Secret Will of Rebbe Confounds Followers
Schneerson Took Un-Messiah-Like Step
By Jeffrey Goldberg
The Forward, March 18, 1994
NEW YORK — The Lubavitcher Rebbe, whose followers believe him to be the Messiah, is harboring a most un-Messiah-like secret — in 1987, sources tell the Forward, the Rebbe made out a will.
The critically ill Rebbe wrote the will after winning a nasty court battle against his nephew, who claimed ownership of a library of priceless Lubavitcher books. According to several well-placed sources, the Rebbe, chastened by the experience, reorganized his movement’s legal structure and wrote the will to protect his material goods from claims he feared others would make when he died.
But many of his followers believe that the Rebbe is the immortal Messiah — and they also believe that the Rebbe himself believes he is the Messiah. So the disclosure that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson recognized his own mortality and wrote a will may challenge the deeply felt convictions of the Messianists in Crown Heights, the seat of the Rebbe’s empire.
Worldly Goods
“It’s just ridiculous. It’s not true,” said Basha Oka, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign to Bring Moshiach, or Messiah. “Why? Because the Rebbe is Melech HaMoshiach King Messiah, that’s why.”
The contents of the Rebbe’s will could quickly become the focus of intense speculation and, if the past is a guide, vicious disputes within the Rebbe’s inner circle. Little is known about the will’s contents, though some in the Lubavitch movement say they have heard that the will contains the name of Rabbi Schneerson’s anointed successor. But there are questions as to whether more than one will exists. One well-placed knowledgeable source said that the Rebbe actually wrote two documents in the 1980s — one, a “secular” will that directs the distribution of his worldly goods, and another, written in Hebrew, in which he appoints a successor to lead the movement.
Executor of Will
Two sources familiar with the situation said, however, that the Rebbe wrote only one document — the secular will. They say that one of the Rebbe’s secretaries, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, is given a formal role in executing the will, an appointment Rabbi Krinsky could cite to buttress his own power base as he wages a fight for control of the movement. The sources said they did not know what if any role Rabbi Krinsky’s nemesis in the Rebbe’s secretariat, Rabbi Leib Groner, plays in the execution of the will. Neither man is currently seen as a potential successor to the Rebbe, though both, insiders say, would like to play the role of king-maker in picking another Rebbe. Neither rabbi could be reached for comment.
There are at least three copies of the will in the hands of different lawyers and rabbis; two sources said that one of the Rebbe’s lawyers in the library case, Nathan Lewin, is in possession of a copy. Reached at his Washington, D.C., office, Mr. Lewin said only that he would neither “confirm nor deny” that he is in possession of a copy.
No Heirs
One Lubavitcher rabbi familiar with the Rebbe’s thinking said that, despite the assertions of hard-core Messianists, writing a will would be in character for Rabbi Schneerson.
“The Rebbe doesn’t leave things dangling,” said the rabbi, who spoke on condition that his name not be used. “The Rebbe is more aware than anyone of the devotion of his Chasidim to him and he has equal devotion to the Chasidim and their need for clarification. He would do this so they shouldn’t be in limbo.”
But the Chasidim do appear to be in limbo — that is, the Chasidim who are not utterly convinced that the Rebbe will recover and reveal himself as Messiah. Rabbi Schneerson has no heirs and has never publicly named a successor, though his Chasidim say he has publicly proclaimed the imminence of the Messianic era.
“The Rebbe has said that this is the last generation of galus exile and the first generation of geula redemption,” the rabbi said. “This is the basis for the ‘Messianic Chasidism.’ “
In the late 1980s, though, the focus in Crown Heights was not on Messianism so much as it was fighting off the Rebbe’s nephew, Barry Gourary, who claimed ownership of a large number of Lubavitcher books. After the Lubavitch movement won in court against Mr. Gourary, the focus switched to finding ways to protect Lubavitch property from outside claims. Lubavitch insiders say the Rebbe ordered the formation of an organization, Agudas Chassidei Chabad The Association of Chabad Chasidim, which included on its board Rabbi Krinsky, Rabbi Avraham Shemtov, the Rebbe’s Washington representative, and another Crown Heights rabbi, Zalman Gurary, to protect the movement’s interests. Rabbi Krinsky had already emerged as the movement’s de facto money man, overseeing the worldwide network of Lubavitch emissaries. Sources say the Rebbe trusted Rabbi Krinsky’s financial judgment and that it would therefore be logical for Rabbi Krinsky to serve as the executor of the Rebbe’s will.
An expert in the affairs the Lubavitch Chasidim, Samuel Heilman, a sociology professor at Queens College, said that although the will may deal only in property issues, the Rebbe’s followers may try to search for hidden meanings in its pages.
“Someone who is astute or opportunistic or imaginative could use the will as a metaphor for indicating something with political or spiritual significance,” Mr. Heilman said. “Who controls the library, the books, will be an alternate power source to whoever has charismatic or spiritual authority.”