Rebbe Overdose

I finally overdosed. A recent wedding did the trick. At this wedding in Israel, the chupah was set in front of an enormous portrait of the Rebbe. Then, at the dining hall, we saw a running, non-stop enormous video of the Rebbe. I thought - how many people are getting married here? I know there's a Gemara that says three entities are involved in creating children, the third being Hashem, but never heard anything about a Rebbe being involved.

(Still from wedding at different wedding hall, this one I believe in Kfar Chabad Aleph.)

See 8:50

All this nauseated me some but then I inquired of the Chabad rabbi with whom I came to the wedding. "Nothing wrong with it," he said. Rather, he found it innovative.

Nothing wrong with it?

Suddenly, all the strange comments I have heard over the months at the local Chabad shul started to hit home. Do this mitzvah to give the Rebbe nachas - that's a common refrain over there. Sometimes the rabbi adds - and the Aibishteh. God takes second place evidentially.

Suddenly. it occurred to me how annoyed I feel by the huge photo of the Rebbe in the davening area of the Chabad house. I was putting up with it, trying to not be a hater, trying to be tolerant.

Suddenly, I realized that all of the Torah being Torah from the Rebbe didn't just bother me - I have been aware of it - but had become intolerable to me. I do enjoy his Torah, but he's not the only rabbi on the planet.

So I am overdosed. Maybe the yeshiva world isn't so off base in its condemnation of Chabad. I don't know how we got here. Steinsaltz claims that the Rebbe opposed the Rebbe worship and the Moshiach talk. Personally, I'm not so thrilled with his ending sichos by saying that Moshiach should come mamash, when mamash could be an acronym for his name. But still I'll presume innocence. What matters is that we need to get out of this mode. It's not healthy. Judaism is theocentric. You want to tell me that the Talmud speaks at times of intermediaries? That's fine and dandy. But you know that when the intermediaries take over, take the place of God - something that happens in the Yeshiva world too when study starts to push away God - then we have a big problem.

And we have a big problem. Maybe it's the nature of our confused era.

As I say on the home page, my family goes back to the 5th Rebbe at least, possibly the 4th. I can have connections to Chabad without buying into the current foolishness.

Alternative for Kabbalah

R' Kaplan

Chabad isn't the only place to go for kabbalah. Chassidus isn't even the only place. There have been numerous yeshiva people who discuss it, eg. Aryeh Kaplan.

The unholy balk at the idea of self-discipline

"2-6  Seven cows… seven ears of grain: Although, as we have seen, Pharaoh's dreaming stemmed from Joseph, the content of his dreams differed profoundly from that of Joseph's. Pharaoh dreamed only of produce and animals but not of work. Joseph's dreams, in contrast, began from the start with the image of work—the brothers gathering sheaves in the field.

"This aptly reflects the difference between how holy individuals and unholy individuals receive sustenance from on high. The holy receive sustenance through the work of aligning themselves with God's will. When they do so, Divine sustenance flows to them naturally. The unholy balk at the idea of self-discipline and work and therefore refuse to conform to God's will; they are therefore sustained by God in a backhanded fashion."

read more at Chabad.org

7th Lubavitcher Rebbe