Another area in which Rav Shach took the sole initiative and responsibility was in the less than popular task of protesting Messianic proclivities within Lubavitch. Rav Shach assumed the responsibility of decrying this perversion. Rav Shach started to fight this battle alone. He illuminated the truth so that others could also see the posed threat and follow his lead."

A senior American posek, Rabbi Yehuda Henkin, in a responsa to Gil Student ruled that messianists are merely foolish and need not be shunned.

Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg, a rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, told an enquiring student (even before the Rebbe's death) that he should pray alone rather than in a Chabad synagogue because 'they pray to a different deity [eloah]'.

Following Schneerson's death, the Rebbe of Satmar was said to have commented "Now we have to wait for the real Messiah.

Chabad messianism

Main article: Chabad messianism

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The Chabad messianist flag. The hebrew word is "Moshiach", meaning "Messiah".

Chabad messianism is a belief by some within the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement that believe that the late Rabbi and leader of that movement Menachem Mendel Schneerson will be the Jewish Messiah. Adherents to this belief are termed Mishichist in Yiddish.

Before Schnerrson's death in 1994 a significant body of Chabad Hasidim believed that he was soon to be crowned as the Messiah - an event that would herald the Messianic Age and the construction of the Third Temple. Books and pamphlets were written containing purported proofs for the Rabbi's status as Messiah, some of which Schneerson opposed.

Attempts by his followers to persuade him to reveal himself as the Messiah were to no avail. Followers routinely sang the mantra "Long live our master, our teacher and our rabbi, King Messiah for ever and ever" in his presence - a chant that he often encouraged in his last years.

During the later years of his life Rabbi Schneerson's teachings were interpreted by many to mean that he was claiming to be the Messiah.

His death in 1994 did not remove the messianist fervor. Believers soon developed new rationales to justify the belief the Schneerson was the Messiah despite being dead. Some argued that he had in fact not died at all and was still physically present. Others argued that though he was dead Judaism did not rule out the possibility of the Messiah returning from the dead.

The development of this messianism and its impact on Chabad in specific — and Orthodox Judaism in general — has been the subject of much discussion in the Jewish press, as well as within the pages of peer-reviewed journals. Nevertheless, the belief in the Lubavitcher Rebbe being the Messiah, is confined to a subset of the Chabad community and is not accepted by Jewish adherents outside of that community.

Yechi

Main article: Yechi

"Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu v'Rabbeinu Melech haMoshiach l'olam vo'ed!" is a phrase used by many Lubavitch Hasidim to pray and proclaim that the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the messiah. It means "Long Live our Master, our Teacher, and our Rabbi, King Messiah, for ever and ever." The phrase can be seen printed in various settings, it is chanted by many people at the end of daily communal prayers in Lubavitch congregations, including the main Lubavitch synagogue in Crown Heights. In Oholei Torah/Oholei Menachem, the largest Lubavitch yeshiva outside Israel, Yechi is recited during the service, and an administrative directive declared that any student who cannot behave respectfully during the recitation should go elsewhere. Yechi has a complex and controversial history dating back to the mid-1980s and is often viewed as a litmus test to differentiate the messiansits from the anti-messianists or non-messianists.

Breakaway movement

Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch became so incensed with the controversy that he started a split-off Hasidic group, Chabad-Liozna. Agroup of dissident Chabad followers crowned him as their Rebbe in a ceremony on December 5, 1996 at their synagogue on 45th Street in Brooklyn. He took the name of the town of Liozna in Belorussia where the early Chabad movement was founded with the intent of enticing Chabad followers away from the belief that their late leader was the Messiah. His actions have made him a hate figure within the mainstream Chabad community.

In 1998 he was the victim of a campaign of character assassination via the Internet. A forged Jewish Telegraphic Agency press release claimed that he had been arrested for embezzlement and the counterfeiting of ten-dollar bills. He installed bulletproof glass in the windows of his home and synagogue.

Weinstock estate

The "Weinstock estate" case, that dragged through the courts for ten years, divided the highest levels of Chabad administration into two irreconcilable camps.

In 1978 Judah Leo Weinstock bequeathed a $32 million estate to the United Lubavitcher Yeshivot (ULY), a body that oversaw the funding of four Chabad yeshivas, under the direction of Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary. The donation had been solicited for the ULY by Rabbi Nachman Sudak, a Chabad emmsisiary in London. However, Weinstock had asked that the money be used to establish Yeshivas in Israel, something that ULY was not capable of. Gurary ordered that the monies be distributed evenly between ULY and Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch (MLC) which maintained Yeshivas outside the US. In 1987 a board of trustees (including Yehuda Krinsky) was established that distributed the money on a discretionary basis between ULY and MLC.

In October 1994, a few months after Schneerson's death ULY fell into financial troubles. The directors of ULY requested large sums from the trustees - eating into the principle of the estate. The directors of the MLC (some of whom were also trustees of the estate) objected to the requests, and the trustees of the estate refused to grant the money.

Furious, the directors of ULY began claiming sole title to the estate, based on a strict reading of Weinstock's original bequest. The ULY took the MLC to court, having failed to agree on a mutually acceptable Beit Din. The previously open relationship between the ULY, MLC and the trustees - while Schneerson was alive - complicated the case, as did the ambiguity in the bequest.

Litigation

Surrogate Judge Michael Feinberg dealt with the case from 1995, when the dispute surfaced until 2000 when he ruled that there had been clear intent to share the money equally between the two organizations, once united but now at loggerheads.

