The Rebbe The Messiah And The Scandal Of Orthodox Indifference

This book is a history, an indictment, a lament, and an appeal, focusing on the messianic trend in Lubavitch hasidism. It records the shattering of one of Judaism's core beliefs and the remarkable equanimity with which the standard-bearers of Orthodoxy have allowed it to happen. This is a development of striking importance for the history of religions, and it is an earthquake in the history of Judaism. David Berger describes the unfolding of this historic phenomenon and proposes a strategy to contain it.

The focus of this text is the messianic trend in Lubavitch hasidism. It demonstrates how hasidim who affirm the dead Rebbe's messiahship have abandoned one of Judaism's core beliefs in favour of adherence to the doctrine of a second coming. At the same time, it decries the equanimity with which the standard-bearers of Orthodoxy have granted legitimacy to this development by continuing to recognize such believers as Orthodox Jews in good standing. This abandonment of the age-old Jewish resistance to a quintessentially Christian belief is a development of striking importance for the history of religions and an earthquake in the history of Judaism. The book chronicles the unfolding of this development.

This book is the first full-length study of a complex visual tradition associated with the Hasidic movement of Chabad.

Menaḥem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) was the seventh and seemingly last Rebbe of the Habad-Lubavitch dynasty. Marked by conflicting tendencies, Schneerson was a radical messianic visionary who promoted a conservative political agenda, a reclusive contemplative who built a hasidic sect into an international movement, and a man dedicated to the exposition of mysteries who nevertheless harbored many secrets. Schneerson astutely masked views that might be deemed heterodox by the canons of orthodoxy while engineering a fundamentalist ideology that could subvert traditional gender hierarchy, the halakhic distinction between permissible and forbidden, and the social-anthropological division between Jew and Gentile. While most literature on the Rebbe focuses on whether or not he identified with the role of Messiah, Elliot R. Wolfson, a leading scholar of Jewish mysticism and the phenomenology of religious experience, concentrates instead on Schneerson's apocalyptic sensibility and his promotion of a mystical consciousness that undermines all discrimination. For Schneerson, the ploy of secrecy is crucial to the dissemination of the messianic secret. To be enlightened messianically is to be delivered from all conceptual limitations, even the very notion of becoming emancipated from limitation. The ultimate liberation, or true and complete redemption, fuses the believer into an infinite essence beyond all duality, even the duality of being emancipated and not emancipated--an emancipation, in other words, that emancipates one from the bind of emancipation. At its deepest level, Schneerson's eschatological orientation discerned that a spiritual master, if he be true, must dispose of the mask of mastery. Situating Habad's thought within the evolution of kabbalistic mysticism, the history of Western philosophy, and Mahayana Buddhism, Wolfson articulates Schneerson's rich theology and profound philosophy, concentrating on the nature of apophatic embodiment, semiotic materiality, hypernomian transvaluation, nondifferentiated alterity, and atemporal temporality.

The essays in this book focus on the establishment of alliances between Jewish leaders and those of the state in return for Jewish support.

"What made Jesus the Messiah? This book will teach you the Jewish roots of your faith and help you gain a fresh new perspective on the resurrection of Jesus. In 1994, after one of the greatest rabbis of the twentieth century died at the age of ninety-two, his followers began to proclaim him as the Messiah. They expected him to rise from the dead and even come again. Is this possible? Could a deceased rabbi be the Messiah? In this fascinating book, biblical scholar Michael L. Brown, PhD, takes you on a captivating journey beginning in Brooklyn, New York, where this famous rabbi died in 1994, then back through Jewish history, looking at little-known Jewish beliefs about the Messiah, potential Messiahs that emerged in each generation, and teachings about the reincarnated soul of the Messiah. Dr. Brown then looks at the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from his unique perspective as a Messianic Jew, demonstrating why Jesus' resurrection uniquely confirms that He alone is the promised Messiah. This page-turner is for everyone who is interested in the Jewish roots of our faith, everyone fascinated by Jewish tradition, and everyone wanting to gain a fresh new perspective on the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. It is also a great witnessing tool for Christians who want to share the good news of Yeshua the Messiah with their Jewish friends"--