Chabad - The one true form of Judaism?

LazerA comment to "Chabad - Why Chabad frightens me":

Rabbi Eidensohn,

My own experience with Chabad (I grew up in a home heavily associated with Chabad, in fact, I daven with the Nusach Ari of Chabad), made me uncomfortable with Chabad long ago, and has since turned me, not entirely willingly, into an opponent.

I think the issue that bothered me most, in the beginning, was Chabad's tendency to see themselves as the one, exclusive, legitimate form of Torah Judaism.

One of the defining characteristics of contemporary Orthodoxy is a high degree of pluralism. Despite some failures, the Torah world is extraordinarily open, esp. compared to previous generations, to various streams of Torah thought. Thus, for example, any major "litvish" yeshiva will have numerous talmidim who are chassidish, Sephardic, yekkish, and so on. The major Orthodox media regularly publish articles praising gedolim from every stream (with the exception of Religious Zionism).

This pluralism has its downside, of course. For example, the R' S. R. Hirsch that is so widely admired in the Torah world is not an fully accurate portrayal of the real R' Hirsch.

The dominant feature of the modern Torah world is be inclusive (even at the expense of accuracy) rather than exclusive.

(Modern Orthodoxy is an unfortunate exception. Why this is so is a major discussion which doesn't belong in this particular thread.)

My experience with Chabad as a child and an adult has been precisely the opposite. Gedolim from outside of Chabad are virually unknown. When they are mentioned, it is usually in a disparaging if not downright derogatory manner.

Similarly, other frum communities are seen as fundamentally flawed. All Jews need to join Chabad in order to achieve true ruchniyus. (My father got involved with Chabad through a secret "kiruv" group operating in Telz yeshiva.)

Thus, Litvaks are "snags", "Telz", "Lakewood" and "Satmar" are pejoratives, R' Aharon Kotler and R' Shach are reshaim, and virtually all contemporary gedolim are important only to the degree that they had a relationship with the Lubavticher rebbe.

This is accompanied by an Orwellian process of redefining Judaism as an invention of Chabad. Many of us have heard the radio advertisements before every Jewish holiday where we are told that the Lubavitcher rebbe says that all Jews should "light Chanukah candles", "hear the Megilah reading", etc. I once saw a small pamphlet sent out by Chabad which claimed, on the back cover, that Chabad created the minhag of reciting Tehillim.

In the contemporary Torah world, Torah thoughts from virtually all sources are seen as valuable. In the most Litvishe setting you can here divrei Torah from Chassidic sources (the Bnei Yissaschar, Sfas Emes, and Satmar Rav are particularly popular), Sephardic sources (esp. the Ben Ish Chai) and R' Hirsch. In Chabad you will never hear such sources. Moreover, Chabad chassidim are discouraged from studying non-Chabad hashkafa seforim, incl. other chassidishe seforim. (I don't know if this is an official position, but it is a widespread one.)

The ramifications of this self-isolation are immense. Almost any group with a strong sense of purpose has the potentiality for extremism. However, as long as a group views itself as part of a broader legitimate community, it will, to some degree, restrain itself from drifting to far afield.

When a particular Jewish community ceases to view the broader Torah world as significant, or even legitimate, it loses this grounding and will eventually drift away.

This is a tragedy of the greatest proportions. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the problem, there is little, if anything, the outside community can do.