Shaul Shimon Deutsch, the Liozna Rebbe
When I was in Boro Park past Shabbos I forced my host to go see Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch AKA Liozna Rebbe in action. My friend actually had a long history with Deutsch starting from the time when Shaul Shimon and his family rented my friend�s former apartment after they just moved to Boro Park from Crown Heights. Whatever history it was it somehow soured as I had to counter my friend�s strenuous objections to go Daven with the Liozna Rebbe. My friend also lamented that he has thrown into garbage Shaul Shimon�s first volume of the Lubavitcher Rebbe biography and it now can fetch a cool $400 on Amazon!
Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch and his museum upgraded to the prominent and highly priced corner of the 41st and 16th. The Shule was empty on Friday night with previously mentioned fluorescent lights blazing to highlight the fresh imperfection of construction and the loneliness and coldness a Jew feels on the Nittle night.
When we came to the shule the next morning we were immediately enveloped by the pungent smell of Cholent. The pot is inside a closet, right in the middle of the shule and the smell is rather overwhelming and distracting. Rabbi Shaul Shimon was Davening from the Omud. The Nusach and the Nigunum were familiar Lubavitch tunes pronounced clearly and expressively. Rabbi Shaul Shimon is a tall large blond and bold man slumping shapelessly. A Shtreimal hanging from delicately carved wooden Mechitza signals the new dress code. Books at the Liozna Rebbe�s stender about biblical archaeology signal the new passion.
The attendants to the Shacharit where characterized by my friend as �miskenim�. Indeed they are appeared to be a loosely collected assembly of misfits. In fact one can�t observe a congregation or a constituency mentioned by Chakira.
After Musaf the Liozna Rebbe spoke about biblical archeology. Indeed he framed his presentation by saying �there is a war going on�, a war between atheists who deny biblical legacy and call artifacts fake and archeologists uncovering the proofs of the actual biblical events. Frankly that was not the war I read about recently in the press, I read about the war between people who claim the artifacts are fake because they prove Jewish precedents in the land. By the way Lubavitchers I knew loved to frame all their arguments as war (Tzivos Hashem, etc), the logic they inherited from pre Soviet and Soviet thinking. It�s possible that Shaul rejected the movement but still can�t escape it�s ways of thinking.
Hard to understand how the Liozna Rebbe sees his "constituency"? He is preaching archeology in a neighborhood where most people think that the real purpose of the archaeological digs is to disturb old graves and bones.
Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch and his museum upgraded to the prominent and highly priced corner of the 41st and 16th. The Shule was empty on Friday night with previously mentioned fluorescent lights blazing to highlight the fresh imperfection of construction and the loneliness and coldness a Jew feels on the Nittle night.
When we came to the shule the next morning we were immediately enveloped by the pungent smell of Cholent. The pot is inside a closet, right in the middle of the shule and the smell is rather overwhelming and distracting. Rabbi Shaul Shimon was Davening from the Omud. The Nusach and the Nigunum were familiar Lubavitch tunes pronounced clearly and expressively. Rabbi Shaul Shimon is a tall large blond and bold man slumping shapelessly. A Shtreimal hanging from delicately carved wooden Mechitza signals the new dress code. Books at the Liozna Rebbe�s stender about biblical archaeology signal the new passion.
The attendants to the Shacharit where characterized by my friend as �miskenim�. Indeed they are appeared to be a loosely collected assembly of misfits. In fact one can�t observe a congregation or a constituency mentioned by Chakira.
After Musaf the Liozna Rebbe spoke about biblical archeology. Indeed he framed his presentation by saying �there is a war going on�, a war between atheists who deny biblical legacy and call artifacts fake and archeologists uncovering the proofs of the actual biblical events. Frankly that was not the war I read about recently in the press, I read about the war between people who claim the artifacts are fake because they prove Jewish precedents in the land. By the way Lubavitchers I knew loved to frame all their arguments as war (Tzivos Hashem, etc), the logic they inherited from pre Soviet and Soviet thinking. It�s possible that Shaul rejected the movement but still can�t escape it�s ways of thinking.
Hard to understand how the Liozna Rebbe sees his "constituency"? He is preaching archeology in a neighborhood where most people think that the real purpose of the archaeological digs is to disturb old graves and bones.
posted by Tzemach Atlas at 11:28 AM
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