Can The Rebbe Be Moshiach?: Proofs from Gemara, Midrash, and Rambam that the Rebbe zt"l cannot be Moshiach

by Gil Student

During his lifetime, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of blessed memory, was a highly successful religious leader. His brilliant scholarship and eloquent speaking touched hundreds of thousands of people. Larger than life and presiding in a post-Holocaust world during which Jews returned to the land of Israel in an unprecedented fashion, he was declared by many of his followers to be the Moshiach (Messiah) for whom Jews have waited for thousands of years. His death in 1994 should have dashed those hopes. However, many of his followers have advanced the position that even today the Rebbe can still be Moshiach. This book is an analysis of this position within the Jewish tradition. What do the doctrinally binding texts say about a dead man being Moshiach? In a presentation appropriate for both the layman and the experienced scholar, this work demonstrates from dozens of texts that according to the authentic Jewish tradition the Rebbe unfortunately cannot be Moshiach.

140 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Rabbi Gil Student is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of TorahMusings.com, a leading website on Orthodox Jewish scholarly subjects, and the Book Editor of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Action magazine. He writes a popular column on issues of Jewish law and thought featured in newspapers and magazines, including The Jewish Link of New Jersey, The Jewish Echo and The Vues. In the past, he has served as the President of the small Jewish publisher Yashar Books and as the Managing Editor of OU Press.

Rabbi Student recently served on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America and currently serves as Director of the Halacha Commission of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He also serves on the Editorial Board of Jewish Action magazine and the Board of OU Press. He has published five English books, the most recent titled Search Engine: Finding Meaning in Jewish Texts, and served as the American editor for Morasha Kehillat Yaakov: Essays in Honour of Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.