(Reb YY of Skver, Zt"l, in Rumania in the 30's)
Many of you may not know that today is the (88th) Yohrtzeit of the Rebbe Rashab of Lubavitch, N"E. Today is also the (40th) Yohrtzeit of the late Skverrer Rebbe, zt"l, father of the current Rebbe in New Square. The Charedi media seems to remember only one Yohrtzeit on this day; Yes, they'll mention his Yohrtzeit in passing, but only so. After all, even if they claim that they have great respect for him, and that they subscribe to his anti-Zionist opinions, still they realize that he's very much part and parcel of the Chabad Lubavitch way of life that they so despise. The stress on Limud Hachassidus for so many hours, and the disdain for the Mitnagdic and non-Chabad way of life is not something most non-Chabad people care to hear, even if it comes from someone like the Baal Hahillula.
Far be it from me to not fargin Skver their publicity, G-d knows they work very hard at it, and they're quite successful at what they do. Most people see through the scandal that occasionally emanates from there, and see that most people there are good and fine, and G-d fearing, but so are people that chose NOT to live on Washington Avenue and Clinton Street. They see that in 2008 even people that live in a supposed "closed" environment can be just as exposed to the elements of the world as a Yid living in BP or Williamsburg, despite not living amongst Hispanics and other minorities. Even Skver has learned that the best way to inspire others is to open your homes to other groups and share with them your way of life, even if they look a bit different than you, and have a different taste in men's shabbos footwear, if you know what I mean. May the Zechus of all Tzaddikim protect us, and may we follow in their ways, even if their ways differ slightly, or more than slightly.
17 comments:
I was wondering if any Chabad (aka: kefira / anti Jewish) websites make any mention of the Skver Yartzheit.
NOT.
Grow up, would you Tzig?
Snag,
Genius! He's talking about sites that are supposedly "international"....
The Lubavitchers are the Jews of the Jews. Jews believe that all goyim are out to get them and that the cop that gives a Jew a ticket for triple parking on 13th Ave only does it because of antisemitism. Similarly other Jews hate Lubavitchers and Lubavitchers think that the only thing that other Jews think of all day is how to get at Lubavitch.
Actually, the reason the Skeverer yahrzeit gets more attention is because there are many people around today that remember him and remember the shock of his petirah at a time when there were not many tzadikim of his stature. There are many chasidishe yahrzeits that are not covered by Hamodia, otherwise the paper would be twice as big as it is now.
Its a short comment , but you say a lot. Disdain for Misnagdim. Wait just 1 second so you are saying that the Rashab's meeting with people like Reb Chaim, Reb Chaim Ozer etc was just show , he really disliked them their schools etc. What nonsense.
YOu know that during the lifetime of the rashab Chabad and the eylem llived peacefully in most White Russian towns and routinely married each other.By the way many of the tmimmim in the new TTL came from pashute homes lav davka Chabad.
You need to think about this.
Openeing one's homes. There is nothing wrong with that execpt where your homes are opened to the point that the visitors and their lifestyle is so pevasive that it takes control of the "house".
Some people built walls (Skver) others reckoned with modernity and built ideological defenses. Still others invited to theri homes on mass the poeple and the ideas that groups like Skver fought with the fairly naive idea that "they " could influence these people to do the right thing. I wonder if the "invaders" have not had more influence than the defenders of the faith.
Finally please go through the last 25 years of Kfar chabad magazine and even add on to that the new flagship organ of Lubavitch Bais mashiach and please tell me how many times the Skverer rebbe or his Yorzeit is mentioned. Did the rebbe ever mention him in the multiple farbrenguns that marked Chodesh Nissan ?
Why should other people go the extra mile fr a group that believes Ani veafsi od !!
Shneur
In the matter of ani veafsi oid, there is nobody more guilty then the old Skverer, He believed for some odd reason that Skver is uber alles for no good reason,His ben yochid he never send to visit his uncle the Belzer Rov that wanted to see him, he is the only one left from his mother and father, he was scared that that he will get a forein influence. Atleast the Reshab can explain why
Kfar chabad is a Chabad Magasine like the skvere Bechatzar Hakodesh
Did the old Skverer Rebbe ever mention a Divrie Chaim,Tanya or Heaven forbid a Chasam Sofer,You have no idea how inclusive he was?
Even today the Skverer Rebbe would only quote CS when he visits Bratislavia near Pressburg
Where is all this Skvere publicity you mention?
