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Chabad Lubavitch

The Chabad Lubavitch movement finds its origins in the Hasidic branch of Orthodox Judaism. The Jewish sect called Chabad, whose rabbis were all cabalists, had a doctrine which is understood only by the learned of the sect. The sect Chabad is not older than the end of the eighteenth century, and was established by Rabbi Zalmen Schnerson, a very great and learned man in Talmudistic and cabalistic lore. He was a disciple of the cabalistic Grand Rabbi Ber of Mezritz. Until the death of Rabbi Ber, the cabalistic doctrine was confined only to the chosen rabbis; but Rabbi Zalmen Schnerson was of the opinion that it ought to be preached and taught to every one.

He resided in a small town in the government Mohilew, where this doctrine was very soon acknowledged. A large number of disciples were rapidly joined to him and soon became a sect, which from its commencement was persecuted by the Jews, who accused Rabbi Schnerson before the Russian Government of proclaiming himself king of the Jews, and of preparing to return to Palestine with a large number of Jewish followers whose names were in his register; also, of sending money to the Turkish Government for the purpose of obtaining its assistance in this undertaking. He was arrested by the command of the Emperor Paul and escorted to St. Petersburg, where, after a lengthened imprisonment, his case was tried, and the names on his register were found to be those of his sect, who have nothing to do with political affairs ; the sending money to Turkey was for the relief of the poor of the sect dwelling in Palestine. The rabbi was therefore acquitted, and the sect continued to increase.

Rabbi Schnerson died in 1813 on the way when he fled from the French army, who overran the province in that year. He was buried in Gadiatz, in the province of Poltava. A synagogue has been built over his grave, and to this day his followers make pilgrimages to the spot, where they offer long prayers, and place their requests, written on paper, in the tomb, in the hope that the rabbi hears and reads them. After the death of their leader, the sect, which was very numerous, divided into two parts, one of which chose as leader Rabbi Aaron, a disciple of the late rabbi; the other division chose Rabbi Ber, the eldest son of Rabbi Salraen Schnerson.

Rabbi Aaron died without a successor, when the two divisions reunited under the leadership of Rabbi Mendul (son-in-law of Rabbi Ber Schnerson), who, for his great learning, was much honoured, not only by his own sect but also by the Jews in general. He was the grand rabbi of the sect.

In Lubavitz, the Grand Rabbi Mendul Schnerson preached once a week, and his sermon was repeated every day of the week by his sons and by the professional repeaters. The rabbis of this sect visited their grand rabbi every year at Pentecost, when they held council under his superintendence for the arrangement of the affairs of the sect. The Chabad was the most zealous of all the Jewish sects. Its adherents were occupied much more with spiritual than with worldly things. Among themselves they are as brethren, the poorest mingling with the rich, going without ceremony to them in any need, and obtaining immediate relief.

The Rebbe Joseph Schneersohn, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitcher Jews, had been in Warsaw when the Nazis invaded in 1939. High-ranking Germans helped Rabbi Joseph Schneersohn escape from Warsaw to America in 1940. At the instigation of American Lubavitchers and some sympathetic officials in FDR's administration, highly placed German military men-including Helmut Wohlthat, an anti-Semitic aide to Goering who felt saving the rebbe would be a good public relations move, and Maj. Ernst Bloch, who had a Jewish father-conspired to spirit the ailing rebbe from Warsaw to Riga, and then Stockholm, where he sailed for New York. This feat was accomplished because the U.S. State Department, not known for its sympathy to Jewish refugees, conspired with the Abwehr (German military intelligence), which sent a mischling (a part Jewish) German soldier to escort the Rebbe from Warsaw to Riga. Political pressures motivated the State Department to save a few prominent Jewish "spiritual" leaders while doing little for other refugees. When the US recalled its ambassador after Kristallnacht, it stunned German authorities. The rescue of the rebbe, therefore, may have been an effort on the part of some Germans to ease the strain in its relationship with the US on the eve of the US entry into the war.

The Lubavitchers believe that ever since the destruction of the Holy Temple, in every generation there is an individual, a scion of the House of David, who has the potential to be the Moshiach. If at any moment the Jews are worthy of redemption, this person would be directed from Above to assume the role of the redeemer. He rebuilds the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and facilitates the ingathering of the Jews to the Land of Israel. The anticipation, however, reached a fevered pitch in recent years, following the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory's, announcement, in the early 1990s, that "the Era of Redemption is upon us, and we must only increase in acts of goodness and kindness in order to be worthy to greet our redeemer." The Rebbe "notified us that our nation's collective mission in exile - known in kabbalistic terminology as avodat habirurim, the disencumbering of the hidden divine sparks - has been completed. All that remains now is to "open our eyes and behold the redemption," and to "prepare ourselves and the world to greet Moshiach"!"