MOSHIACH & GEULA
 
   

Does Moshiach Have A Hechsher?
Transcribed by Alexander Zushe Kohn
Just a few short weeks ago, we brought you the transcript of a lively Moshiach discussion that aired Motzaei Shabbos Parshas VaYechi, on "Talkline With Zev Brenner, 570 WMCA," (790 WAXY in Florida). As you know, the topic of Moshiach remains in the fore, and this past Motzaei Shabbos U’Motzaei Shavuos, another such discussion was broadcast over the same airwaves. This time, the merit belongs to a Manhattan Rabbi named Mark Angel, who objects to the belief that the Rebbe is Moshiach.
Rabbi Shimon Silman, a noted scholar and professor of mathematics, responded to Rabbi Mark’s accusations by presenting the Torah’s view on the subject. Once again we present the transcript.

Zev Brenner: With us now on the program is Rabbi Shimon Silman, professor of mathematics at Touro College. He’s also a classmate of Rabbi Mark Angel. Professor Silman, welcome to the program.

Rabbi Silman: Thank you Zev. How are you? A gutte vuch.

Z. Brenner: Good. Gutt vuch. First, I want to begin with your comments on the former classmate of yours, whom you just heard - Rabbi Mark Angel. As I said, I personally respect Rabbi Angel, but disagree with his perspective regarding Chabad. I want to get your perspective, having heard Rabbi Angel, a former classmate.

Rabbi Silman: Well, first of all, Zev, let me say that he wasn’t exactly a classmate. He’s a little older than me, and he was my dorm counselor. It’s been a good thirty years since I’ve seen him, but I hear him again tonight, for the first time in thirty years.

Z. Brenner: And what were your thoughts when you heard what he had to say regarding Chabad?

Rabbi Silman: Well, first let me say this: When you deal with any intellectual matter, the first thing you have to do is make sure that your assumptions, your axioms, are in order. Because you can make one slight error at the foundation, and that blows up into a major error when you start drawing conclusions from your assumptions. And I think that’s what happened here.

I hear he says that Lubavitchers believe that the Rebbe MH"M is Moshiach, and believe that he’s G-d.

These are two entirely different things. We certainly believe that the Rebbe MH"M is Moshiach, but we don’t say that he’s G-d. These are two entirely different concepts that are not connected.

So when it comes to believing that the Rebbe MH"M is Moshiach, and an orthodox Jew is interested in knowing how he should relate to the matter, I would say, first of all, the following: One of the major leaders of orthodox Jewry in this generation is, unquestionably, Reb Aharon Soloveitchik, zichrono livracha. I think everyone knows him, and certainly the whole orthodox and yeshiva world are familiar with him. He already made a statement on this, and he published a letter on this in the Jewish Press, back in 1996. I’m really surprised that in all these discussions - Rabbi Angel, and Berger and everyone else - everyone seems to ignore his letter. For the sake of the listeners, I think that it would be appropriate to read a few lines from that letter -okay?

Z. Brenner: Go ahead. By the way, I think it was discussed - on this program. I think there are some who say that Rabbi Soloveitchik either changed his mind, or retracted his letter. You’ve heard that… I think Dr. Berger himself may have said that.

Rabbi Silman: Well, let me read his letter and—

Z. Brenner: Sure. Let’s hear the letter directly.

Rabbi Silman: Okay. In the letter - I won’t read the whole thing, but what’s relevant to us is the following: He says, "Insofar as the belief held by many in Lubavitch, based in part on similar statements made by the Rebbe himself concerning his predecessor, the Previous Rebbe, including prominent rabbanim and roshei yeshiva, that the Rebbe can still be Moshiach, in light of the Gemara in Sanhedrin, the Zohar, Abarbanel, Kisvei HaArizal, S’dei Chemed and other sources, it cannot be dismissed as a belief that is outside the pale of orthodoxy."

