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PDF Format87. This opinion is held, for example, by Rabbi Zimroni Tzik, editor of the Hebrew-language Web site Hageula (“The Redemption”), www.hageula.com. Tzik is also responsible for publicizing short films in which the Rebbe supposedly appears momentarily. The most well-known can be viewed at www.flix.co.il/tapuz/showVideo.asp?m=1556581. I thank Assaf Lapid for this information.
88. This recalls a Midrash, alluded to in note 94 below, which claims that when Moses delayed his descent from Mount Sinai, the Devil used this opportunity to seduce the Jewish people, causing it to think that their leader had died. “When Moses went up the mountain, he said to them: ‘At the end of forty days I will come, within six hours.’ They thought that the day he went up was included in the number of the forty days, but in fact he had said to them ‘forty days,’ meaning complete days, including the night. But the day of his ascent did not have its night included with it, for on the seventh of Sivan he ascended. Thus, the fortieth day was the seventeenth of Tammuz. On the sixteenth of Tammuz, the devil came and brought confusion into the world and showed a semblance of darkness and confusion, as if indicating that Moses had surely died.” See Rashi’s commentary on Exodus 32:1.
89. The Rebbe is also supposed to be the first human being to live for eternity. For more on this, see Dahan, “‘A Dwelling in the Lowly Realms,’” pp. 274-275.
90. In this context, it is important to note that Hasidism ascribes immense importance to spiritual activity in this world, the purpose of which is to liberate the divine sparks confined within the “husks” that comprise the material world. This may be one of the reasons why the idea of a dead messiah who lives on in the world to come or the world beyond is so foreign to this tradition.
91. “They have already ‘shined their buttons and so forth,’ and now one only has to be ready to greet our righteous messiah.” Schneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5752, part 2 (5754), p. 256.
92. Long Live the King Messiah, p. 31.
93. A striking indication of the Rebbe’s messianic awareness is the astounding fact that he had no children, and thus no natural heir. We know from his lectures that the Rebbe was well aware of the latest medical treatments for infertility, and he instructed his followers to make use of them. Moreover, even if he was incurably infertile, this does not explain his failure to appoint an heir, especially toward the end of his life. In an illuminating article, Alon Dahan suggested that the Rebbe was willingly celibate. If so, it was due to his belief that he was indeed the messiah, and that in the messianic era—which would, of course, begin during his lifetime—death would not exist and the lives of all creatures would continue for eternity. The Rebbe did indicate that eternal life was within reach and would begin with him:
The most important thing—that it will be “to life and to blessing,” to a good and long life, according to the various versions of the Blessing of the Month that are said in holy communities in Israel; to an eternal life in the upcoming future, souls in bodies, including those still alive, without a temporary pause [i.e., without having to die before the resurrection], at the coming of the our righteous messiah from the tribe of Judah, and Moses and Aaron with them, and the forefathers with them, and with the leader of our generation at the head. And I will begin—to life, to life and to blessing.
Schneerson, Farbrengen/Convening, 5749, part 4 (5752), p. 148. This appears to explain why the Rebbe did not feel the need to appoint an heir: He believed he was going to live forever. Dahan writes,
In light of these things it can be understood why Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in his mystic allegory, refers to himself along the lines of the passage, “And David my servant is their leader forever.” As the last rebbe who seals the dynasty—and without any related descendants or people in charge—Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson truly believed in the possibility that already in our generation, which obviously includes him as the current generation’s leader according to his and his followers’ views, we will all be granted eternal life, and he himself will continue to be the leader of the generation forever.
Alon Dahan, “A Last Redeemer Without Heirs: Did Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson Choose Not to Leave Any Related Heirs or People in Charge Out of Messianic Motives?” Kabbalah 17 (2008), p. 303 [Hebrew].
94. According to Jewish tradition, every generation has someone who is worthy of being the messiah. Genesis Rabba 56:7 states, “There is no generation that does not have someone like Moses.” This same person, if the time is right, and if the entire generation is deserving of it, then becomes the messiah. This same tzaddik, usually the “outstanding one of the generation,” is then “assumed to be the messiah,” and simply waits for his revelation.
95. Ben-Gurion said this in conversation with various writers and other influential figures on October 11, 1949. Quoted in David Ohana, Messianism and the State: Ben-Gurion and the Intellectuals Amid a Political Vision and Theological Politics (Sde Boker: Ben-Gurion University, 2003), p. 115 [Hebrew]. This book is forthcoming in English as Political Theologies in the Holy Land: Israeli Messianism and Its Critics (Routledge, 2009).
96. Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch attempted to claim the title of Schneerson’s heir, but was rejected by Chabad, which went so far as to portray him as mentally unstable. Deutsch now surrounds himself with a relatively small number of followers. One of the main reasons for his rejection was theological: Chabad’s belief that the redemption is supposed to take place in the seventh generation precludes the possibility of appointing an eighth rebbe. To do so would nullify one of Chabad’s most essential religious precepts.
