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Sprite, before we begin a dialog on this let me remind our posters that there is a forum rule against discussing Jewish denominations. Therefore questions will be answered, but any posts that violate rule #3. "Discussions about Jewish denominations are inappropriate. Take them offline or to other forums outside of Messiah Truth" will be edited or deleted unreleased.

You've asked two questions. The first was what do we think of Rabbi Schneerson. Well, ask two Jews anything and you'll get three opinions. R' Schneerson (Z"L) known as the "Rebbe" was the leader of Chabad Lubbavitch. He did many great things in his life, bringing many Jews back to Judaism. A primary focus of the Rebbe was Jewish Outreach and he sent many religious Jews (affectionately called "the Rebbe's Army") to very remote places around the world for this purpose. If you remember that Rabbi and his wife who were killed in Mumbai, they were part of the Chabad's Outreach.

The Rebbe never claimed to be the messiah, although he had the right lineage (Davidic heir). To be "the" messiah one must fulfill all of the messianic prophecies. You can read about those prophecies in the thread: Why Jews Know Jsus was a false messiah. In every generation lives a person who COULD be the messiah, but so far no one has fulfilled those prophecies, and hence we wait for the messiah to come.

During the last few years of his life many of the Rebbe's followers thought he could be the messiah. Many of the messianic prophecies seemed to have been fulfilled in his lifetime (the re-establishment of Israel for one). Yet, the Rebbe died before all of the prophecies were fulfilled, ergo he was not the messiah. This is not to lessen his accomplishments which were many.

I've known Chabadniks who thought the Rebbe might have been the messiah, but as they point out: he brought Jews back to Judaism and would never have wanted to be worshipped. There is a vast difference between the Jewish concept of the messiah (a human being who will fulfill various prophecies to bring mankind closer to G-d and Jews to Torah) and the Chrstian man-god who should be worshipped or prayed "through."

Lastly, there were (are?) some Chabadniks who still believe the Rebbe could be the messiah. This is because in the age of the messiah people will be resurected and since that means the Rebbe would live again, why couldn't he then be the messiah? Using this logic the Rebbe is not now the messiah (well he IS dead), neither was he the messiah in his lifetime), but he could conceivable be the messiah when everyone is ressurected -- but only if he fulfills all the prophecies.

Using this same logic the messiah could well be King David or King Solomon resurrected.

It is all a rather esoteric and time wasting discussion because we'll all find out when the messiah does come.