I write these words with both love and trepidation. Love, because Chabad has done incalculable good for Am Yisrael...

 

Deeply un-Jewish

 In every generation, we are tested. Not always by persecution or assimilation, but sometimes by something far more subtle: the recasting of our faith in the image of our emotions.

I write these words with both love and trepidation. Love, because Chabad has done incalculable good for Am Yisrael—bringing Torah and mitzvot to the ends of the earth, reaching Jews no one else could reach. But trepidation, because within the heart of that movement has grown something dangerous, something deeply un-Jewish, even as it wears the garments of Judaism: the theology of a dead messiah.

There is a segment within Chabad, and it is growing louder—not fading—who believe that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zichrono livracha, is not just a tzaddik, not just a leader, but Mashiach himself.

They do not mean this metaphorically.

They sing it in synagogues, declare it on bumper stickers, and print it under every Chabad publication: “Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu v’Rabbeinu Melech HaMashiach…”

This is explicitly rejected in Torah and Rambam’s Yesodei HaTorah (Laws of the Foundations of Torah), where intermediaries are forbidden.

These are deeply theologically problematic within normative Judaism, which forbids any deification of man (Devarim 4:15-16, Isaiah 45:5).

Messianic ideology can easily become idolatrous—not by statues, but by deifying people, confusing agency with divinity, and promoting slogans that functionally replace God.

And when you remind them, gently or not, that the Rebbe passed away in 1994 without rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash, without gathering the exiles, without fulfilling a single messianic prophecy—they smile and say:  “He’s coming back.”

That’s Not Judaism. That’s Christianity.

Forgive the bluntness. I do not say this to offend, but to awaken.

To believe that a man can die, and still return to complete a messianic mission—that is not the Judaism of Moshe Rabbeinu, of Rashi, of the Rambam. That is the theology of another faith.

There is no cult of Moshe, no demand to wait for his return. In fact, the Torah goes out of its way to bury Moshe in secret (Deut. 34:6), perhaps to prevent exactly the kind of personality-centered religion that later messianism creates.

Contrast this with messianic groups today who print photos of dead leaders, chant their names in prayer, and await their second coming.

The Torah’s silence is thunderous. It was the Christians, not our sages, who invented the idea of a messiah who could die and come back. They too had a charismatic teacher. They too were devastated by his death. And rather than let go, they rewrote theology to match their pain.

That path led them away from Torah.

Are we prepared to walk that same road?

The Rambam Was Clear

    “If he dies or is killed, he is not the Messiah.” (Hilchot Melachim 11:4)

There is no asterisk. No footnote. No “unless his followers really believe he is.”The Rebbe himself never claimed to be Mashiach explicitly.  He knew halacha.

So why now do his followers make him into something he never claimed to be—something no Jew can be?

Portraits in Shuls, Prayers in His Name.

Walk into certain Chabad shuls, and you may find the Rebbe’s image above the ark. Ask a meshichist for a blessing, and he may say, “The Rebbe will bless you.” I have heard children say they "daven to the Rebbe." "Fax the Rebbe."

This is not just troubling—it’s tragic. Because these are Jews with fire in their hearts, who love Hashem. But they have been led astray by a theological drift that has crossed a red line.

And it is the job of rabbanim—not historians, not PR men—to say: This is not Torah. This is not Judaism.

We already know. Sabbatai Tzvi. Jacob Frank. Bar Kochba. 

Each time we failed to call madness by its name, the damage multiplied.

But this time the confusion is even more seductive, because it’s wrapped in mitzvot—in tefillin on street corners, in warm Shabbat invitations, in stunning acts of Ahavat Yisrael.

But mitzvot cannot justify heresy. Not even beautiful ones.

To the silent rabbanim in Chabad—where are you?

You know this isn't what the Rebbe wanted. You know the Rambam would never tolerate this. Say it. Stop it. Clean your house. The rest of Klal Yisrael cannot do it for you.

We are not your enemies. But we will not be enablers either.

The Torah does not ask us to wait for Mashiach as an excuse for inaction. It commands us to build a just society, study Torah, keep mitzvot, raise families, fight injustice, and serve Hashem—every day, with no delays.

The Mashiach will come when God wills. Not when we force the issue. Neon Signs on highways and freeways are not part of Hashem's plan! And he will be a man—not a memory.

Until then, let us sanctify the present—not romanticize the past.

 

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/habad-has-done-incalculable-good-for-am-yisrael/