Chabad, Zionism, and the State of Israel: Dreams and Reality

ב"ה

One can see the history of Habad and Zionism as the conflict of two dreams, on a background of reality.

For the 20th century Habad leadership, the Zionist dream threatened the dream of the Messiah, which would concretized exclusively through Torah and Mitzvot. Hence that leadership opposed the Zionist ideal, whether secular or religious, and sought to dislodge it from its central role in Jewish consciousness.

But what was the Habad attitude to the State of Israel during the War of Independence, and once it had become a solid if fragile reality? Examining the letters, talks and activities of both latter leaders of Habad indicates an overriding concern for the wellbeing of the State and its Jewish population. Despite the obvious conflict of the two dreams, the Habad central belief in the unity of the Jewish people, which can be seen as its form of ‘reality’, became dominant. Consequently, on many levels the Religious Zionist dream and that of Habad seemed to coexist. However, Habad continued to counter the claim that the Zionist State is the ‘beginning of the Redemption’, and the calls for mass immigration from the Diaspora.

The last phase of the public teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, c.1990, presented aspects of contemporary life as presaging the Messianic epoch. For him and many of his followers the Messianic dream was becoming real. Included among these tangible portents were elements relating to the Zionist State, such as Russian Jewish immigration to Israel and, in more general terms, the vigorous Jewish presence in the Holy Land. The dream of Zionism was being partially absorbed in the dream of Redemption.

But how contemporary Habad sees Zionist and post-Zionist ideals, nearly thirty years after Rabbi Menachem Mendel’s passing, is another question.