In 1997 the dispute had deteriorated, and a rival ULY board headed by Krinsky claimed to be the rightful representatives of ULY. Feinberg ruled that until the dispute could be settled Mario Cuomo would serve as the emergency receiver, a role he held till 2000. In 2000 Feinberg ruled that since the parties refused to attend any type of Beit Din or arbitration, he had to rule against the original board and for Krinsky since the original board had failed to cooperate with the court-appointed arbitrator. The judge noted that:

There were no questions about the administration of the estate or the proper recipient of the funds with Schneerson calling the shots. With the rebbe's death in 1994, this consensus broke down."

The ruling was a major blow for the messianist faction that controlled the board, known as the Vaad, though their lawyers welcomed the decision publicly saying that they could now appeal.

In a final judgement in November 2003, New York Supreme Court ruled that the original course of dealing before 1994 showed intent on behalf of the ULY to share the money evenly with MLC, and that course should continue. Thus, after nine years of litigation, the original ULY board lost their claim for complete control of the Weinstock estate.

Local controversies

Chabad Rabbis and activists have been involved in legal disputes with each other and with Jewish and non-Jewish people; a few Chabad rabbis have also been involved in financial and sex scandals.

Europe

Czech Republic

In Prague in 2005 tensions developed between Chabad members and Rbbi Karol Sidon. The Alt-Neu Synagogue in Prague's ancient Jewish Quarter became the scene of an emotional dispute between members of the Chabad movement and locals backing Karol Sidon, chief rabbi of the Czech Republic. The conflict led to violent brawls and hospitalisations on a number of occasions. Sidon was eventually returned to his post. In 2004 Tomas Jelinek the director of the community council fired Sidon as Rabbi giving the post to young Chadad rabbi Manis Barash. A grassroots campaign from community members led to the deposition of Jelinek as the community director. Jelinek then asked a religious arbiter in Israel to rule on the case who ruled in favor of Barash. Sidon's supporters argued that the case was void since Jelinek had lied to the Judge telling him that the community board had been behind his actions in firing Sidon and appointing Barash. However on 21 November 2005 he was reelected as the chief Rabbi of the city following the protracted dispute with Chabad. Community head Jacub Roth told the press: " this is part of the local Chabad’s striving to take over the community’s religious life. We have seen an ugly foray of Chabad in their attempt to take over the Old-New Shul."

Lithuania

In May 2004, the Lithuanian Jewish community temporarily closed the Vilnius synagogue following a disorderly dispute in the synagogue between members of the Orthodox and the Chabad Lubavich Jewish groups. The community closed the synagogue again in August 2004, following another disturbance. The Government charged the leader of the Chabad Lubavich community with assault and trespassing in the second occurrence, but subsequently dropped the charges. The synagogue remained closed pending resolution of the community's internal disputes.

Sholom Ber Krinsky

Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky (nephew of Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky) the Chabad emissary to Vilnius has been embroiled in a number of scandals. His soup kitchen was closed down because it served contaminated food. A scandal erupted when charges were made that he had stolen money from donors. Creditors took over the first floor of his Chabad Center to cover unpaid debts, and he remains indebted to his creditors. He collected money to maintain the Jewish cemetery in the city but never paid the $25,000 to the community which was his share in the maintenance. The Joint Distribution Committee stopped providing him with funding in 2004 after they became aware of financial irregularities.

Krinsky styles himself as Lithuania's "Chief Rabbi", though this was not widely accepted. His attempts to become the officially recognised chief rabbi included having Yona Metzger – who has close ties to Chabad – write a letter to the Lithuanian President; he tried appealing to the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice, but this too failed. On February 29 2004, he held a meeting of 30 of his followers within the community and declared that they were the religious Jewish community of Lithuania. These people proclaimed him chief rabbi and documentation of the meeting was sent to the Ministry of Justice, but this failed to sway the government who maintained that choosing leaders was the prerogative of a religious community as a whole. In response 400 Jewish Lithuanians signed a document condemning Krinsky.

When the community appointed a Chief Rabbi, Chaim Burstein in early 2004 Krinsky and his followers began a campaign against him. In May 2004 some of Krinsky's followers attacked Burstein on the podium during prayers, and the police were called to break up what became a brawl. Burstein retreated to his home with some supporters to continue prayers but Chabad activists broke in and continued assaulting the worshippers.

The synagogue closed down and was reopened a few weeks later with security at the door to prevent the ingress of Krinsky and his friends. Krinsky attempted to enter and a brawl ensued. Krinsky told the press that the security made him "feel like I went through a Nazi selection." The synagogue was again closed for the duration of the summer, Krinsky and his Chabad followers maintained a angry vigil at the scene that was covered regularly by the local media.

In June 2007 Krinsky was facing eviction from his premises for non-payment of rent, and was given an ultimatum by the community to "publicly acknowledge the community's ownership of the synagogue and its choice of chief rabbi; cease referring to himself as "chief rabbi"; and submit to "a sound, open and transparent financial management".

Russia

A bitter rivalry has been ongoing in Russia for the past 10 years between Berel Lazar, chief rabbi for the Chabad-Lubavitch-dominated Federation of Jewish Communities, and Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the pluralist Russian Jewish Congress, over who represents the Jews of Russia on an official basis. The Kremlin officially recognized Lazar as the religious leader of the Russian Jewish community, pushing aside the congress’s Rabbi Adolf Shayevich, who until then had occupied the post. Since the installation of Rabbi Berel Lazar as the Chief Rabbi of Russia by the Chabad Federation there have been a number of controversies associated with Chabad influence with premier Vladimir Putin, and their funding from various Russian oligarchs, including Lev Leviev and Roman Abramovich. Lazar is known for his close ties to Putin's Kremlin.

