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>>>his outlandish statement that a mezuzah is a shmirah without it being a mitzvah – this is something that likely falls under the rambams classification of using a mezuzah like a kamayah, which he says makes one lose their share in olam haba.
The Rebbe’s statement about mezuzah is taken from an entire pilpul of the Rebbe on THIS VERY Rambam, where the Rebbe discusses this very question, in connection with a ב”ח and a טור, etc.
Did you look up that sicha to see how the Rebbe explains the Rambam???
Find me one other rosh yeshiva whose shiurim are refuted by people who don’t even learn them, using sources that he himself brings and explains. What a chutzpah!
See the full sicha here:
https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14942&st=&pgnum=134>>>The author also shows something else that’s probably kefirah; in likutei sichos, the Lubavitcher rebbe says that Moshe was only taught the klalim of Torah shebaal peh, and not the pratim… because of a kasha….how could he have learned it all in 40 days; I’m shocked at the arrogance of this kasha – it was Hashem teaching! And Moshe was the talmid! What limit on Hashem’s teaching ability can there be? It’s also against open chazals
This “statement of the Rebbe” which you call “kefira” (ח”ו עפ”ל) actually happens be a direct quote from Shmos Rabbah:
וְכִי כָּל הַתּוֹרָה לָמַד משֶׁה, כְּתִיב בַּתּוֹרָה “אֲרֻכָּה מֵאֶרֶץ מִדָּהּ וּרְחָבָה מִנִּי יָם”, וּלְאַרְבָּעִים יוֹם לְמָדָהּ משֶׁה?! אֶלָּא כְּלָלִים לִמְדָהוּ הקב”ה לְמשֶׁה.The same is with all the other attacks. They come from pulling one-liners out of long and complex shiurim.
If you hate someone who has thousands of pages of pilpulim and chidushim, it is very easy to find a few lines and statements that sound strange when taken out of context and feed them to the ignorant public to help stoke the flames of machlokes.
This is called לימוד התורה לקנטר ר”ל.If anyone wants to be intellectually honest, look into the Rebbe’s sichos yourself, they’re all available on HeberewBooks.
Or, ask a Lubavitcher to direct you to some. You may be surprised.>>>the only maamar i need to know is that he thought that a rebbe is the essence of god wrapped in a body. It doesn’t matter to me what other ideas or teachings he had, or how much Torah knowledge he had.
That’s like saying that all you need to know about Zohar is that it says “who is the face of the Master Havayeh? This is Rabbi Shimon bar yochai”
Or: all you need to know about the Yerushalmi is that it says “Havayeh in His holy chamber – this is R’ Elazar in the Beis Midrash”
Or about Midrash rabbah: “Moshe from his top half is Elokim and from his bottom half human”
Do you disregard all these seforim immediately (chas v’shalom) because you found a statement that you don’t understand, or do you look into the context to try and understand it better?
>>>It was expected in Chabad that you accepted whatever he said. No one asked him kashes on it
Complete ignorance.
Lubavitch yeshivos around the world printed (and continue to print) weekly or monthly kovtzim where they discuss, explain, and ASK QUESTIONS on the Rebbe’s Sichos (in addition to pilpulim in shas and poskim).
The Rebbe often discussed the questions that were asked in the kovtzim, and clarified and answered.
Instead of arguing if the Rebbe is “known” for lomdus, open his seforim and see for yourself.
Unless you’re not interested in honest discussion, feel free to put your head in the sand.
>He is also committed to correcting some of the outright lies often repeated, examples include: the Rebbe having studied at the Sorbonne
I haven’t read Deutsch’s book, but he would have to prove that Lubavitchers forged the Rebbe’s handwriting in two different places in the Sorbonne registration book in 1937 & 1938.
Highly unlikely.Google “in the halls of the Sorbonne”
Minute 4:00 of the videoAvira,
What you say is interesting.
If you look online, you will also see some lubavitchers at the parade putting tefillin on people, even though the Lubavitcher Rebbe forbade lubavitchers from being anywhere in the proximity even for the purpose of mivtzoim, lest it be seen as giving a hechsher for Zionism, chas v’shalom.
YumgermanS,
The world you describe is what we are indeed waiting for every moment of the day – Yemos Hamoshiach.