Now really, I have to say, I don’t understand what all this excitement is, if there is a clear statement with sources. He gives S’farim, sources, and we’re familiar with these sources, [which show] that this is a belief that Orthodox Judaism - not just Lubavitch, but Orthodox Judaism - should accept. So why is everyone ignoring this? For Orthodox Judaism, I think this should be something that puts the matter to rest. No one should have any problem with Reb Aharon Soloveitchik’s p’sak.

Z. Brenner: I think nobody has problems with it. But as I said, I think there are some who say that he may have changed it. But again, I’m not privy to that.

Rabbi Silman: He did issue a letter following this up, but he did not retract his original letter by any means. And I personally know the people who were involved, who went to him to speak to him when he wrote this letter.

Z. Brenner: Let me say this: You know, I think there are two separate issues over here. It is a minority opinion, and the fact is that most Jews believe that the Messiah will come from the ranks of the living. Even Lubavitch believed that until Gimmel Tammuz. You’ll admit that Professor Silman, right? Until Gimmel Tammuz, you yourself, or any other member [of Lubavitch], said the Rebbe is Moshiach, he’s here from the ranks of the living. When Gimmel Tammuz occurred, the thinking changed to accommodate the reality... That, I think, made people uncomfortable, because for thousands of years, in debates - if you look at the great debates between Jews and Christians, regarding the savior and Messiah - I think that one distinction that has been made clear is that Jews believe the Messiah will come from the ranks of the living, and at the end of days, whereas the Christians believe that he came already, and is going to come again, which means that he’s coming from the ranks of the dead.

So there’s been a change - although Lubavitch certainly has a basis on which to hang their hat on, and point to certain opinions - but there’s been a change in how they themselves view it, and that’s made other Jews uncomfortable, because it’s a change from the normative Jewish view, that’s held today, and for thousands of years. And I think you can appreciate that.

Rabbi Silman: No. I disagree with that - on two levels. Number one, the idea, or the possibility that Moshiach can come from someone who has passed away, has never been a minority opinion. It’s something that’s discussed in the Gemara. And the Abarbanel - who is, obviously, well known as one of the major commentaries on the Tanach - wrote an entire seifer on Moshiach, called Yeshuos Meshicho, and based on this Gemara he says, "Don’t be surprised if Moshiach comes from one who has passed away." In certain sifrei kabbala it even says explicitly that that is what will happen. Okay, there are other sifrei kabbala that say otherwise, but it’s always been in s’farim that such a thing is possible.

The second point I want to make is that what we believe goes beyond that. We do not believe that he passed away, we believe that - just like we say tonight in Kiddush Levana, "Dovid Melech Yisroel chai v’kayam," which is something that is established in the Gemara, just like "Yaakov Avinu lo meis" - so too we believe that the Rebbe MH"M is chai v’kayam.

Z. Brenner: Are you saying the Rebbe didn’t die?

Rabbi Silman: That’s correct. Just like we’re saying that Yaakov Avinu didn’t die, Dovid HaMelech did not die… Some people even say al derech ha’tzachus, that that’s why right after "Dovid Melech Yisroel chai v’kayam" in Kiddush Levana, all of a sudden we turn to each other and say, "Shalom Aleichem," and everyone says "Aleichem Shalom." What’s the connection? Because when you go ahead and say, "Dovid Melech Yisroel chai v’kayam," people say, "what do you mean, you’re saying he didn’t die?" People get nervous and upset, so we say Shalom Aleichem to everybody, and make friends and make sure that no one is upset.

Z. Brenner: Well, Dovid HaMelech died on Shavuos - that’s why we read Megillas Rus. But his words live on, his legacy lives on, his Torah lives on. All the great sages, we say, live on even after death, because we keep them alive. The fact that we read Rus and we talk about Dovid, means that he’s still alive for us, but he’s not alive in the physical sense. When Moshiach comes, he certainly is of the Davidic line, or it could be Dovid HaMelech himself, it could be King David himself, but certainly Dovid HaMelech is not physically here.

