70. The word miyad (“immediately”) is employed here as an acronym for “Moshe, Yisrael, David,” which refers to Moses, the Baal Shem Tov (whose given name was Yisrael Ben-Eliezer), and King David, whose descendant will be the messiah. The same letters can also stand for “Menachem Mendel, Yosef Yitzchok, Dovber”—the last three Chabad rebbes, in reverse order.

71. Schneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5752, part 2 (5754), p. 282.

72. According to Dahan, “When Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson crowns the ‘leader of the generation’ as messiah, he may indeed refer to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, but it is clear the crowning applies to himself as well, at least in the eyes of his followers.” Dahan, “‘A Dwelling in the Lowly Realms,’” p. 47, note 24, and p. 178. Kraus ignores this habit of the Rebbe’s, which causes certain inaccuracies to creep into his work. He writes favorably, for instance, of the Rebbe’s modesty, “Although Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson does not tend to acknowledge his own doings in his talks, he describes the third period [of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok’s leadership] in a way that constitutes a summary of his own deeds. This is manifest even though he paradoxically attributes the period to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn.” Kraus, Seventh, p. 54. As Dahan demonstrates, however, there is no paradox here, nor is this modesty on the Rebbe’s part. It is, in fact, a theological sleight of hand used to serve the Rebbe’s messianic agenda.

73.S chneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5752, part 1 (5753), p. 277.

74. Schneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5752, part 2 (5754), p. 270.

75. Kraus, Seventh, p. 249.

76. Schneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5752, part 2 (5754), p. 268.

77. See note 39 above. This action can be understood only in light of the Rebbe’s belief that reality is determined by halacha, and not the other way around. The motive behind the ruling, then, was to force God to reveal the messiah. See Dahan, “‘A Dwelling in the Lowly Realms,’” p. 55.

78. Dahan, “‘A Dwelling in the Lowly Realms,’” p. 382. In a discussion with the then-chief rabbis of Israel, the Rebbe said, “In the Sages’ stories (midrash hazal) we find that our righteous messiah (Elijah the Prophet) will first be revealed in the Galilee, and within the Galilee itself, in Tiberius that is ‘fine to look at’; but no one will be strict if Elijah the Prophet appears abroad, even in Brooklyn, and in the following day the messiah will come to Tiberius.” Dahan, “‘A Dwelling in the Lowly Realms,’” p. 384, emphasis in original. On p. 382, Dahan provides evidence that, under various pretenses, the Rebbe tried to “erase” part of the talmudic name of the messiah, “Menachem Ben Hizkiya,” leaving only his own name, “Menachem.”

79. See, for example, Schneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5743, part 4 (5750), p. 2001: “What is the value of all these arguments and explanations… when the subject at hand is the need to attempt to hasten and bring closer the coming of our righteous messiah by a single second!” See also Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Letters of the Rebbe, vol. 18 (Brooklyn: Karnei Hod Hatorah, 5750), p. 498 [Hebrew]: “Do not scorn a single day, for there is no means of evaluating even a single act, such as a young man laying tefillin or a young girl saying the Shema Yisrael prayer… and every single detail is a condition for bringing closer the general redemption.” See also Schneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5748, part 1 (5750),
p. 595: “And perhaps the small act of this young boy will be the ‘hammer blow’ that will lead to redemption!”; and Schneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5747, part 2 (5750), pp. 624-625: “It is clear that the act… can be by a single deed alone, but ‘there is none with us who knows to what extent’ or what is that ‘single deed’ that will actually lead to redemption. That is why the mission is set upon each and every one.”

80. Nadav Shnerb, “A Response to the Radicals,” Nekuda 309 (March 2008), p. 26 [Hebrew].

81. This is in reference to the Rebbe’s custom of handing out dollars to pilgrims, often in large groups. Clearly, the motive behind this was to hasten the messiah’s arrival.

82.S chneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5751, part 3 (5753), pp. 118-119, emphasis in original.

83. This was described to me by eyewitnesses.

84. Some claim that the Rebbe suffered an additional stroke two days later, but Chabad officially denies this. See Yori Yanover and Nadav Ish-Shalom, Dancing and Crying: The Truth About the Chabad Movement (New York: Meshi, 1994), pp. 31-32 [Hebrew].

85. The following recollection by a Lubavitcher hasid reveals how heavy a blow was that which Chabad suffered upon the Rebbe’s death: “Father’s illness was a natural thing. Father lived, father gave eighty years to the world… he passed away normally. But since the Rebbe became ill—I can’t live. It is something completely different; it is much more sacred than Father. And I would not want, God forbid, to diminish Father’s praise… [but] the Rebbe is with me twenty-four hours a day. Now I cannot move…. I wake in the morning, eat breakfast, get into the car, and drive to work, and I know the Rebbe goes to the mikveh [ritual bath], goes to 770, and he connects for me all the things that need connecting. I speak to God, I get a busy signal. Beep beep, busy. He needs to bring me the line… ‘And they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.’ I cannot create this connection on my own… I need him. When my son is ill… I need the Rebbe the whole time…. I need to know that he is there and that is what he does and the problem will be solved no matter what.… Father was Father. And his honor is still as such. But here it is something a thousand times more significant. It is everything for me.” Quoted in Yanover and Ish-Shalom, Dancing and Crying, pp. 51-52. Yanover then asks various followers: “‘And if this generation will not live to see the coming of the messiah, God forbid?’ ‘That cannot be,’ a friend insisted. ‘And yet, are you not raising here a generation of children who expect, expect—and in the end there will be a colossal fall’… ‘What you are saying is: Imagine there is no God in the world,’ a friend reprimanded. ‘You are asking us the same thing. Even more—no, it is the same question. One can never answer such a question.’ ‘The “what if” does not apply to us,’ said Dorit. ‘So it is all a lie, it is all a lie,’ the friend interrupted. ‘So there is nothing.’” Yanover and Ish-Shalom, Dancing and Crying, p. 146.

86. According to one report, residents of Kfar Chabad danced and drank vodka when they heard the news, crying out, “It is a test! The Jewish people was also tested at Mount Sinai, where the Devil showed it the corpse of Moses.… In the media they say that the Rebbe is dead, that he was wrapped in a shroud, but he will rise, and all those who did not believe in him will hide in caves…! There are but a few last minutes until the messiah will be here to make the final decisions in a state of revelation; we must prepare ourselves!” Ezra Chen, “In Kfar Chabad, They Celebrated with Vodka,” Davar, June 13, 1994 [Hebrew].