As the Rambam writes in the final halacha of Mishneh Torah:
וּבְאוֹתוֹ הַזְּמַן לֹא יִהְיֶה שָׁם לֹא רָעָב וְלֹא מִלְחָמָה. וְלֹא קִנְאָה וְתַחֲרוּת. שֶׁהַטּוֹבָה תִּהְיֶה מֻשְׁפַּעַת הַרְבֵּה. וְכָל הַמַּעֲדַנִּים מְצוּיִין כֶּעָפָר. וְלֹא יִהְיֶה עֵסֶק כָּל הָעוֹלָם אֶלָּא לָדַעַת אֶת ה’ בִּלְבַד. וּלְפִיכָךְ יִהְיוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל חֲכָמִים גְּדוֹלִים וְיוֹדְעִים דְּבָרִים הַסְּתוּמִים וְיַשִּׂיגוּ דַּעַת בּוֹרְאָם כְּפִי כֹּחַ הָאָדָם. שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיה יא, ט) “כִּי מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ דֵּעָה אֶת ה’ כַּמַּיִם לַיָּם מְכַסִּים”:Going through these posts, it’s amazing to see the coffeeroom of old. Wish I would’ve joined then.
Just imagining if this discussion would have been started in the current CR. Oy.DaMoshe, thanks for wrapping up the story. Very heartwarming!
Crown Heights rabbanim vehemently oppose the eiruv as well
Avira: “it’s not only in chabad”
Yes, I am aware this. I was specifically addressing n0mesorah’s supposed diyuk in the Rebbe’s lashon.
>”Some simply enjoy…”
Well said.>I wonder if he really believed it to be.
The arrogance of ignorance
(Please state your own opinions. No need to claim the Rebbe supports your claims. If you really care to know the Rebbe’s opinion, you’re going to have to look at a lot more than one translated letter. The Rebbe has THOUSANDS of pages on Lag Beomer. See his opinion for yourself)
n0mesorah,
Additionally, you seem to be מדייק in the word “Rejoicing of Rashbi” in the Rebbe’s letter.
This was not the Rebbe’s words (it’s a translation). The Rebbe wrote “הילולא דרשב”י” – which he always uses to describe passing. The yahrzeits of the Chabad rabbeim are often referred to as יום הילולא.This is taken from the term which the Zohar uses about the passing of Rashbi: ואתכנשו להילולא דרבי שמעון (Zohar Idrah Zutah 296b).
>n0mesora: “The Rebbe was adamant that lag baomer was not the day rashbi died.”
Sorry, במכ”ת this statement is laughable for anyone who glanced at any of the Rebbe’s hundreds of Lag Baomer sichos and letters. You completely misunderstood the Rebbe’s letter.
The Rebbe is only commenting that Rashbi couldn’t have died together with the students of Rabbi Akiva.
The Rebbe stated COUNTLESS times that Lag Baomer is the day of Rashbi’s passing.
Here is one example (among many) from a letter that the Rebbe wrote TWO YEARS after the aforementioned letter to Rabbi Zevin (Pesach Sheini 5711):
כמה טעמים נאמרו בשמחת ל”ג בעומר וחגיגתו. ואנו אין לנו אלא האמור בכתהאריז”ל ומובא בדא”ח, אשר יום זה הוא יום הסתלקותו של רבי שמעון בן יוחאי – הילולא דרבי שמעוןThe Rebbe attaches several sources (also makes mention of aforementioned Chida).
See original letter here:
https://beta.hebrewbooks.org/reader/reader.aspx?sfid=15951#p=300&fitMode=fitwidth&hlts=&ocr=Dear Bot, what are your thoughts on this:
In what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind ban, more than a dozen rabbanim and dayanim from the Skver chasidus have signed a strongly worded letter assuring the use of AI chatbots.
The letter, first released on Thursday, mentions OpenAI, the company behind artificial intelligence marvel ChatGPT, but makes it clear that it is not speaking of only that developer’s products.
“The severity of the danger is not yet clear and obvious to everyone,” the letter states, noting that it poses, in the eyes of the rabbanim, a critical danger to frum yidden.
AI chatbots provide completely unfiltered access to apikorsus, lewd and perverse content, and all the issurim of “lo sasuru acharei levavchem,’ the kol koreh says.
