Most Moral Army In The World

We’ve all heard that gag—all too often. The punch line, of course, is: Whose morality?

Can we talk about Chabad?

Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of the largest Jewish religious organizations. Unlike most Haredi groups, which are self-segregating, Chabad mainly operates in the wider world and caters to nonobservant Jews.

Chabad also differs from other ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects in that it actively recruits non-Jews to a sort of new religion, a type of Noahidism for Goys, a secondary hanger-on status allied to the Chosen People

Noahidism is a monotheistic Jewish religious movement aimed at non-Jews, based upon the Seven Laws of Noah^[10] and their traditional interpretations within Orthodox Judaism.^[11]

According to the Jewish law, non-Jews are not obligated to convert to Judaism, but they are required to observe the Seven Laws of Noah to be assured of a place in the World to Come (Olam Ha-Ba), the final reward of the righteous.

… one of the biggest players in offering this new religion to … Christians are the Chabad-Lubavitchers. A messianic Jewish sect is bringing non-Jews into its fold …

What is Chabad, what do they believe?

The Chabadniki … see themselves as Jews and most Jews see the Chabadniki as Jews, too. But unlike most other Jews, the Chabadniki believe that the messiah has already come in the form of their late Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The guy died in 1994 but the Chabad faithful believe that he’s The One. He’s biding his time for now. But when he reveals himself to the world, a global Jewish/Israelite theocracy will emerge, the Third Temple will be built, and all sorts of other great things will happen. You can see the Chabad “Messiah” flags everywhere — inside a ruined Gaza, at protests in Brooklyn, on bikes in Central Park…

If this sounds fringe to you, you haven’t been paying attention. Chabad is only fringe in the sense that most Americans have never heard of it as such, but it’s not fringe in its influence:

The weird world of Chabad, an influential Hasidic sect that’s been taking America (and Israel) by storm

Chabad represents the cutting edge of Zionist Jewish life in America — a movement that draws disillusioned Jews from progressive and liberal corners of Judaism and funnels them to the right.

US Jewry is shifting profoundly and Chabad is on rise - Pew research

The Chabad emergence, documented in this Pew Report, is a game changer for American Jewish life. The numbers are startling: 38% of all US Jews have engaged in some way with Chabad programs.

Chabad’s growing leadership is good news for Israel. Chabad’s support has always been unequivocal. Its schools emphasize the centrality of the Jewish homeland and its rabbis are unafraid to speak up in support of Israel’s security. ...

THIS BECAME clear during the hostilities in Gaza. While many in the Jewish community hunkered down, fearing antisemitism, or wondering about the righteousness of Israel’s cause. Some even criticized Israel. Chabad rabbis acted, speaking out strongly in support of Israel.

Do see where this is going? The JPost speaks in “nuanced” terms. The reality runs like this:

Yasha Levine @yashalevine

Chabad's "messiah" flag has ben flying high during the genocide in Gaza. Not surprising. Its rabbis have been advocating — in English — for genocide against Palestinians for decades.

7:03 PM · Dec 12, 2024

I came across all this at MoA this morning—The Cult That Murders Gaza. I’m only getting around to this because today was a big time grampa day—as tomorrow will also be. I thought it was important enough that I’m going to paste in Levine’s entire article:

Biblical War, Chabad style

Before I do that, here’s one more quote from Levine—because some readers will have noticed that I’ve begun referring to “Jewish Nationalism” rather than to Zionism:

Judaism has zionism built into it. There is no escaping it. The two can’t be disentangled.

Zionism is just Jewish nationalism. It's the belief that Jews constitute one people and they are bound to the Holy Land by forces beyond human control. Nationalism might be a relatively new idea and zionism itself dates back to the 19th century. But this basic concept — of a unique Jewish people united by destiny and tied to a land — is much older than that and is based on the core text of Judaism, the Torah. This idea, which I call ancient zionist, is a spiritual one — and it’s central to Judaism. It’s the sun around which everything else revolves. Even the ultra-religious sects known for their anti-zionism — including the Satmar or even Neturei Karta, whose members show up to support Palestine at protests and who burn their Israeli passports — support ancient zionism.

There are some Jews who will argue that zionism isn’t built into Judaism. They believe you can be a religious Jew without being a Jewish nationalist or a Jewish supremacist. ...

I used to agree with this position. I also thought that you could disentangle Judaism from zionism — that you could be a religious Jew and yet reject Jewish nationalism. But I don’t think so anymore.

So here’s the Levine article on Moral War:

I’ve been back on my anti-rabbi duties doing research and writing new chapters for Two Pigeons when I came across this…a brief statement by a celebrity Chabad rabbi about his thoughts on the proper way to wage a war in the Jewish style. I wanted to share it with you.

I don’t believe in western morality, i.e. don’t kill civilians or children, don’t destroy holy sites, don’t fight during holiday seasons, don’t bomb cemeteries, don’t shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral.

The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).

The first Israeli prime minister who declares that he will follow the Old Testament will finally bring peace to the Middle East. First, the Arabs will stop using children as shields. Second, they will stop taking hostages knowing that we will not be intimidated. Third, with their holy sites destroyed, they will stop believing that G-d is on their side. Result: no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war.

Zero tolerance for stone throwing, for rockets, for kidnapping will mean that the state has achieved sovereignty. Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention.

Rabbi Manis Friedman
Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies
St. Paul, MN

Rabbi Manis Friedman is well known in the Jewish world. He was close to Bob Dylan when the singer found his Judaism. He’s been popular author and lecturer on psychology, relationships, and issues of, eh, carnal intimacy. He is also the founder of a school for Jewish girls — which feels creepy when you learn about Friedman’s views on pedophilia and sexual assault and the fact that his own son has been accused of sexually abusing children (and apparently had been sexually abused, too)…not to say anything about Chabad’s institutional history of protecting serial pedophiles within their ranks. Grim stuff. In fact I first came across this guy while writing about the sordid history of the Chabad sect years ago. So I recognized the name…

Anyway, his views on the right way to wage a war on Palestinians were published in 2009 in Moment, a mainstream Jewish magazine that was cofounded by Elie Wiesel. There were other rabbis from other denominations quoted in that article, too. They took positions more nuanced than his and many in the Jewish community condemned his genocidal views. It was a minor scandal then. Now fifteen years later Friedman’s views are basically mainstream in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world. What he described as the only proper, godly way to wage war against the enemies of Israel is in fact what Israel is currently doing in Gaza and beyond…with total support from the United States and the Europeans.

“Hey, kids! I’m rabbi Friedman. Want to learn about uncle Moses?”

Not sure what to say…This is the face of mainstream Jewish life now. Slowly annihilating two million people is seen as just what must be done, no matter how (depending on your personal inclinations) unpleasant or grim or exhilarating it might be. And if you’re an IDF soldier traumatized by having to constantly scrape bloody hands and feet off the treads of your tank because you’re crushing Palestinians to death…don’t despair. They’ll send in a rabbi to tell you you’re doing God’s work according to His commandments. It’s all kosher, you see. YHWH approved.

I’m not sure just what “morality” those views are based upon. My guess is that its the morality of a nationalism that sees its members as Chosen by God in a very worldly way—tied by blood to a land. It’s the morality that the Most Moral Army in the World follows. And that Trump appears to accept. This is the face of Jewish Nationalism, and of the country that it controls.