How To Be Lubavitch

I wrote this article for a friend of mine who desired it – though it is far from a complete answer to the title – as it may help others I am publicizing it.

 

 

1. Lubavitch is of course Judaism with Chassidisim, as defined by the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

 

Some people think there are two Lubavitchess, what used to be in Russia as defined by say the Rebbe Rashab (the fifth Chabad Rebbe,) and Lubavitch today, which looks very very different.

 

Is the traditionalists view Lubavitch? Is the current view Lubavitch?

 

They both misunderstand the role of a Rebbe.

 

In fact, to be Jewish you need to be Lubavitch – not necessarily in all its details, but following the Rebbe as will be explained.

 

Central to the role of Lubavitch customs etc. is the viewpoint of a Rebbe, so it behooves us to ask the question, why do Jews need a Rebbe?

 

Why can’t we simply follow The Code of Jewish Law and know what to do?

 

There are two problems with this.

 

The first major, if not main role of Rebbe, is the ability to show a Jew how to live like Moshiach is here within Galus (Sichas Parshas Shmois 5752.)

 

In other words it is in the nature of a minority to live – lie – low.

 

A minority seeks to blend into the majority, as the prophet states regarding the Jews of his time, “Let us be like all the nations” they complained.

 

A Rebbe – a soul of God – unhindered by the concealment of this world, has no such hang-ups.

 

My brother in law, Rabbi Chaim Aharon Chazan, told me an important idea.

 

He is like a sociologist (one who understands all the Jewish groups and modern Jewish history very well) he said, “The Rebbe and indeed other Rebbes brought back a pride in being Jewish to the Jews in America.”

 

Sure, there were millions of closet Jews in America, but the ones who demonstrated – no, you don’t need to cower – in fact, be proud of your religion, your identity, your God, your history, your culture, your difference – was the Rebbe and the other Rebbes.

 

All of American Jewry, and in fact world Jewry, owes their very pride to the Rebbe and other Rebbes, who shined the torch of Jewish pride in the face of Jewish inhibitions.

 

So first and foremost a Rebbe is the role model of how to merge living Jewishly, in a modern world.

 

Without all of our Rebbes and – a Rebbe is the leader of the Jewish generation, from the word Rosh–head, Bnei-of the children, Yisroel–of the Jewish people – Judaism, would long have been relegated to assimilation.

 

The second and perhaps, for a practical purpose, even more important reason, why we need a Rebbe, is because Hashem communicates a new mission to every generation.

 

If the Jews hadn’t listened to Mosses, we will still be in the Egyptian exile as we state in the Haggadah.

 

If the Jews didn’t listen to Joshua, we would still be in the desert.

 

If the Jews hadn’t listen to David, we wouldn’t have Jerusalem as our capital; if the Jews didn’t listen to Shlomoh we wouldn’t have had the first Beis Hamikdosh; if the Jews didn’t listen to Ezra and Nechamya we wouldn’t have had the second Beis Hamikdosh; all in all, every generation is not a reincarnation of the past, but a step toward Moshaich – the future.

 

People by nature are stuck in the paradigms – especially positive paradigms – of their ancestors.

 

All in all, without a Rebbe, not only would we God-forbid assimilate, lacking the pride, strength, courage, knowledge, dignity, wisdom, foresight to lead wholly Jewish lives; but the very Judaism we would lead would also be a relic of the past, with no ability to shine the way for the future.

 

This is why the Rebbe was so misunderstood, for it is very simple to be a Rabbi, who is in a closed box – who cannot meet the challenges of his time, and how much more so, nor, foresee the mission that lies ahead.

 

Only the Rebbe of the generation, has the ability, through complete communication, understanding, wisdom, knowledge of God and his message, through the Torah and Chassidus and Kabbalah, to truly get the particular mission of his generation, and its link, bridging, the past, to the messianic future.

 

Of course, our first Rebbe was the Baal Shem Tov.

 

Had Jews not accepted the Baal Shem Tov it would be a dry, cold, dimly lit Judaism, which would have no ability to withstand modern temptations.

 

The Alter Rebbe, further clarified the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, so the modern mind could grasp – this was an unprecedented feat, which bought him challenges even from fellow Rebbes of his age.

 

All the Rebbes continued the Baal Shem Tov’s tradition, BUT RELATIVE TO THE CALIBER AND THE MISSON OF THEIR GENERATION.

 

Some people think the Rebbe modernized Chabad.

 

To say this is to miss the point that we are not the ones to tell the Rebbe how to be a Rebbe, he is the one to tell us how to be a Jew.

 

So to be Lubavitch means, as we begun, “Judaism with Chassidisim, as defined by the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”

 

2. So to be Lubavitch we must discover a. Judaism, b. the Rebbe’s definition of Chassidism.

 

There is no reason to discus Judaism in this article.