The use of AI chatbots is thus in the same category as the “issur hachamur” of using unfiltered internet, regardless of how the chatbot is used.
“Therefore,” the letter says, “the use of AI is stricly prohibited in every way and form, even on a phone.”
Wolf, Bath,
You are absolutely correct. Torah and mitzvos are eternal. As the Rambam writes (I just learned this in shlosha prokim):
דבר ברור ומפורש בתורה שהיא מצוה עומדת לעולם ולעולמי עולמים אין לה לא שינוי כו’
Or, as he writes in Hilchos Megilla, that all of Nach (except Megilla) will be nullified in Yemos Hamoshiach, whereas Chumash and all the halachos will exist forever
הלכות של תורה שבעל פה שאינן בטלים לעולםThe problem is that the idea of mitzvos being nullified in Yemos Hamoshiach is not the imagination of some overzealous messianists based on some vague midrashim, rather clear gemoros with halachic implications (not aggada).
See Niddah 61b: מצוות בטלות לעתיד לבוא (regarding the halacha of בגד שאבד בו כלאים). See Tosfos there, and Rambam Hilchos Kilayim 10:25.
See שדי חמד כללים מ’ ס”ק ריח for more examples.This seeming contradiction is something that Torah scholars have struggled with (though obviously in a respectful way. I am shocked by the audacity of Bath “Anyone who says otherwise, even chazal, is either wrong or a misunderstanding.” עפ”ל עפ”ל)
Among others, Rav Elchanan Wasserman discusses this at length in Kovetz Shiurim (ח”ב סי’ ט) and proposes two answers.
The Lubavitchers Rebbe as well has a brilliant pilpul on this sugya. See here: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=59257&st=&pgnum=206
Chas v’shalom to dismiss the words of chachamim. If we don’t understand, we must ask and learn.
Gadolhadofi,
It’s hard for me to tell you, because I don’t personally know any Lubavitchers who are in college (though I assume that there are some).
Again, the Rebbe was adamantly against any Jew (not just Lubavitchers) going to college (aside from very rare individual exceptions). Therefore, this is considered very taboo in Chabad.
I guess a chossid who would do this would be viewed like anyone who does something very wrong.
Google: “chabad dot org no college” for many letters (the less fiery ones) of the Rebbe (mostly to non chassidim) on the matter.
(For parnosa, there were certain conditions when the Rebbe allowed it bedieved, such as only AFTER MARRIAGE, etc.)
Gadolhadofi,
No, it’s not ironic. The Rebbe was specifically instructed by his Rebbe and father-in-law to receive that education.
Just as there were unique exceptions when the Rebbe encouraged certain chassidim to go to college.
Yserbius,
Not that I know of.
Though he did address his own attending university in connection with his strong stance against Jews attending university.
Sam,
Where do you get the audacity to compare tzaddikim (I assume that’s what you mean by Rebbe’s) to doctors and lawyers (r”l)?
The ideas that you mock are sourced throughout all areas of Torah.
P.S. For a beautiful explanation on the concept of asking tzaddikim for brochos, see the Chasam Sofer (among countless others) שו”ת או”ח סי’ קסו
Yserbius123,
Sorry I’m a bit late, but I would like to set the facts straight regarding your comments on Lubavitch chinuch:
The Lubavitcher Rebbe was vehemently opposed to studying ANY limmudei chol (English, math, science) at any point of the chinuch system.
In the chadorim, he only allowed the minimum limmudei chol if there was a risk that the students would otherwise go to less frum mosdos.
For this reason, many chabad chadorim teach basic English, while many do not teach English at all (such as Oholei Torah in Crown Heights, which the Rebbe founded).When it comes to mesivtos, virtually no chabad mesivtos teach limmudei chol (there may be one or two small ones out of more than 40-50).
I have a gabb phone and love it. It is an Android system but absolutely no Internet access and no way to download apps (can’t be hacked. I’ve tried).
However, no hotspot capabilities.
@ishjew, I had blackberry classic with parental block. Worked amazingly up until last year when the service shut down.
>UJM: Reb Eliezer: Vi shteit?
זהר ח”א קלט, א
However, this is only regarding general klal Yisroel.
