Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Anti-hommage au Rebbe

Il y a toutes sortes de croyances.

Il y a ceux qui croient que John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley et Marilyn Monroe ne sont pas morts et qu'ils vivent tous sur la même île.

D'autres croient que leur Rebbe -- qui est nul autre que Dieu lui-même -- n'est pas vraiment mort. Et d'autres encore en ont fait leur culte.




The 'Scandal' of the Lubavitch Rebbe: Messianism as a Response to Failed Prophecy

Authors: Simon Dein; Lorne L. Dawson (Show Biographies)

Journal of Contemporary Religion, Volume 23, Issue 2 May 2008 , pages 163 - 180

In June 1994, the Lubavitch Rebbe, believed to be the Mosiach (the Messiah) died. Counter-intuitively, this failure of prophecy gave birth to an extreme messianic movement within the group, dividing it into two antagonistic factions (messianists and anti-messianists). This article examines the Beis Menachem, a messianic group whose members believe that the Rebbe is not dead; some even believe that he is God. We argue that this strong messianic response was predictable, given the influence of four factors that prior analyses suggest are important in determining whether a group will survive the failure of a significant prophecy: (1) the ways in which the prophetic milieu is prepared, (2) the nature and extent of the preparatory activities people engaged in, (3) the nature, speed, and thoroughness of the response of group leaders to a failed prophecy, and (4) the level of social support available for those who remain faithful to a prophecy. Emphasis in this study is given to the first and fourth factor; it is argued that the diachronic study of groups like the Lubavitch provides new insights into the ideological, organisational, and situational conditions that facilitate the successful management of dissonance and thus the persistence of unusual beliefs.




Bonne Année 5756!

S'adressant à des membres du groupe ultra-orthodoxe Chabad Lubavitch, le premier ministre Stephen Harper a rendu hommage hier aux victimes des attentats de Mumbai, en Inde. Six des quelque 170 victimes étaient juives.


















Harper et les Loubavich

A beautiful presentation by actor John Voit, this video presentation was made by Chabad Lubavitch. Voir aussi l'inoubliable danse de Jon Voigt.

Sans oublier le Sénateur Joe Lieberman, l'acteur Gene Wilder, Michael Douglas, Matt Leblanc, les comédiens de Friends, Leonard Nimoy (Spock), Bob Dylan, Larry King, Bob Hope, etc.,etc.