Schneur
In Toldos Avrohom Chaim (levin)you see that the deep hatred towards Chasidim still brewed in the towns of Russia,even in the Rebbe Reshabs era,
A guy comes to his Rav and asks how do I feed my fish on Pesach?Simple says his Rav grind some Matzah and throw it into the fish tank.The person answers but thats "GEBROKTS" The rav says dont worry theor LitFISH
HT,
I am a little suprised at your simplistic post. Do you think the passage of time (88 years to 40) has anything to do with it. The further i the past ANY figure is, the less press he will get. The old Skver Rebbe gets more press than the Divre Chaim. Do you think he was bigger or more important. OF course not, but he is fresher in peoples memories.
But I am happy to see you write "the disdain for the Mitnagdic and non-Chabad way of life is not something most non-Chabad people care to hear". Becuase when we snags write that, you call us haters!!!
the skverer rebbe had a big impact on judaism in america, the rashab is just a blip in history
1. You forget one thing the Skverer don't come with taynes that they are not getting enough PR. The taayne is from this web site.
Toldso Avrohom Chaim. My father a'h was born in Western White Russia in a town Kurenitz (this town was under Polish control until 1939) where 50% were lubavitcher and others were eylemshe and Koidenover.
Certainly there was a good natured ribbing and jesting between the groups like lehavdil between Met fans and yankee fans. Yet almost all families married each other. Misnagdim and chasidim intermarried. Many Chabad bachurim attended Litvishe yeshivas and the period between WW2 especially Navaradock yeshivas.
I never heard my father speak of chassidishe chedorim or eylemshe chedorim or chassidishe melamdim or let me more daring , my father was a butcher he never talked about chassidshe shechita in Kurenitz. perhaps a chabad person would want his chicken slaughtered by a chasid, more likely it did not matter except to the spitz Chabad.
Oh yes there were differences about Zionism, (even though rav Kuperstock the rav of Gluboke a nd a Chabad rav and an eyd at thre Rebbe's wedding was himself a Mizrachi and my father said this passeled him in the eyes of the Anash in Kurenitz and they selected a Kopuster as the rav the father of the late rav Uszpoll of TTL.) another point of contention was division of the funds collected by the Vad hayeshivoth in Vilna, this was opurely an administrative matter.
But there was no such thing as Lubavitcher tallesim , Lubavitcher mikveh(even though Rabbi yankev landa was the rav of Kurenitz), Lubavitcher levush, Lubavitcher siddur (many baalhabatishe yiddn als davened Nusach Ari)Lubavitcher kittel, Lubavitcher machzor. Indeed there were a few things that identified a spitz Chabad chassid , but if I mentioned them , 90% of today's Lubavitcher would not know what i am talking about given the long sojourn of most Anash families in Communism and the massive influx of all sorts of shvotim into Lubavitch.
The separatism to the point it is today started much later and I am not here to judge the blame.
Schneur,
Rabbi Yitchok Dovber Ushpol's father must have been a Ladier Chosid, not a Kapuster, as evidenced by the name he gave his son.
Do you think that the recent separatism of Lubavitch from the rest of the Chareidi world was caused by the last Rebbe?
Schneur
It is a fact that Chabad as a whole was diluted in the last few decades before the new blood of Tomchei Temimim, and it trickled down to everything as you say, as
the famous word of the Rokeach goes "ain chassidus kechassidus betchiloso"
You can also read alot into the letter of the Tzemach Tzedek to his son the Avrucher as he begs him not to mingle with this Poilishers (family etc..)since he will get farpolisht, as it was evidenced by his grandson from Chebin that was BTW a Odom Godol but he wasn't a Reb Nisan or Reb Chaim Shaul
Mikvoahs in Chabad there is 2 takonas, The Alte Rebbes and the Reshab, in your fathers town it was definitley a hidur by Chassidim to adhere to the Alte Rebbes inyanim as Oruv Kablan and mikvoas
Ailimesher
Yes it was the last Rebbe, and this is the consequence with all people that are unique and have a articulate message
Under the last Leader of Lubavitch there was a deliberate attempt at separation from the rest of the Charedi world.
In the first decade it was only partial separation, but after 1970 it was full speed ahead.
Now I am shocked (but happy)to hear that a small but deliberate path is opening to restore some form of cooperation with other Jews. Its still a long way off.
Schneur
Be more specific, the Rebbe from the Chariedim or the Chariedim from the Rebbe
It definitely didn't help for the Rebbe that he didn't join the Aguda or CRC
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