An interview with Rabbi David Karpov, a Shaliyach in Otradnoe, Moscow

This interview is a companion post to the story reported in the Hostile takeover in Moscow.

03.31.05 - 12:15 pm
Tzemach Atlas calls R. David Karpov�s home. His wife picks up the phone. �Alyeo, hey is that you, you publish what? The internet, ahh, my internet is broken� but Dovid has one in his office, Esterke uses it, you have her email, right? Oh, that story, I don�t know all the details, speak to Dovid.
Tzemach Atlas: Ok, tell me about this synagogue please.
Nadiya: A Tatarin (tatar) Muslim wanted to build a mosque in Otradnoe, north of Moscow. The government told him that this chutzpa will be allowed only on a condition that he also builds a Synagogue and a Russian Orthodox Church. He agreed and 7 years ago this Tatarin who technically owns all three worship buildings announced that the Synagogue was ready for the taking. Nobody wanted the building at the time, not Lazar or anyone else except David who took it and started this congregation Darkei Shalom.
TA: So what happened now?
Nadiya: I am not sure, speak to David.

TA: Tell me about the reaction of the congregation to the takeover.
Nadia: People are in shock.
TA: Why?
Nadia: We often see takeover scenes in Russia when masked armed heavies arrive and announce that the property changed hands. This basically what happened when the new security people showed up minus arms and masks and enforced the new rules.

Tzemach Atlas: Nadiya, there is a Yid named Schneur, he is asking some questions on my web site now.
Schneur: How many Lubavitcher baale batim are there in Moscow today?
Nadia: You mean passport carrying Anash? Let me look in our phone book, I see 80 families in Moscow.
TA: How many of them are bourn in Russia?
Nadia: Only three families, including us*. (*See UPDATE No.1 below)

Tzemach Atlas paraphrasing Schneur: Does the congregation support you?
Nadia: We are not supported by the congregation. But a member of the Synagogue recently paid for the renovation of the building.
Schneur: How many shuls are there in Moscow today?
Nadia: Let�s see, Archipova, Maryina Roscha, Poklonnay Gora (museum/shule?), Darkei Sholom (our Synagogue), Malay Bronnoy, Malachovka (outside of Moscow). There are also separate shules for the Mountain Jews next to Archipova and next to Maryna Roscha, plus there are improvised Shules at the two markets (for the merchants). Total 6,7, 8?

Tzemach Atlas: Can I speak to Dovid on his cell? Please tell him I will be calling. Thanks Nadia, talk to you soon.

03.31.05 - 12:35 pm
Tzemach Atlas calls Tovarish to get a bird eye view on the issue.
TA: What is the story with this takeover between Lazar and Karpov? Why would Lazar do it?
Tovarish: This is not just Darkei Shalom. Lazar�s general strategy is a complete monopoly and a methodical centralized control. This is his "glavny politichesky vector" (main political vector). He has taken over at least more than 10 synagogues in Russia and beyond.

TA: Is it Lazar or Levayev? Who is behind this?
Tovarish: I do not know. I would imagine that the idea of monopoly is appealing from the religious and business perspective, so at some theoretical point their goals might be the same.

TA: Somebody wrote that this argument is driven by the opposing political affiliations. True?
Tovarish: I don�t think so. There has been a bad blood between Lazar and Karpov for many years, but domination is Lazar�s general strategy. Lazar wants to have a national Jewish political and religious control. And right under his nose is a lively congregation that he has no say in.

TA: What about the different political organizations?
Tovarish: The umbrella organizations have attempted to coexist with each over lately and the confrontation is gone.
TA: You mean like AJ Congress and AJ Committee in USA, different structures learned to coexist side by side?
Tovarish: Yes

03.31.05 - 12:55 pm
After several dialing combinations Rabbi David Karpov�s finally picks up his cell while driving.
Tzemach Atlas: Do you know this mayse was published in a newspaper in America?
RK: Really?

TA: Somebody wrote that you met with the �Bulgarian Foreign Ministry�, etc. What are the politics of this?
RK: I don�t know about �Bulgarian Foreign Ministry� but Lazar made some noise recently because I went to a conference in Kazakhstan with some �misnagdim�. This all is a bad blood between me and Lazar really.

TA: After each question tell me if your answer is for publication or not. I don�t what to hurt you.
RK: OK

TA: Who pays you and who supports the congregation Darkei Shalom?
RK: I work for Chama, Chama has a lease on the building for 49 years from the owner, the Tatarin. With alleged new ownership of the building, legal aspect of that lease will have to be determined. The congregation is supported by Joint, Chama and the Russian Jewish Congress. Our congregation is mostly families and young people; it is not a senior citizens club where they come for the refreshments. We have classes and many programs. We built this congregation from scratch; it was an empty shell of the building 7 years ago. Jews in that area of Moscow never had a Synagogue. People have bee signing a petition against the takeover. Already several hundred signatures, without me ever asking them.

TA: It is written in the article that you are banned from giving classes at night and from having sleepovers on Shabbos. True?
RK: Yes, we were ordered to leave the premises after 8 PM. Because this Shule is remotely located, 8 PM is the earliest time most can attend the classes after wrok. So we can�t have classes during the week any longer. Additionally many can�t come here on Shabbos and YT. So we converted some rooms into the sleeping quarters. We were ordered to close this as well. Now please publish this specifically: �Tatarin, our previous Muslim owner never had problems with us learning at night or Jews staying here for Shabbos, but now under the Jewish ownership this is no longer possible!�

TA: How big is your congregation?
RK: We have a daily Minyan and we have 50-60 people on Shabbos, several hundred �till there is no more room� on Yom Tov.

