kaiserW: “Interesting point. Would you hold the same of the thousands of yidden learning in kollel (in USA and EY)?They have strong societal pressure, and get (some sort of) paycheck from it?
How about the melamdim, ram”im, roshei yeshivos?”
100%. We are all no less human than the lubavichers I am criticizing, and we all have our social pressures and inner issues. Just because we may do the right thing and choose the right lifestyle it doesn’t mean that we are doing it for the right reason.
Now obviously it’s better to live a life according to the rules even if it’s not lesheim Shamayim than to live a life that goes against the rules. But it’s another thing again to claim that we are doing it lesheim Shamayim.
The same is true of the chabad houses. To say that they have altruistic motives is being naive, but to say that what they do is very often good is still true. Moreover, once other Yidden benefit from them – whether it’s frum Yidden getting a kosher meal, or non-frum Yidden finding out it is Chanukah – it is automatically a commendable achievement.