Y. Mochkin and the spirit of M.M. Schneerson

Working with what I don't have

On the subject of Levi Yitzchak Schneerson - Take Two.

BA- Bentzi Avtzon, YM - Yossel Mochkin.

4:38 Rechytza

Rechytza or Речица or רצ ' יצה presents a unique linguistic challenge to Litvish speakers. Because צ sound in Litvish is actually a “ch” sound (the name Mo”ch”kin is an example of this), they end pronouncing the word with two “ch”, which is impossible to say. Try it…

YM and BA are confused, there were many Schneersons in Rechytza, as we discussed, but there were no Chabad Rebbes in Rechytza. Unlike Kopust, Lyady, Nezhin, maybe even Bobruisk, an offshoot of Nezhin (commenst dispute that point).

Update: har grizim in the comments:

The mistaken pronunciation "Retzitze" (like מציצה) stems from the modern Hebrew spelling of its name as רצ׳יצה, which uses the apostrophized letter צ׳ to denote the "ch" sound, to Americans, that's just רציצה. The spelling in Yiddish is רעטשיצע, which removes all doubt about the proper name being "Rechitze(a)". As far as I remember, no one pronounced this name any differently. And, of course, as far as Chabad context goes, this is the town meant, not some other any similar name.

16:24 Uman

I would rather not dwell on it. But Chabad minyan in Uman is a great disappointment, even though it’s the same religion. Heck, even Breslev minyan in Uman, the entire festival, is an embarrassment… If you need to blow off steam go to the Burning Man, not Reb Nachman. One more thing, Reb Nachman is not Baba Sali. He was part of the Ashkenazi culture.

44:00 Yehidus w/the Rebbe

Here is the heart of the matter. YM accused by Gourary in Montreal with going to the movies and told not to come back to Yeshive. YM writes a long letter to the Rebbe and goes into Yehidus.

In practical terms, was Rebbe going to add a second mashpia to yeshiva Montreal? No! There are actually thousands of such cases with life-changing outcomes (mostly for the worse) for bochrim and the Rebbe did nothing, although it was under his “absolute” control. I repeat, the Rebbe always did nothing.

Questions:

How did the Rebbe really know about the Tomchey Tmimim, although he never spent a day in a Yeshive his entire life? And by knowing I mean real knowledge of personal experience, not a “bookish” knowledge.

How the Rebbe was able to honestly adjudicate the sin of going to the movies, although he was a voracious consumer of modern media, movies, theater, radio, newspapers, according to Bere Gourary, in Berlin and Paris (he was married to Musya after all). Is this some role playing game, kabuki dance we are witnessing? We have no idea what Ramash did in Lenigrad, Russia. The darkest part of Rebbe’s biography are 25 years in Russia. We don’t know where he went to “high school”, we don't know what university he or Rebbezin Musya attended in Russia. In this podcast, Y.M. tells us that the Rebbe spent a year in Kharkov with his mentally ill brother. Who knew? Someone just told me last week that he suspects Musya attended Герценовский институт. There is a significant gap in the formative, most important part of their biography.

The Rebbe was undoubtedly a worldly man. So this modern gentleman stands and pretends to judge poor Yossel Mochkin for going to the movies? Instructs him on a proper Mashpia as if Yossel, not the Rebbe, has the choice?

I think because he was maybe an usurper to the throne¹, and perhaps because he felt with his background he wasn’t fit for the role of Rebbe, Ramash circumvented this by channeling the spirit of Rayatz. In his mind, Rayatz never died. In a way, he imagined how Rayatz would answer the question. What advise the spirit of Rayatz would give.

Christians also encountered this issue with the Trinity. Spirit, father and son are one aspect of the same God. You can say that Ramash was channeling the spirit of Rayatz, nosi doreynu.

P.S. YM never said if he had gone back to Yeshive Montreal. Very unlikely.

Crown Heights

There is another conformation in the podcast that the Rebbe didn’t want Peretz Mochkin, Avrom Drisin, etc. in NY. Didn't want Zalman Schneerson or even Rav Rivkin. Didn’t want a competition, the muscle memory of the significant men of stature who were familiar with Rayatz/Rashab/old Chabad court in body, and not only in spirit. Ramash didn’t really want the old Chabad around. But, of course, in a sly and shrewd way, always referred to it as a convenient measuring stick.²

By preventing these men from coming to Crown Heights, being close to the community, he caused infinite hardship to the families. He played a cynical and cruel trick on the very people who already suffered bitterly from the lifelong estrangement.

For some unexplored psychological reason, Ramash was insecure next to the heroic, strong, courageous, battle proven, difficult to control men (even Stalin couldn’t control them). Only highlights the management approach where he consistently selected less threatening, beta men as his servants.

עולם הפוך ראיתי עליונים למטה ותחתונים למעלה

Krinsky, the CEO, left the cemetery?

Y.M. states that Krinsky left the cemetery while Rebbe was in an ambulance? Shocking description of the events. Is there an explanation? Not to take the Rebbe to the hospital, etc.

PS YM, Krinsky, almost everyone was confused if they were seeing a mortal man or a spirit (of God/Rayatz). In a way, Ramash cult-ivated this cult-ure, and so his wounded body was alone, helpless, in the hands of the same questionable, mediocre men that he surrounded himself with during his lifetime.

1. Mentalblog podcast: The Will to Power of Barry Gourary.

2. Mentalblog podcast: Bad Blood of the Chabad Rebbe.