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IN ORTHODOX JEWISH circles there is a widespread genre of leaflets or booklets ranging from one to six or so pages containing discussions connected to the weekly Torah reading, or parashah. After Sukkot, the annual reading cycle resumes with the beginning of Genesis (Bereshit). In that week's issue of Siḥat hage'ulah [‘Discourse on Redemption’, 11 Oct. 1996], a fourpage messianist parashah booklet, the standard formula declaring the Rebbe's messiahship (‘May our Master, Teacher, and Rabbi, the King Messiah, live for ever’, often described simply as the Yeḥi after its first Hebrew word) appeared in a modified form. One of the regular features of Siḥat hage'ulah is a story of a miracle effected by the deceased Rebbe. In the account published in the Bereshit issue, a beneficiary of the miracle bursts out into thankful praise, declaring, ‘May our Master, Teacher and Creator [bore'enu] the King Messiah live for ever’. The relevant section was reproduced in a religious newspaper called Yom hashishi and caused a flurry of discussion in Israel, with a number of Lubavitch rabbis expressing dismay.
At about the same time, the individual who had arranged the meeting in Crown Heights spoke to Rabbi Sherer, who told him that the Council of Torah Sages would probably not act unless some additional messianist provocation emerged. I was, of course, deeply disappointed and wrote a letter to Rabbi Sherer in which I may have allowed this disappointment to manifest itself more forcefully than I should have:
Rabbi [X] has indicated to me that in a recent conversation, you told him that the Moetzes is unlikely to issue a statement in the absence of some egregious public act by the messianists.
As you may know from the report in Yom hashishi, Siḥat hage'ulah for parashat ‘Bereshit’ has transformed Yeḥi adonenu morenu verabenu melekh hamashiah. le'olam va'ed into Yeḥi adonenu morenu ubore'enu melekh hamashiaḥ le'olam va'ed.
To date, the following have apparently not qualified as sufficiently public or egregious: Full-page ads in the New York Times; messianist mitzvah tanks [vans with religious materials used by Lubavitch for outreach]; billboards on major highways; cable TV shows; full-fledged idolatry in classrooms; the multiple recitation of ‘Yeḥi etc.’
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