Rabbi Silman: I’ll tell you Zev, there’s a whole discussion on this in the Alshich. The Alshich, again, is one of the major commentaries on the Tanach, just like the Abarbanel, and he explains at length the Gemara’s statement that "Yaakov Avinu lo meis." Because like you said, in a sense, all tzaddikim continue to live. So the Alshich says, what does the Gemara mean by saying, "Yaakov Avinu lo meis," if all tzaddikim are considered living? And he explains a technical difference between one [type of] tzaddik and another. He says, in general, tzaddikim are called yeshenei afar ["those who dwell in the dust," rather than "meisim"] for the following reason: The neshama has three parts. When a regular person dies, all three parts - the nefesh, the ruach and the neshama - leave the body. That’s called death. Now, by tzaddikim - all tzaddikim the Alshich says - the nefesh remains in the body. Therefore, all tzaddikim are, to an extent, alive even after they pass away. That’s why - he says - they’re not called meisim - they’re called yeshenei afar. Now, how is Yaakov Avinu different? The Gemara makes a point of saying Yaakov Avinu lo meis, i.e., Yaakov Avinu is different from all tzaddikim in this respect, because with Yaakov Avinu, the Alshich says, the Nefesh, the Ruach and the Neshama all stayed in the body, together with all the kochos of the Nefesh. Everything stayed in the body; it remained unchanged.

So, Yaakov Avinu is alive, and even though we don’t see it. We don’t see Neshamos in the first place. There are certain limitations to what the physical eye can see.

Z. Brenner: Well, every soul is alive to a certain degree. We believe in the Resurrection of the Dead. That’s a basic tenet of Judaism. And that’s why I think people are uncomfortable, because the Rebbe is no longer among the ranks of the living. And even in Lubavitch, I think, there are probably different points of view as to the degree of what exactly happened - if he’ll come back, or not. Your position is that he didn’t really die, that he just is not visible right now. That’s what you’re saying to me.

Rabbi Silman: Yes. I’ll tell you something else. Every Jew says, "Shma Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem echad." Do you know the meaning of Shma Yisroel? I mean, we want to declare the unity of Hashem, so why do we say, "Shma Yisroel"? Why don’t we just say, "Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad"? I’ll tell you what the Midrash says about that. The Midrash Rabba says that when we say Shma Yisroel we’re talking to Yaakov Avinu, just like his sons said to him, "Shma Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad," when he gave the brachos to them. He asked them if their emuna in Hashem was complete, and they said, "Shma Yisroel" - they were talking to Yisroel, their father - "Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad." To this very day, says the Midrash, we’re saying, "Shma Yisroel Avinu b’Me’aras HaMachpela." We’re talking to Yaakov Avinu.

So, this thing of "Yaakov Avinu lo meis," is not a poetic thing, it’s not an allegory. This is something that is real - real life. The same is true when we make a point of saying "Dovid Melech Yisroel chai v’kayam." And the sifrei kabbala, and even the Gemara, say that about Melech HaMoshiach - that he doesn’t pass away. Whether it looks like that, or it doesn’t look like that, the fact of the matter is that he doesn’t pass away.

I think that whatever a person’s point of view on this matter is - I’m going back to your original question - this is all, for sure, within the realm of Torah. Whether you go with the s’farim that say that Moshiach is alive, just like Yaakov Avinu is alive, or you go with the Abarbanel, or those sifrei kabbala that say that "something else" will happen.

Z. Brenner: I want to get back to what Rabbi Angel said...

(To be continued.)

   

For Orthodox Judaism, I think this should be something that puts the matter at rest. No one should have any problem with Reb Aharon Soloveitchik’s p’sak.

   

YECHI ADONEINU MOREINU V'RABBEINU MELECH HA'MOSHIACH L'OLAM VA'ED!

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