Irresponsible Slander

...These couples are personable, fanny, vibrant, happy, and, given their largely fundamentalist beliefs, remarkably non-judgmental of others...

...Chabad deserves Jews' gratitude, not vitriol...

...Not in my opinion, and not in the opinion of many Orthodox Jewish sources and some leading non-Chabad Orthodox rabbis such as Rav Ahron Soloveitchik, who has defended Chabad Jews' right to their beliefs about the Rebbe...

...Chabad believers in the messiahship of the Rebbe have been utterly silent about it in the presence of other Jews, while the very essence of Jews for Jesus has always been to proselytize other Jews—to bring Jews to belief in Jesus as God as well as Messiah, and thereby to make Jews into Christians...

...Heresy...

...Yet, these young Chabad men and women move anywhere and everywhere, often to be utterly alone, and do so with big smiles and unrelenting enthusiasm...

...One day I realized the answer: The Orthodox ask, "Does he drive on Shabbos...

...It was, however, the only article I ever read in that journal that was unworthy of it...

...If you do not believe in Jesus as Messiah and as the son of God, you cannot be a Jew for Jesus...

...As a great admirer of Commentary for more than 30 years, I read the article with much anticipation...

...As I intend to defend Chabad, full personal disclosure is necessary...

...But, again, I have never heard this in decades of involvement with Chabad...

...And if so, more power to them...

...while Chabad asks "Does he help us bring Jews to Judaism...

...Nevertheless, it is fair to assume that the belief in the Rebbe as Messiah may well motivate some Chabad couples to leave their homes, their culture, their families, and their friends to cheerfully live among largely irreligious Jews and non-Jews in the remotest areas of the world...

...In sum, though I do not share Chabad's Orthodox halachic observances or the messianic claims some of its rabbis hold regarding the Rebbe (though what Jew would not at least hope that they are right...

...Happy people do a lot more good for humanity than the unhappy and whining...

...along with many other Jews, I acknowledge the great things Chabad does for Jews and Judaism...

...I have never met a dour Chabad rabbi...

...In essence, he accuses Chabad of having beliefs as alien to Judaism as those of Jews for Jesus...

...Nevertheless, the attack, as irresponsible as it may have been, is an important one that needs to be addressed...

...I have come to deeply admire these Chabad shlkhim (emissaries...

...But if there are any Chabadniks who so deviate, they are so few and so ostracized that they merely represent the proverbial tree that fell in the forest As for the belief that the Rebbe was or is the Messiah, it may well be true that this is not a fringe belief among Chabad rabbis...

...I do, however, have extensive experience working with Chabad...

...Not because the subject is unworthy of exploration and certainly not because any Jewish group should be immune from sharp criticism, but because Professor Berger built his case largely by quoting unnamed Chabad sources...

...And these people tend to be happy—and remarkably accepting...

...I am not a member of Chabad, I am not an Orthodox Jew, and my regular synagogue is Reform...

...Drawing such a parallel is as immoral as it is intellectually dishonest...

...What some unnamed Chabad rabbis in Brooklyn say is of no significance in the dayto- day Jewish programming of Chabad houses around the world...

...Other Orthodox Jews greatly outnumber Chabad, but Orthodox rabbis and lay people overwhelmingly live only among other Orthodox Jews...

...They see other Jews as fellow Jews, not as non-halachic sinners...

...As a Jew who has devoted much of his life to making the case for ethical monotheism, I am very sensitive to any Jewish deviation from monotheistic beliefs...

...But since neither I nor any other non-Chabad Jew I have talked to has ever heard their local Chabad rabbis say this, the charge is meaningless and irresponsible...

...Chabad teaches Jews about Judaism, not about the Rebbe as Messiah...

...After spending 10 years writing a book on happiness, I have come to value happiness as a moral, not just psychological, necessity...

...I admire their happy and non-judgmental dispositions...

...Of course not Shame on anyone who likens the two groups...

...The attack was based on Berger's new book, The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference...

...Envy may be at play as well...

...In all my years dealing with Chabad rabbis, I have never heard a hint of the beliefs Professor Berger accuses Chabad of espousing...

...Indeed, there is often suspicion and bewilderment among many Orthodox Jews about Chabad rabbis moving their families to places with virtually no other Orthodox Jews, no kosher food, no mikvah, no Orthodox minyan...

...Among those Chabad rabbis who believed this or who still believe it, this belief is entirely personal and plays no role whatsoever in the outreach work of Chabad...

...Since the beginnings of Hasidism, some Orthodox Jews have resented the "worship of God through joy" and mysticism that permeates Chabad: "You mean how many pages of Gemara a J ew knows is not of utmost importance...

...Just about anywhere there are Jews on this planet, there is a Chabad presence thanks to the ubiquitous Chabad House...

...Of course it is possible, in the sense that almost anything attributed to unexpressed beliefs is possible, that all or some of these scores of rabbis I have worked with believe the Rebbe was or still is the Messiah or even divine...

...I have lectured for Chabad in many communities around the world and I am on the board of directors of the Conejo Jewish Day School, a Chabadrun community school in Agoura, Calif...

...Professor Berger argues that if we are to take Judaism's beliefs seriously, all Jews (especially Orthodox Jews, whom he accuses of sinful silence regarding Chabad beliefs) must confront Chabad for believing that the late Chabad leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, "the Rebbe," was the Messiah, and deeming him a divine being...

...Irresponsible Slander Dennis Prager Chabad teaches Jews about Judaism-not about the Rebbe as Messiah DAVID BERGER, A MODERN ORTHODOX Jew who is a professor of history at Brooklyn College, published an attack on Chabad in a recent issue of Commentary magazine...

...There is no parallel between Chabad and Jews for Jesus...

...Obviously there is no equally compelling belief among members of other Jewish groups to make similar sacrifices for Jewry...

...I cannot help but think that part of what animates some Orthodox Jews to attack Chabad (and remember, most Orthodox Jews do not attack Chabad, which is precisely what bothers Professor Berger) is old-time misnagdish antipathy to another expression of Orthodoxy...

...But isn't this belief Jewishly sinful...

...For years I wondered how Chabad can so frequently invite this non-Orthodox J ew to lecture for them, especially since the Orthodox world of Professor Berger almost never invites non-Orthodox Jews...

...Is there any analogous criterion for membership in Chabad...