Obama honours Lubavitcher rebbe’s birthday

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Mukherjee80
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30 Mar 2013, 7:22 pm

Quote:

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/03/22/3122841/obama-declares-lubavitcher-rebbes-birthday-education-and-sharing-day#When:12:55:00Z

Obama declares Lubavitcher rebbe’s birthday ‘Education and Sharing Day’
March 22, 2013
(JTA) -- President Obama has declared Friday "Education and Sharing Day" in tribute to the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, whose birthday is March 22.

“This day recalls the memory of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who taught generations of young men and women the importance of education and good character,” Obama wrote in a Presidential Proclamation posted on the White House website on Thursday.

Here is some background on Rabbi Schneerson, from the American Council for Judaism's website:

Quote:

http://www.acjna.org/acjna/articles_detail.aspx?id=34

It Is Time to Confront the Exclusionary Ethnocentrism in Jewish Sacred Literature

Allan C. Brownfeld
Issues
Winter 2000

Common to both the Talmud and the Halacha, Orthodox religious law, is a differentiation between Jews and non-Jews. The highly revered Rabbi Menachem Mandel Schneerson, who headed the Chabad movement and wielded great influence in Israel as well as in the U.S., explained that, "The difference between a Jewish and a non- Jewish person stems from the common expression: `Let us differentiate.' Thus, we do not have a case of profound change in which a person is merely on a superior level. Rather we have a case of `let us differentiate" between totally different species. This is what needs to be said about the body: the body of a Jewish person is of a totally different quality from the body of (members) of all nations of the world...A non-Jew's entire reality is only vanity. It is written, `And the strangers shall guard and feed your flocks' (Isaiah 61:5). The entire creation (of a non-Jew) exists only for the sake of the Jews..."

Sosiologismus
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30 Mar 2013, 8:19 pm

Sounds reasonable. And like a political act of loyalty to Israel maybe. I can't exactly place Schneerson, but he seem to have been a good guy. It's impressive to see the idealism of Obama, "the other side of the US" as Oliver Stone said. I wonder how rational those ideals are, and what they really are. But I like him a lot, anyway, he's an impressive guy.

Also, is Schneerson hebrew?

Mukherjee80
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31 Mar 2013, 5:59 am

Sosiologismus wrote:

Sounds reasonable. And like a political act of loyalty to Israel maybe. I can't exactly place Schneerson, but he seem to have been a good guy.

I'm wondering if you even read my whole post.
Here is that quote from Schneerson one more time,

"The difference between a Jewish and a non- Jewish person stems from the common expression: `Let us differentiate.' Thus, we do not have a case of profound change in which a person is merely on a superior level. Rather we have a case of `let us differentiate" between totally different species. This is what needs to be said about the body: the body of a Jewish person is of a totally different quality from the body of (members) of all nations of the world...A non-Jew's entire reality is only vanity. It is written, `And the strangers shall guard and feed your flocks' (Isaiah 61:5). The entire creation (of a non-Jew) exists only for the sake of the Jews..."

He doesn't sound like he was much of a good guy to me.

Sosiologismus wrote:

Also, is Schneerson hebrew?

The name? I don't know. Maybe he was related to Cyril Sneer.

fueledbycoffee
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31 Mar 2013, 6:51 am

Schneerson, like many Jewish names, is German.

Lubavitcher Rebbe seems like a man. Seems like he did a lot of good and some bad. I see nothing wrong with honoring him for the good and censuring him for the bad. And that line of thinking has run deep in the Jewish community. Their self-imposed segregation and belief that they are God's holy people, and therefore superior, has allowed them to survive as a cohesive community for thousands of years. It's been less than a century since the Holocaust and the foundation of Israel. It is hard to change a religious mind in such a short time. I'm inclined to cut him some slack.

ruveyn
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31 Mar 2013, 10:09 am

Mukherjee80 wrote:

Common to both the Talmud and the Halacha, Orthodox religious law, is a differentiation between Jews and non-Jews. The highly revered Rabbi Menachem Mandel Schneerson, who headed the Chabad movement and wielded great influence in Israel as well as in the U.S., explained that, "The difference between a Jewish and a non- Jewish person stems from the common expression: `Let us differentiate.' Thus, we do not have a case of profound change in which a person is merely on a superior level. Rather we have a case of `let us differentiate" between totally different species. This is what needs to be said about the body: the body of a Jewish person is of a totally different quality from the body of (members) of all nations of the world...A non-Jew's entire reality is only vanity. It is written, `And the strangers shall guard and feed your flocks' (Isaiah 61:5). The entire creation (of a non-Jew) exists only for the sake of the Jews..."

