Menachem Shmei

Yesterday Menachem Shmei said

Qwerty, we already went through this topic at length in the past, no need to rehash it in this thread.

You claimed that I tried convincing you of something, and you haven’t been able to show me one post where I’ve done so. Don’t fall back on your classic rhetoric.

I’m still waiting for you to either find me a post where I tried convincing you, or retract what you said.

Dear Ujm, That is a great reason except for the minor details…

UJM’s reason happens to be brought down here:
https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=2604&st=&pgnum=95&hilite=

Not sure who this is or how reliable he is, but just putting a source out there.

this is well before the advent of seforim
In the source it says that they were learning בעל פה.

the Yivanim weren’t searching for them learning Torah privately; and they would have killed them simply because they weren’t hellinized

What’s your source?

Isn’t the simple pshat of להשכיחם מתורתך that the Greeks tried preventing Jews from learning Torah? As the Rambam writes, בְבַיִת שֵׁנִי כְּשֶׁמַּלְכֵי יָוָן גָּזְרוּ גְּזֵרוֹת עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבִטְּלוּ דָּתָם וְלֹא הֵנִיחוּ אוֹתָם לַעֲסֹק בְּתוֹרָה וּבְמִצְוֹת – they didn’t allow them to learn Torah.

Please fix the “” at the end of the first line of my post here:

Menorah in your face

Thanks so much!

Regarding the line, “All who expand on Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim are praiseworthy.” Rav Dovid commented, “People talk about what’s important to them.” When we look at the Lubavichers in this and other sites do they ever mention Hashem?

אִם הָיָה קָטָן אוֹ טִפֵּשׁ אוֹמֵר לוֹ בְּנִי כֻּלָּנוּ הָיִינוּ עֲבָדִים כְּמוֹ שִׁפְחָה זוֹ אוֹ כְּמוֹ עֶבֶד זֶה בְּמִצְרַיִם וּבַלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה פָּדָה אוֹתָנוּ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וַיּוֹצִיאֵנוּ לְחֵרוּת. וְאִם הָיָה הַבֵּן גָּדוֹל וְחָכָם מוֹדִיעוֹ מַה שֶּׁאֵרַע לָנוּ בְּמִצְרַיִם וְנִסִּים שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ לָנוּ עַל יְדֵי משֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ הַכֹּל לְפִי דַּעְתּוֹ שֶׁל בֵּן:

When telling the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim, the foolish child is told that only Hashem redeemed us because if you told him about Moshe he would start accusing you of Avoda Zara.

However, when talking to the wise child, only Moshe is mentioned, since the child is wise enough to understand that Moshe is just Hashem’s shliach (שלח נא ביד תשלח) to redeem the Yidden.

[Of course, this is דרך הצחות.
The Eibeshter is the center of my life and the life of anyone I know.
Thanks to chassidus, I and my fellow Lubavitchers possibly think more about Hashem every day than the average frum Jew, because in our yeshivos, in addition to learning Gemara (which is Torah, but rarely discusses the נותן התורה) we spend time learning parts of Torah that specifically teach about Hashem (chassidus).  😳-mod

Qwerty’s false accusations are just another example of his baseless hate for groups of Yidden which he disguises in his claim of helping them “realize the folly of their ways.” If he actually cared about them, he wouldn’t need to come up with false accusations.
It also displays Qwerty’s lack of knowledge of how to check and search through a poster’s previous posts… Or maybe he doesn’t know that G-d with a hyphen refers to Hashem?]

In EY where they day say that a great miracle was here it also adds up to Meshiach through the name Tzemach.

And the name Menachem – “Menachem shmei” 😌

My answer to your question is that we survived 2130 years without it is proof enough that we dont need it.

Who survived? You and your small community of Jews who are still frum?

Are you really oblivious to the fact that there are hundreds of thousands (or millions) of Jews in America who wouldn’t know about Chanuka if not for the public Chanuka campaign?

Thanks to this campaign, these Jews not only know about it, but celebrate it with lighting menorah every night!

Do you know the effect that this can have on a Jewish household!?

Do you know how many hundreds of Jews in countries all over Europe and the US that I’ve lit menorah with in their homes thanks to the Chanuka publicity?

It is completely absurd to say that since so many Jews knew nothing about Judaism for so many years and NOTHING was done about it, therefore we should continue doing nothing about it!!!

On Thursday night, I was turning out of a parking lot, and two children came running toward my car waving.

Their mother told me that when they saw the menorah on top of my car, they began begging her for a menorah of their own, which she unfortunately didn’t have.

Boruch Hashem, we had a menorah, candles and Chanuka guide (and some donuts 🙂) with us in the car, which they happily accepted and promised to light every night of Chanuka.