It seems that great tzaddikim will rise immediately after the coming of Moshiach.
ראה יומא ה, בtakahmamash,
This is indeed a deeply profound question. Thanks for giving me some food for thought (no pun intended).
I completely agree with AAQ.
This is exactly my point. Couldn’t have said it better. Just check out the countless threads going in circles.
Gadolhadofi, what exactly will be the outcome of me stating “Yes” or “No” without explaining what I mean by that and why I say that? I don’t think it will help you understand me any better. What, then, is the point?
Another difference (from the Lubavitcher Rebbe):
חמץ and מצה both share the same letters, aside from the ה and ח
When someone is haughty (חמץ), he can’t do teshuva because he always blames any wrongdoings on others and he never feels guilty.
The ח only has an opening on the bottom – the only path such a person will go is downward ר”ל.When someone is humble (מצה), he can always do teshuva, for he is quick to recognize his wrongdoings.
This is symbolized by the ה which has an opening on top to get out of our wrongs and get closer to Hashem.This Pesach, let’s try to be matzos. Lowering our ישות will give us an opening to the greatest heights.
(לקוטי שיחות ח”א ע’ 129 ואילך)
Gadol,
I will happily follow whomever Hashem appoints to be Melech Hamoshiach, and of course, I will join the rest of Klal Yisroel in accepting him as king.
Regarding whom specifically Hashem will appoint:
I do have a belief of whom Hashem will appoint to be Moshiach according to my understanding of Torah in general, and more specifically Toras Hachassidus. This understanding was also confirmed to me by my Torah teachers and by my rebbe.
Therefore, in my mind this is as definite as the rest of the details and halachos in Torah. This does not mean I don’t respect those who disagree. I respect Shamai even though my teachers taught me that Hashem definitely wants me to increase in Chanukah candles every night.I wouldn’t mind going into the specifics of what I understand and where I learn it from if I were talking to someone in person and we were both in a true state of being able to hear and understand each other’s viewpoint.
However, it would be naïve for me to think that this could be settled on an anonymous online forum (especially when there is a several-hour wait time between each response 😀), as is evident from the COUNTLESS threads repeating the same rhetoric on these topics.
מחלוקת לשם שמים סופה להתקיים
To clarify: I understand that I didn’t answer your question. However, I am not beating around the bush. I’m explaining why my answer would be pointless as we wouldn’t understand each other anyway and would just go in circles.
>But i hope we can agree that bakashos . . . are tefilos which are only for Hashem or for tzadikim to bring to Hashem.”
I definitely agree.
>many in your community believe that the lubavitcher rebbe is capable of fulfilling an individual’s bakashos.
I don’t know any Lubavitchers who believe that. No one says that the Rebbe has his own kochos so we don’t need Hashem’s koach (chas v’shalom chas v’shalom. I have never heard such a thing in my life, aside from non Lubavitchers telling me that this is chas v’shalom the opinion of Lubavitchers היל”ת עפ”ל).
Everyone I know believes that we go to a tzaddik (in this case the Rebbe) to channel HASHEM’s brochos, because a tzaddik has a more direct line (as is explained in many places. There is also an interesting Chasam Sofer that explains the difference in this regard between a tzaddik and a malach (whom it is problematic to ask brochos from).Anyone who learns chassidus will tell you that the very meaning of beracha is hamshacha (המבריך את הגפן). We go to a tzaddik to draw down the Hashem’s brochos which already exist limaala.
When a Lubavitcher says “I did this with the Rebbe’s kochos” and people jump and him and scream “avoda zorah” – I think it comes from ignorance and suspicion of Yidden who are different.
It is the same as someone saying “I made a great deal for 10,000 dollars yesterday” – no one says that the businessman doesn’t believe in Hashem ch”v, rather they understand that he means that he made a KELI for Hashem’s brochos of $10,000.If your mindset is set that a group of people have a certain wrong belief, it can be very easy to misinterpret everything they say to fit your conception of them.
>ths ONLY thing you find chazal advocating is asking for the niftar to daven on your behalf.
Avira, when I mentioned the poskim I clearly wrote “to intercede on their behalf” – because that is what most of the poskim whom I mentioned discuss.
However, when I mentioned chazal, I intentionally wrote “various requests” because if you go through those gemaras you’ll see that they did NOT only advocate for the niftar to daven on your behalf, rather they came to ask various other things from the dead (either seeking information (such as with Abaye in Brachos), or for the niftar to move his body (such as with Moshe and Yosef in סוטה יג), or to ask questions in learning, etc.)
The Rama clearly rules (יו”ד סי’ קעט סי”ד) that one is allowed to ask the neshama of a deceased person to swear that it will come to him and answer his questions.This is what I meant by “various requests,” and I stand by what I wrote.
Beautiful Gebroks story:
Lubavitch is EXTREMELY makpid on gebroks (aside from Acharon shel Pesach). Even children must eat their matzah in plastic bags, lest a crumb fall on the table. Many Lubavitchers remove all matzah from the table before bringing out the next courses. The Rebbe Rashab wouldn’t eat with a fork on Pesach, lest a matzah crumb remain stuck and become gebroks.
Once, by a Pesach seuda of the Frierdiker Rebbe (Rayatz), an uninformed guest began dipping his matzah in borscht. The chassidim were shocked and a commotion ensued.
The Frierdiker Rebbe commented: “It is better that the matzah become red (from borscht) than a Yid’s face redden in shame!”
One of the main accomplishments of Melech Hamoshiach is “מקבץ נדחי ישראל” – to return all of the Yidden to Eretz Yisroel (after he builds the Beis Hamikdash).
There are many mitzvos that are dependent on all Yidden being in Eretz Yisroel (כל ישראל יושבים על אדמתם) and we have to wait till Moshiach comes to fulfill them.
ראה רמב”ם הלכות מלך המשיח רפי”אRashi tells us (נצבים ל, ג): Kibbutz Goliyos will be tough, but Hashem will כביכול grap each Yid by the hand and shlep them back to Eretz Yisroel.
May this happen speedily in our days!
בניסן נגאלו ובניסן עתידין ליגאל(P.S. Last Sukkos, all Yidden living in Eretz Yisroel said in musaf “מפני חטאנו גלינו מארצינו”… vidal)
Reb Eliezer, you quoted the Mishna Brurah. However, this is actually a great machlokes haposkim, with MANY poskim clearly ruling that one is allowed to ask deceased tzadikim (their neshamos) to intercede on their behalf.
For example:
חמדת ימים, פחד יצחק, פרי מגדים, מנחת יצחק, בצל החכמה, חוות יאיר, מנחת אלעזר, יראים, ועוד ועודThese poskim explain clearly why this is not דורש אל המתים.
The poskim who don’t allow it have many מאמרי חז”ל to answer, where it clearly mentions תנאים ואמוראים (and Kalev) who went to קברים and spoke to the מת with various requests.
סוטה לד, ב. פסיקתא רבתי ג. ברכות יח,ב. חגיגה כב, ב. ועוד ועוד
And of course the Zohar.Everyone should follow their minhag and their rov.
If the commenters here want to know the true opinions and answers of Lubavitch – talk to a real life Lubavitcher with brains (there are many such).
If you want to know the opinion of internet posters on Lubavitch – check out the dozens of threads on YWN about Lubavitch (אין חדש תחת השמש).
If you’re feeling pained that 3 weeks have gone by already without arguing about Lubavitch – go ahead, continue rehashing all the nonsense. אין לדבר סוף
>Ever see a lubavitcher who first finds out that many gedolim didn’t hold of the rebbe? It gives them a crisis of faith and many go off the derech because of it.
From the inside I can tell you that this statement is completely baseless and ridiculous on so many levels.
(Not saying that Lubavitchers don’t go off the derech. Unfortunately, they are afflicted with similar pandemics to the rest of Klal Yisroel. However, the reason you gave is way off the mark. Anyone who knows anything about Lubavitch from the inside can attest to this.
Unless your basis is books or articles written by those who left the fold. I hope you don’t believe everything you read about orthodoxy by those who left).
Dear n0mesora,
Why would you make up a pshat in Gemara that goes against how way all the rishonim and achronim learn it (I checked) just in order to take away the possibility for a Yid to have done Teshuva?