TA: So what is your status?
RK: I work for Chama. Lazar can own the building but he can�t own the people who attend the services. Because he does not have a base of people, we created this from nothing in the last 7 years; he can�t take it over outright. They made me an offer to join their organization because they knew I would refuse, which I did.

TA: Is there anything you would like to say to the readers. A special message?
Rabbi David Karpov: �Yes, I see myself in Otradnoe as a Shaliyach, as such I am here be coach ha Mechaleyach and I believe he will find a way to defend his Shaliyach. I also would like to say that our congregation is named Darkei Shalom, we found a way to deal be darkei noam ve shalom with our Muslim and Christian neighbors and we would like to find a way to deal be darkei noam ve shalom with this situation as well.

Tzemach Atlas: Thanks Dovid, hatzlocha!

UPDATE No.1: "Only three Russian families", Nadia was referring to the old timers (from our days): Tamarin, Kuravsky, Karpov.
UPDATE No.2: Congregation Darkei Shalom web site.

Hostile takeover in Moscow

Berl Lazar muscles in on Rabbi Dovid Karpov. Walter Ruby reporting in the Jewish Week: The move, critics say, is the latest in a series of takeovers of property affiliated with other Jewish groups that appear at odds with the ethos of a worldwide religious movement that proclaims its love for every Jew.

"Many in Moscow speculate that Rabbi Lazar, who was born in Italy, perceives the native-born Rabbi Karpov as a threat because the latter is widely viewed as better able to connect with Moscow Jewry than are the vast majority of Chabad rabbis in the FSU, who hail from the United States, Israel and Europe."

This is a picture I took of Rabbi Dovid Karpov in his tiny appartment in Moscow in 1988 where he lived with his family and his mother in law. A Hosid and a Lamdan, a heart of pure as gold, forsake every opportunity to leave to the West.

The story is consistent with what we wrote previously about Lubavitch here, here, here and here. Berl Lazar=Shlomo Cunin?

Raboisay, can you put this in your pudding:

To enforce its new status, FEOR has dispatched a guard and a manager to Darkei Shalom who have begun enforcing a new set of regulations Rabbi Karpov considers onerous. One stipulates that everyone, including Rabbi Karpov, must leave the synagogue complex no later than 30 minutes after evening prayers, making it impossible for the rabbi to teach classes.

Another new rule forbids people from sleeping over at the facility on Friday nights, a practice Rabbi Karpov sees as a �mitzvah� that has enabled single men and families who cannot walk home on Shabbat because the synagogue is in a remote section many miles from their homes to attend services.

I will call Moscow tomorrow to get the first hand account. Meanwhile please spread the word about this and see what YOU can do. Does anyone have contacts with Levayev? Call American Jewish Congress. Can someone call HAMA?

UPDATE #1: Is anyone else uneasy looking at this?

Simon Jacobson - the proof is in the pudding

Responding to the post Was the Lubavitcher Rebbe a closet Kotzker? Simon Jacobson writes:

Hi Tzemach,
For the record I would like to clarify some of the informal comments I made to you which you posted based on your recollection. My statement that "the Rebbe was skeptical of people and did not trust them" was not at all meant the way it was posted. The Rebbe, who I should add was personal witness to the violent abuses of individual power in Soviet Russia, did not trust any individual or group of individuals with authoritative power to run Chabad. But he absolutely trusted ALL people, empowering each person to go out and teach and inspire everyone they encounter.

In other words, the Rebbe very strongly trusted people --- not to dictate or control other people, but to propagate Torah and Yiddishkeit.

Indeed, this is the legacy of Torah in general. Moses was not a CEO and did not create a "Torah" corporation with a board of directors and financial controls. Moses, a true man of G-d, left the Torah and students. Joshua succeeded Moses as Torah leader in his time, and so the chain carried on in one unbroken flow till today. Leadership was about scholarship, mitzvot and world change, not about finance and real estate. The authority of (authentic) Rabbis and Torah leaders was about all legal and spiritual matters, but not about "running" a business in the modern sense of the word. Torah was taught freely.

I would say that the Rebbe believed that grass roots empowerment was the best way to create checks and balances of individual abuses of power. Each Chabad shliach was given the mandate to establish his own board of trustees, to raise funds and build with no limits. Obviously there needs to be coordination and respect of boundaries --- and recourse to resolve conflicts before a bet din -- but not any individual (or group) has exclusive control.

America's foundation very much parallels this approach. No trust in any one monarch (or group of monarchs), yet "all men were created equal."

The brilliance in this is that quality control was maintained due to the profound spiritual compass instilled in each Chassid by the Rebbe, while allowing for the motivation and drive that can only come with decentralization -- each organization driven to succeed independently. If people were mere employees of some centralized authority they wouldn't have the motivation to raise funds and build; they would do whatever is necessary to earn their salary and then "go home" at the end of the day, without the dedication that comes when you feel that its "your own baby."

And the proof is in the pudding: The huge success and continued growth of Chabad institutions (with no one quitting after Gimmel Tammuz) testifies to the ingenuity of the Rebbe's approach.

For an elaborate discussion on this issue, please see:
On the Nature of Leadership & the Art of Delegation: Shlichus: The Rebbe's Brilliant New Approach.
Leadership with Love: Leadership & Delegation 2.

