Information AboutDovber Schneuri |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT DOVBER SCHNEURI | |
| kabbalists | |
| 1773 births | |
| 1827 deaths | |
| philosophers of judaism | |
| rebbes of lubavitch | |
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Dovber Schneuri or '''Der Mitteler Rebbe''' ("The Middle Rebbe" in Yiddish ) ( 1773 — 1827 ) was an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi . He was the second Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement that originated in the town of Liadi in Imperial Russia . Rabbi Dov Ber was the son of Rabbi Shneur Zalman , 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. 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. 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. After the death of his father, he consolidated the movement by further emphasizing the necessity of learning Chassidic-Kabbalah intellectually. His own Chassidic works tend to be very long and very complicated. One of his most famous works, entitled "Shar HaYichud" (The Gate of Unity], describes the creation and entire make-up of the world according to Kabbalah. That section of the book 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. 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 debated the role of emotion in prayer, and emphasized cold, intellectual contemplation as the true way to attain "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. REBBES OF LUBAVITCH
# Shneur Zalman Of Liadi ( 1745 - 1812 ) # Dovber Schneuri ( 1773 - 1827 ) # Menachem Mendel Schneersohn ( 1789 - 1866 ) # Shmuel Schneersohn ( 1834 - 1882 ) # Sholom Dovber Schneersohn ( 1860 - 1920 ) # Joseph Isaac Schneersohn ( 1880 - 1950 ) # Menachem Mendel Schneerson ( 1902 - 1994 ) TIME-LINE OF LUBAVITCHER REBBES EXTERNAL LINKS
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