Did the Lubavitcher Rebbe Mean He Was Mashiach?

To answer the question, there is no need to quote the speeches ‘innocently’ noting that Mashiach’s name is Menachem, or referring to his synagogue as a model of the Beis Hamikdash (!), and various other ‘hints’. The matter can be clarified through an oral tradition of a conversation with ‘Rabbi Moshe Breslover’…

Rabbi Moshe was once asked about the numerous times Rabbi Nachman of Breslov refers to the one, True Tzaddik. To whom does this refer? The rabbi answered wth a question, of course. When Yosef interpreted Pharoah’s dreams, he ends “and now you must find a wise and discerning second-in-command” And what is Pharoah’s response? “And Pharoah said to to his servants: is there another man so Divinely inspired as he?!” Now you tell me: how did Pharoah know whom Yosef meant…?

— What was obvious to even Pharaoh should be obvious to you too.

End of conversation. Now, the Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke quite a lot about Mashiach. That suffices.

שווה להשקיע שעתיים

להלן שיחת הרב יום טוב חשין שליט”א. רשמית הוא עוסק בנושא של משיחיות וכדומה, אך שזורים בו כמה דברי תורה וחכמה. למשל, רוחניות לא זהה עם יהדות, אין בתורה הכחשת מציאות כדי ליישב קושיות על התורה – והמקורות הנראים כסותרים, האם “אסור” לעולם בדוקא בלשון חז”ל, פנינים על ש”צ, האם ברסלב נגד השימוש בשכל, האם תיתכן חכמה ללא קדושה, ועוד.

הנה:

Use Your Head!

Some claim that to Chazal (and scripture) the dwelling of the intellect is the heart, and wisdom, or ‘counsel’ is from the kidneys. The brain, as per Aristotle, is (unknown or) unimportant.

I respond thus:

כמדומה אני שאין לו מח בקדקדו

About Those Evil ‘Company Stores’

What were company towns and company stores really like?

An excerpt from Lew Rockwell:

But what about cases in which competition doesn’t seem to exist, when there is only one firm and that firm provides not only jobs, but also runs the schools and stores and rents the housing? This is the “company town” of American folklore (“I owe my soul to the company store’). The most interesting results of Fishback’s studies concern the economics of the company town.

It turns out, the private paradise of the company town provided stores, houses, and schools as part of a highly desirable compensation package. They did this to attract workers. Rents were low, store prices were competitive, and the schools were good. Again, the reason is competition. If the company ever slacked off or attempted to exploit a “monopoly,” workers would leave the company town to go to work elsewhere.

In contrast to this free market, modern labor law has brought us nothing but trouble.