Putin became close to the Chabad movement after a number of non-Chabad Jewish oligarchs and Rabbis including Vladimir Gusinsky (the founder of the non-Chabad Russian Jewish Congress), backed other candidates for president. Lev Leviev, a chabad oligarch supported Putin, and the close relationship between them led to him supporting the Chabad federation nomination of Lazar as Chief Rabbi of Russia, an appointment that Putin immediately recognised despite it not having been made by the established Jewish organisation. Some have gone so far as to describe Lazar as Putin's Court Jew; Lazar responded to these allegations:

I do not know what a court Jew is. There are some people whose only purpose is to speak in condemnation of the government. I try to be objective. The situation in Russia has improved under Putin. People get pensions. The standard of living is rising. There are also negative phenomena, which deserve to be criticized. There is corruption at all levels, though that has been characteristic of Russia in the past 80 years. The reform is in bad shape and there are also many other ills.

Rabbi Adolf Shayevich, who had been Chief Rabbi of Russia until 1998, argues that the Lazar is merely the appointee of Chabad and that he remains Chief Rabbi. What happened, he explains, "has nothing to with religion and everything to do with politics and business. The president invites him to receptions and does not invite me. I am not offended."

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt who attempted to set up a rival rabbinical college to elect a non-Chabad chief rabbi was expelled from Russia by order of the government three days after he convened the meeting, after having lived in Russia for fifteen years. According to rival oligarch Vladimir Slutsker Goldschmidt told friends that it was Slutsker that had him expelled due to his opposition to Chabad. Lazer made no protest at the expulsion of his rival, and within days was appointed to Putin's "Public Chamber", a controversial body that human rights groups have criticised as a window dressing exercise, packed with Putin acolytes to "legitimize the government’s increasingly authoritarian policies".

According to an editorial in the Jerusalem Post the reason why Lazar has not protested Putin's arrests of Jewish Oligarchs and Goldschmidt's deportation is that "Russia's own chief rabbi, Chabad emissary Berel Lazar, is essentially a Kremlin appointee who has been made to neutralize the more outspoken and politically active leaders of rival Jewish organizations."

In 2003 while many around the world criticised the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky Lazar praised the action saying that "The future of the country shouldn’t be in the hands of one man who has money," Rival RJC chair head Yevgeny Satanovsky said that Lazar’s endorsement of the actions was intended to develop a role as the special Jew for Putin in order to strengthen the position of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, which he said was built around the worship of Schneerson. Lazar responded that "it’s no secret that I have a very good relationship with the president."

Darkei Shalom synagogue

The Darkei Shalom synagogue is a major synagogue in northern Moscow. It was affiliated with Chamah, a religious and social welfare movement on behalf of former Soviet Jews with offices in New York and Israel, as well as Moscow. The spiritual leader of Darkei Shalom, Rabbi David Karpov, is a devotee of the late Lubavitcher rebbe, yet over the years he has distanced himself from FEOR, the Chabad rabbinical grouping in Russia that appointed and is headed by Lazar. Kaprov was telephoned by Lazar telling him that the synagogue was being gifted to the Chabad movement by its owners and that he would have to leave the synagogue, and resign his post to make way for the a new Chabad emissary. Lazar suggested that if he fell into line with FEOR he may be allowed to stay. At the same time Kaprov received court orders over various technical and administrative issues, which Kaprov argued were due to Lazar pressuring Kaprov. In an open letter to Lazar, Rabbi Adolph Shayevich and 16 other rabbis wrote:

We would like to express our deep disappointment and discontent with the recent attempt of FEOR to forcefully capture the Darkei Shalom Congregation, one of the most successful and respected Jewish congregations of Russia. This kind of attitude demonstrated by Rabbi Berel Lazar contradicts the spirit of Torah and is apparently based on typical methods deployed by Russian criminals.

Shayevich added in a statement to the press that "they already have too much money and power, and are using it to destroy all Jewish organizations which resist Chabad’s total domination of Russian Jewish life."

Putin medal

At the sixtieth anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz at the concentration camp, Putin gave a controversial speech in which he failed to mention the death of Jews at the camp. His speech was followed by the presentation by Lazar of a medal honoring Putin, something that was not on the schedule for the event. Lazar lated defended his action saying that he "had no second thoughts".

Ukraine

Chabad maintain a Chief Rabbi in the Ukraine in opposition to non-Chabad Chief Rabbi Yaakov Bleich. A group of prominent secular Jews orchestrated the appointment of Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman - a Chabad messianist to rival Bleich and another Chabad rabbi, Azriel Haikin who had been appointed by Chabad in 2002. His election as Chief Rabbi by a group formed by some wealthy Jewish businessmen in October 2005, caused considerable controversy in the Ukraine Jewish community. Azman's election was endorsed by a group of secular Jewish leaders attending a Kiev Jewish conference, but not by any rabbinical authorities. A group of rabbis from the non-Chabad Russian Jewish Congress attacked the appointment describing it as "illegitimate" and "insulting to the feelings of every believer". 150 secular Jewish leaders from 100 Ukrainian cities and towns later protested the vote as well.