The effect that lighting menorah for the next eight nights will have on this “secular” Jewish family, who possibly never celebrated Chanuka (or any other yomtov) properly before, is immeasurable.

I cannot fathom why common, avira, or gedol are perturbed by this.

Is it really because this wasn’t done in Poland and Hungary?
In the heim, did they use internet forums to publicize their opinions on Yiddishkeit?

Again, I ask all those who are upset:
Do you believe that even if public menoras inspire many Jews in their Yiddishkeit, it still should not be done? If so, why?

my grandmothers public school class picture in Poland has the priest in the picture and lets go back a few centuries forced shmad

Exactly. In those years, there was government mandated Christianity and countering that carried many risks.

Nowadays, everything is decided based on popularity. This has nothing to do with religion. People decide their foods, clothing styles, political ideologies, etc. based on billboards, social media and public icons.

This is a terrible unfortunate thing, and it creates a vacuum for millions of Jews who are searching for something to connect to in all of those public icons. If we don’t give them Yiddishkeit, they will grab other things.

we are not in the business to compete with S.

You’re making as if this is a S. thing in order to make it sound more extreme, as if we’re trying to make Chanuka like another religion’s winter holiday.
It obviously has nothing to do.
Sukkah mobiles on Sukkos, Lag Baomer parades, etc.

The culture of Big Macs on billboards did not exist in the heim, and also Jews were much more in touch with their traditions. The ones who left was due to ideological disenchantment.
Now, things are very different.

Let me ask you: Do you feel that even if many Jews would get major chizuk from these icons and feel more in touch with their Yiddishkeit – we still shouldn’t do it since in the alte heim it wasn’t done?

unless Santa is a frum guy like the one in Atlanta
😆

Qwerty,
I fully understand that Lubavichers will not be swayed from their beliefs, but why don’t you guys get into discussions that are nondenominational

כל הפוסל במומו פוסל

If you go through my replies, you will find me commenting on a wide variety of topics in many different threads.
Of course, a very big and noticeable portion of my comments are regarding Lubavitch, since I’m a Lubavitcher and I love Lubavitch.

The question turns over to you, Qwerty:
EVERY SINGLE one of your posts since you joined the CR was in the three or four threads about Lubavitch. You have not posted ONE COMMENT in any other thread.

Being that you aren’t Lubavitch, what’s the reason for this?…

In summary: I’m obsessed with defending a certain Jewish group because I’m in love with it, you’re obsessed with condemning and accusing a certain Jewish group because you………

Qwerty, when you follow up your “innocent” question about the Holocaust with your classic “G-d in human” rhetoric, you make it clear that your entire goal is לקנטר, and you’re not actually interested in an answer.

I’ve learned from the months I’ve spent on this site, Lubavichers rarely answer any question

This is a good reason for me to not answer your question. After hundreds of posts that I’ve written to answer the silly arguments here, you still have the audacity to write this. What a disgrace.

Anyone can go back to previous threads and see how your questions were answered time and time again.

This reminds me of what the Rebbe once told Rabbi Tzvi Kahana by dollars (10 Sivan 5750):
ע”פ דין איז “מילתא דעבידא לאיגלויי – לא משקרי אינשי”. איז ידוע אין דערויף די שאלה וואס מ’האט געפרעגט בא א גדול אין דורות שלפני זה: היתכן, מ’זעט דאך אז “משקרי אינשי מילתא דעבידא לאיגלויי”? האט ער אויף דערויף געענטפערט: דער תירוץ אויף דערויף איז א פשוט’ער, ס’שטייט “לא משקרי אינשי” – זיי זיינען ניט בגדר פון “אינשי”! עכ”ל, והמבין יבין

the expression pops up in indices and descriptions provided by editors, who assimilated in part into general community and lost sensitivity.

My point is that using the term “kiruv rechokim” is not any assimilation. It depends on context.
The publishers of the Rebbe’s seforim in Kehos can hardly be classified as assimilators.
I showed how even the Rebbe used it in a certain context.
Nuance is very important here. No one said the term is ossur, it is just disliked in certain contexts.

I remember a SCOTUS decision during his brief Presidency that stopped me from being forced to say Christian prayers in a public elementary school.

“Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country”

What exactly makes this Christian? The fact that it’s in English?

Sounds like a translation of Modeh Ani to me.
“I acknowledge before You, living and eternal King that You have returned my soul to me with mercy, great is Your faithfulness.”

CTL, were there other prayers that they forced you to say in your school?

But what does that have to do with Zionism?

especially if they were arrested only for opposing the regime (as opposed to terrorism)

Many of those being released have attempted to kill Jews; they should have received the death sentence long ago.

