In the prologue to this new book on the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Ezra Glinter approaches his subject with refreshing self-consciousness:
I am not so naive … as to think I am unbiased.… Although this book is not in the first person, the material that I chose to include or emphasize reflects my own judgment in what is important in understanding a fraught and complex subject …
One of the complexities of R. Schneerson is that he was apparently a reluctant leader. He spent ten years as a student in Berlin and Paris, a demonstration of his preference for lonely study. And in the 1990s, R. Scheerson explained that he was “more of a private person, a researcher, not a public person. So [being rebbe] didn’t fit my goals.”
The author both critiques and praises the Rebbe for his contributions and management style. On the one hand, Glinter readily acknowledges how R. Schneerson took an essentially moribund Hasidic group, Chabad, and turned it into a powerful, far-reaching religious outreach and social services organization with branches all over the world. But the Rebbe’s style was imperious; several times throughout the book, Glinter goes so far as to call it “militaristic.” An oft-cited criticism of R. Schneerson was that he would only listen to and quote secular proofs that supported positions to which he was amenable, and would ignore those he opposed. His antipathy toward Black non-Jews contributed to the riots in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights: in 1991, a car accompanying R. Schneerson struck two Guyanese children, killing one of them. ; R. Schneerson opted not to attempt to deescalate the situation by meeting with non-Jewish clergymen, who would have appreciated his support.
R. Schneerson took on a number of projects, all founded on his deep conviction that a religious society was better than a non-religious one, whether it was Jewish or not. Millions of public-school children were allowed to leave school early once a week to attend religious classes off-site, until a coalition of primarily Jewish organizations successfully challenged the program in the Supreme Court on the basis of the First Amendment of the Constitution. R. Schneerson also oversaw outreach to non-Jews, via billboards and emissaries, to encourage the observance of the seven Noahide Commandments. (This has been considered the least successful of Lubavitch projects, because despite the support of presidents and members of Congress, Lubavitch emissaries did not prioritize it in the manner that they did other initiatives.) Another project involved erecting menorahs outside Chabad centers in order to compete with the placing of nativity scenes in public venues — a project that has withstood all court challenges.
On R. Schneerson’s relationship to feminism, Glinter writes, “Although Chabad envisioned a broader and more significant role for women than other fundamentalist groups did … R. Schneerson attacked the feminist movement, insisting on the gender essentialism of traditional Hasidic society.” Once again, pragmatism for the improvement of the movement was in conflict with the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s personal policy commitments.
During his lifetime, R. Schneerson was so bent on bringing the Messiah that toward the end of his life, when he was ill and incapacitated, he allowed himself to be declared the Messiah. Glinter’s masterful biography of R. Schneerson sheds light on the Rebbe’s many virtues and flaws.