According to the Baltimore Jewish Times, More than 30 Chabad rabbis affiliated with the federation issued a statement Sept. 15 saying that the election of another Chabad rabbi, Moshe Reuven Azman of Kiev, to serve as Ukraine's chief rabbi was "illegitimate" and "insulting to the feelings of every believer. A chief Rabbi can be elected only by rabbis working in Jewish communities of that country," and argued that the election was invalid.

United Kingdom

Dovid Jaffe

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Rabbi Dovid Jaffe, on the front page of the News of the World.

Rabbi Dovid Jaffe (born 1965), executive director of Lubavitch in South Manchester and scion of a prominent Chabad rabbinic family, was featured in a BBC Four documentary about Jewish customs. He explained that for religious reasons he was unable even to shake hands with a woman, as an illustration of how hard it was for a religious Jew to live in England. According to the tabloid News of the world a prostitute of his regular employ at the "Angels" brothel in Manchester, driven by the hypocrisy of his remarks, tipped them off and provided lurid details of their relationship. She told the paper:

How hypocritical can you be? On one hand, he won't shake hands with women and, on the other hand, he comes around all the time and has very bizarre requests. Only a day before preaching on television, he came here and had a good time.

On his next visit photographers were waiting to capture him entering and exiting the brothel, and the story appeared as a front page splash on June 26, 2006, under the headline "Rampant Rabbi: Preacher has it oy vey with hookers". According to the prostitute he would regularly pay £40-50 for a sex session, and had a proclivity for garters. He remains head of the Chabad-Lubavitch in South Manchester, and is a Chabad chaplain for Jewish university students in Manchester. Jaffe had previously escaped prosecution in March 2006 for allowing his cars to be driven illegally by uninsured drivers.

Following the story some Chabad followers defended him. Chabad adherent and acquaintance of Jaffe Itzhak Schier defended Jaffe, arguing that he had been framed. According to Schier, he had been in the area to help drug addicts; the picture was out of date, and the paper had erred in saying that he had four children when he had ten. he also attacked the Israeli tabloid newspaper Yediot Aharonot for reprinting the story.

In September 2006 an independent tribunal consisting of two senior religious judges was convened by his employers, Lubavitch UK. He was asked to step aside while the investigation was ongoing but he refused to do so. The result of the tribunal were not released, however as of December 2007, Jaffe is still the director of Chabad-Lubavitch in south Manchester.

Rabbinical Center of Europe

Chabad established a rival rabbinical grouping (called the "Center of European Rabbis") to the Conference of European Rabbis, the primary Orthodox Jewish rabbinical conference in Europe since the Second World War. The body is headed by Moshe Garelick a Chabad Rabbi from Milan. The executive director of the "Conference", Aba Dunner complained that the "center" was misrepresenting itself, deliberately confusing people and duplicating their work. Attacked their action as counter-productive he said:

What are non-Jewish government officials to think when one group has been dealing with them on the issue for years and then suddenly another group wants to negotiate with them on the same agenda? We believe in the old shtadlonus [intercession, lobbying] methods rather than in conferences with low-level diplomats which may provide headlines but accomplish nothing.

While the organisation was set up as a Chabad group, they removed all references to Chabad after a few months, the Chabad Headquarters in New York still listed it as a Chabad organisation. The use of the same initials as the more established non-Chabad organisation drew ire from many European Rabbis. The sister organisation of the "Center", the "European Jewish Community Center" used the initials EJC again similar to the initials of the European Jewish Congress - a major organisation with representatives in over 40 states. Cobi Benatoff, president of the European Jewish Congress siad "We will certainly be confronting Chabad about this issue, this way of misleading people is not the Jewish way."

United States

Prospect Heights

In 2006 a bitter dispute over territorial rights erupted in Brooklyn between an established Chabad emissary and a newcomer over who had the right to represent Chabad in the neighbourhood. A new emissary, Rabbi Tali Frankel - connected to Shmuel Butman's messianist "Lubavitch Youth Organisation" came into conflict with Rabbi Ari Kirschenbaum.

Rabbi Kasriel Kastel, head of Tri-state area emissaries, filed a lawsuit against Hecht in a Beit Din alleging that he has overstepped his boundaries by bringing his nephew into an area where another Lubavitch rabbi was already holding officially sanctioned activities. Kastel says the problem is that there aren’t enough up-and-coming areas to go around. "There are maybe 100 or 200 guys who trained their whole lives, and are looking for an opportunity to go. Smaller communities which would never be considered before are getting people." He attributed the case to gentrification of neighbourhoods, which present a tempting prospect to motivated Chabad emissaries.

Woodstock

In 2005 two rival Chabad emissaries became embroiled in a public row over who was the bona fide emissary of Chabad to the wealthy community of Woodstock, New York. Rabbi Yacov Borenstein, who opened a Chabad center in Poughkeepsie 20 years ago and has since launched smaller centers in New Paltz, Goshen and Woodstock was pitted against Rabbi Yitzchok Hecht who opened a specific branch for Woodstock in 2005. Borenstein told the press:

Yitzchok [Hecht] is so upset he didn't get Woodstock, it is a wealthy place and he wanted to get real estate there. . . The Hechts are looking for power. They think they own Ulster County. They think they own Sullivan County. And, now, they think they own Dutchess County. . . They told me they would bury me alive. I said, if that's the will of God, I will accept it with love.

