Samuel C. Heilman > Quotes

“all were expected to be transformed by the encounter with the rebbe, and therefore attached themselves to him, voluntarily submitting to their rebbe’s authority and even giving it ascendancy over the rule-based dominance of traditional Judaism.”
― Samuel C. Heilman, Who Will Lead Us?: The Story of Five Hasidic Dynasties in America

“Yosef Yitzchak and the court of Lubavitch had settled, threw the world in which they lived into extraordinary”
― Samuel C. Heilman, The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson

“But the Lubavitcher rebbe was not completely insulated from the world outside or affected only by Hasidic and mystical ideas. In March 1961, he, like so many other Americans, had heard and was impressed by the new and young president John F. Kennedy’s call for a cadre of volunteers to fan out across the globe and join a “Peace Corps.”105 Kennedy had forewarned this “pool of trained men and women,” who were “committed to the concept which motivates the Peace Corps,” that”
― Samuel C. Heilman, The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson

“graves could not do what a living master could. To maintain attachments, those left behind had to find a memaleh makom (stand-in) to act as a channel between the departed leader and the Hasidim, sometimes operating on the basis of instructions left behind. It was not unusual for a body of texts (recorded talks) associated with a particular rebbe to become increasingly important after his passing.”
― Samuel C. Heilman, Who Will Lead Us?: The Story of Five Hasidic Dynasties in America

“The followers of Nachman of Breslov, known as the “dead Hasidim,” continue even today to consider him their only and current rebbe.”
― Samuel C. Heilman, Who Will Lead Us?: The Story of Five Hasidic Dynasties in America