Buber, Bokser & The Rebbe

Buber, Bokser & the Rebbe

In honor the day of Passing, Taamuz 3,

of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Shneersohn

By Rabbi Mordechai Z. Hecht,

Forest Hills, NY

Three Great Myths

Three of the greatest myths in life include, “Where I live will make no difference on my lifestyle,” “who I fraternize with will have no effect on my character,” and finally, “what I eat will have no consequence on my health.”

We are all now well aware of the reality that where I live will have a very great impact on my lifestyle, who I fraternize with will surely affect me in so many ways and what I eat will definitely affect my health.

Often in life we draw conclusions, come to assumptions, or simply fall back on myths to accommodate our decisions and our lifestyle choices.

Although it is true that our childhood and upbringing have a deep and profound impact on our lives, there is no doubt that the steps we take and the choices we make impact them even more. As man has quintessential free choice, one can change their nature and choose a path they wish to follow. No one says it will be easy, but it is possible.

Buber

Martin Buber and his essays on the Chassidic way of life, his idealization of Chassidic masters and his beautiful retelling of Chassidic tales have cast an aura of glamour over the mystical world of Chassidim. Yet many would make the claim that Buber has transposed what he learned of “Hasidism” into western idiom, detaching the tale and aphorism from its existential source. Chassidism, as Buber himself has indicated, was folk experience even more than ideology, and the sense of the “living folk”, particularly that of adherence to Halacha and Jewish law, has been filtered out of his writings. But Chassidism is not a way of the past or a folk tale, or even a legend, as romantic as that may sound, but rather alive and kicking in the new world, globally.

Perhaps his approach to the Chassidic way of life was influenced and equated with his studies in Anthropology and Sociology, using Chassidism as a subject, as he embraced the teachings of Kant, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Albeit, let it be known that he was a great descendant of the Mahram of Padua, Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen, whose roots stem back to the house of David.

Perhaps we can further say that Buber was somewhat of an Artistic Historian in this matter, as they deemed him the founder of “Hebrew Humanism”, albeit more religious than classic Zionism. While we are told that he loved the Chassidic culture and spirit, his way  was somewhat far from Classic Traditional Judaism and Chassidism.

Another man who lived some years later, and who has also made his mark in certain circles in Judaism, was Rabbi Bokser. Although not a Chassid himself, he was more pragmatic and real, more critical in his understanding of Chassidism and his approach towards their way of life.

Boxer

In an article entitled “Hasidism and the Human Dilemma”, Yiddish Journal, Summer 1973 Vol. 1 Issue 1, Ben Zion Bokser, the Rabbi then of the Forest Hills Jewish Center in Queens, NY and adjunct professor of Yiddish at CUNY, Queens College, in analyzing the Chassidic way of life and a most recent book published by Eli Wiesel entitled, Souls On Fire, wrote:

“The most dramatic indication of the power of Chassidism to satisfy the mystical quest is the new vitality of Chassidic Communities extant in this country and abroad. Masters from various Chassidic Dynasties have established courts in Israel and the United States and they enjoy a following. The most important and the most influential of these Chassidic communities is, of course, represented by the Lubavitcher [Rebbe]. Centered in Brooklyn, NY the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s emissaries travel throughout this country and abroad to make converts to the philosophy of Chabad and to the deep piety, based on the quest for the experience of G-d through devotional performance of the commandments. His adherents have included Jews from all strata of society, cutting across our denominational divisions and making converts even among those conditioned by secularism and assimilation”

These words of Bokser from 1973 echo in our days. If only he could be around to see oh, how we’ve grown and succeeded in this philosophy indeed.

So what is it about Chabad and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and what is the mold of his followers that makes them who they are today?

The Rebbe

Perhaps we can sum up the Rebbe, elementarily, as a two-pronged approach to Judaism and what has become commonly known as Outreach, which can be explained quite simply as the Jewish Community and the Individual.

Every Community – Every Jew

1) Chabad Community Approach

a. Abstract Jewish Community – Am Yisrael as it exists today is also the Am Yisroel that stood at Mount Sinai.

b. Actual Jewish Community – By making itself wholly available to a “marginal Jew”, be it a great scholar or be it the Jew with little or no Jewish knowledge, and opening a door [like at the Seder], to come and explore their great Jewish heritage, is the solution for Jewish assimilation.