Borenstein, a messianist, was fired by the Chabad organisation in the 1990s, according to Hecht, and therefore had no right to establish a Chabad synagogue. Hecht responded saying "he knows he is not authorized and is not part of the system. Anyone can call themselves Lubovitcher and say he is here to do the Rebbe's work, but that doesn't make you part of the system." The dispute came to public attention after both groups attempted to establish a Menorah for Hanukkah on the village green, they subsequently agreed to take turns at lighting the menorah on an annual basis. Borenstein argued that a religious court ruling in 2004 had found that he was Chabad's sole emissary to Ulster County, Hecht argued that the ruling was invalid as the court did not have the authority to rule on cases out side of New York City.

Borenstein was involved in an almost identical dispute with the Chabad emissary to Orange County, New York, Rabbi Pesach Burston.

Postville

Postville, by Stephen G. Bloom

Rabbi Aaron Rubashkin purchased a disused meat-packing plant in the declining town of Postville, Iowa in 1987 and turned it into a state of the art facility for the rendition of Glatt kosher meat. The influx of Chabad adherents from New York to manage the facility and to ensure Kashrut led to demographic changes it the staunchly Lutheran town of 1,500 residents. Journalist and Professor Stephen Bloom spent months living amongst the townsfolk and wrote a book on the conflict between the Lubavitchers and the native residents entitled Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America, that was heavily critical of what he saw as the bigotry and insularity of the Chabad residents, as well as their business practices.

Armed robbery

On September 27, 1991 two married Chabad Rabbinical students who were working as ritual slaughterer's at the Postville Plant, Phillip Stillman from Crown Heights and Rabbi Pinchas Lew, son of senior London Chabad rabbi Shmuel Lew, committed a series of armed robberies in the Postville area, one of which led to Stillman shooting and critically injuring convenience store clerk Marion Bakken in Decorah, Iowa.

Using a borrowed Oldsmobile, with the licence plates removed, they drove to the town of Ossian, Iowa. When they arrived, Stillman pulled out a .357 Magnum on a retired schoolteacher working a popcorn stand and demanded his coins and bills. They then headed to Decorah where they raided a convenience store. As the clerk, a 50-year-old grandmother, rang a silent alarm, Stillman shot her, leaving a bullet permanently lodged next to her spine causing her ongoing pain. Stillman pleaded guilty to attempted murder and first-degree robbery. While awaiting sentencing, on March 8, 1992 Stillman escaped from Jail but was recaptured within five minutes. Stillman was sentenced to 55 years in jail for three offences, to be served consecutively.

Lew, who's $200,000 bond had been paid by a "hasidic organisation in Brooklyn", made an Alford plea to conspiracy to commit a forcible felony as part of a plea bargain, ans was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 5 years on probation for driving the getaway car. After complaining that the food was not kosher, he was released on probation after three months on condition that he attended a religious rehabilitation program. His victim then lodged a civil suit. On March 18, 1994, a jury returned a verdict that ordered Lew to pay her and her husband, $1.43 million plus 10 percent annual interest.

Pinchas Lew

Rabbi Pinchas Lew gained rabbinical ordination while on probation for the 1991 armed robbery. He subsequently moved to Chapel Hill in 1997 where on the instructions of Chabad leadership he set up a Chabad house, and was the shaliach to the University of North Carolina. After three years, news of his past came to light. Following the publication of Postville many in the community demanded he leave, particularly after it emerged that he had not paid any of the restitution money that the court awarded his victim. In a public meeting at the Duke University campus on May 16 2001 Lew refused to discuss the issue of restitution payments; this and press reports the victim had said that Lew had never apologised made some in the community uneasy. By this time Lew had five children, and used the name "Pinny Lew".

The Chabad movement appointed Lew as the emissary to Chapel Hill despite being aware of his past, according to Rabbi Yossi Groner (son of Leib Groner), the emissary in Charlotte. Groner noted that Lew was completely reformed, spiritual, remorseful and "is an excellent person."

In June 2001, Lew was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor offence of indecently exposing himself while touching his genitals to his Hispanic housekeeper on May 16, a few hours before he defended himself at the public meeting at Duke. On August 10 the case came to trial. The maid testified that:

. . .she and Lew were alone in the house on the morning of May 16. After cleaning the bathroom, she asked Lew for a new vacuum cleaner bag. When he came down the stairs, he was wearing a green bathrobe. After giving her a bag, he exposed himself to her, touched his genitals and asked, Do you like it? Lew then turned the bolt to lock the front door and exposed himself again to her in the foyer, asking, Do you like it?

Lew's attorney argued that the crime of indecent exposure does not apply on private property, and as that had been the police's initial charge the judge dismissed the case on a technicality. Following the case a Chabad Beit Din convened and ruled that Lew's position had become untenable and that he would have to retire, and he left his posting in November 2001.

Lew subsequently wrote articles for Chabad websites on modesty and family purity on behalf of Chabad of Puerto Rico.

Agriprocessors

Main article: Agriprocessors

The Agriprocessors plant run by Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin, who had taken over from his father, was subjected to charges of using inhumane methods of slaughter, of being unsanitary, of maintaining an unsafe work environment and of mistreating its employees. All of this was propelled by a secret video released by PETA, leading to further attention. PETA effectively picketed the Allamakee County Attorney to start an investigation.

Temple Grandin, recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities on the design of cattle containment and slaughter, is said to have been appalled at what she saw on the tape. Jewish commentators stated, based on what was seen on the tape, that the practices violated Jewish law, and thus the products' kosherness was suspect.. After the initial controversy, however, audits by competent private firms as well as governmental agencies passed favorably on Agriprocessors practices. In particular, Temple Grandin toured the facility on June 27, 2006, and by Agriprocessors own statement, she is stated to have approved of everything she saw.

