What Really Happens When Prophecy Fails: The Case of Lubavitch

Sociology of Religion, Fall, 2001 by Simon Dein

I feel I should be a believer. I don't want to do the wrong thing. If, God forbid, I was wrong, what would be my position? I do not feel the Rebbe can be wrong. People do not entertain the idea that the Rebbe could die. Outsiders ask who will follow him? Lubavitchers believe that the Mosiach will not die. I believe the Rebbe is only human and will die. I don't know what will happen then. It frightens me. Where would people be and what would they say. Would they say that they were wrong? Would they say that he is coining back?

Although the Messiah campaign is important there are many other problems to worry about in the community....The financial situation is very bad here, many of us are not being paid. If you ask questions you are given the cold shoulder. Lubavitch does not have money for paying its employees. With all this talk about Mosiach, they can't even behave well man to man.

If someone does not believe in all of this, can they call themselves a Lubavitcher?...I should not really be saying all of this. It may be a sin. Perhaps the Rebbe knows that I'm criticising him. Something may happen to me. In his book Wonders and miracles there are stories about people who have gone against the Rebbe's advice and have been harmed. Someone was told to close their shop on the Sabbath which they refused to do and the shop burnt down. There is another story about Kappel Rosen, the founder of Carmel College. He unfortunately had leukemia. Someone gave him a copy of Tanya. As soon as he started to read it he got better. He went to the Rebbe and told everyone this story about the Tanya. The Rebbe said you should not have made a big noise about this. Shortly afterwards, he relapsed.

THE REBBE'S ILLNESS

In Stamford Hill, the Rebbe's illness was a frequent topic of discussion. Publicly, Lubavitchers stated that the Rebbe would recover, that his stroke was a significant event which would usher in the Messianic era. Talk of the moshiach increased and the fact that the Rebbe cold not talk did nothing to detract Lubavitchers from the messianic belief.

A number of post hoc explanations were given for the Rebbe's illness, derived from various biblical and Talmudic sources. They referred to the writings of Maimonides to argue that the Rebbe himself had chosen to become ill and had taken on the suffering of the Jewish people. It was a process he had to go through before revealing himself. The Rebbe was, as Maimonides had described, "A man of pains and acquainted with sickness. Indeed, he has borne our sickness and endured our pains (Isaiah:52-53)." Lubavitchers attempted to restore the health of the Rebbe by the recitation of Psalms. Every day Lubavitchers were encouraged to say extra Psalms. Shortly after his first stroke, a Sefer Torah (scroll containing the text of the Torah) was written in New York and every Lubavitcher was asked to donate [alpha] 1 towards a letter. The aim of writing this was to perfect the Rebbe's soul and, in turn, his body. This was explained to me in the following way: