Shmuel Butman
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Rabbi Shmuel Menachem Butman (born 1944) is a prominent Chabad rabbi in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. He has served for many years as the head of the Lubavitch Youth Organisation and as the director of the L'Chaim weekly magazine. He was a spokesman for the Chabad community in Crown Heights during the Crown Heights Riot.[1] After the Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson suffered a stroke, Butman emerged as a leading proponent of Chabad messianism. He was the organiser of a 1993 gathering at which Schneerson disappointed his followers by not accepting the mantle of the Messiah.[2]
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[edit] Activities
He is director of the Lubavitch Youth Organization and chairman of the International Campaign to Bring Moshiach.[3] He was the founder of the weekly Chabad magazine L'Chaim and has made campaign contributions to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.[4]
He is the organiser of the annual Mitzvah Tank Parade[5] and was responsible for the erection of the largest menorah in the world at the south-east corner of Central Park in 2004.[6] He also hosts a weekly radio show called Moshiach in the air and has been the director of the weekly chabad magazine L'Chaim since the 1980s.
In 1992 he addressed the US House of Representatives at the invitation of Chuck Schumer, representing Chabad in honor of Schneerson's 90th birthday.[7]
[edit] Crown Heights Riot
He gave the keynote address at the funeral of Yankel Rosenbaum, and emerged as a spokesman for the Chabad movement during the course of the rioting.[8] He praised the actions of the police but voiced anger against the black rioters comparing their actions to European pogroms in the 19th century. "First Crown Heights, then Washington Heights, then the Golan Heights. This is a Jewish issue. What happened in Crown Heights was not an isolated incident."[9][10] He commented: "This is not Poland in 1881. It's the United States in 1991!"[11]
[edit] Messianism
Before Schneerson's death Butman was active in the movement to crown him as "King Messiah". He was seen as a leader of that movement, organizing rallies to bring about this proclamation.[12] He invoked the recitation of the Yechi mantra in Schneerson's presence without him complaining as evidence that he was indeed the Messiah.[13] He organised the rally on January 30, 1993 that was billed as Schneerson's coronation ceremony.[14] Before the rally he informed the press that "This will be the coronation of the rebbe as Melech haMashiach (King Messiah)."[15][16] Butman was forced to backtrack during the event, announcing that Schneerson appearance did not represent his acceptance of the role of Messiah. He told the 8,000 assembled followers (plus many more around the world watching via satellite) that the event "is not to be interpreted as a coronation."[17]
Butman penned a book outlining the religious and philosophical justification for believing that Schneerson was the messiah despite his death in 1995. He made the book freely available online.[18]
When the Rabbinical Council of America denounced messianism within Chabad in 1996, Butman went on the offensive telling the press: "Rabbi Shmuel Butman, chairman of the International Campaign to Bring Moshiach, responded to the RCA by saying: "Questions of belief in Judaism are a matter of halachah [Jewish law] and should be referred to recognized Torah giants of the generation for a decision" adding that the resolution was "like voting against the rebbe".[19]
He is widely viewed as a leader of the messianist strand within Chabad - with Yudel Krinsky as a primary nemesis.[20] He told the press in December 1994, after Schneerson's death:
- "it is not some of the people in the community, but all of the people in the community as well as Lubavitch throughout the world, who believe...that the Rebbe will take us out of exile, and that the Rebbe will lead us to the great final redemption."[21]
[edit] Family
Butman is married to Rochelle Butman and they have three children together, Joseph, Hannah and Velvl. His son Rabbi Velvel Butman is the director of Chabad of Westchester County while a son-in-law, Rabbi Mordechai Newman, is the director of Chabad of Alexandria-Arlington in Virginia.[22]
[edit] Bibliography
- Countdown to Moshiach: Can the rebbe still be Moshiach?, Shmuel Butman (unknown binding - 1995).
[edit] Citations
- ^ "Clashes Persist in Crown Heights for 3d Night in Row", John Kifner, The New York Times, August 22, 1991
- ^ "Rebbe, but Not the Messiah, As Lubavitchers Compromise", Ari L. Goldman, February 1, 1993, The New York Times
- ^ "A Spiritual Leader Lives On in Memory" July 2, 1995, Lynette Holloway, The New York Times
- ^ Campaign contributions for Shmuel Butman.
- ^ "Riding in the Annual Mitzvah Tank Parade", Robert Smith, National Public Radio, April 20, 2005
- ^ "World's Largest Menorah Lit", Lori Har-El, The Epoch Times, December 13, 2004
- ^ Congressional Records of May 14 1992, Library of Congress
- ^ "Interpretations of the Crown Heights Riot", Shapiro, Edward S., American Jewish History - Volume 90, Number 2, June 2002, pp. 97-122
- ^ "Racial Unrest: An Eye for an Eye", Sam Allis, Time magazine, September 09, 1991
- ^ "5,000 at Rally Join to Protest Anti-Semitism", James Barron, New York Times, October 14, 1991.
- ^ "Crown of thorns", Jonathan Rieder, The New Republic, October 14, 1991
- ^ "Letter from Crown Heights", Malcolm Gladwell February 2, 1993 The Washington Post
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ "Rebbe, but Not the Messiah, As Lubavitchers Compromise", Ari L. Goldman, February 1, 1993, The New York Times
- ^ "Mashiach Madness reaches frenzy as lubavitch 'anoint' the Rebbe", Debra Nussbaum Cohen, Jewish Telegraphic Agency January 28, 1993
- ^ "Rabbi to be anointed Messiah" Press Telegram, January 30, 1993
- ^ "Rabbi's appearance fails to reveal messiah", Deseret News, February 1, 1993
- ^ Countdown to Moshiach. Can the Rebbe still be Moshiach? Rabbi Shmuel Butman, 1995
- ^ "1,000 Orthodox rabbis reject claim rebbe was Messiah", Debra Nussbaum Cohen, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 21, 1996
- ^ "The war of the messiahs heats up", Jerusalem Post, Marilyn Herny, August 30, 1996
- ^ "Rabbis Blast Lubavitcher Messianism, Warn Resurrection Talk Echoes Christian Themes", Lucette Lagnado, The Forward, December 2, 1994.
- ^ "Dancing rabbis on I-395", Susan Mandel, Alexandria Times, September 21, 2006
