[Avodah] The Rabbi, the Rebbe, and the Messiah

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 10/02/17 07:49, Professor L. Levine via Avodah wrote:
>
> Please see the above URL for much more about a chapter in Jewish history
> that I was not at all aware of.  And, of course,  after the entire
> incident there was an attempt to suppress knowledge of it just as there
> was after the Shabbatai Tzvi affair.
>

THere was never any attempt to suppress knowledge of the SZ affair. And, 
as the other examples show (and the list is far from exhaustive) there 
was never any controversy about regarding ones rebbe as Moshiach, on the 
contrary it was a normal thing.  What was "suppressed" in this case is 
the *machlokes* that arose between the Sanze and Vizhnitze chassidim, 
just as many once-bitter fights among yidden were suppressed once they 
were resolved and are now almost forgotten.  (For instance, _Beis 
Rebbi_, a history of the Chabad rebbes, was published shortly after the 
machlokes between Lubavitch and Kopust had died down; the author 
mentions it very briefly and says, in effect, "let's not talk about 
unpleasant things, it's all over now".)

-- 
Zev Sero                May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
zev at sero.name           be a brilliant year for us all