Pollution

Starting in 2004, city authorities started an investigation against Agriprocessors due to complaints from local residents that they routinely deposited untreated effluence into local rivers in breach of regulations. On August 31, 2006. Agriprocessors CEO Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin signed a consent decree and paid a $600,000 fine for violating waste-water regulations.

Public menorahs

In 1989, the County of Allegheny with the support of Chabad defended itself in court all the way to the United States Supreme Court from the ACLU in County of Allegheny v. ACLU over the display of a public Menorah owned by Chabad.

The city of Burlington, Vermont denied the local Chabad chapter, headed by Rabbi Yitzchok Raskin permission to erect a Menorah in the city's main park during Chanukah. Raskin appealed the decision on two occasions after an initial hearing 1987 found the display to be unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The UCLA assisted the city of Burlington in a final appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1991, and the Menorah ban was upheld. A similar case occurred in Chicago in 1990, and the court found the same way, as did a court in Iowa in 1986. Another a similar case in Cincinnati had the same judgement, as did a case in Georgia.

A similar case in White Plains led to the Common Council unanimously rejecting the display of a Menorah in a public space in the town with the support of many Jews, affirming a local tradition of keeping parks free of religious and political displays.

In 1988, the American Jewish Congress produces a 28-page report, entitled "The Year of the Menorah", criticising Chabad's Menorah campaign and the litigation that went with it. It complained of the increase in the number of menorahs placed on public lands arguing that it was causing tension both within the community and with non-Jews.

IN 2002 U.S. Supreme Court last ruled that Chabad of Southern Ohio were entitled to light an 18-foot menorah in the city's Fountain Square. Justice John Paul Stevens ruled that the city could not ban the chanukiah and other religious displays from the square.

Mordecai Yomtov

On December 3, 2001, Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov, a Chabad-trained rabbi at "Cheder Menachem Elementary school" was arrested and held on $500,000 bail after three boys, ages 8 to 10, reported that Yomtov was keeping them alone in the classroom and molesting them while the other children were at recess. Rabbi Chaim Cunin of Chabad told the press the students were being given counseling. In a plea bargain with prosecutors, he was allowed to plead guilty to two acts of continuous sexual abuse of minors and one count of lewd conduct, and was sentenced to a year in prison and banned from associating with children.

Hollywood

A controversy about the right of Chabad to conduct religious services in two adjoining homes in Hollywood, California was termed "the most divisive issue in Hollywood history" by state officials. Chabad activists appealed to the Jews on the zoning commission to vote "with their hearts" and outvote the non-Jewish members of the commision to allow Chabad to continue to use the homes as a synagogue.

SeaTac Airport

In December 2006 a controversy emerged after Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky complained that the SeaTac Airport was displaying a Christmas Tree but not a Menorah. In response to this complaint the airport management removed the tree, and Bogomilsky was widely criticised in the press for "having the tree removed". After considerable press and TV News coverage, the tree was replaced and Bogomilsky released the following statement:

"For many people, the Christmas tree is an important symbol of the season. Our goal was to include a menorah in the airport as well so that we could bring extra light with Hanukkah's universal message of hope."

Sholom Ber Levitin

In 1989, the chief Chabad emissary to Seattle Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin was convicted of being part of an international money laundering ring that headed by Israeli Adi Tal. Levitin defended his actions, saying that the proceeds were going to Israel: "I was motivated by my desire to help my brethren in need, with funds being transferred to Israel" Levitin, one of 11 charged, was sentenced to a $10,000 fine and a 30-day imprisonment.

Satmar-Chabad disturbances

On a number of occasions through the 1980s, Chabad and Satmar Hasidim became involved in violent brawls over various issues. In 1983 tensions were elevated and rioting ensued. Chabad spokesman Yehuda Krinsky blamed that Satmars saying that the attacks were "definitely Satmar. Lubavitch is a victim of brutal attacks by Satmar. Their record of terrorism goes on." In a letter to Time magazine he repeated his allegations, arguing that it was false to claim that both groups were guilty.

Israel

Involvement in politics

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Chabad messianists protesting territorial compromise in 2005.

As a non-political organisation Chabad are officially banned from involvement in political campaigns in Israel under Israeli election laws. However on a number of occasions Chabad has run campaigns that endorsed a candidate in an election, in 1988 and in 1996.

In 1988 Schneerson ordered his followers to vote for Agudas Yisroel to thwart his rival, Elazar Shach's party Degel haTorah's ambitions.

The Chabad movement, taking the lead of Schneerson, began organising right-wing political campaigns starting in the 1980s. Famously they endorsed Binyamin Netanyahu in the 1996 election with a poster campaign with the slogan "Netanyahu is good for the Jews."A The involvement of religious groups in endorsing candidates has been controversial in Israel, with left-wing politicians such as Shulamit Aloni bitterly criticising what she termed electoral interference. Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpo, an ardent messianist is the most publicly political Chabad Rabbi organising a number of controversial political campaigns and calling for people not to celebrate Israeli Independence Day in response to Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan; he told a conference in Jerusalem that "the remedy for the disengagement is to understand that the State of Israel is a terrible thing. We should not bless or praise the state that was founded by criminals and heretics like Herzl."

