Hey Hesh,
I have a chabad question for you. I saw a poster at my son’s chabad preschool that has a picture of the rebbe and the yechi adoneinu line on it. Does that mean these particular chabadnicks are meshichists for sure? Or just maybe? Or that they tolerate people putting up such posters?
Thanks–I figure you’re an expert in this.
best,
Name withheld
An old friend of mine sent me this, first off, I’m kind of shocked he sent his kid to chabad preschool in the first place. Then again, where he lives, like most out of town locales, there is nothing else besides chabad. My wife said that without a doubt they are open meshichists, but as we all know, most chabadnicks believe in some sort of way that the Rebbe is moshiach. Whether they chant yechi like madmen in Tzfat and 770, or they say “I wish he was moshiach” or “we don’t know”, it’s rare to meet someone who blatantly tells you that the Rebbe passed away.
Why this all matters, I’m not so sure. If you look across the Jewish spectrum you can find all sorts of messed up beliefs, but in this case, meshichists are rarely hurting anyone except for their voices and ears from all the shouting. I’m also not so certain that a chabad preschool is going to be able to indoctrinate a youngster to the point that he can’t be turned the other way.
Back to the question: Does having a picture of the rebbe with yechi on it, mean that you are a meshichist?
It definitely means that you aren’t what’s known as an “anti meshichist”, these folks tend to be a bit crazy in their own right. If I were you, I’d just ask them. Much of the time they will deny it, but it’s pretty hard to deny when it’s right there in the building.
What do you folks think?
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