Thank you,
Simon Jacobson

The Shaigetz - an instant classic

I am amazed at the quality of writing coming from the British blogsphere. Today The Shaigetz published an instant classic. It's sharp, hilarious and could not be found in any other medium. Enjoy! The Shaigetz writes:

In former times it was those of Polish and Russian descent who despised the Hungarians who in turn turned their big noses down on the Rumanian ganuvim (crooks) who joined them all in agreeing that the yekkes (of German stock) were the pits. As the Germans considered themselves superior to anything emanating from any of those cultural black holes and the Hungarians considered their superior cooking to be more than adequate to cover for any gaps in their culture or learning they all took a fair share of the biscuit. Read on from the beginning.

Via Shmarya: Baruch Tegegne, the man credited with rescuing untold numbers of his fellow Ethiopian Jews, is now in a fight for his own life. Montreal Ethiopian Jew battles for kidney donation.

Donate for the kidney here.

Out of Step Jew: The Israeli Supreme Court (supreme legislature?) is to rule tomorrow (Thursday) on recognizing non-orthodox conversions. As one who is uncomfortable with the Orthodox religious monopoly in Israel I should be rooting for a victory for the Reform and Conservative, but I am not. This is not only about "unity" this is about the best interests of the converts. The Chief Rabbinate's approach to conversions and to converts is, well, sinful. There are some people who are dealing with it though, like R. Haim Druckman and the IDF's chief chaplain, R. Weiss.

Poster Announcing the Visit of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe to Jerusalem in 1929 from The Living Torah Museum.

A sign

Aguh court filing

Via 770 Blog: Agudas Chassidei Chabad's full filing in New York State Supreme Court against the Sefadi students and the Gabbais, in the matter of 770 Eastern Parkway.

649 key phrases

OK, talking about clicks. When you start running a web site you realize that a lot of traffic comes from search engines, particularly Google. Google is the main referred on the Internet. To get a click through Google you have to write about some obscure subject to be on the first or second pages of the search ranking. Here is a list of visits to mentalblog.com via 649 key phrases since 1st of March, 2005 till 12:00 AM today. It lists number of visits for each of the key phrases through various search engines (59% Google, 33% Yahoo!, 3% MSN, 2% AOL, etc.) and a percentage of the total search traffic.

Back to the real subject of this blog via CampusJ: Matisyahu Rocks Columbia U on Purim.
P.S. More interesting question is how mentalblog.com got #6 and #7 Google search ranking for the lubavitcher rebbe ?
A reminder, you can sears the connect of this blog only with the Google box to the right ->>
Don�t miss an opportunity to �search� our new PayPal button on the bottom of the Google box.

A question

How did this blog turned into Crown Heights and Boro Park, the very places I did my best to leave behind? I am having a mental block about this. People are clicking through here but I know at the end of the day they will remain distant strangers just like someone you accidentally bump into licking a cone of ice cream on 13th Ave. You go your way they go they go their way. A mirage.
P.S. There is a video posted of the coronation of the new Bbobover Rebbe. I found it excruciatingly boring. There are three parts, at the end of the 2nd part there is "Yehi" to the Bobover. Boring...

Moral Dillema of sorts

Michael/Mordechai Yisrael wrote in weirdjews2: Moral Dillema of sorts: As some of you may know, I'm having some Lubavitch related issues right now. Before I considered these mostly remote from my community..but then I went to one of the rabbis' homes on Purim. I noticed that besides having "Beis Moshiach" magazines, which containe the line "Long Live Our Master, Our Teacher, and Our Rebbe, King Messiah Forever and Ever!" on the cover, he had a tambourine on his wall with the exact same phrase scrawled on it in Hebrew, although it also seemed to have the word "boreinu" written on there as well. If this wasn't enough, one of the visiting (Chabad) yeshiva students started singing "yechi".

I'm...shocked to say the least and completly unsure of whether or not I can trust anything this man says in regards to Halacha or Yiddishkeit. I feel compelled to leave this shul for the new Modern Orthodox one, but I also don't want to "bite the hand" that fed me, since these people did sort of set up my appointment with the Beit Din and vouched for me. Everyone else in the community just pretends it isn't an issue or that if they ignore it, then it'll go away.
So nu, any advice?

Messianic disturbance

A video in Real format showing the Rebbe encouraging the Yehi. It is painful to watch actually as Rebbe�s right hand is paralyzed and he is ensconced by the handlers.
The video.

Messianic imperative

Responding to my post Easter message Schneur Zalman of NY wrote:
Jewish history is replete with honest Messianic hopes. This includes many Zaddikim who as the Rebbe understood that this world could not continue for long. Such people included the Shinyaver Rav Yecheskel Shraga Halberstam who predicted Moshiach would arrive in 1902. The Minchas Elozor of Munkatch a serious Halachic decisor as well as Hassidic master (ironically his father opposed the efforts of the Shinyaver Rav) also orchestrated a Messianic campaign after World War I and traveled to Israel in the 1930's to meet the fabled kabbalist Rabbi Alfandari the Sova kaddisha in order to unite the tow oroth of Mizrach and Maarac as rabbi Or haChaim hakadosh Benattar and the holy Baal Shem Tov were supposed to meet for the same goal.

The holy Koshnitzer Rebbe Hofstein Reb Arelle also begged G-D for Moshiach or there would be no Jews left to greet him. In our time the saintly Lelever Rebbe wanted an Atomic War in 1962 as the world had no right to exist.

