Rabbi Sholom Ber Schapiro and the Lubavitcher Rebbe
Can a Rebbe ever make a mistake? In particular the question has often been asked by outsiders to members of the Chabad Lubavitch community with regards to the late Lubavitcher Rebbe – Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, zt”l. And the response of the Rebbe’s followers to such a question has been to be outraged that anyone could even think of such a possibility of an error by their Rebbe.
So, it was quite interesting to come across a recent podcast released this past Motzei Shabbos (Saturday night) by a highly respected insider of the Chabad community. The podcast’s (“Historic Treasures by Rabbi Sholom Ber Schapiro) most recent episode #218 dealt with that very question and was therefore titled “Can a Rebbe Ever Make a Mistake?”
This particular episode by Rabbi Schapiro focused on three seeming “mistakes” by the Lubavitcher Rebbe – (1) a marriage of a young man that ended in divorce, (2) a trip that didn’t go well and (3) forgetting where an important chasid of his lives.
Rabbi Schapiro began by bringing up the question of the many stories that have been told about Rabbi Schneerson, one of the most dynamic Jewish personalities of the 20th Century, whose legacy of leadership continues seemingly uninterrupted today by new Lubavitcher shluchim (emissaries) who had not even been born with the Rebbe was alive.
The Stories of the Baal Shem Tov
Can all of these stories of the Lubavitcher Rebbe possible be true? Rabbi Schapiro brought up a saying about the founder of the Chassidic movement – the Baal Shem Tov (Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer, 1698-1760), that if one believes that all of the (perhaps thousands of) stories told about the Baal Shem Tov are true, one is a shoteh (fool). On the other hand, if one declares that none of the Baal Shem Tov stories could ever be true, than such a person is nothing but an apikorsas (a heretic.)
Rabbi Schapiro noted in his podcast that similarly not all stories being told about the late Lubavitcher Rebbe are true. But like the Baal Shem Tov, all of the stories being told about the Lubavitcher Rebbe could have been true.
How can one determine whether a story about the Lubavitcher Rebbe is actually true? Rabbi Schapiro said that any story that he personally heard from Rabbi Nissan Mindel (1912-1999) could be verified as being absolutely true. Who was Rabbi Mindel? He was a prominent Chabad rabbi, author and editor who served on the administrative staff of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
The Marriage that Ended in Divorce
The first seeming mistake of the Lubavitcher Rebbe that Rabbi Schapiro discussed in his podcast was that of a young man whose marriage ended in divorce. This occurred when the young man wrote in to the Rebbe to explain that he was going out with a young lady, but did not sense a “Hamshachas Halev,” a comfortable feeling about the shidduch. Rabbi Schapiro pointed out that having a “Hamshachas Halev,” was a very important concern to the Rebbe and he frequently would advise a young man or woman who wrote that they didn’t have such a comfortable feeling about their shidduch, to not continue with it.
But in this particular case, despite the young man’s lack of a “Hamshachas Halev,” the Rebbe advised him to continue with the shidduch. And so, the young man did so and yet he wrote again that he didn’t feel comfortable with asking the young woman to marry him. And again, the Rebbe ignored that concern and urged the young man to continue with the shidduch. The young man eventually proposed to the woman believing that the Rebbe wanted him to get married to her.
Unfortunately, a few years later, he wrote back to the Lubavitcher Rebbe that he was in the process of getting divorced and he had tainas (complaints) and was blaming the Rebbe for telling him not to break the shidduch when he had his serious doubts.
Rabbi Nissan Mindel
The Lubavitcher Rebbe asked Rabbi Mindel what he thought about the letter writer’s complaint and his associate wisely remained silent. Rabbi Schapiro in his podcast said that in a similar situation the Tzemach Tzedak (the third rebbe of Chabad, 1789-1866) was the mesader kedushin (conductor of the wedding ceremony) of a grandchild, whose marriage ended in divorce just three months later. He was asked how such a thing could happen if the holy Rebbe himself had given brochas (blessings) to the couple. The Tzemach Tzedek explained that a “mistake” by a tzaddik is not really a mistake. Rather, it is because the Abishter (our Father in Heaven) for reasons that we or even the Rebbe doesn’t know had to be.
Getting back to the story of the young man who was told by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to continue his shidduch even though he didn’t have a comfortable feeling about the young woman, Rabbi Schapiro in his podcast said that two and a half years later after their divorce, the couple remarried and had a number of children, moved to Eretz Yisroel and are very happy today. But for reasons that only the Abishter knows, that young man had to endure that initial divorce.
To learn about the trip that didn’t go well or about the Rebbe apparently forgetting where one of his trusted chassidim lived, you can view Rabbi Schapiro’s 15-minute podcast by clicking – YouTube – Can a Rebbe Ever Make a Mistake or by googling https://youtu.be/g71pC2uJa9Q?si=keyKdx3K8CmIIQrj
Reprinted from this week’s edition of The Jewish Connection.
