We�ll all live happily ever after
Schneur Zalman of NY suggested Tchebiner family should be asked to accept the Lubavitcher royal crown. In this context the following email exchange seems timely.
West Coast Lubavitcher:
I was informed by a kapote-wearing Englishman with (what by modern Lubavitch movement standards are) slightly heretical leanings (i.e. the Rebbe was human and fallible), that in the 1960�s the Rebbe tried to get one of the Schneerson cousins who had two outstanding sons learning in Tchebin in Israel to send them to the Rebbe, ostensibly to be groomed as potential heirs. According to the tale, their father declined, due to whatever foresight or reasoning.
Tzemach Atlas: Yes, there was a discussion on this blog about Tchebiner here.
West Coast Lubavitcher:
Most interesting conversation and comments, thanks for the link. I�m still not clear if the story is substantiated or not. I�m less interested in potential future Rebbe candidates then I am in the implications of the story in a historical context - if it is indeed true. It would seem to definitively indicate that the Rebbe did give thought � at that time � to matters of succession, which is not something many Lubavitchers � whether messianic or not � are comfortable contemplating. (And while certain topics might be uncomfortable, I personally find it much more enlightening to discuss them and think about them then to ignore them. What I most definitely cannot ignore is my sense of bewilderment and pain regarding the current state of Lubavitch affairs, i.e. �How the *@#% did things end up like this?�)
If it helps put the query in context: if the story is true, I don�t think it means we start lining up outside the Tchebin yeshiva looking for the next Chabad Rebbe. Nor do I necessarily think it conclusively proves that the Rebbe�s ultimate intent was for there to be a successor, a m�male mokom, as the Rebbe was entitled to change his mind, and upon occasion did.
What I think the story would indicate is that the Rebbe himself understood that he was human, subject to the �way of all flesh,� and that point in his life was coming to grips with the fact that he was childless. To me this means that the Rebbe was acknowledging the possibility of multiple potential outcomes to the story arc of his life. I don�t take this to mean that he knew exactly how the book was going to end, rather, it would indicate he understood that the final page had not yet been written. More than that I will leave to others to read into the tale.
What does that mean to us today? My personal (and admittedly ignorant and biased) opinion is that the vast majority of the Lubavitch diaspora are as bewildered and confused as I am. As a movement, we went from a victorious, and seemingly unconquerable, empire on the march, to (as a respondent on your blog put it) the point where Lubavitch is now �entirely disconnected from reality.� My experience has been that the bulk of the Chabadniks I meet, by default have Messianic leanings and cannot seem to fathom a game plan where the Rebbe does not return as the Redeemer. They hold this belief � whether openly, or otherwise - not because it intellectually makes sense (it absolutely does not), nor because the halachic and Talmudic sources support it (once more, they do not), but because they are emotionally bereft and cannot come to grips with the situation. They cannot understand how things ended up as they are, and so they revert to a fantasy existence where �everything will turn out just as it was supposed to,� and in fairy tale terms �we�ll all live happily ever after.�
But if the Tchebiner Yorshim story is true, then as painful as it might be for many to acknowledge, the Rebbe himself knew that fairy tales don�t always come true.
Have a good Shabbos.
P.S. TA: There is an interesting write up in Dei'ah veDibur about HaRav Boruch Shimon Shneerson zt"l, the rosh yeshiva of Kochav MiYaakov--Tchebin in Yerushalayim.
West Coast Lubavitcher:
I was informed by a kapote-wearing Englishman with (what by modern Lubavitch movement standards are) slightly heretical leanings (i.e. the Rebbe was human and fallible), that in the 1960�s the Rebbe tried to get one of the Schneerson cousins who had two outstanding sons learning in Tchebin in Israel to send them to the Rebbe, ostensibly to be groomed as potential heirs. According to the tale, their father declined, due to whatever foresight or reasoning.
Tzemach Atlas: Yes, there was a discussion on this blog about Tchebiner here.
West Coast Lubavitcher:
Most interesting conversation and comments, thanks for the link. I�m still not clear if the story is substantiated or not. I�m less interested in potential future Rebbe candidates then I am in the implications of the story in a historical context - if it is indeed true. It would seem to definitively indicate that the Rebbe did give thought � at that time � to matters of succession, which is not something many Lubavitchers � whether messianic or not � are comfortable contemplating. (And while certain topics might be uncomfortable, I personally find it much more enlightening to discuss them and think about them then to ignore them. What I most definitely cannot ignore is my sense of bewilderment and pain regarding the current state of Lubavitch affairs, i.e. �How the *@#% did things end up like this?�)
If it helps put the query in context: if the story is true, I don�t think it means we start lining up outside the Tchebin yeshiva looking for the next Chabad Rebbe. Nor do I necessarily think it conclusively proves that the Rebbe�s ultimate intent was for there to be a successor, a m�male mokom, as the Rebbe was entitled to change his mind, and upon occasion did.
What I think the story would indicate is that the Rebbe himself understood that he was human, subject to the �way of all flesh,� and that point in his life was coming to grips with the fact that he was childless. To me this means that the Rebbe was acknowledging the possibility of multiple potential outcomes to the story arc of his life. I don�t take this to mean that he knew exactly how the book was going to end, rather, it would indicate he understood that the final page had not yet been written. More than that I will leave to others to read into the tale.
What does that mean to us today? My personal (and admittedly ignorant and biased) opinion is that the vast majority of the Lubavitch diaspora are as bewildered and confused as I am. As a movement, we went from a victorious, and seemingly unconquerable, empire on the march, to (as a respondent on your blog put it) the point where Lubavitch is now �entirely disconnected from reality.� My experience has been that the bulk of the Chabadniks I meet, by default have Messianic leanings and cannot seem to fathom a game plan where the Rebbe does not return as the Redeemer. They hold this belief � whether openly, or otherwise - not because it intellectually makes sense (it absolutely does not), nor because the halachic and Talmudic sources support it (once more, they do not), but because they are emotionally bereft and cannot come to grips with the situation. They cannot understand how things ended up as they are, and so they revert to a fantasy existence where �everything will turn out just as it was supposed to,� and in fairy tale terms �we�ll all live happily ever after.�
But if the Tchebiner Yorshim story is true, then as painful as it might be for many to acknowledge, the Rebbe himself knew that fairy tales don�t always come true.
Have a good Shabbos.
P.S. TA: There is an interesting write up in Dei'ah veDibur about HaRav Boruch Shimon Shneerson zt"l, the rosh yeshiva of Kochav MiYaakov--Tchebin in Yerushalayim.
posted by Tzemach Atlas at 9:16 PM
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