Dovber Schneuri

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Dovber Schneuri or Der Mitteler Rebbe ("The Middle Rebbe" in Yiddish) (1773 — 1827) was the second Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. Rabbi Dovber was the first Chabad rebbe to live in the town of Lubavich (now in present-day Belarus), the town for which this Hasidic dynasty is named.

He was the son of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad, and the father-in-law of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn the third Rebbe of Chabad known as the Tzemach Tzedek. R' Dov Ber is commonly referred to as the "Mitteler Rebbe" (Middle Rebbe), meaning he was in the "middle" between the first and third rebbes.

1 Biography
2 Works
3 Succession controversy
4 Rebbes of Lubavitch
5 Time-line of Lubavitcher rebbes
6 External links

[edit] Biography

Rabbi Dov Ber was born in Liozna, White Russia, where his father was Maggid (spiritual leader) of the community, and of many Chassidim in White Russia and Lithuania, and other parts of Russia. His father named him after his own teacher, Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch, the disciple and successor of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement. Dov Ber was a "far advanced" student, and had begun to study Talmud at the age of seven. His father taught him Zohar, and transmitted to him the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov. Rabbi Dov Ber adopted the family name of "Schneuri," after his father, but succeeding generations changed it to "Schneersohn," or "Schneerson."

On the death of his father during the Napoleonic wars, Dov Ber succeeded as Rebbe at age 39. Rabbi Dovber was renowned for the breadth and depth of his Chassidic teachings and for his love and concern for every Jew. Like his father, he was denounced by his enemies as a danger to the Russian government. He was arrested, but later released, and the day of his release, the 10th of Kislev, is remembered to this day by Chabad Chassidim.

He established a Yeshivah in Lubavitch, which attracted gifted young scholars. His son-in-law, who later became also his successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, headed the Yeshivah. Rabbi Dov Ber began a campaign (in 1822, or 1823) to urge Jews to learn trades and skilled factory work. He urged communities to organize trade schools. He also encouraged the study of agriculture. Rabbi Dov Ber himself established colonies of Jewish farmers.

The Chabad school of thought is based on an intellectual approach to Kabbalah. In Chabad, the learning of Kabbalah, as filtered through Kabbalists like R' Schneur Zalman himself, was encouraged strongly. Even relatively simple and illiterate Jews like farmers and artisans were encouraged to learn at least some Kabbalah. This approach was very controversial. After the death of his father, Dovber Schneuri consolidated this approach by further emphasizing the necessity of learning Chassidic-Kabbalah intellectually.

[edit] Works

Rabbi Dov Ber wrote many works on Chabad and Kabbalah, including a commentary on the Zohar. He was a brilliant thinker and a fast writer; his own Chassidic works tend to be very long and very complicated. It is said that when he finished writing the bottom line on a sheet of paper, the ink of the top line has not yet dried. About twenty of his works have been published, a good many of them during his lifetime.

One of his most famous works, entitled "Shar HaYichud" (The Gate of Unity), now translated to English [1], describes the creation and entire make-up of the world according to Kabbalah. The work begins with the "Essence of G-d," and traces the creation of the universe down to the physical world itself, using complicated parables to illustrate difficult points. The book also describes, in its first ten chapters, the proper way to meditate on these Kabbalistic ideas.

[edit] Succession controversy

When R' Schneur Zalman passed away, many of his followers flocked to one of his top students, R' Aharon HaLevi of Strashelye. While many more became followers of the Mittler Rebbe, the Strashelye school of Chassidic thought was the subject of many of the Mittler Rebbe's discourses. R' Aharon HaLevi emphasized the importance of basic emotions in divine service (especially the service of prayer). The Mittler Rebbe did not reject the role of emotion in prayer, but emphasized that if the emotion in prayer is to be genuine, it can only be a result of contemplation and understanding (hisbonenus) of the explanations of Chassidus, which in turn will lead to an attainment of "bittul" (self-nullification before the Divine). In his work entitled "Kuntres Hispaalus" (Tract on Ecstacy), the Mittler Rebbe argues that only through ridding oneself of what he considered disingeuous emotions could one attain the ultimate level in Chassidic worship (that is, bittul).

Perhaps in response to Shar HaYichud, and perhaps in an attempt to come up with his own systemitization of Kabbalah, R' Aharon HaLevi published a book entitled Sharei HaYichud v'HaEmuna (The Gates of Unity and Faith), which is also a top to bottom description of the universe according to Kabbalah, and which describes the importance of the Torah and Divine service in the world's existence.

After two generations, the Strashelye school dissolved, and many if not most of the Strashelye Chassidim became followers of the Tzemach Tzedek.