The Alter Rebbe taught that before the Messianic era, the wrong perspective has to look more popular and correct.

The Alter Rebbe taught that before the Messianic era, the wrong perspective has to look more popular and correct.

What Happened at Mount Carmel?

At Mount Carmel, there was a dispute among Jews over truth and heresy.

Eliyahu HaNavi [Elijah] challenged the prophets of Baal.

Both sides brought an offering.

Eliyahu’s offering was accepted by fire from Heaven.

The Jewish people saw what happened and declared:

“The Creator, He is G-d.”

Truth looked like it had won completely.

But that created an imbalance.

Heaven had made the truth extremely obvious.

What Has to Happen Before the Messianic Era?

According to the Alter Rebbe, before the Messianic era, that imbalance has to be corrected.

There has to be another major dispute among Jews.

But this time, the wrong perspective has to look more popular and more correct.

Instead of truth looking obviously stronger, falsehood has to be given the chance to look more accepted.

— — —

In my opinion, opposition to Chabad Chassidus from the Misnagid world, along with the growth of Reform and Conservative Judaism, helped create that correction.

Large Jewish communities came to accept very different ideas about Torah, Hashem [our Creator], and Jewish life.

Why Can Chabad Look Like the Rejected Side?

At the same time, respected rabbis rejected parts of Chabad Chassidus and treated them as heresy for generations.

For many Jews, that can make Chabad look like the strange or rejected side.

I also do not think it helped that the Meshichist Chabad sect has spent the past three decades harming the reputation of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

That gave people another reason to look at Chabad and assume something was wrong.

But popularity does not tell you which ideas are true.

— — —

A Jewish community can be deeply religious and still carry confused beliefs about Hashem [the Creator].

People can keep Torah while their nervous systems still experience nature as if it runs on its own, other forces as if they have power of their own, or personality as if it has no deeper purpose.

Those beliefs can be shaped by fear, survival patterns, religious trauma, competition, and generations of misunderstanding.

What Good Did These Communities Still Give?

That does not mean those communities had nothing good to give.

Many people in them made wonderful choices, connected to Hashem with real sincerity, and gave their communities spiritual gifts.

They passed down ideas about how to live with awe, love, responsibility, sacrifice, and care for other people.

A community can carry serious confusion in part of its worldview while still giving people many true and valuable skills for living a spiritual life.

The goal is not to erase everything that came before.

It is to keep the good, correct what became confused, and understand Hashem more deeply.

— — —

Fixing confused beliefs takes more than telling people what they are supposed to believe.

The mind needs a deeper and clearer understanding of Hashem until those ideas begin to change the way a person experiences reality.

You have to learn what to think about until you can actually feel deeper awe and love, and you've got to develop emotional skills.

Why Study More Chabad Chassidus?

That is one reason I believe Jewish schools and communities should study much more Chabad Chassidus [it can help build inner strength to work on emotional skills].

In my view, Rabbi Adin Even-Yisrael [Steinsaltz] was the greatest Torah scholar to live in the 21st century [based on how much of Torah he was able to explain simply], and his writings are one of the best resources for this work.

His commentary on Tanya alone is more than 2,000 pages.

It explains what to think about so you can develop awe and love for the Creator no matter what is going on in your life.

His writings can help people think more clearly about Hashem, understand the purpose of personality and emotion, and move from knowing Torah ideas in the mind toward greater intimacy with the Creator.

If a community discovers that parts of its worldview were shaped by fear, competition, or serious religious error, the answer is not less Torah.

It is deeper Torah.

— — —

This is almost the reverse of Mount Carmel.

At Mount Carmel, what people could see made truth look stronger.

Before the Messianic era, what people can see may make the wrong perspective look more popular and more correct.

That corrects the imbalance.

Now a person has to look deeper.

What Is the Final Test?

The final test is not:

“Which side is more popular?”

It is:

“Which ideas are actually true, and which ones help me understand Hashem and live in a deeper relationship with Him?”

At Mount Carmel, fire from Heaven made truth easy to see.

Before the Messianic era, truth may have to be chosen when it does not look like the popular perspective.

_________________________

Related guides:

Why are the jewish people a great source of blessing? https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BrKXqj5N7/

Misguided awe happens in every community

How to transform your relationship with suffering

jesus is embarrassed about all the ptsd/trauma the catholic church gave the jewish people over centuries: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/197QkU8icu/

Why is suffering built into creation? https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1K45xKiKDZ/

How does emotional numbness from trauma stop people from having a relationship with the Creator?

#NextSelf #chassidus

Questions people ask

What did the Alter Rebbe teach about the Messianic era?

The Alter Rebbe taught that before the Messianic era, the wrong perspective has to look more popular and more correct. At Mount Carmel, fire from Heaven made truth obvious, and that imbalance has to be corrected. Now you have to look deeper, and that takes an emotional skill: choosing truth even when it does not look popular.

How do you develop awe and love for G-d?

Learn what to think about until you can actually feel deeper awe and love. That is an emotional skill: moving from knowing Torah ideas in your mind to actually feeling them, until they change how you experience reality. Rabbi Adin Even-Yisrael Steinsaltz's commentary on Tanya explains what to think about, whatever your life looks like.

Does popularity show which religious ideas are true?

No. Popularity does not tell you which ideas are true. A community can be deeply religious and still carry confused beliefs shaped by fear, survival patterns, religious trauma, and competition. The emotional skill here is awareness: noticing when your nervous system still experiences nature as if it runs on its own, then asking which ideas help you understand Hashem.

How can a community fix confused beliefs about the Creator?

Not just by telling people what to believe. The answer is deeper Torah, not less. Keep the good your community passed down, like awe, love, responsibility, and care for other people, and correct what fear, competition, or religious error confused. That takes emotional skills, and studying Chabad Chassidus can help build the inner strength to work on them.

“The Alter Rebbe taught that before the Messianic era, the wrong perspective has to look more popular.”