Photo: Giant poster in window claiming Schneerson is "our teacher and King Messiah"Photographed by me in Herzliya Petuach
Recently, I was present at a meeting of a bunch of Chabadniks in Tel Aviv, the vast majority of whom were women. For whatever reason, I got into a discussion with someone there about: Whether or not Menachem Mendel Schneerson was still alive or dead? To my utter amazement the Chabadniks insisted he was STILL alive….
Of course, one can't really take anything a Chabadnik says as: "final", because each Chabad center runs as a financially independent entity; thus while the Chabad leadership in Brooklyn may say that Schneerson was NOT the messiah, they insist they cannot prevent individual Chabad centers from making this claim.
Regardless, this doesn't address the issue of whether or not Rav Schneerson is still alive. Because, while the present day leadership in Brooklyn says he is not the messiah, I am not aware that they have made a statement on whether or not he is still alive or dead.
But, I do have a question:
In 1940 Menachem Mendal Schneerson was a rabbi in Paris. Suddenly, he picks up and leaves, makes his way to Lisbon and in 1941 escapes to the USA leaving his congregation in the lurch, so to speak…..
Now, many of those people who were members in good standing in Rav Schneerson's congregation eventually found themselves interned at Auschwitz or one of the other camps operated by the German government.
So my question is: If Menachem Mendal Schneerson is STILL alive, are the members of his congregation from Paris STILL alive as well?
A well known encyclopedia found on the internet had this to say about Menahem Mendal Schneerson:"In 1933, after the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, Schneerson left Berlin and moved to Paris, France where he continued his religious and communal activities on behalf of his father in law, Yosef Yitchak" (there is no mention of what happened to the members of his congregation in Germany)"He continued studying mechanics and electrical engineering at the ESPT, a Grande ecole in the Montparnasse district and graduated in July 1937 with a degree. In 1937, he enrolled in the Sorbonne, where he studied mathematics until World War II broke out in 1939. During these years, Yosef Yitzchak recommended that Professor Alexander Vasilyevitch Barchenko consult with Schneerson regarding 'various religious and mystical matters', and prominent Rabbis such as Yerachmiel Binyaminson and Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler turned to Schneerson with their rabbinic and kabalistic queries. On June 11th, 1940, three days before Paris fell to the Nazis, the Schneersons fled to Vichy, and later to Nice, where they stayed until their final escape from Europe in 1941."
Now, the British White Paper restricting immigration to Mandate Palestine (or whatever you want to call it) did not come into effect until 1939…
That means in 1933, 1934 1935, 1936, 1937 1938 and even part of 1939 the Jews of Germany and France could have escaped Europe and come to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob….One would think that a man who "the sixth Chabad - Lubavitch Rebbe: Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak" thought was so brilliant that he recommended to other "well known" scholars that they seek his council on "various religious and mystical matters" would have had enough brains to realize that Hitler was very dangerous and would have sent out an alarm to all the Jews of Europe.....But no, apparently he was so busy writing his Talmud commentaries and studying engineering that he didn't seem to notice..........That is he didn't notice until the Panzer divisions were just outside Paris.....then he noticed.......
And then, when he finally does see the tanks surrounding the Eiffel tower, does he place his trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and flee to the Promised Land…..???
Oh no……not our boy: "the Messiah"; oh no, he goes to Brooklyn…..(maybe he was a Dodger fan)
And now, giant posters throughout the State of Israel proclaim that he is the Messiah and his followers claim that he is STILL alive…..even though almost all reliable sources say he died in 1994….
But gee…..maybe he is indeed the messiah….
After all, who else but the Messiah could nullify the 2nd commandment and allow giant photo engraved images of "Himself" to be placed all over the world?
And let us not forget that the self proclaimed: "America's Rabbi": Shmuley Boteach claims that Menachem Mendal Schneerson was the most influential person of the 20th century……Of course, Rabbi Boteach is also a Trump supporter…..so I guess will have to take that with a grain of salt…..
What's the point of all this, you ask?
Rav Schneerson saw the Nazi menace in 1933….and he fled to Paris….then he fled to Nice…..to Lisbon and, finally, the USA…..
Did he warn anyone else to flee…? He had plenty of time to write Talmud commentaries….He had plenty of time to consult others on mystical and spiritual matters…..He had plenty of time to study mathematics......
Funny he didn't have any time to advise his fellow Jews to flee Europe…I mean, Jabotinsky had been urging Jews to flee Europe for almost 20 years at that point in time…..And let us also not forget that Theodor Herzl discussed the dangers of Jews remaining in Europe in his book: "The Jewish State", which was published in 1896 during the years of the Dreyfus Affair.....
What did Jabotinsky see that "the Messiah" didn't see ??? What did Herzl see that "the Messiah" didn't see ???
Because today in the Jerusalem Post and the Times of Israel there is story after story, article after article of the increased anti semitism in the USA and especially on college campuses….
One can certainly see this hatred of the Jews on YouTube….
One wonders why Rabbi Shumuly Boteach doesn't warn his congregation to come to Israel now before it is too late???
Why doesn't the Chabad leadership warn its membership to come to Israel before its too late???
Gee, do you think it is because they are so busy writing Talmud commentaries and commenting on mystical and spiritual matters that they haven't noticed???
Maybe they are all studying mathematics........And, if catastrophe does come: Do you think Rav Shumuly and the Chabad leadership would flee to Israel at the very last second and leave you and your family behind…..???
YOU BETTER BELIEVE THEY WOULD…….!!! After all, the Messiah did it, didn't he? (he did it twice)
Come to Israel now, don't blindly believe everything your rabbi tells you like that congregation in Paris did….
GET OUT NOW !!!