2) Chabad Individual Approach

a. The Jewish Individual – In a world struggling to promote inspiring Jewish ideas to an increasing Jewish population and in a world of infinite peer pressure and side tracking, is a cause for each individual person worth having self sacrifice for, showing dedication and commitment to the greater good of the Jewish community, globally.

b. The Practical Jewish Individual – In a world where we can do anything we want, to foster a love and connection to practical hands-on Torah study and mitzvoth.

Every Mitzvah – Every Jew

In the Rebbe’s emissaries one sees infinite dedication, selflessness and commitment to the ideal that (1) every mitzvah, big or small, is equally vital, and (2) every Jew, of any level, state of mind or being, is a critical link in the Jewish chain of life and lineage, all the way back to Moses and Aron, and even further back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebbekah, Rachel and Leah. Links in a chain of Torah and mitzvot which, as we are taught by our sages, connects us to G-d, creating an everlasting bond, which can never really be broken.

It is most amazingly in Boxer’s words that we come to understand perhaps the foundation of the Chabad Lubavitch technique:

“The decisive characteristic of Chassidism was the embodiment of its ideational element in a life style. At the heart of it was a community formed in response to this faith and as its corporate expression; and the center of this community was the Rebbe or living master. He was the charismatic leader through whom the higher spiritual influences flowed to the individual Chassid. He was G-d’s representative to man. And man’s intercessor before G-d. He radiated spiritual and ethical sensitivity, and he was the bond that held the community together in close ties of fraternity.”

What Bokser is basically saying is, you are where you live, you are who you connect yourself with and you are what you eat – spiritually, at least. Apparently Chassidim, and particularly Chabad followers, have a great plan of community living and a healthy spiritual diet.

Bokser goes on and laments the woes that have plagued certain Chassidic sects [ beyond the scope of this article] including issues such as opposition to Zionism, fierce hostility to the State of Israel, and even more philosophically the “over stressing of the role of Divine providence in human affairs and disparaging the creative role of Human initiative.” Yet, as you will see in a moment, what he writes is almost prophetic:

“In only one school of thought in Chassidism was this disparagement of mans initiative minimized – in the Chabad movement. The Tanya of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, which is the primary guide for this movement, shows an impressive respect for the competence of reason…”

He goes on to say that mysticism and reason must go hand in hand, as he quotes such rationalists as Bertrand Russell and Morris R. Cohen “as arguing the fact for the need to supplement reason with the creative insights of mystical experience.”

Two things are clear from Bokser words. First, that a multi-pronged approach is needed for Judaism to survive and prosper, and second, his fondness for the Chabad philosophy and way of life.

Two things are furthermore clear in Judaism. One, love of G-d and two, love of every Jew. If you truly come to love every Jew, you will truly come to understand what it means to love G-d and vice versa. You will then come to love the Am Echad – the singular-collective nation – with a singular land of Israel. only for the chosen people, under one G-d.

Rav Kook

It is perhaps in the words of the “splendid type of Jewish mystic,” unlike Buber, Rabbi Isaac Avraham Kook, late Chief Rabbi of [Palestine] Israel, that we can package the key to Chabad’s success fusing together Chassidism and modernity, affording it an open door and an outlet to foster growth and success in global Judaism. “The highest goal of mystical illumination is to charge the soul with a Divine sensitivity, whose dominant demand is the perfection of the Moral, social, intellectual, and practical world. Which must be preceded by profound moral and intellectual refinement.”

The Rebbe was a master intellectual and a master of personal refinement. It is no doubt the reason for the dedication of the thousands of his followers and the fuel of his emissaries across the globe.

Post Note

I too have found residence in Forest Hills, and although I have not published any books and do not have a street named after me, as does Rabbi Bokser, I have gotten on the Chabad band wagon and have dedicated my life to this ideal, the Rebbe’s lifestyle, as many of my colleagues across the globe.

May the readers of this article visit their nearest Chabad house, seek the “open door” to Judaism and into a wholesome Jewish lifestyle - for themselves and their families now and forever.