[/quote]

Now you know why I never got attached to the Chabad movement. It is racist, pure and simple. The Rebbe used to teach that Jews possessed an additional soul, not possessed by the gentiles. This is balderdash, plain and simple.

ruveyn

Sosiologismus
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31 Mar 2013, 10:18 am

Mukherjee80 wrote:

Sosiologismus wrote:

Sounds reasonable. And like a political act of loyalty to Israel maybe. I can't exactly place Schneerson, but he seem to have been a good guy.

I'm wondering if you even read my whole post.
Here is that quote from Schneerson one more time,

I thought he said that in retrospect in relation to "It Is Time to Confront the Exclusionary Ethnocentrism in Jewish Sacred Literature", the headline, which seemed like a good idea. If he does the opposite, well, then obviously its stupid. The education and sharing values are still good values, though.

Maybe he shouldn't be honored for this.. In a modern society it is very harmful to have that way of thinking, even though historically you can cut him some slack. So the decision may not have been that good after all.

Sylkat
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31 Mar 2013, 5:32 pm

Some Jews believe that Rabbi Schneerson was The Messiah.

He was a remarkable man, truly believed what he wrote and taught.

His beliefs were of the segment of Judaism in which he was born and raised.

Despite the aspects of his teachings which seem questionable to non-Jews, his right to his religious beliefs are inalienable, as promised to all Americans.

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31 Mar 2013, 7:29 pm

ruveyn wrote:

Mukherjee80 wrote:

ruveyn wrote:

Now you know why I never got attached to the Chabad movement. It is racist, pure and simple. The Rebbe used to teach that Jews possessed an additional soul, not possessed by the gentiles. This is balderdash, plain and simple.

ruveyn

I'm curious. What about converts.

knowbody15
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31 Mar 2013, 10:36 pm

Schneerson is referring to a fundamental hasidic teaching found in "The Tanya" which anyone can read, about this idea: http://www.chabadwimbledon.com/template ... -Achra.htm

I'm not a hassid, but I know a bit about the idea he's talking about. Every person has two souls, a heavenly and an Earthly, or holy and and animal......it gets complicated. But in short, what I think he's talking about ,it's the reason Jews must follow the commandments, if jews dont no one will. No Jew, IMO, could use the justification that their soul is somehow "better" to commit evil acts. The idea Schneerson is talking about should only be relevant in following the commandments. No Israeli policy or your Jewish neighbor's not cutting his hedges should ever be justified because the Jew thinks his soul is "better." That's not what he's talking about.

The quote is what you think it is, and it's not what you think it is.....plus look at the man's actions and judge him by that.

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KnarlyDUDE09
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04 Apr 2013, 12:38 pm

fueledbycoffee wrote:

ruveyn wrote:

Mukherjee80 wrote:

ruveyn wrote:

I'm curious. What about converts.

Some people like to believe that converts are Jewish souls trapped in a non-Jewish body. Others believe that the souls of converts were present at Mount Sinai when the Jewish people received the Torah from G-d. Others believe that people have what is called a "pintele yid" or 'spark of Jewishness' from within their soul that makes them feel an affinity for Judaism, enough for them to want to convert. Also, it is believed by others that the only possible reason that a person becomes Jewish is that somewhere within their family/ancestry was a Jewish person- either that, or that the person was always halachically Jewish, but just didn't know i.e. a lot of members of the Bnei Anusim/Marranos that were forcibly converted to Christianity many centuries ago, many of their descendants have experienced a revival of their Jewish faith.

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fueledbycoffee
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04 Apr 2013, 5:53 pm

Very interesting. I've always wondered how conversion would work, considering the heavy ethnic focus of Judaism. That made a lot of sense.

KnarlyDUDE09
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04 Apr 2013, 5:59 pm

fueledbycoffee wrote:

Very interesting. I've always wondered how conversion would work, considering the heavy ethnic focus of Judaism. That made a lot of sense.

Glad to be of assistance...

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