Among Mithnagdim the Chofetz Chaim and heilike Oshmener Rav Mordechele also initiated Messianic campaigns. How fast we forget about the Chofetz Chaim's campaign to welcome Mashiach. He established the Kodshim Kollel in Radin for this purpose as well as other peulos.

So the response of the 6th and 7th Rebbe's to the Holocaust was not only proper but in line with Jewish tradition. It�s the rest of the frum world who had gotten so comfortable in the gashmiyuth (material world) of the West that forgot the Messianic imperative. Others in the Mizrachi pinned their hopes on the new Jewish state. Still other Gedolim put Mashiach aside and concentrated on Torah Lishmo etc. But the Rebbe was no imposter or fraud. He was raising the centuries old Jewish hope for geula because it could not go on.

It was many foolish Lubavitchers who taking advantage of the Rebbe's illness proclaimed HIM to be the Messiah. Halvai bechayav. But alas it was not meant to be. We await a new "sanigeron shel israel"!

Hasidic monarchy, did it run it's hereditary course?

Schneur Zalman of NY writes:
Last week the fourth Bobover, Rebbe Rav Naftoli Zvi Halberstam died in Boro Park following a long illness. Although his reign was short he had served as his father�s chief aide de camp for many years. As such he was responsible for the growth of the Bobover school system and its community. In the short time of his rebbistve, he acquired a name as a baal mofes and inspired his followers.

His death has led to a split in the Bobover Hassidic community. This sect is regarded as the 3rd largest in the U.S., following Satmar and Lubavitch. Following the death of the previous third Rebbe Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam his second son Rabbi Ben Zion was proclaimed as the "Young Rav" while his half brother Rav Naftoli Zvi was made the Rebbe. Implicit in this proclamation was that Reb Ben Zion was now The Crown Prince of Bobov. Rav Naftoli Zvi Halberstam had no sons, rather two sons in law Rabbis Rubin and Ungar (both are also eyniklech of the Divre Chaim of Sandz).

Reb Ben Zion was not highly regarded by many in Bobov. Many of the scholars in the younger Bobover community regarded him as a non entity in terms of scholarship and spirituality. The leaders of the community resented the fact that he rarely was active in building their community. Nevertheless Rav Ben Zion was regarded as a charismatic figure who sang well, danced well and preformed the public role of a Rebbe in a proper manner. As such he had the support of the wealthier community members and those who did not want to rock the boat.

With the death Rav Naftoli Zvi Halberstam the split has surfaced. Rav Ben Zion was proclaimed Rebbe, but Rav Naftoli's son in law Rabbi Ungar a long time Rosh Yeshiva in Bobov was also proclaimed Rebbe. Rav Ungar was seen as a spiritual seeker and a mystical leader. The new counter Rebbe's followers rented synagogue facilities elsewhere in Boro Park. As of now it seems the institutions are controlled by Reb Ben Zion. However final determinations are to be made by some sort of rabbinical court.

Hasidism has reverted to its original nature which is constant machlokes and splits. Satmar is currently split between two fighting brothers while their father is still here. Lubavitch is in a complete state of disconnect from reality. Bobov is now officially split. Vishnitz has a war between two brothers like Satmar, while the Rebbe their father is alive and well. Kluizenberg has two Rebbes in a cold war. Toldos Aron is split with Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok and so on. Some groups are still basically united like Belz, discounting the old Belzers and the Machanovker Rebbe or Ger, discounting the on again off again war with Rav Saul Alter), etc.
What does this say about Chassiduth and the institution of hereditary Rebbes?
Schneur

Mikveh and the Single Girl (Part I)

My Obiter Dicta: Recently, there has been a lot of discussion around the question of non-marital sexual activity among otherwise religious people who, for whatever reason, have delayed marriage and wish to continue to consider themselves Orthodox while ignoring the prohibitions against sexual contact.

A Dutch Soccer Riddle

New York Times, Amsterdam Journal: Jewish Regalia Without Jews.

Nice Jewish Girl's primal scream

Via Bloghead: Directly relating to our discussion a few days ago about premarital sex in the Orthodox world, Renreb has linked to a new blog, Shomernegiah.blogspot.com. Its strapline: "I am 34 years old. An Orthodox Jew. Female, healthy, friendly, successful in my work. I have never been kissed. This blog is my primal scream."
Nice Jewish Girl.

Easter message

RaYaTZ and RaMaSH are not with us. So either the messianic diversions that started with RaYaTZ in the middle of the Holocaust and continued with the Rebbe himself suggesting that he is the redeemer are true prophecies or both diversions were delusions played with the currency of human fate, life and truth. And if in fact the undercurrent idea of RaMaSH was that Jewish nation could not possibly continue in it�s currents state, than may be we should take this message as his principal legacy.

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mentalblog.com links

Publius Pundit, blogging the democratic revolution: PHOTOS FROM OPPOSITION RALLY IN BELARUS.
Registan.net: Kyrgyzstan's Unexpected Revolution.
FJC News: Purim Celebrated in Kyrgyzstan Capital Despite Local Turmoil.
Frummer: Purim (what else!). Most of our MM are stuffed full of nosh. There�s very rarely any delicacies for the seodoh, and depending on your age group, very rarely anything which can be described as food at all.
Forward Newspaper Online: Rabbinical Council of America expels Rabbi Mordecai Tendler.
New York Times, Sunday Book Review 'Break, Blow, Burn': Well Versed By Camille Paglia.
Sha! on Purim in Tel Aviv: A Very Irish Purim.

