31. In kabbalistic literature it is customary to view the sefirah malchut as a symbol of the passive female, which absorbs the plenitude that descends from the male sefirot above it.

32. Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Sichos in English vol. 43, Rosh Hashana (5750), part 2, available at www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sichos-in-english/43/01.htm.

33. Chabad Hasidism initially favored reason over emotion. In the Tanya, for instance, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi emphasizes that “the brain rules and reigns over the spirit that is in our hearts.” Tanya: Likkutei Amarim (Brooklyn: Karnei Hod Torah, 5744), ch. 12, p. 34 [Hebrew]. Under the leadership of Rabbi Shlomo Dovber Schneersohn, however, this began to change, mainly as a response to the Lithuanian yeshivas’ emphasis on scholarship, as well as the emergence of the haskala and secularization. During this period, Chabad began to place increasing emphasis on the “interiority of the Torah,” that is, the kabbalistic interpretation of the sources, which was considered more important than the plain study of the halacha. Gradually, the internal logic of the Kabbala became the only paradigm through which Chabad could perceive reality. The Rebbe’s embrace of the messianic conclusions derived from this logic appears, therefore, to have been inevitable.

34. See Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (London: Ruskin House, 1930), pp. 102-128. A prominent example of this phenomenon is Gush Emunim, a political and messianic movement that seeks to establish Jewish settlement in the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria (the modern-day West Bank). In his doctoral thesis on the subject, Gideon Aran writes: “From the long history of the social, religious or political movements that possessed a clear messianic quality, we can infer that, surprisingly, a worldview distinguished by optimistic determinism… is in fact related to radical activism. Obviously, one might assume that absolute knowledge of future events, and the confidence that things will occur in a way that is both necessary and desirable, would lead to a passive inclination—that is, to a calm and inactive anticipation. However, it appears that [deterministic] faith nearly always stimulates decisive action and an attempt to take an active role in the course of events, while crudely violating existing restrictions and harshly imposing new rulings upon the individual and society as a whole.” See Gideon Aran, “From Religious Zionism to a Zionist Religion: The Roots of Gush Emunim and Its Culture” (Ph.D. diss., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1987), p. 453 [Hebrew].

35. Berger, Rebbe, p. 22.

36. It is not possible here to give a complete analysis of the theological logic that drives Chabad’s widespread missionary activity, but one example may serve: When asked to explain the necessity of worldwide religious activism, the Rebbe quoted a famous letter from the Baal Shem Tov to his brother-in-law, Rabbi Gershon of Kitov, in which he described a conversation between himself and the messiah. The Baal Shem Tov asked the redeemer, “When will you arrive, sir?” and the messiah replied, “When your wellsprings overflow outward.” The Lubavitchers, viewing themselves as the elite of the hasidic movement (and Judaism as a whole), interpret this answer as a commandment to disseminate their teachings. In accordance with the biblical passage, “And you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south” (Genesis 28:14), their goal is to spread their “seed” over the globe, providing a taste of it to every human being on earth. Although this is an eschatological form of activism, in that it clearly seeks to hasten the redemption, I have chosen in this essay to focus on the specific projects the Rebbe initiated in order to reveal his messianic identity to the world.

37. Matthew 21:4-5. This passage is actually based on a misreading of Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold your king comes to see you, he is just, and victorious; humble, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.” There are several other incidents described in the Gospels in which Jesus attempts to enact messianic prophecies from the Bible. For example, when he is captured by the Romans, he tells Peter not to resist, saying, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matthew 26:53-54). Jesus’ passivity in the face of arrest is likely based on his expectation that he will thus enact Isaiah’s description of the suffering messiah: “In truth, he has borne our sickness, and endured our pains, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded because of our transgressions, bruised because of our iniquities; his sufferings were that we might have peace, and by his injury we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). Interestingly, some of the Rebbe’s followers quoted the same verses regarding the stroke that left their leader incapacitated. See, for example, Long Live the King Messiah (Bnei Brak: The Institute of the Messiah’s Doctrine, 5766), p. 61 [Hebrew], available at www.shluchimcenter.org/kvatzim/yechi.pdf.

38. Sanhedrin 98a, “He [R. Joshua Ben Levi] asked him [Elijah the Prophet]: When will the messiah come? Go ask him yourself, was his reply. [R. Joshua asked:] Where is he sitting? [Answered Elijah:] At the entrance [to Rome]. [R. Joshua asked:] And by what sign may I recognize him? [Answered Elijah:] He is sitting among the poor lepers: All of them untie [their bandages] all at once and rebandage them; whereas he unties and rebandages each separately, [before treating the next], thinking, should I be wanted, [it being time for my appearance as the messiah] I must not be delayed. So R. Joshua went to the messiah and greeted him: Peace upon you, master and teacher. Peace upon you, O son of Levi he replied. When will you come, master? asked R. Joshua. Today, was his answer. On R. Joshua’s return to Elijah, the latter inquired, What did he say to you? Peace upon you, O son of Levi, he answered. Thereupon he [Elijah] observed: Thereby he assured you and your father of [a portion in] the world to come. He rejoined: He spoke falsely to me, stating that he would come today, but he has not. He [Elijah] answered him, This is what he said: ‘today even, if you will only hearken to his voice’ (Psalms 95:7).” The Lubavitchers assumed that the Rebbe did not venture out of Crown Heights, Brooklyn—and definitely would not make aliya to Israel—because he was required to dwell “at the entrance to Rome.” See Dahan, “‘A Dwelling in the Lowly Realms,’” p. 336.

39. In one published discussion with the Rebbe, the notes (approved by him) clarify that Maimonides is the final adjudicator on this matter, and no one is permitted to disagree with him. Schneerson, Likutei Sichot, part 5 (5749), p. 149, note 51 [Hebrew]. Additional evidence of the vast importance attributed to Maimonides’s opinion on the issue of messianic criteria is a well-known halachic ruling, sanctioned on Shavuot in 1991 by numerous Chabad rabbis, in which they acknowledge that the Rebbe was the messiah. The halachic justification for this ruling was based on Maimonides’s writings. To read the ruling, see www.psakdin.net/en.

40. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and Their Wars 11:4. The sentence in brackets appears in this place in the censored version. In the complete text, it appears slightly later. Regarding the statement itself, it is not surprising that Chabad embraced a messianic vision in which “the world goes on its usual way.” According to the Rebbe’s interpretation, Maimonides’s writings refer only to the era preceding the messiah’s arrival. After the redemption, the Rebbe claimed, the laws of nature will change—a development that Maimonides does not take into account in the above-mentioned text.