 

Judaism is quite simply elucidated in The Code of Jewish Law written (shortened) by Rabbi Shlomoh Ganzfried and if there are any alternative Lubavitch customs one need only look in the book the Rebbe edited or compiled, or helped edit or compile, called Sefer Haminhagim “The Book Of Chabad Customs” printed by Sichos In English.

 

In addition, go to their website Sichosinenglish.com and they have many other books of Chabad customs, and of course many translations of the Rebbe’s talks.

 

b. To understand Chabad as the Rebbe defines it, we must understand the following story told by the Tzemach Tzeddek, the third Chabad Rebbe, that the Baal Shem Tov took all of the wisdom available until his time and having learnt it all, expanded it to the next level, as did the Alter Rebbe, as did the Mitteleh Rebbe; he was then silent, and the great Tzaddik, Reb Hillel Paritcher in the audience at the time continued and said “as did the Tzemach Tzedek.”

 

So the Rebbe expanded the wisdom of Chabad.

 

He took all the wisdom accessible, which is obvious he knew it all from – if nothing else – the fact that he wrote indexes to it, a major accomplishment, and he took the key salient points and expanded them.

 

To understand the Rebbes expansion, one must get into the highest level possible, a theme very often within the Rebbes talks and that is the unique ability of Atzmus, the essence of God, to be two separate things at the same time.

 

Some people think the Rebbe watered down Chabad, rather the Rebbe expanded Chabad.

 

The Rebbe saw the Jew intimately connected to Atzmus, thus having Atmusess ability of opposing realities concurrently.

 

If we understand this one point, we understand everything, but perhaps a story tells it best.

 

Rabbi Even-Yisroel, the famous translator of the Talmud, who has written many books and is involved in many projects, once wrote to the Rebbe, “I am involved in five projects that take up all my time and someone is suggesting a new one; which one of the five should I drop?” The Rebbe replied, “You should take on the new one without dropping any of the old, and you should look for another new one as well.”

 

In other words, the Rebbe saw the ability of a Jew not emanating from his limited body but unlimited soul.

 

Additionally, we must understand, that the Rebbe believed – as is obviously true – that we are the generation that will unite intimately with God in the messianic process.

 

The Rebbe saw – sees – our mission as the final step on the pedal which will cross the finishing line.

 

Everything the Rebbe did was to encourage us – for the Rebbe taught, it is only the people, not the Rebbe of the generation who can, and hence will – bring Moshiach.

 

Additionally, while many people see the negative of our generation something the Rebbe did not overlook, the Rebbe also saw the positive, something that many people overlook.

 

The Rebbe believed that we have finished all of Jewish suffering and that we stand at the peak of spiritual ability.

 

Instead of seeing all the rubbish/shmutz in the world as an impediment from God, we must see the corollary, namely that God gives one the ability to overcome a challenge, and the greater the challenge, the greater are the gifts, powers, spiritual miracles – magical abilities from God – to overcome these narcissistic self-indulgences – which truly do challenge us.

 

One of the unique gifts God has given us, and the Rebbe explained, particularly to overcome this challenge – a gift never given before – is the Reebe’s incessant encouragement that every Chossid, nay every Jew, should take a Mashpia – a spiritual mentor – a Chabad spiritual leader who can convey the Rebbe’s viewpoint to his fellow Jew, or Jewess. Men should take men, women, women; the key thing is, they be role models of the spirituality they preach.

 

The Rebbe clearly states, that God himself will ensure the advice given IS GOD’S ADVICE  – that is an unbeatable deal!

 

Additionally, the last four years of the Rebbe’s teaching (available on Sichos in English under books – I believe actually called the Sichos in English, so we are talking from 1988-1992) the Rebbe said, were the highest, most relevant teachings.

 

You can go to ichossid.com, where these teachings as they relate to the festivals and other weekly themes have been culled, called Hammaseh Hu Ha-ikar, Action Is The Main Thing. Additionally there is a book on education there.

 

Last but not least, let no man fool you that the Rebbe placed him or her in charge of Chabad policy; so there is someone who was given a legal guardianship to ensure the basic rights of the Chabad headquarters, this guardianship was merely a legal entity and the Rebbe clearly did not include this individual in any of his desires for the leadership of Chabad per se.

 

Chabad is not leaderless – if anything those people who claim or delude themselves that they are the leaders are demigogs who should be avoided with a ten foot pole.

 

In fact the Rebbe clearly publicly stated (you can see the video on www.770live.com) that after he passes on, any questions on how to run Chabad anywhere in the world should be given to three Chabad rabbis who should arbitrate as is the Jewish custom.