Our chat board is live!

Served by TagBoard.com. You can find it on the right column, under the visits map. I am still tuning colors and setup. You are welcome to use it for short messages.

TINTORETTO, Esther before Ahasuerus, 1547-48, Royal Collection, Windsor

Could someone please recommend a charity opportunity?
Preferably a direct donation to a person or a family. Perhaps an online donation. Post or email please.
I just remembered that a while ago I posted this link: ComeToYesha - Mishloach Manot for Purim, 5765-2005. It's too late for shelachmonos but on the bottom of the page you can send "Matanot l'Evyonim" via Pay Pal.

Disengagement GULAG opens for business

The group of 32 men, eight women and two minors were on their way to Masiyahu Prison near Ramle, Prisons Service officials said, where they would be locked up in the newly constructed disengagement jail.

To Schneur Zalman of NY on DR. Rigg & 65 years of silence

In response to this comment:

For 65 year the major chapter in the Chabad royal history remained hidden. In comes a person with German roots, he discovers he is �mi zera Isroel�. This awakening energized him and he spends a decade backpacking in Europe. He writes two books on the subject that people prefer not talk about. YB Tamuz is celebrated as festive holiday, yet the story of RaYatZ rescue from Warsaw, a more dramatic and life threatening compared to his Spalerka visit is effectively swept under the carpet in the Lubavitch oral and written tradition.

Now Schneur envision me standing up, climbing on a chair, raising my both hands in the air, and looking you straight in the eye (refua shleima). I scream on top of my lungs: �For 65 years nobody wanted to talk about this!!!� And don�t even mention the �inferno�, it does await the cover-up artists. And now all you can come up with is that he didn�t know Yiddish or Hebrew?

Moreover Rigg writes that he searched and wanted to discover that RaYaTZ did something besides rescuing his library. He did not find it. Admit that you can�t question that he was sincere in his search. Should you have a better information please show it to all. But don�t base your argument on the fact that Rigg is a Goy. (I am still screaming by the way). Base your argument on the fact that every time Rigg asked a Lubavitcher to help him with information and facts he could not move an inch beyond the party line. Fume about that!!!

Schneur, instead of lamenting the fact the Barry Gourary did not write memoirs you should have done that task yourself for him. Because if not you who would do it? A person with roots in the German military?

From bitter searching of the heart

Encore...

Over 1000 snowmen on Arbat St. in Moscow. Jake from Melbourne sent this picture. In my days Arbat St. was not a pedestrian mall like it is now.

Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg on getting caught up in building a myth

This a companion post to the Email interview with Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg. See the comments.

As far as Menachem Mendel Schneerson's schooling is concerned, he never got a degree. As a historian, I tried to locate degrees from both Berlin and the Sorbonne, and there is nothing there. There is not even a transcript to get. According to Chabad, he had all these degrees and worked with the Navy Secret Service, but here again, there is no evidence for this. The Navy would have never hired someone without a degree and as a former Marine Corps officer; I personally looked at the National archives and the files in the Navy files in DC and found nothing on Schneerson. This is all myth making. And if he wanted to get a degree to support his family, he would have got a degree instead of probably only taking a few classes at the most and auditing a few at the least.

As far as Rebbe Joseph Isaac Schneersohn's rescue efforts are concerned--well, they were mostly failures. He was driven by his spiritual mission and this clouded his vision of what could have been done as rabbis Kotler and Kalmanowitz's actions so clearly have shown. For a detail account of these men's efforts, see Kranzler's book on the Orthodox in America and the Holocaust called "Thy Brother's Blood" and Wyman and Medoff's book "Race Against Death."

There is really no agenda, but to find the truth. I approached Deutsch several years ago, but he is not a trained historian nor was he very helpful. He actually has self-published his own work, so his books must be used with caution. This is not to say that there are not good researchers out there who self-publish, but if you do not go through a serious process of getting proof-readers, editors and fellow-historians to look through and check your work before publication, then you will not be taken seriously and your work will not be as strong as it should be. Although Deutsch has done a lot of research, no one really takes him seriously which is sad.

MM Schneerson's studies---yes, he studied in some capacity in Berlin, but he did not get degrees. Now, if you talk to many people at 770, they will tell you that he had all these degrees and worked for the Navy building ships or on some secret project. This is simply not true. There is no agenda here. This is just one example of how many Chabad leaders get caught up in building a myth that is only based on a tiny piece of truth. We I started working with Lubavitchers, I felt that being so pious, they would be driven to find the truth and appreciate it. Well, they are only interested in truth that shows their movement 100% in a good light. This is the danger. If you are not able to look at your history with all its good and bad, then you will continue to make mistakes. Also, I came from a Christian background before I learned of my Jewish background in 1992. With this background and learning about Chabad, I have come to realize that Chabad is very similar to Christianity. They hold up their Rebbe to be perfect and without sin, and as many of you know several of them believe he is the Messiah, and this is a lot like Christianity. Although there are several good Christians out there, there have been too many throughout history who have taken that ideology that they are right and have found the true way to do horrible things to non-believers. The seeds of such mistreatment and intolerance are also there with Chabad, or any religious group, who believes they have the perfect way and a perfect leader that all should follow. So, my creed is to follow the truth. Remember MM Schneerson said that he preferred ugly truth to beautiful lies, yet few in the Chabad community follow his belief.

