If the Lubavitch Rebbe loyalists are a tiny minority, they’re also a very vocal minority with a huge advertising budget. Everywhere I go here in Tel Aviv, I see the old man’s mug - plastered to walls, on billboards and on the sides of buses, all directly or indirectly calling him the Messiah, and often promoting some right-wing agenda (apparently, the Rebbe opposes Sharon’s disengagement plan from beyond the grave). Like it or not, they’re the public face of Chabad. Just check out the website.
As a (moderately) observant Jew, the whole deal makes me mildly nauseous. In general, I object to the worship of dead rabbis - the fact neither Moses nor Elijah, the greatest religious figures in Jewish history, had marked tombs makes me believe that paying too much homage to the departed is inherently sacriligious. The Lubavitchers have taken this even further, and in my opinion they’re edging into Shabbetai Tzvi territory.
Besides, I’m of Lituanian descent from my father’s side, and thus genetically disposed to dislike Hassidim.
For nonJews following the thread, numerous Jewish sages have agreed that Moses’ tomb is unknown for precisely that reason- to keep pilgrims from visiting and paying homage to Moses’ rather than a certain somebody who spoke to him through a burning bush.
I thought Elijah had no tomb because he was taken up by a chariot of fire rather than dying in the usual fashion?
(I usually see it spelled Zevi. Note that I’m not saying your wrong, just that there are variant spellings) Again for the gentiles reading, a bunch of folks believed Zevi was the messiah. He responded by declaring that he was. Then, he did things like marry a torah in a public ceremony, speak the ineffable name of G-d (sometimes called the tetragrammaton), declare that his followers could eat pork, etc. Zevi wandered into the territory of a Muslim ruler. He was given the choice of conversion to Islam or death. Zevi converted and took a Muslim name.
Indeed. If I remember correctly, Jews believe that Elijah (Eliyahu haNavi) is still alive. There are numerous stories in the Talmud of Eliyahu haNavi appearing to resolve this or that issue. Jews believe that Eliyahu haNavi will come before the Redemption by the Messiah. It is for this reason that on Pesach the door is opened and he is invited, should he have arrived.
The sooner Eliyahu haNavi comes, the sooner the Redemption comes, which is why Jews pray at every meal: “Harachaman hi yishlach lanu et Elyahu hanavi zakhur latov, vivaser lanu b’sorot tovot y’shuot v’nechamot.” This means, “The compassionate One! May He send us Elijah, the Prophet - he is remembered for good - to proclaim to us good tidings, salvations, and consolations.” (From the fourth blessing of Birkhat haMazon, from The Complete ArtScroll Siddur (Siddur Ahavat Shalom) - nusach Ashkenaz.)
Tzvi, Tzevi, Zvi, Zevi. But nothing like the variants for Chanukah!
That didn’t stop his followers, though! They believed that as the Messiah he had to descend to the lowest depths in order to redeem the divine sparks in all of creation. This he could only do by converting to Islam. Some of his followers followed him in converting to Islam: outwardly they were Muslim but inwardly they were Jews. His theology was quite complex and convoluted. But his movement was so popular and spread so fast and wide, that when things settled down, the rabbis were left in utter shock, dismay, and horror. This is one reason why rabbis are extremely cautious about anyone’s claim to be the Messiah, and why often rabbis will even resort to declaring wayward Jews in this regard to be apostates: the potential for damage is so strong and severe that they attempt to stop any such movement before it gets out of hand. They do not want a repeat of Tz’vi.
If I remember correctly, Tz’vi was bipolar; not that this made him what he was, but it explains a lot of what he did.
Pardon the hijack, but this is reminding me of an episode of Northern Exposure. Joel’s uncle dies, he is unable to leave town and needs 9 other Jews to form a minyan, and the town begins advertising for them. A few are found (including a British oil engineer, a homeless drifter who happens to be Jewish, etc.) In a brilliant dream sequence Joel is in the Old West where a posse is being formed of Jews- men wearing Star of David badges while a western style theme plays in klezmer. In the end Joel, feeling no sense of connection to the nine strangers, forms a minyan of his friends.
That’s funny, Sampiro, I was thinking the same thing. I just remember when he interviews some giant, redhead, bearded oil rig worker, and to prove his Judaism, he asks him to recite the Sh’ma. In a very New York accent he responds “sh’ma yisroel hashem elokenu hashem echad” which convinces Joel. Haven’t even thought about that show in years…
IIRC it is not that Eliyahu resolved the issue but the issue was left unresolved and that when the messiah comes (Eliyahu) the issue could be resolved. Such is the debate if there should be four or five cups of wine at the seder. When Eliyahu shows up we’ll ask him what to do (although there will probably be other things on our minds - but after awhile we’ll get down to the small stuff). Apparently the Talmud didn’t come up with the coin toss.
Yeah, I’m going to go with the opinion that what the OP encountered was actually a group of “Messianic Jews” or “Jews for Jesus”, people who self-identify as Jewish (a number of whom actually are Jewish by birth) and adopt a lot of the customs of modern Judaism, while also believing in the divinity of Jesus. The sidecurls/traditional clothing/praying in Hebrew part sounds a little unusual, but many of those folks take their version of Jewish observance very seriously, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they extended it that far.
(If their prayers said anything about “Yeshua”, the Messianic Jews’ name for Jesus, you can be pretty sure that that’s who they were.)
If I remember correctly, Jews believe that Elijah (Eliyahu haNavi) is still alive. There are numerous stories in the Talmud of Eliyahu haNavi appearing to resolve this or that issue. Jews believe that Eliyahu haNavi will come before the Redemption by the Messiah. It is for this reason that on Pesach the door is opened and he is invited, should he have arrived.