Part XII: Existential Danger of False Messianism
The Authentic Chabad Position on Zionism
Notwithstanding contemporary Chabad's organizational capitulation to Zionism [1], the true position of Chabad Lubavitch as a movement can only be defined by its Rebbes.
Let's examine their attitude toward Zionism.
Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the fifth Rebbe, opposed the nascent Zionist movement on the basis of the spiritual dangers that statism poses. He saw belief in state as a replacement of belief in G-d, an assault on Judaism, Jewish identity, Torah values and observance [2]. Even worse, he saw "Jewish" nationalism as a subversion of Jewish peoplehood.
His son and successor, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, likewise opposed Zionism for the same reasons. He lamented that the creation of a "Jewish" state would tragically delay the true redemption by many years [3]. He was particularly aggrieved that orthodox institutions such as Agudath Israel collaborated with Zionists, a grave betrayal of Jews everywhere.
Both Rebbes expressed their dire concerns in print and vocally rejected Zionism.
However, things changed somewhat in the late 1940s. After the devastation of WWII, there was a dire need for hundreds of thousands of Jews who had survived and had been displaced by the shoah to emigrate.
These Jews needed a place to go and rightfully sought to join their brethren in the Land of their ancestors. The British were blocking Jewish immigration to the Land. In 1947, the Rebbe Rayatz acknowledged the actions of certain Zionist factions in driving out the British and allowing Jewish immigration [4]. He never formally acknowledged the state, but allegedly viewed the UN declaration allowing for one as a positive development [5]. It was as though he appreciated the state's efforts that benefited or protected Jews but didn't recognize its statehood.
The contemporary Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, who assumed leadership after his father-in-law's passing in 1950, was likewise bitterly opposed to all forms of Zionism (i.e. political, religious, ideological, etc.) and never once acknowledged the state. Instead, he referred to the place as the “Land of Israel” and “our holy Land” [6].
However, he acknowledged the Zionist government's role as the de facto administrators of the Land, and encouraged its military leaders to do their job in defending Jews from predators. He also cited Torah Law and urged its political leaders not to cede territory to non-Jews [7], let alone hostile neighbors. Furthermore, he encouraged his adherents in Israel to vote for candidates who wouldn't compromise Israel's security for diplomacy.
Nonetheless, not once did he ever verbally acknowledge the state's existence let alone its legitimacy.
In an odd dichotomy, he appreciated the members of Israel's armed forces without recognizing the regime who commanded them. He allowed Chabad institutions to receive state funding without formally recognizing the state that had collected the taxes and disbursed the funds.
When Ben Gurion wished to meet with the Rebbe in the state's early days, the Rebbe refused. On the other hand, when the state later attempted to redefine Jewishness based on non-halachic criteria, the Rebbe corresponded with Ben Gurion in an effort to correct this assault on Torah law and Jewish peoplehood.
The Rebbe saw not only spiritual risk from Zionism but existential physical danger as well. He saw the Zionist enterprise as a false messianic movement [8], the likes of which historically resulted in unfathomable loss of life for our people, Heaven forfend.
In fact, he once expressed in exasperation that the only possible explanation as to why we are still in exile is because some stubborn rabbis still insist on referring to the world's present state -- which in reality is a doubled and multiplied darkness (חושך כפול ומכופל), the darkest exile we've ever experienced as a people -- as the "beginning of the sprouting of our redemption."
Herein lies the Rebbe’s biggest objection to Zionism. It's not just the sinister substitution of our timeless claim to our Holy Land with a cheap flag and soccer team, a man-made state that only exists because of the “kindness of nations” in 1947 [9]. It's not only its insidious assault on Jewish peoplehood and Torah values.
To the Rebbe, the most unforgivable aspect of Zionist creed is its cynical subversion of our destiny, the exploitation of our millennia-long yearning for redemption. Zionism seeks to substitute and replace our long-awaited geulah, the true and complete redemption, with an empty and meaningless state that perpetuates and exacerbates the darkness of exile in the most egregious of ways.
It is this lethal false messianism that has struck at the heart of our purpose in this world and threatens our very existence .
When referring to Israeli presidents, the Rebbe refused to address them with the title “president.” He decried the outrage of Israel’s chief rabbis whose rabbinic decisions are biased by deference to a government that “believes not in the Torah of Moshe but in the ‘Torah of Marx’” [10].
The Rebbe once bemoaned the fact that the state’s architects were “disciples of Hitler” in their zeal to bring a spiritual destruction upon our people and eliminate the Jewish faith [11].
Nevertheless, the Rebbe never suspected the state of deliberately democidal designs, or at least he never articulated such suspicions, that is, not until the winter of 1992 [see below].
He viewed the government as traitorous in their suicidally pacifist attitude to hostile Arabs and the UN and their readiness to expose their people to mortal risk, whether by recklessly jeopardizing young military men or by ceding territory that was vitally necessary to secure Israel’s borders. He urged prime ministers to stand strong and resist the pressure to submit to perilous, foolhardy, and irresponsible concessions.
Obviously, we now understand that those prime ministers had no independent authority to make their own decisions, but were puppets of their Amalekite overlords. However, the evils of statism wasn't revealed at that time. The Rebbe was doing what a Torah-observant Jew was required to do given the ostensible circumstances [12].
It seems that the Rebbe finally began to perceive the shocking reality in the winter of 1992 when supposedly-conservative Prime Minister Itshak Shamir began to capitulate to the “land for peace” agenda. Moreover, not coincidentally, it was at that time that Shamir was preparing to sign on to the UN's depopulation agenda [13].