Ask them about the JI Schneersohn's take on the Holocaust, and most do not even know--this is interesting commentary within itself. They do not know because it is radically different from MM Schneerson's take and Rebbes are not supposed to contradict one another. It is such a sad story--it makes me shake my head. We humans sometimes do so much to hold onto ideas without any evidence--Allah is Good, Mohammed is his Prophet, Jesus died for your sins, Church of Christ has the only way to salvation, the Rebbe is the Messiah, etc.

Now to Kotler and Kalmanowitz--They took help from everywhere they could. Kotler was appalled by the Rebbe's focus on the Messiah and his spiritual campaign, especially throughout 1942-1943 when all energy should have been focused on rescuing lives. So, Kotler and Kalmanowitz would have gladly received help from the Rebbe, but such help never came from the Rebbe. He only condemned them for their un-kosher ways. For the record, I wanted to find the Rebbe acting like Kotler and Kalmanowitz. That would have been a beautiful conclusion to the story. Rabbi Weisfogel, who was Kalmanowitz's assistant, said of the Rebbe "He was a moral failure at this time to condemn us and the Jewish people as a whole for the Holocaust when he in turn did hardly anything except rescue his books and few students' lives."

For the record, if I was a business man, as many Lubavitchers encouraged me to be, I would not have mentioned his dealings in the US after his rescue. As one Lubavitcher at 770 told me "If you do this, you will get thousands of dollars and go all over the Chabad world and give talks." Yes, I said, but that is not the truth. To this, he was silent.

Schneur asked me not to "play with fire" and talk about "that subject". So I am not going to, but somebody else is talking.

Reb Shneor Zalman Hakohen Blesofsky, OHS

Reb Shneor Zalman Hakohen Blesovsky passed away. A person who also reads this blog brought to my attention his anonymous comment: "The most memorable of all the old chassidim I ever met. He had broad, warm yet biting sense of humor, with a keen eye for hypocrisy. Being a baal-tshuvah, naive, silly, not chassidically socially graceful, I'd get stares, rebuke or snubbed by most all elder chassidim. Not R. Blesofsky. He treated us (baal-tshuvah yungermen at chevrah shas) with the utmost respect, whether inviting us to learn a daf with him, or just schmoozing, earnestly regarding us as equals in service to Hashem and the Rebbe. Maybe it was because he was born in America, and didn't have that Eastern European royalty-peasantry dichotomy carved into his brain as a model for social and spiritual relationships."

Reb Shneor Zalman Blesovsky in the background, behind Seyfer Teyre, with glasses and black beard.

UPDATE: I find that there are undercurrent patterns on this blog that only later become apparent. About two and half weeks ago I posted this picture of Label Blesofsky nominating him for the title of the next Lubavitcher Rebbe after my first and second candidates bombed. The post was on for a few hours, before I deleted it (I though it was stupid). And now it has a different meaning. You see I am attracted to the kind misfits like Charlie, Lebel and Hirshel, as I think of myself as part that spiritual gang.

Proceeding in a timely fashion

With over 80 building projects under construction throughout Federation of Jewish Communities, the FJC established a full time office of architects and designers to design the new buildings, draw up the renovation plans and thereafter they evaluate and work together with local construction firms to insure that all the projects are cost efficient, and proceeding in a timely fashion.

George Rohr and Lev Leviev at the grand opening of synagogue in kharkov, Ukraine. Love the military band�
P.S. Do you think they can find a room for the library? Oh, sorry I forgot it's "supra-rational".

Hitler's Jewish Soldiers

Off topic: and since this night is the night of uncomfortable feeling here are some troubling photos from Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg's other book.

Email interview with Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg

What follows is my email interview of Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg, his book was the subject of an earlier post this week. Perhaps to get a proper background on Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg and to understand his fascination with the subject of his two recent books you should read this amazing biographical note. Below are Bryan Rigg�s opinions, I don�t have any opinions. In fact I feel uncomfortable with some of the anecdotes and conclusions; you might say that I disagree with some of the conclusions. But here what Bryan actually wrote:

Tzemach Atlas: Hi Bryan, I am not sure you know but Barry Gourary passed away last week. Perhaps you can write a short snippet if you had contacts with him.

Bryan Mark Rigg: Sad news. Thanks for the update. If I were to write something, it would go like this: �I met with Barry Gourary in 2003 and interviewed him for my most recent book �Rescued From the Reich: How One of Hitler�s Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe.� I also talked to him several times throughout 2003 and 2004 on the phone. Since Gourary was there when the German soldiers came to rescue him and his grandfather in 1939 out of Warsaw, he proved an invaluable witness to this World War II event. He was extremely helpful and gave me an honest view of Chabad and its political dealings. Being a direct relative of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, he had a very interesting take on his uncle the Rebbe. He felt that he was just as human as each one of us and that Menachem Mendel Schneerson made mistakes with how he went about getting the appointment of being a Rebbe. He even went so far to claim that his grandfather was not pleased with several things Menachem Mendel did, like going to secular university, not wearing his skullcap and not treating his duties to the movement seriously when he was a young man.

