Malachim (Chassidus)
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The Malachim are a barely extant quasi-Hasidic group with strong Miami and Williamsburg connections.
[edit] History
Rabbi Chaim Avraham Dov Ber Levine haCohen, also known as "The Malach" (lit. "the angel") came to New York in the 1920s. The Malach had been one of the closest followers of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn and the tutor of his grandson, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. However, Rabbi Levine became distanced from the Schneersohns and their dynasty, Chabad-Lubavitch, due to personal differences (Lubavitchers and Rabbi Levine's followers' accounts differ substantially as to the exact nature of the incident. Rabbi Nessanel Quinn, a close pupil of Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, maintained that Rabbi Levine was "thrown out" of Chabad). Once in New York, Rabbi Levine became the rabbi of a synagogue in the Bronx. Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Vodaas, encouraged students to visit him so they could see such a luminary. Many of them were inspired and decided to become followers of the Malach, starting a quasi-Hasidic dynasty known as "The Malachim." "They began to dress more haredi. In 1936, the students left Torah Vodaas (Rabbi Quinn claims that they left on their own. Rabbi Meir Weberman, one of the Malach's followers, claims that Rabbi Quinn expelled them but later apologized).[1] After The Malach's death in 1938, the Malachim did not choose a successor.
[edit] Relationship With Other Groups
The Malachim are antagonistic towards Chabad and one leader of the Malachim has noted that one significant difference is that Chabad involves itself with the affairs with the Israeli government while the Malachim are staunchly anti-zionist. [2].