In 1996 Meretz leaders asked the Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair to investigate the links between Chabad and the Likud party to see whether there had been any improper funding. In the 2006 election, Chabad declined to back any political platform. They also protested the fact that much of the funding for Chabad's pro-Netanyahu campaign had come from a foreign resident, Australian mining magnate Rabbi Joseph Gutnick

Shabtai Bloch

In 1998 a Chabad activist, Shabtai Bloch (born 1950) was arrested by Israeli police on suspicion of planning at attack on then Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. According to Israeli army radio he had been a "central figure in the rigorously Orthodox Chabad movement". Bloch had planned to attack Netanyahu in the city of Safed, while the Prime Minister was visiting soldiers wounded in Lebanon. Bloch had been the leader of Chabad activists in Safed, and had planned to protest an Israeli troop withdrawal from parts of the West Bank that Netanyahu had authorised. Bloch had been active in Netanyahu's 1996 election campaign on behalf of Chabad and felt betrayed by the Prime Minister, according to the New York Times. According to the Jerusalem Post Bloch was one of the leaders of the Chabad movement in Israel". He was relased after 10 days under house arrest.

Kfar Chabad attack

While attending the wedding of an associte at the Chabad community of Kfar Chabad in 2005, Binyamin Netanyahu was attacked by a crowd, who threw objects at him and slahed the tires of his armoured car while shouting "Murderer, your day will come", according to Yedioth Ahronoth. A plate was thrown at Mr. Netanyahu, then the Finance Minister. Shimon Peres responded to the incident saying "The attempt to attack Netanyahu was done only because of his views. It is incumbent upon us to condemn this trend."

Gaza withdrawal

During the Gaza withdrawal in 2005, Saadia Hirschkop an 18 year old Chabad adherent from Crown Heights, then studying at the Chabad yeshiva in Kfar Chabad was found in possession of weapons and put under administrative detention by Israeli authorities along with two other far-right activists. They were accused of planning terror attacks against Arabs in an effort to derail the withdrawal plan. Hirschkop agreed to be deported to the United States.

Elkana

A dispute of the construction of a Mikvah in the West Bank settlement of Elkana led to a case being heard before the Israeli supreme court to determine whether or not Chabad were part of Orthodox Judaism. Chabad residents demanded the local religious council build a double- Mikvah, per their requirements, but the religious council refused. All attempts to reach a compromise failed. The attorney for the local religious council made a statement on their behalf: "The local hassidim from Chabad are from a messianic cult and want to force the community to build the mikveh according to their specifications." The rabbi of Elkana who had made the decision defended his position: "I have ruled according to our custom on the mikveh issue. We are not a Chabad community and my ruling followed the rulings of outstanding rabbis throughout the generations."

Chabad Youth Organisation

The death of the director of the Chabad Youth Organisation in Israel, the de facto hub of the vast majority of Chabad's activities in Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Madaintchek led to a power struggle between messianist and moderates over the control of the group. The messianists were led by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Wilshansky, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Chabad Yeshiva in Safed, while the moderates were led by Rabbi Yosef Aharonov. Wilshansky took Aharonov to court to prevent him making material changes CYO's foundation documents, signatory rights, directors, and membership, or making any other fundamental changes. The petitioners claim that this is an attempt to illegally take over the group and Chabad in Israel in general.

Yosef George Segal

Yosef George Segal was a Chabad employee who was accused more than a year ago by Young Chabad officials of embezzling $4.5 million from the organization.

November 2007 Arrests

Yosef Aharonov and three others are accused of embezzlement, tax evasion and money laundering. The arrests and a Nov. 13 raid on the community of Kfar Chabad follow an eight-month investigation by the Israel Tax Authority and the Central District Fraud Squad.

Arkady Gaydamak, an Israeli-Russian billionaire and a potential Jerusalem mayoral candidate, is accused of donating $256,000 to the money-laundering facilities allegedly run out of Kfar Chabad, according to Israel's Channel 10. He and other prominent businessmen are currently under investigation.

Meir Baranes

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A poster composed by Meir Baranes. The headline in Hebrew reads: "The Messiah, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, is the "King of Kings" and is even greater than God."

Chabad came under scrutiny in Israel after a former Israeli paratrooper by the name of Meir Baranes, who espoused an extreme formulation of Chabad messianism describing Schnnerson as God, was filmed putting a Kabbalistic death curse - a Pulsa de Nura - on Pope John Paul, on the eve of his visit to the Holy Land. He was arrested on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization, harming religious sensibilities, and threatening to harm a world leader. The ceremony was filmed by Israel's Channel 2 News and there were suggestions that the event was staged for their benefit. Baranes declared that Schneerson had ruled any meeting with the Pope to be forbidden. Due to his actions Chabad disassociated themselves from Baranes. Chabad spokesman Menachem Brod declared that Baranes was not a part of Chabad and expressed anger with Channel 2 for broadcasting the ceremony. In April 2000 he ran-down Rabbi Levy Bistritzky, the Chief Rabbi of Safed and left him in a serious condition. He was sentenced to a year in jail for the crime. Baranes published a series of ads in the press in the late 1990s, addressing God on the issue of Schneerson's death, demanding that he be returned to life. He also organized demonstrations with similar demands. In 2005 he was arrested again, this time on suspicion of distribution fliers claiming that was going to kill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon alongside fliers that claimed that "the next Prime Minister would be the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Australia

Gutnick-Feldman feud

A protracted and complex public feud has been ongoing between two of Australia's most senior Chabad Rabbis Joseph Gutnick and his brother-in-law Pinchus Feldman. The matter has ended up in court on a number of occasions. Gutnik first brought the case to court in 2001. At issue was a loan of A$10 million that Gutnick lent Feldman after his Yeshiva in 1994, Yeshivah Centre, Sydney to prop it up after it fell into serious financial difficulties with debts of over A$20 million.