These views of Chabad coming from a direct descendant of the Rebbes were invaluable for a historian. It showed more than anything how ahistorical and even �dishonest� to use Gourary words, many in the movement are about their past and about their beliefs about their leadership. And although he revered his grandfather, Rebbe Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, and did not see any fault with him, he did help me to see the movement in a more balance way. There are many sides to any story, and Chabad tends to always stay on the side of glorifying. Even though Menachem Mendel Schneerson said, according to the scribe Yosef Yitzak Jacobson, that he �preferred the ugly truth to beautiful lies,� Gourary testimony showed more than anything that the movement in general is incapable of seeing both the bad and good of its movement. This statement about truth and lies of the Rebbe is taken from Plato actually. But Plato said it in reverse claiming that most people like living with beautiful lies instead of the bitter truth. And from my experience with Chabad, this is what its members do�they prefer beautiful lies about their movement instead of the bitter truth that there were mistakes done, personality conflicts and cover-ups throughout its history. The story of the rescue and what the Rebbe did with it shows this characteristic of Chabad like nothing else. So Barry was one of the people of many who really opened my eyes to this aspect of Chabad.�

Tzemach Atlas: Bryan, please clarify this point: �The story of the rescue and what the Rebbe did with it shows this characteristic of Chabad like nothing else.�

Bryan Mark Rigg: It basically means that the Rebbe of course wanted to escape Europe and had his movement employ every means, even approaching the Secretary of State, to get him out, but when he was here in the US, he did not approach those very same people to help rescue those who had to remain in Europe. However, he did approach those people in the government to rescue his library, which he did get out in 1941. Are books more important than people? Some of the books were secular like Dante's Inferno and books on Communism. This is a sad part of the history of the Rebbe. Also he started condemning people who were organizing amazing rescue efforts like rabbis Kotler and Kalmanowitz of the Vad-Haatzala.

He claimed they and Reform and Kofrim Jews were causing the Holocaust with their non-Kosher ways. Yet, we see that Kotler and Kalmanowitz helped rescue up to 100,000 people with the War Refugee Board. The Rebbe felt they were unnecessarily compromising their religious integrity by meeting with politicians on the Sabbath and secular and reform leaders. So the Rebbe made mistakes and according to Chancellor or Yeshiva University, Norman Lamm, he committed blasphemy by claiming God was punishing the Jews for their sins with the Holocaust. He claims this is a desecration of God's name (Menachem Mendel Schneerson also said that saying such a thing is a desecration of God's name without mentioning his father-in-law). These facts and many more show how much Chabad does to ignore unpleasant facts about their history. They just claim that when people write such things, they are jealous of their movement, do not understand their people or on a political campaign to smear them. Very weak arguments and signs of inferiority complexes. So basically this story shows that instead of pointing fingers, we need to act and make a difference. Small minds blame others; big ones blame themselves and then seek out action to make the situation better.

What people wanted was a hero of the Jewish people fighting for their rights. Instead, the Rebbe just thought of himself and his movement and condemned others. He was not helping the problem, but creating more. He should have worked with Kotler and Kalmanowitz, or at least have tried to, instead of condemning them and a host of others.

Does this help to clarify things? I send you an email earlier saying you may use my email, but it bounced back.
I hope all is well,
Bryan

Jewish roots via DNA

I was thinking of taking this test, encouraged by the results that this fellow documents: PERSONAL DNA SUCCESS STORY. See also on the bottom of his page some interesting Belarus resources.
For example: Translation of two legal notices from the 2 April 1877 Minsk Vedomosti, Page 154 in the bound volume, dealing with the finances of the Shneerson family of Lubavitch.
or from the 7 August 1876 issue of the Minsk Vedomosti. (Page 461 in the bound volume): A List of 337 Jewish draft evaders from Nesvizh.
P.S. I heard that the DNA test works for the Ukrainians as well... I also heard the DNA service would not assure a positive result for the Hungarians though, as the genetic markers have not been yet sufficiently studied from the erev rav sample of the population. I was also thinking that if a group of us takes the test this increases the sample data and perhaps we can negotiate a group rate? We can also discover that all the readers of this blog are one family, all descendants of Motl Bobruysker, who was the eternal outcast in his native Kiev.

Geography of Belarus

A great map of Belorussia in Russian.
An interactive map in English, also very good.

Any takers to tackle this question from A Simple Jew?

VERMEER VAN DELFT, View of Delft, 1659-60, Oil on canvas, Mauritshuis, The Hague

A Rebbeshe Zach or a third way of looking at the Barry Gourary controversy

A reader suggests that there might be a third way o looking at the Barry Gourary controversy. Perhaps there is not sense or logic in it. As was often the case with many Rebbe�s initiatives and directions. Put it simple it does not make any sense by design. Specifically the reader suggest that the "seforim" issue is purely mystical and does not fit in into the normal familiar dispute framework.
He brings these examples:
1. The Rebbe wanted all original letters of the Rebbeim in perfectly legal possession of the chassidim to be �returned� to him. (not strange?)
2. The printing of Tanya everywhere (more than a bit bizarre?)
3. The "seforim" case. Even though it sounds crazy to say the Rebbe�s position was that "there is no issue of yerusha because the deceased is still alive"!!!!Therefore the legal fight was not between the inheritors but between Barry and Aguh, an old organization that RaYaTZ "was still in charge of".
4. The "Schneersohn" library in Russia case. Even though for scholarship purposes it was sufficient to have copies of the manuscripts and most of the stuff there does not seem to have scholastic value there is a strange protracted struggle with significant expenditures in time and human effort.
The point is that the whole thing is not what you say it is � it is mystical, a Rebbeshe zach.

Let there be Druya!

