A short break for entertainment

Sefer Torah stolen from MyYeshiva

I wonder, did anyone notice a certain element of MN wandering around the Yeshivah previously?

Perhaps he felt that as a spiritual descendant of the founders of the Yeshivah, he is entitled to inherit their property, and surreptitiously took an advance on his yerusha?

See how easy it is to play with reality, truth and perceptions?

He never had Paris

Stories abound of the Rebbe Maharash's public persona before he accepted the leadership of a much diminished group of Chasidim in Lubavitch, the other Chasidim having followed some of his brothers. He reputedly was never seen studying in public, would walk around with a newspaper in his back pocket, and did not dress as a Torah scholar or as a Rebbe's child would to demand the respect that such dress entailed.

One story tells of a Chosid (if my memory serves me, Reb Aizik Homlyer) told by the Tzemach Tzedek to direct his question in Etz Chaim (in Kabbalah) to the Rebbe Maharash, who went to the house late at night and noticed through the window the Rebbe Maharash deep in study with a table full of seforim. When he knocked on the door and was allowed to enter, the table was clear and a paper was in their place. When he mentioned his purpose and the Rebbe Maharash acted innocent and wondered why the Tzemach Tzedek would send a question in learning to him, Reb Aizik informed him that he had been "caught" learning.

The Rebbe's public persona until he became Rebbe was similar in a limited way. He could not disobey the previous Rebbe; he had to farbreng with the students of the Yeshivah when he visited, publish and edit the books of Kehos, and farbreng once a month with all the Chasidim. Yet what he could avoid, he did: wearing a grey hat, a short jacket, sometimes even walking around with newspapers, or avoiding having his name listed as the editor of HaTomim, the Chabad Yeshiva journal in Poland.

At the same time, the Rebbe's nature and habits were clear to anyone who came into contact with him. He spent all his free time secluded in the Bais Medrash (in Berlin) or at home (in France) in study. He was overly careful in every Mitzvah that he performed, going to great lengths to keep to his self imposed standards. He gave Torah classes in Paris at various locations. There are many individuals who attest to all of this.

However, certain elements have used these facts to "tell" their own story. With conjecture and anonymous sources, they wink and claim that the Rebbe led a not so kosher life in Paris, and perhaps before as well. The Rebbetzin's actions are up for grabs for them as well, although they provide no concrete "stories", only adjectives such as "modern". They claim that the Rebbe in fact ran away to France out of a burning desire to study secular subjects.

JEM has yet another segment on the upcoming video, and in this interview the son of the man who handled the money transfers from the previous Rebbe to the Rebbe states categorically that the Rebbe did not want to be in University, that the previous Rebbe insisted on it. One conjecture is that this was done so the Rebbe could accompany his younger brother in law, who did want to study. I can only hope that time will give us the reason for the previous Rebbe's insistence as well.

If anyone has any doubt as to what the Rebbe did with his time while living in France, why don't you take a look online at http://www.lahak.org/ and read the section of Reshimos. These are the journals of the Rebbe from his life before reaching the US. There is no French philosopher's pontification, there is no modern life to be seen there. Only authentic Jewish Torah thought.

The truth is hesitant, it takes time to emerge. Lies are instantaneous, they can be provided at the tip of a hat. Beware the magician.

This leads us to the next post: What difference does all this make?

The trainwreck of falsehood

This blog is inspired by one thing, and one thing only: the truth emerging. The truth is being ignored by those who posted the falsehood in blogs, in news interviews, or anywhere else - I'm sure it has spread beyond what I saw. It only takes a moment to publicize a lie, while the work needed to establish the truth endures long beyond the memory of those influenced by the lie.

I'm talking about the fact that the Lubavitcher Rebbe studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. Let's leave aside for the moment whether it makes any difference if the Rebbe was a student there or not. He was, and that is now documented fact.

One of the many canards of the online elements has been that Lubavitch and/or Lubavitchers created the myth of the Rebbe as student at the Sorbonne to bolster his standing in the eyes of the world. They granted that the Rebbe studied at a Technical Institute in Paris and did well, but no more. The greatest defense I could think of was that the Rebbe sat in on classes as an observer, but wasn't enrolled. How do you document that?

Well, an organization dedicated to preserving the Rebbe's history and legacy called JEM has just provided the documentation. The Rebbe was enrolled as a student in the Sorbonne for two years, 1938-1939. He is listed as a student in the school register. You can see this for yourself in their latest video, The Early Years part III.

May the truth rule. May the online elements perish.