Lubavitch Crown Heights

anonymous

I'm writing a piece for BKLYN magazine on "The Messiah of Eastern Parkway," about the Lubavitch hasidic community, which is based at 770 Eastern Parkway, between Brooklyn and Kingston Avenues. I'm interested in DH readers' feedback -- have you had any interaction with this community, what is your perspective on it, are you aware of infighting among the hasidim over whether their late rabbinic leader is the messiah or not? If so, what impression does it make? You can post here or email me privately: [email protected]. If you send me a phone number we can follow up that way, too....hope to hear from you. -Debra

sleighb76

pi·ous: Professing or exhibiting a strict, traditional sense of virtue and morality; high-minded.

I am a reform Jew who lives and works in Crown Heights. I don't feel particularly accepted when I travel to that part of town. My sister is a member of the community and was even married at 770, so I have spent quite a bit of time socializing and celebrating with them. But, in some ways I feel as though the Orthodox Jews are less tolerant of less pious Jews than they are of Gentiles.

As for the plaque controversy: 770 has been a place of happiness and holiness for too long, and both sides are responsible for tainting the memory of the Rebbe who was such an important and influential Jewish leader. I think the fighting, stealing, and defacing between the messianists and anti-messianists is disgraceful and sad. And, if we have to wait for either the Rebbe to come back, or the new Moshiach to be found for these Lubuvich Jews to get along, regardless of either outcome, I just hope it comes sooner rather than later.

pennysmith

My partner and I live across the street from the Congregation Kol Israel -- a gorgeous building. My partner is Jewish and not religious, and there is absolutely no possibility that he signed up for any Lubavitcher mailing lists, and yet he somehow began getting Lubavitcher junk mail shortly after we moved in. Really, really unusual Lubavitcher junk mail.

Which is not a big deal at all, really, but left us with the unsettling feeling that somebody from the congregation across the street had seen him coming and going, come over and gone into our mailbox for his name and address, and added him to their mailing list.

dailyheights

Great story idea! Most people in this neighborhood are surprised when hear about what's going on over there. I still don't understand it.

I also saw some strange junk mail from a Jewish group recently.

Not sure if it's Lubavitcher, but it was a 20+ page direct mail piece with a picture of some very serious-looking Jewish elders with long beards and wide-brimmed black hats, sitting around a table, talking into microphones and tape recorders.

The language was very, very dense, but from skimming it, I got the impression that the pitch went something like this: send in your money and prayer requests (and money), and this council of elders will make things happen. If you know what I mean.

jack

dailyheights wrote: Great story idea! Most people in this neighborhood are surprised when hear about what's going on over there. I still don't understand it.

Basically--from what I understand--the issue at hand is whether the now deceased Rabbi Menachem Schneerson is or is not 'Mosiach' (aka: the messiah).

Now, I'm not religious--I'm more of a Brooklyn Yid at heart than anything else--but the infighting comes from the people who believe Schneerson was a great leader, but in no way the messiah. And now you have--what I consider--a bunch of apocalyptic loons who believe that he is the messiah and is destined to come back. If you know anything about basic Judaism, you know there's something off about that.

The mentality even expands into Israel where a lot of the settlers who were kicked out the Gaza Strip--and elsewhere--followed this mindset. Meaning that in the pure Zionist ideal, no Jews should be in Israel until the messiah comes. But some of these settlers believe that the messiah has come--or is on the way--and are preemptively getting ready for his 'glorious' return. I think it's the Hassidim's way of explaining and accepting Israel's existance. But then again, I have never understood Hassids.

I also think alot of this infighting stems from the larger issue of the loss of the cultural--yet not religious--Jewish culture that used to permeate New York. Before, the Hassids would routinely spend their energies converting 'lost souls' with 'Mitzvah Tanks'. I had to plan a whole route to avoid them growing up when I was a kid; can't I just buy my Spider-Man comics and play wiffle ball in peace?

But that's a digression.

So now, without as many of these secular Jews around the Hassids are basically turning on themselves and coming up with some batshit insane ideas to explain the world around them. Which seems to be a disturbing trend in extreme religious groups worldwide.

Of interest--and I just Googled this--is a Blog devoted to "...ramblings, Musings, Observations (and maybe some facts) about 770 Eastern Parkway, the Heart of the Chabad-Lubavitch Chasidic Movement': http://770blogger.blogspot.com/

Seems like a very good insiders/oustsiders view.

dailyheights

You lost me at Schneerson... But then I read further...

On the surface, these guys may seem apocalyptic or off... however, I think the best angle for an article would be: OK, these guys appear apocalyptic or off. But is there anything to it? I'm not saying, be apologetic about them. I'm saying give them the benefit of the doubt.

Now go already, give me 4500 words, shnell. Nu, shoyn!

Sincerely,

Editor-at-Large
BRKLYN BKLYN BKLN BKN BN B or whatever the acronym is

t-fal

i never have many interactions with them, other than when i am occasionally asked if i'm jewish. which i'm not, so as soon as i say no they always move right along. a jewish friend of mine explained that if you say yes, they will ask you to pray with them. one thing that really fascinates me though, is the seemingly huge disparity between the younger set, the boys seem much more active in promoting and studying the religion, whereas the young girls are almost indistiguishable from every other young teenage girl in nyc, but for their manner of dress. i never know what to make of that, i guess its just leftover "issues" as i was forced to participate in catholicism when i was growing up, and really didn't like being told what to believe as a mere accident of birth. so i'm always perplexed by kids who are also brought up in religious households, but end up becoming enthusiastic participants in that religion.

jack

dailyheights wrote: On the surface, these guys may seem apocalyptic or off... however, I think the best angle for an article would be: OK, these guys appear apocalyptic or off. But is there anything to it? I'm not saying, be apologetic about them. I'm saying give them the benefit of the doubt.

Just to be clear, the only one's I think are apocalyptic are the one's who believe Schneerson is the messiah. The rest of them are fine with me and I don't have any major issues with them.

The rest of my rambling is trying to explain how/why they might have gotten to the point where a splinter group of them formed a messianic approach to their faith.

anonymous

Frankly, I find that the title of your article reveals the fact that while you may not know much about Lubavitch, you do know that the 'Messiah issue' will sell the papers.
Anyone who really knows Lubavitch Crown Heights could tell you that the 'big names' at Lubavitch Headquarters are fighting the messianic issue.

We are getting really tired of 'reporters' trying to stir things further by getting
all the facts wrong.

anonymous

* The least you could do is name the article 'Lubavitch in CH' or something of the sort, and expand later on. Your title seems to imply that everyone in CH has messianic tendencies.

anonymous

As a native to CH. ihave found the neighboring Hasids quite racist and very close minded. They asked my sister who is an chemical engineer if she would like to clean some houses. When she replied she had her doctorate the woman was clueless. Then she said well do you have any family or friends. Let us not forget the Hasid only housing as well as the harrasment of non-Hasid homeowners by hasids to buy their homes. They offer cash below property value and to owners who aren't in any financial distress. The best to handle them is to ask for their real estate license. They get very scared.