Orthodox Opinions: The Rebbe's legacy

Up until now, most of the assessments of his monumental contributions have been made by his disciples and followers. Similarly, the provocative nature of his tactics, and the controversial nature of some of his pronouncements, have been critiqued by his opponents. For this reason, I would like to try my hand at a neutral assessment, albeit a sketchy one, since I am neither a follower of the Rebbe, nor am I one of his avid critics.

The Rebbe's life work must be placed in the context of his time. He arrived in the United States at the beginning of World War II, in the terrible years of the Holocaust. He ascended to the leadership of the Chabad movement just a few short years after the war's conclusion. He confronted the destruction of one third of our people, and the decimation and dispersal of much of Chabad movement. Its remnants were to a great extent imprisoned behind the Iron Curtain. He found himself in an American Jewish society which had little patience for Orthodoxy, let alone for Chassidism.

When he passed from this world he left behind thousands of followers, shlichim or representatives in hundreds of communities throughout the world, an astounding oeuvre of publications, and a vast network of educational and religious institutions.

He pioneered efforts at outreach, and convinced us all that no Jew should be left behind. His followers all over the world are responsive to the material and spiritual needs of every Jew with whom they come into contact.

This is only a brief description of his lasting accomplishments, of what he left behind.

Yet it is precisely the answer to the question "what did he leave behind?" that evokes the most adversarial reactions, and which, at best, poses a baffling puzzle. For he named no single successor, and thereby assured that his movement, headed by an unbroken chain of seven charismatic leaders for two entire centuries, was left with that chain broken, with no single central leader in place.

This has had two results, one lamentable, one laudable.

In the absence of a leader, there has been a messianic reaction. Based on fragmentary remarks by the Rebbe himself, many of his followers believe that he is the Messiah, and that he will return from the dead to once again lead his followers, and not only his followers, but all the world, into the Messianic era. The belief is certainly not mainstream Judaism, and in the eyes of many is a blasphemy to Judaism no different from the messianic beliefs of Christianity. That the Rebbe's great piety, scholarship, and love of Israel should be sullied by such an unacceptable heresy is a grievous tragedy.

The other result of the lack of a central leader has been the development of scores, if not hundreds, of lesser leaders. Every Chabad rabbi has taken upon himself the role of leader, if not over a mass movement, then over his own small circle. And the evidence is that in the years since the Rebbe is gone these leaders are presiding over a fantastic further growth of Chabad and all that it represents.

It is to be hoped that eventually the messianic delusion will fade from the scene, and we will be left with hundreds of his disciples and their disciples, committed to the Rebbe's majestic vision. And they will continue to benefit us all with the Rebbe's lessons of spirituality and outreach, applied to a new generation that needs these lessons even more than ever before.