The guys at Chabad are fighting HARD over a Crown Heights Shul, formerly the synagogue of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, grand rebbe (and maybe the Messiah).
On one side of the dispute are the tight-lipped global leaders of Chabad, who own the buildings above the synagogue and oversee the flow of Chabad rabbis to almost every corner of the earth. On the other side is a group of leaders elected from the local Chabad community of Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, who say the movement’s global leaders are trying to publicly blur and deny what they describe as its doctrine about the late rebbe’s status as the messiah.
Which makes statistical sense… since it’s true that historically, claims to the throne have split the Jewish community, and made the followers of said claimants look like crackpots. Certainly the marketing directors at Chabad International don’t want that.
But:
A number of affidavits in the lawsuit assert that almost all Chabad leaders do privately believe that the rebbe was the messiah but have been afraid to talk about it publicly, for fear of scaring off the unaffiliated Jews who attend Chabad services around the world.
Hmmm…
Interesting, in light of my recent rants on pluralism. Usually I assume (incorrectly) that the Orthodox have it easier in the schism department. After all, they have such rigid guidelines to follow.
It’s nice to know we’re all just human.
Except Schneerson, of course.