JERUSALEM RESIDENTS BEWARE! Terrorists Who Attempted Murder May Be Released To Their Homes

By halacha, killing non-combatants is only allowed if Ha-Shem, or at least a Navi, or at least a Kohen Gadol with Urim ve-Tumim says its okay.

Source in Shulchan Aruch?

Menachem,
are you also as strict regarding movement members who sign another “infamous nigunim” of maschihistim or you are more understanding about that?

I was wondering how long it would take for a thread on Chabad’s attitude to Zionism to become a thread about the Rebbe being Moshiach… Only 15 posts in!… 😏

Lostspark:

Great question!

My response as a Lubavitcher:

Since the “founding” of the “state” in 1948, Lubavitch has become less VOCAL about their opposition to Zionism, the reasons for which are discussed in the sefer mentioned by sechel, and other places.
(This change was already brought about by the Rebbe Rayatz. As a matter of fact, the Rebbe was much more vocal about anti-zionism than his father-in-law was in his later years).

Due to this, unfortunately, there are Lubavitchers nowadays who are ignorant of our shita on zionism and may confuse strongly supporting Eretz Yisroel with promoting zionist symbols r”l.

The Rebbe was adamantly opposed to the hanging of the flag, singing hatikva, celebrating yom haatzmaut, and even referring to Eretz Yisroel as “state of Israel.”

The Rebbe stripped his נשיאות from Tomchei Tmimim (the central Chabad yeshiva) in 5715 when they allowed a balebos to sing “הניגון הידוע” (the Rebbe wouldn’t even refer to it by name) at a dinner.
On a separate occasion, the Rebbe wrote that singing this can interrupt Hashem’s brochos to the institution.

The Rebbe railed against the concept of אתחלתא דגאולה in no uncertain terms, even saying that this idea has brought much darkness and hardships to klal Yisroel (I won’t get into specifics due to the public nature of this site).

At the Lag B’omer parades, children would march with American flag and Tzivos Hashem flag, but the zionist flag was not allowed.

B”H, most Lubavitchers and shluchim know this info, and keep a proper balance between supporting the Yidden in Eretz Yisroel while rejecting the zionist ideology and symbols.

Unfortunately, there are indeed some who are either uneducated on the subject, or were unable to withstand the נסיון of appealing to the wider Jewish public and have allowed such symbols and ideologies to infiltrate their Chabad Houses, etc.

These are B”H not many (though they may be vocal), and I and others have done our best to reach out to these people and influence them to correct their ways.

It’s also important to note that some may call themselves Lubavitchers while being totally rejected by Lubavitch. Figures such as Shmuley Boteach who has been banned by Chabad rabbis and doesn’t represent us whatsoever.

In conclusion: No, Chabad is not zionist. Our IDEOLOGY has not changed one iota from the times of the Rebbe Rashab (as opposed to the manner of vocalizing our ideology).

P.S. Joining IDF is a completely separate issue that has nothing to do with zionism. However, I would still venture to say that it’s still the same type of bochurim that you described (though I wouldn’t describe them that way) who join, because for the most part, the way for yeshiva bochurim to protect Eretz Yisroel is solely through limmud hatorah.

Re magen davids: While there are issues with the symbol, it’s in no way comparable to the zionist flag.

Resigning in a time of war would be a cowardly and dangerous move.

Let’s wait till the dust settles to start pointing fingers.

I must say that I like 741’s point

mdd,

you do not realize the unbelievable chashivus ascribed by Chabad to the statements of Arizal.

You’re not the first one who asked this strong question.

In the letter of the Rebbe that I quoted above, he writes: צריך עיון גדול

Indeed, this is a great question.

In a later letter (אגרות קודש טז שבט תשכ”ב – אגרת ח’שלב), the Rebbe points out a possible way to solve the argument: The difference between the Rambam and Ramban (that the Arizal meant) is that the Ramban studied Kabbalah during the main part of his life, because this was connected to his שרש הנשמה.
Whereas, the Rambam only studied at the end of his life, as it’s possible that it was בבחינת עיבור (neshoma stuff – I don’t understand exactly).

it is accepted by Klal Yisroel – from the Litvishe to Sefardi Mekubalim that Rambam did not learn Kabbolah

Were the Shomer Emunim and Avodas Hakodesh not great mekubalim?

Is the Migdal Oz not an accepted peirush on the Rambam?

And the Abarbanel?

Does Chabad of Lakewood do kiruv?

I know of a Chabad in Lakewood that does kiruv for OTD youth.
Shabbos seudos, shiurim, and often giving them a place to sleep (many are kicked out of home).

Unfortunately, many were very smart bochurim who dropped out yeshivos for various reasons.

SACT5,

while thank G-d I never became an alcoholic, I developed a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol to deal with anxiety and depression.

I’m curious to understand what you mean in differentiating between alcoholism and unhealthy relationship?