/

Rabbi Herschel Finman of Oak Park.
While learning in yeshiva, Finman
watched a mailman arrive every day
carrying overflowing sacks of letters
addressed to the rebbe. Some question
the way Lubavitchers seemed to wor-
ship the rebbe, an idea frowned upon
in Jewish law. But Finman explains it
wasn't worshipping, it was recognizing
the rebbe as "an ideal — everybody
has to have somebody to look up to,
somebody who is going to supply spir-
itual mentorship. The Jews had it with
Moses, and in every generation there's
been a successor.
"The word rebbe is sometimes used
as an acrostic for rosh b'nai Yisroel,
leader of the children of Israel."
The Talmud says the Messiah will
be a tzaddik (righteous person), alive
or deceased. "Every great rabbi
through the centuries knew they were
capable of being the Messiah," says
Rabbi Bergstein. "It can't really be a
hidden tzaddik. It has to be a public
figure who has public authority and
works on bringing people back ... In
this generation, there was no one like
the Lubavitcher rebbe, I can tell you
that."
Bergstein says the schism between
Lubavitchers who believed the rebbe
was the Moshiach and those who did-
n't existed prior to his death.
"The rebbe was saying these are the
times of
Moshiach. We,
here in Detroit,
assumed that
meant it was our
job to tell the
world that
Moshiach was
going to come.
Our job was not
to make any kinds
of coronations or
posters with an
individual ... 80
percent of
shluchim (emis-
saries) felt the
same way
"After the
rebbe's stroke,
Far left: Rabbi Menachem
there were people
Schneerson died in 1994.
who felt that we
should now publi-
Far left, top: Rabbi
cize that he was
Herschel Finman, bottom:
the messiah who
Rabbi Yitschak Kagan
was ... and that he
was suffering for
• This page, clockwise from
us. Most of us did
top left: Rabbi Elimelech
not believe that ...
Silberbe, Ghana Finman,

'bout doing it themselves, it's a life
work — that part everyone's totally
.greement about."
Zabbi Yitschak Kagan, associate
ctor of the Lubavitch Foundation
vlichigan, says Lubavitchers now
.nk about the rebbe more — obvi-
)we miss him. If you read the
1that other people have written
ut the rebbe, not Lubavitchers, the
rd that comes up more than any
is 'presence,' he had this amaz-
presence, it seemed to envelop
ple he had conversations with.
ting a dollar from the rebbe and
good wishes and looking into his
blue eyes — that is something
•
-uss.
Since the rebbe died, "we tend to
together more often," with more
luent regional conventions, involv-
I-_,bbis from five or six states, he
s. "In Michigan, we didn't really
re a steady set of meetings, and we
now, the shluchim meet about once
nth."
Ube rebbe still gives direction to his
issaries, Kagan says. "He taught me
42 years. He influenced me. That
luence is with me. Forget the elec-
nic recording — think about the
recording."
"There's a unique relationship
:ween the Chasid and the rebbe, a
1-,y personal relationship," explains

/

/

,,

1; 25V, '"

C C

Rabbi Chaim Bergstein

Bergstein believes

the intent was not to publicize an
individual, but to publicize the con-
cept of messianic times, to increase the
beliefs of the Jewish people.
When a boss goes away, the
employee doesn't stop working, Rabbi
Rabin says. "It's an outlook on life
that the rebbe gave over and shared,
wkich is very alive. It's not a tempo-
rary thing, doesn't depend on one
individual."
Many Lubavitcher families still
have framed photographs of the rebbe
on the walls of their homes. But for
some, it has been a lonely since the
rebbe died.
"When I would be faced by a crisis,
I would always think of the rebbe,"
Bergstein says. "Emotionally, I felt a
closeness ... It's hard for me to do that

The rebbe
was an "ideal."

with the rebbe deceased, to deal with
the rebbe in an ethereal manner.
"To me the rebbe's greatness was
the fact that he was always there,
never took a day's vacation, always
answering queries, always concerned
with other people. Because you don't
see that, it's lonely."
Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg, of Bais
Chabad of West Bloomfield, says "like
anything else, you get used to things.
"The rebbe was, for most of us, not
that approachable for over 25 years —
the movement got so big. In the first
years of the rebbe's leadership, it was
possible to go and have a private audi-
ence with the rebbe; the last 20-25
years that became impossible."
"For most Chasidim like ourselves,
the rebbe was a source of inspiration.
The Zohar tells us that a tzaddik's
inspiration remains in the world after
he passes on and even more so."
But one big difference now is the
lack of Torah "giants," Silberberg says.
Lubavitch or not, "when I was grow-
ing up you had giants: Rabbi Moshe
Feinstein, Rabbi Joseph B.
Soloveitchik — there isn't a group like
that anymore."
Rabbi Rabin says, "The ideals that
he instilled, the life of Chasidus that
he taught, is not a transient thing —
it's a forever thing, things that persons
internalize, permeated by the love for
Hashem, love for Jews — if it's part of
you, it's part of you and doesn't go
away."

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