On the tenth of Shevat 5752 [14], Israel’s defense secretary Moshe Katzav visited the Rebbe asking for a blessing. The Rebbe spoke in uncharacteristically harsh terms to Katzav and instructed him to convey the stern message to Shamir. The Rebbe cautioned that if Shamir wouldn't cease and desist from proceeding down this self-destructive path, the Rebbe would personally do all he could to bring down the government.
Moreover, the Rebbe declared that if the government were to proceed with its unspeakable plans, it would be preferable for Jews of the Holy Land to live under non-Jewish administration. If anyone were to sign an agreement that exposes our people to such extraordinary and unprecedented existential harm, then let it be non-Jews and not Jews doing it to their own. [15]
No one had ever heard such harsh terms from the Rebbe before, let alone in public [16].
It was only a few short weeks later that the Rebbe suffered his first debilitating stroke. It's conceivable that this traumatic realization contributed to his massive stroke. I refer to the realization that the entire regime, including alleged “good guys” like Itshak Shamir, were shills for a dark democidal agenda.
Indeed, this was the extraordinary mortal risk precipitated by false-messianic movements that he had feared years before.
In retrospect, the Rebbe understood that Zionism, like Sabbateanism and Frankism, would lead to disastrous consequences for our people. We now understand that these false-messianic deviants were all part of one continuum of subversion. [17]
When we consider the horrific events of October 7th, 2023, we can now understand Rebbe's impassioned words.
Considering the above, it's incorrect to define the Rebbe’s policy vis-a-vis the Zionist state based on his attitude towards it in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, without acknowledging the new revelations that began in 1992 and became ever more obvious in the ensuing decades.
In fact, we can glean much wisdom from the Rebbe's statements at that time that we ought to apply to the present.
There is nothing inherently redemptive by living under a nominally-Jewish regime, especially not one that sacrifices the lives of its citizens and military as fodder for political expediency or some other nefarious objective. It's just the opposite. It's the very epitome of exile.
In fact, a democidal non-Jewish administration would have been preferable to the democidal supposedly-Jewish one. Or at least the lesser of two evils.
Beware a false-messianic movement that calls the greatest darkness of all times “light”... השמים לאור חושך וחושך אור. Woe to those who call darkness light and light darkness [18].
In conclusion, it is abundantly evident that if the Rebbe were able to communicate with us today, he would oppose the democidal regime with every fiber of his being. Not just the democidal Zionist state, but every democidal state, i.e. all of them, the US first and foremost.
It's clear that he would categorically prohibit any young Jewish man or woman from serving in its military or from working for its government in any capacity.
There's no doubt in my mind that he would urge all Jews and human beings of sound moral conscience worldwide to ignore these illegitimate dictators and take back their freedoms and essential human liberties.
Notes:
[1] See Part X.
[2] Igroth Kodesh of the Rebbe Rashab, letter 130, volume 1 page 290, volume 6 letter 180, also printed in the preface to Kuntres Umaayon page 45, and in Ohr Layeshorim.
[3] As of this writing, I haven't found a printed source for this statement but it's widely accepted as true in Chabad circles. Recently I discovered a similar statement by the Rebbe (i.e. Rabbi Menachem M Schneerson, his successor and son-in-law) expressing the same idea in 5711 (1951) printed in the musaf addition to Kfar Chabad Magazine issue 1137 page 75 concerning 5 Iyar: “Not only is it neither a holiday (yom tov) or a day of salvation (yom yeshua), but it delayed the true geulah for many decades.”
[4] Specifically Etzel (Irgun tzvai leumi) and Lechi. As of this writing, I haven't found a printed source for this claim but I've been told it appears in Sefer Hasichos 5706-5710. See Likutei Diburim volume 3 26 Adar 5705 p. 940. See also Sichos Kodesh 5752 volume 2 page 833.
[5] Related by Zalman Shazar in 1960. https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/chabad-zionism-part-ii/
[6] Igroth Kodesh volume 16 letter 5992.
[7] Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 329:6. See When Silence is a Sin: The Obligation to Protest, Kehot Publication Society 1993.
[8] Igroth Kodesh, volume 27, letter 9,613, dated 17 Kislev 5729.
[9] “The kindness of nations is sin,” Mishlei 14:34. See Sefer Hasichos 5752 volume 1 page 53.
[10] Toras Menachem 5733 volume 2, page 203, Shabbos Parshas Shekalim, and the transcript printed in Dvar Malchus Parshas Vayakhel 5784.
[11] Still trying to locate the printed source for this. I'll add it here soon. For more sharp words from the Rebbe concerning Zionism, see See Sichos Kodesh 5715 2nd day of shavuos s’if 17, Kfar Chabad Magazine issue 169 page 22-23, issue 672 page 22, issue 685 page 28.
[12] The same might be said about his cautious support for the polio vaccine in the 1950s, given the information that was presented to him at that time, even though we now understand that it was misinformation.
See “The Rebbe’s View on Vaccines” https://westbororabbi.substack.com/p/the-rebbes-view-on-vaccines
[13] Agenda 21, signed in 1992 by one hundred eighty-seven world leaders including Itshak Shamir and George H. W. Bush.
[14] January 15, 1992
[15] Sichos Kodesh 5752 volume 2 page 832.
[16] In private, the Rebbe came close to expressing himself in such terms. For example, he once remarked that he was shocked that there had been no revolution in Israel following the Yom Kippur War. He referred to the government’s shocking inaction in advance of the Arabs’ “surprise” attack that resulted in thousands of unnecessarily slain Israeli soldiers. Apostrophes used because the government had been fully aware that war was imminent and the attack was coming. Golda Meir refused to allow the IDF to strike preemptively so as not to be labeled the aggressor by the United Nations.
[17] This will be addressed in a future installment.
[18] Isaiah 5:20
False messiah Shabbetai Tzvi circa 1665
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