(Also, if what you’re saying is true, why does someone have to have הרהור עבודה זרה to be considered a רשע? Maybe even without it he considers himself a רשע, as the Gemara says in Niddah היה בעיניך כרשע?)
Please point out which Tosfos you are referring to. Couldn’t find it.
>Was Albert Einstein a Baal Teshuvah?
Hopefully before he passed away he had a hirhur Teshuva, in which case he is considered a tzaddik gomur as per Gemara Kiddushin (נעשה צדיק גמור).
Another source: יש שקונה עולמו בשעה אחתSquare,
To the best of my knowledge, those quotes generally were not speaking about Purim
It would be interesting if someone would go through the thousands of posts about Lubavitch from the CR and put together a comprehensive book on the subject. Maybe several volumes.
Maybe we can use chatGPT or some other AI software to put this together.
It would be especially appropriate if it could be printed in honor of Purim!
Impressive! This thread managed to last for SIX DAYS without mentioning the elephant in the room (aside from a lone comment by RSo). B”H, we are apparently more b’achdus then ever before.
>Heretical thinking. Hashem has no use for candidates.
Join the long list of “heretics” (r”l):
The yeshivos of Rav Shilo, Rav Yanai, Rav Nachman, etc. (Sanhedrin 98b).
The Sdei Chemed (“בדרך הזה היה משוער אצלם בכל דור מיהו”).
Rav Shachnah, the Ramah’s teacher. The Ohr Hachayim.
And many more.Not sure what the OP means by shtultz, but if it means being proud of our Yiddishkeit and observing the Torah (the translation of the Yiddish “shtultz”) – this is one of the important idea, especially in America, of Geon Yaakov.
It’s known that one of the greatest nisyonos of our post holocaust America is obeying the first seif of shulchan aruch:
אל יבוש מפני המעליגיםThis is obviously not the idea of gaava which means being proud of YOURSELF, rather being proud of the Torah that we represent.
Gadolhadorah,
You missed the fact that the Donald doesn’t check his suits for shatnez. That should disqualify him as well according to the Rambam (“עוסק המצוות כדוד אביו”).
>How do we know what Hashem’s plans are
Well, how do we know about Techiyas Hameisim all together? Because He told us in His Torah. The same Zohar that says that תחה”מ is 40 years after kibbutz goliyos told us that the Beis Hamikdash must be built beforehand.
Kibbutz goliyos is a distinctly Jewish concept, Jewish meaning Torah. Kibbutz goliyos does not mean thousands of Jewish children being brought to Eretz Yisroel to have their “simanim” chopped off, nor thousands of Russians pouring into the land without checking who is Jewish – thus mixing thousands of goyim into Klal Yisroel r”l.
The Beis Hamikdash is a physical building on har habayis where Yidden come to serve Hashem. Not a Muslim mosque l’havdil, and not a Knesset filled with Jews who are embarrassed by the Torah.
Hashem informed us all of this in His holy books. Go learn them.
The OP seems to have forgotten what the Zohar writes:
The Beis Hamikdash is built BEFORE kibbutz goliyos, and kibbutz goliyos is before Techiyas Hameisim.
I believe that we are on the threshold of Geula, but not because 40 years ago some Jews built a secular state in our holy land. This is not my Beis Hamikdash. This is not my kibbutz goliyos.
Avira,
Indeed, I completely agree with you.ujm,
Bacteria. Unless you don’t consider that a creature. Whatever. (No, I did not mean “dinosaurs” if that’s what you’re asking).AviraDeArah,
Just wondering, aren’t there plenty of creatures and other beings that we weren’t aware of for thousands of years and we’re only revealed recently?
On the contrary, Hashem chose this time to reveal their existence so we can serve Hashem on much greater level with all the new tools (think electricity, radio waves, etc.).
Chabad dot org has a nice article on this with many מראי מקומות
Google: Chabad org is there life on other planets
For another interesting article on this topic, Google:
The Rebbe and the scientist: Looking for life on MarsSquare,
Sorry, wasn’t intentional
Square,
“Any Jew can claim to be Melech HaMoshiach”
There are certain qualifications listed in the Rambam that someone must have in order to be considered Moshiach even before starting the actual Geulah. There are other signs he must show to prove that he is definitely Moshiach and the Geulah has begun. Having a son is not listed among either list.