After the parties could not agree on a Beit Din in 2003, the case ended up in the New South Wales Supreme Court, with Gutnick suing Feldman for A$13.5 million. Feldman agreed that the Yeshiva did indeed owe Gutnick the money but argued that there had been an unwitnessed verbal agreement between the two that the interest (70% of the debt) would never be paid as Jewish law forbids taking interest from a charity.

But he maintained the interest was "an obligation never to be fulfilled" due to "a definite understanding" between the two men, and discussed in private conversations to which no one else had been a witness. Feldman lost the case and was deposed as president of the institutions.

The feud was reignited in March 2007 when Feldman received a bill for A$540,0000 in back-taxes. Under an agreement Feldman had agreed not to open up any competing institutions and the Yeshiva agreed to pay the back-taxes. However members of Feldman's family opened up a competing Yeshiva and so Yeshiva Centre refused to pay the taxes. In March 2007 Feldman was served with the full tax bill.

Yossi Engel

An investigation has been launched by South Australian Police into fake report cards Chabad Rabbi Yossi Engel allegedly signed and government funding allegedly paid to a non-existent Adelaide Jewish school, the "Spirit of David Adelaide Hebrew". He took his synagogue to the Supreme Court of South Australia over a contract dispute which ruled that Rabbi Engel’s contract with the AHC has ended.

Engel is also the subject of an ongoing fraud investigation into charges that he failed to conduct checks at plants that he authorized as Kosher.

An attempt to solve the problem by involving the London Beit Din failed after its leader Chanoch Ehrentreu’s demands for two first-class airfares plus a week in a top hotel, estimated to cost at least $20,000.

Chabad have since distanced themselves from Engel, removing some mentions of his name from their websites.

Canada

Montreal Mikva dispute

In 1982 a new mikva was completed in Montreal intended for use by women and for conversions from Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews. The mikva was paid for by all quarters of the Jewish community. Rabbi Itche Meir Gurary, a local Chabad rabbi became director of the mikva. The orthodox community used other, exclusively orthodox mikvas to perform conversions, but pluralist stream were only able to use the community mikva. In March 2007 Gurary announced that the mikva would no longer be open for conversions. Reform and conservative Jews complained that this was merely a pretext to keep Conservative and Reform converts out. Conservative Rabbi Lionel Moses argued:

This is a Chabad-based cabal, this is a community mikva built with community money...this co-operation still exists between modern Orthodox and non-Orthodox rabbis, and they have gone to bat for us. This is clearly a move by Chabad to interfere with community harmony.

Gurary responded that the non-Orthodox had "overstayed their welcome. If I let them in, I would have to compromise on cleanliness." Adding that non-Orthodox congregations should construct their own Mikvas.

Control of 770 Eastern Parkway

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Lubavitch world headquarters, 770 Eastern Parkway

In recent years violence and legal suits have surrounded the question of who controls the main synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway. The synagogue is currently being run by a team of Gabaim who are elected by members of the Crown Height community every three years. For many years these people have been exclusively messianst and have set the tone for of the building. Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, as the financial head of many of chabad's power-structures - has taken the Gaboim to court be regain control over the building for the anti-messianist strand. In March 2007 Krinsky lost his case, as the gaboim demonstrated to the judges satisfaction that they were indeed maintaining the synagogue. This partially overturned a 2006 ruling that Agudas Chasidei Chadad had complete control of the building. However the judge ordered that the case would have to go to a full trial to determine the true status.

2004 rioting

On December 15, 2004 a riot erupted in Crown Heights between anti-messianists and messianists that led to scores of hospitalisations and arrests after the official movement attempted to install a plaque, noting that Schneerson was dead. Around 300 Lubavichers fought each other and the NYPD for over 5 hours. One rioter, Gil Schwartz explained the reasoning of the rioters: "He's alive - they are writing that the rebbe is dead!" Another rioter, Meyer Romano, during a court appearance the next day said: "The Rebbe is Superman and [Rabbi] Yehuda Krinsky is Lex Luthor, you understand?"

2006 rioting

In November 2006 a riot occurred within 770 Eastern Parkway and spread to the streets outside. The Annual Conference of Shulchim had concluded that day, and when a group of out-ot-town emissaries attempted to gather in the main synagogue fighting broke out between them and the local messianists. Considerable damage was done to furniture within the building and there were a number of injuries. Police were called and asked to evacuate the building. Four of the rioters were arrested.

Moshe Rubashkin

The current head of the Chabad community in Crown Heights (a group colloquially known as the Gaboim, or beadles) who form the community's governing body known as the Vaad Hakohol, elected in January 2005 for a three year term is Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin, a convicted fraudster. During 2006 he was involved in a series of disputes with other members of the Vaad that led to physical fights during committee meetings on more than one occasion, arrests and court hearings for him and other members of the board.

In October 2007, he and his son were both arrested on fraud charges.

Further reading

• On the Spectrum of Messianic Belief in Contemporary Lubavitch Chassidism, David Berger
• Chabad and Messianism, Adam Dickter, Haddasah Magazine and Haddasah's apology for printing it.
• The Once and Future Messiah in Early Christianity and Chabad, Joel Marcus
• Dalfin, Chaim. Attack on Lubavitch: A Response, Jewish Enrichment Press, February 2002 (ISBN 1-880880-66-0)
• Yanover, Yori. Attack on Chabad Is Called Unredeemable The Forward