In Tunisia, the shaliach, Rabbi Pinson, passed away in 2007, but the sheluchah, who might well be 90 today, never left. She’s continued to head the Chabad activities there because she understood the Rebbe as wanting her to stay as long as there were Jews.
There are a number of instances in the book where you present the Rebbe’s view on a certain topic but make no apparent effort to independently evaluate it. For example, you mention the Rebbe’s view that Einstein’s theory of relativity allows for the belief that the sun goes around the earth, but you quote no scientists on the matter. Concerning protests on behalf of Soviet Jewry in the 1970s and 80s, you mention that the Rebbe opposed them but cite no statistics or modern historians contrary to the Rebbe’s position. Why not?
Well, number one, if you look at the preface to the book, I say that protests on behalf of Soviet Jewry was one of the areas in which I disagreed with the Rebbe. Though the more research I did, the more I saw that the Rebbe was willing to work with people who disagreed with him.
For example, in the book, I mention that when the Rebbe met with Rabbi Israel Miller, who was then the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, he tried to convince him not to have a demonstration. But when Miller made it clear the demonstration was happening, the Rebbe said to him, “Well, if you’re already going to have a demonstration, make sure it’s on Page 1 of The New York Times.” The Rebbe understood that it would be catastrophic if Jews demonstrated and got no coverage because it would just convince the Soviets that Jews didn’t care….
So I do actually quote the differing views. But I wanted to present the Rebbe’s views as fairly as possible. I wasn’t, so to speak, grading him on this subject. The Rebbe was really afraid that [Soviet displeasure with demonstrations in the U.S.] would be taken out on Jews in the Soviet Union.
And how about the sun going around the earth?
I’ll just simply say that I was not convinced by the Rebbe’s view. Now, I don’t have such a great knowledge of science, but enough people I know who do have such knowledge did not seem convinced [either].
But I think what is critical is that the Rebbe said, in the final analysis, what matters most is not what people think but what people do. He said, “I never would want somebody to stop keeping mitzvos because they disagreed with me on this issue.” So it was not central to him.
You cite several stories of the Rebbe being unhappy when his chassidim called him Mashiach. You don’t mention, however, that after his stroke in 1992, he seemed to give the opposite impression. Do you think he might have thought himself Mashiach at the end of his life?
It’s possible the thought could have entered his head, but on the other hand, I’m more struck by the story that Rabbi Yosef Greenberg, the shliach in Anchorage, Alaska, told me. He said he addressed a note to the Rebbe as the Mashiach and handed it to Rabbi Groner, the Rebbe’s secretary. When Rabbi Groner came out, Rabbi Greenberg said, “Well, how did the Rebbe react?” And Rabbi Groner said, “He sort of crumpled up the note, threw it on the table, and said, ‘Tell him, when the Mashiach comes, I’ll give him the note.’ ”
And this happened very late – either late ‘91 or early ’92 – within a couple of months of the Rebbe suffering his stroke.