Is Chabad a sect?
Peace to the rabbi
I have seen several times in the Responsa that you write that Chabad seems to you to have characteristics of a cult. The fact that I am within Chabad and do not feel that way in any way, of course, means almost nothing, but I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that in Chabad there is no leadership mechanism, certainly not educational leadership. There is no committee or general organization. Each yeshiva, for example, is run completely independently and anyone can open a yeshiva or community. So if there is admiration for the Rebbe, for example (which is perhaps what you think resembles a cult), it comes from a completely personal place. There are no educational mechanisms, no community mechanisms, and there is not even an organization with a simple registration of the names of the community’s families. Add to that the fact that there are many “types” of Chabadniks from all corners of the Jewish people, each of whom connected to Chabad Torah and the Rebbe in their own way. So technically it seems to me that the main characteristic of a cult does not exist.
If, for example, you sit at home and begin to study the Rebbe’s teachings and become a devoted Hasid (without even knowing a single Chabad Hasid and certainly not belonging to a particular community) – will that be considered to be in a cult?
It seems to me that the most basic characteristic of a cult, or at least one of the basic characteristics, is that it is headed by some kind of community organization with clear educational motives imposed from above and perhaps even with leadership and control mechanisms.
I would appreciate your response and thank you for everything you do for the people of Israel.
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If you are talking about sectarian characteristics, more severe characteristics than those of sectarian customs already exist in all major Hasidim, including the two Huiznitzim, the so-called Gur Nadal, and more. In recent years, Elohim has been found in these places only as an excuse, and the connection to Judaism has become more and more about folklore - not to mention the main folklore characteristic, the clothing - which is unique only to the particular sect, and must be observed as if it were a matter of obligatory observances from the Torah. If this trend continues, it is likely that only remnants of Jewish characteristics will remain in these sects.
I think there is a fundamental and important difference between them: in Chabad they probably really believe in this, and the sect works for positive goals. Serving God and helping Jews and Judaism. The Hasidim you mentioned, to my impression, are sects whose only goal is control and power. I also get the impression that the difference between the heads of the sects is great. The Lubavitcher Rebbe was a very impressive personality and wise and educated and extremely intelligent. The others, to my impression, not so much.
And it also seems that he himself did not like the process that his followers were going through.
You once mentioned in one of the cross-stitches about the son of Rabbi Sh”ch who said that when he came to the Rebbe of Chabad, and identified himself as the son of Rabbi Sh”ch, he said to him: Tell your father that it is not me, it is them (the followers).
Rabbi Sh”ch replied: Tell them, not me.
Excellent story by the way!
I'm not at all sure he didn't like it. Otherwise he would have really told them.
The "not really" you wrote in your response to me about the other cult leaders is the understatement of the millennium (not only the current one, but also the one that ended 25 years ago).
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