Habad and the ‘Oher’: From Kabbalistic Particularism to Maimonidean Universalism?

The Habad thrust towards the Gentile has been discussed by Elliot Wolfson in the context of the messianism of the last Rebbe. This paper examines earlier Habad sources which suggest a developmental aspect to this theme. Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s Tanya (1796) presents an image of the Gentile - based on selected kabbalistic and Talmudic sources - as an unredeemable person whose attempts at righteousness, such as giving charity, are condemned. But his discourses of 1805 were more nuanced, giving room to the ‘righteous Gentile’. His son Rabbi Dov Ber took this process further, as seen in letters and publications. In 1826, relating to his imprisonment, he compiled a spiritual tract (Bad Kodesh), addressed to a Gentile.

This background highlights the innovations of the 20th Century. In 1946 Rabbi Menachem Schneerson prepared a critical edition of Bad Kodesh, based on a printed text and manuscripts. Later, as Lubavitcher Rebbe he affirmed the spirituality of the Gentile, campaigning in 1962 for non-denominational prayer in American public schools (later for a ‘moment of silence’). He also highlighted Maimonides’ statement that the Jews should communicate the Seven Noahide Laws to Gentiles. While apparently espousing Maimonides’ universalist perspective on humanity, at the same time, he endorsed the Jewish particularism of the Kabbalah, and fought for the clear halachic division between Jew and Gentile in the ‘Who is a Jew?’ controversy.

This combination of apparent opposites characterizes the thought of Habad in the late 20th century, in its attempt to combine kabbalistic traditionalism with modernity.