The Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch. By Sue Fishkoff. New York: Schocken
Books, 2003. viii + 344 pp. $26.00.
In 1993, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the spiritual leader of the Lubavitch hasidim, suffered a stroke that did not allow him to speak.
As the effects of the stroke lingered, the idea that he was the long-awaited
messiah grew among his followers. They began congregating and singing a song to
him as he appeared on his balcony that included the words, “Long live our
Master, our Teacher and our Rabbi, the Messiah-King, forever” – and the Rebbe, as he was known to everyone, could not (or did not)
protest. The rational Jewish world rejected this messianist
enthusiasm but the question did remain open: he could be the messiah, that is, the person who did more than anyone
else to spread the word and practice of Torah among the Jewish people. In 1994,
the Rebbe died. For the rational Jewish world, that
ended the matter; this had been one more false
messianic claim. But, for many Chabad followers, though not for all, the matter
was not closed: the Rebbe would come back and then
redeem the world. The analogy with the position of the Jews during the life of
Jesus and immediately after his death was astounding.
Almost two decades later, Chabad is
flourishing. The movement sends out waves of single men and women as well as young
couples who go everywhere, touching Jewish souls and building Jewish
communities, “kindling the spark of Jewishness.” The young singles, as part of
their standard high school education, are sent out to stop Jewish men and urge
them to put on tefillin (phylacteries) and to stop Jewish women and urge them
to light Shabbat candles. The young people are also sent to help couples in need,
or the help run Passover seders all over the world.
The young marrieds are sent to communities in places as diverse as Washington
DC, Alaska, Thailand, university campuses, prisons, drug rehabilitation
centers, and more. They are sent there for life. Given at most a year’s
stipend, they have to begin teaching, feeding, and fundraising. A very well
organized educational and PR machine backs them up with advice, seminars, and
materials. But the work is theirs.
Sue Fishkoff, a
journalist, not hasidic, was asked to study the
movement; The Rebbe’s
Army is the fine result of her work. It has been eight years since its
publication and it is worth taking a second look at this study. Fishkoff covers Chabad in Florida, on campuses, in small
towns, in Alaska, in Los Angeles, and in Washington DC, Salt Lake City,
Portland, and even Bangkok. She covers such diverse topics as tefillin and
Shabbat candles campaigns, Passover seders, mikvehs
(Jewish ritual baths), fundraising, education within the Chabad movement, the use
of very large, public Hanuka menorahs, the messianic
motif in Chabad, and the vast outreach work of the movement. And she covers
food – the continuous feeding of Jews by Chabad, everywhere.
The whole Chabad effort, however, is not
comprehensible without understanding the importance of the Rebbe,
during his lifetime and after his death. It was, and remains, the charismatic
presence of the Rebbe that motivates the whole. One
story: A Chabad child is invited to go ice skating with a group of children.
The parents hesitate: it is, after all, not a Chabad activity but the child is
young and these are his friends. The older brother takes the phone and says, ‘You
are a shliach, a representative of the Rebbe. What would the Rebbe say
if he saw you in such a non-Torah activity! Come home, and you and I will do
something special.’ The whole movement is moved by the Rebbe’s
presence. Fishkoff’s Chapter Four on the Rebbe is a masterpiece, the core of the book. So is her
Chapter 13 on education in the movement.
There is an ongoing tension between Chabad
and the rest of the organized Jewish community, and Fishkoff
does a good job of documenting this. But Chabad thrives on its mission: a Jew
is 100% a Jew, a member of the family, even if he or she is not observant, or
not politically active, or not organizationally involved. Non-Chabad people
call this “tolerance for non-observance” but it is more than that: it is
fulfilling the mitsva of “loving Jews” which has
always been central in the teachings of Chabad (chapter 32 – which in Jewish
alphanumeric calculation equals “lev” or “heart” -- of the Tanya, the basic work of Lubavitch hasidism,
teaches this basic lesson). “Loving Jews” takes the form of offering observance
of mitsvot free (free Shabbat candles, free holiday
parties, free food, free koshering of your house, free classes anywhere on any
subject, etc.). “Loving Jews” also takes the form of instilling pride in being
Jewish: not keeping religion “private” but being openly Jewish – wearing a
kippa (head covering), keeping kosher, not working on Shabbat and holidays,
public lighting of Hanuka menorahs, carrying Jewish
flags, being sure, as Jews, to help non-Jews in all prosocial activities, and
refusing politely to participate in Christian or other ceremonies and customs
(not observing Halloween or New Years’ Eve, for instance).
The Rebbe’s Army has three faults as I see it. First, there
should have been a chapter on doubts and failures. Some references are scattered
in the book but surely a movement as important and as broad as this has its
doubts and failures.
Second, Fishkoff
mentions, but does not highlight, the double-standard which rules the Chabad
world. There is the realm of outreach, at which Chabad really excels, but there
is also the inner realm: the rabbi who celebrates Passover seder
with his non-observant flock and then re-celebrates it for himself and his
family; the educational system for the non-observant which is open and
spiritual but the parallel system for the inner world that deletes evolution and
other “offensive” subjects from the curriculum; and the tolerant, love Jews,
attitude toward all but also the inner world which carefully keeps track of,
and takes pride in, the baalei teshuva, the Jews who
turn orthodox and even Lubavitch. Which is the true Chabad? Fishkoff
should have pushed this a little more.
Finally, an appendix, or at least a note
at the end, referring the readers to similar “charismatic” movements would have
been helpful, at least for those of us in academic circles. Fishkoff’s
presentation of Chabad’s reception by the Mormons is as close as we get to any
analogy with other “messianic,” “evangelical,” charismatic movements.
A fascinating, well-written book about a
major current in modern Judaism and especially in modern American Judaism.
David R. Blumenthal, Emory University