My maternal grandmother OHS was born in Druya, a town on the border of White Russia and Latvia, not far from Dvinsk. When she came to America and heard me mention the name Shemtov, she would say that she remembered Shemtovs in Dryua "they were rich and had a big house." I asked one of the "know it all" contributors to this blog if indeed Shemtovs are from Dryua? His response was: "how can you say they are from Dryua, they are from Ukraine" (the highest form of insult). Still I found my own sources of the subject and indeed not only Shemtovs but Drizins are all from my village. A knowledgeable man wrote:

R. Bentzion Shemtov was born to R. Kasriel and Basya of Druya. They indeed had been a wealthy family as your grandmother recalled. According to some of the Shemtovs Kasriel may have descended from Georgian Jews, hence the unusual Belorussian names Shemtov, Kasriel...

R. Bentzion's mother Basya descended from the Tzemach Tzedek's father R. Sholom Shachna. After the Tzemach Tzedek's mother Rebbetzin Dvorah Leah passed away, his father remarried a Karliner einekel and had two daughters, i.e. the Tzemach Tzedek had two half sisters and Basya Shemtov descended from one of them.

R. Avrohom Drizin was born to his parents R. DovBer and Yehudis of Miory. They were descendants of quite a few generations of Chabad Chassidim. The Drizins had also been a wealthy family. When R. Avrohom was young he studied in the Cheder in Druya and befriended Benzion. Later when Avrohom went off to learn in Lubavitch he sent his friend letters trying to convince him to join him in Lubavitch. Bentzion was convinced and the rest is history. R. Avrohom later married Sarah the daughter of R. Schneur Zalman Moshe HaYitzchoki.

This picture is of my (Tzemach Atlas) grandmother�s grandfather Reb Avrohom Leviyan from Druya.


UPDATE: Look at the area map. North of Vilnus AKA Vilno is Daugavpils AKA Dvinsk. To the East of Dvinsk (under number 15) is Druja (be careful because if you go the West of Dvinsk you end up in Panevezys), now look under Druja at the edge of the map is Mior. My grandmother always said that she is from Latvia and indeed Dvisk is a Latvian town. Culturally it is Lithuania (in the jewish tradition). In terms of government it was part of Vitebsker Gubernia or Byelorussia. You can see on the map that Druja is at the intersection of Lithuania, Latvia and Byelorussia. But technically Druja is in Byelorussia.

Interviewed by the Tsar

Paul Shaviv relates an anecdote about witnesses at the Barry Gourary library trial. Bloghead: The distaff side of the Chabad dynasty.
P. S. Did someone even see the picture of Reb Moshe�s (Alter Rebbe's son who allegedly converted) grave mentioned by Paul?

On page"Gimel" of Haskomas to Tanya it is signed by three Alter Rebbe�s sons; Dov Ber, Chaim Avrohom and Moshe. Little is known or talked about in regards to Moshe but everyone agrees that something did happen with him. Moshe Rosman writes in Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'Al Shem Tov. on Page 191:

There are various reports about Moses subsequent to the contest over the leadership of Habad, all indicating that he left the orbit of Hasidism and probably even of Judaism. In 1811, the Jewish Englightenment figure Isaac Ber Levinsohn related that he had learned from Hasidic informants that Moses had converted of his own free will and had been interviewed by the Tsar. In 1843, Bonaventura Mayer, a convert to Christianity, wrote that in the course of his travels in Russia he had met Moses serving as a Russian bureaucrat, something a nonconverted Jew would not have been able to do. According to Habad tradition, Moses caused much grief to his family but at the end of his life repented.

I heard that Moshe was versed in Russian culture and language (even before he left the fold) and he was instrumental in negations with the government during his fathers arrest, securing the ultimate release on YAT Kislev.

The Latvian border

Anyone who pretends to have an interest in the history of Chabad should pick up this book: Rescued from the Reich: How One of Hitler's Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe. By Bryan Mark Rigg.
Some interesting snippets from the book:
1930:


1939:
Page 128 of the book describes the transit of RaYaTZ through Berlin escaping from Warsaw with Ernst Bloch and his family:
At the train station, Bloch's group again attracted the attention of the authorities. An army officer questioned him as to why Jews had been issued first-class tickets. Bloch or one of his men may have told him that the Jews were traveling under diplomatic protection and then said a few other things that caused him to leave without further questioning." Sitting in a train full of Nazi officials and military personnel made the Jews uncomfortable. One can only wonder what they felt as they crossed the border into the Greater German Reich and passed through towns bedecked with swastika flags. This was not their world. As one Lubavitcher described it, they were now in the "very heart of the evil Nazi kingdom." On 15 December, Bloch brought the Rebbe and his group to Berlin, where they stayed one night at the Jewish Federation. They probably picked up the visas there that would ensure their escape. The next day, they boarded another train, again in a first-class cabin, for Riga, accompanied by their German escorts and delegates from the Latvian embassy.

When asked why Jews were traveling in the first-class section of the train, a "German officer," most likely Bloch, was reported to give the same response as earlier, that they were traveling on diplomatic orders and should be left alone. At the Latvian border, the Germans bade the Jews farewell. It was probably the last time Bloch saw the Rebbe. As they left German soil, the Rebbe and his group rejoiced. "We felt so good once we reached the Latvian border," Barry Gourary says. On its way to Riga, the train stopped at Kovno (Kaunas), where several of the Rebbe's followers met the train and danced with joy as he arrived. He had returned to his world.

1943: