Jacob Immanuel Schochet

Jacob Immanuel Schochet is a rabbi, academic and scholar who has written and lectured extensively on the history and philosophy of Hassidism and topical themes of Jewish thought and ethics. His early education he received in his native Switzerland and in Holland. After moving to North America, he attended the Central Yeshivah Tomchei Tmimim in New York from which he graduated in 1958. His secular education he received in Canada, attending the University of Toronto, University of Windsor, McMaster University, and University of Waterloo, holding the degrees of BA (Phil), MA (Religious Studies), MPhil (Phil) and PhD (Phil).His specialties in philosophy are Logic, Epistemology, Ethics, and Philosophy of Religion.

Professor Schochet is a renowned authority on Jewish Philosophy, Mysticism and Hassidism. He has authored over 30 books, mostly on the history and philosophy of Chassidism (including biographies of the Baal Shem Tov and his successor the Maggid of Mezhirech, "Mystical Concepts in Chassidism", "The Mystical Dimension" (3 volumes), and annotated translations of the classical Chassidic texts "Tanya", "Tzava'at Harivash", and "Likkutei Sichot"), as well as "The Treatment of Anthropomorphism in Targum Onkelos", and "The Psychological System of Maimonides". He has also penned numerous articles in academic and popular publications dealing with philosophy, Jewish Mysticism and socio-ethical issues. He has lectured at the universities of Yale, UCLA, Berkeley, McGill, Oxford, London, Capetown, Melbourne, and has spoken for communities throughout the USA, Canada and Europe, Australia, South Africa, the Far East and Israel. He is the editor of critical editions of the principal Chassidic texts "Keter Shem Tov", "Tzava'at Harivash", "Maggid Devarav Leyaakov" and "Or Torah", which are universally accepted as the authoritative editions.

For over 30 years he was the rabbi of Kielcer Congregation in Toronto, Canada, and since 1996 he is the rabbi of Cong. Beth Joseph. He is professor-emeritus of Philosophy, and Comparative Religion, at Humber College, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and also served as adjunct-professor on Jewish Bioethics at University of Toronto Medical School, and professor of Jewish Law and Philosophy, and dean of degree srudies at Maimonides College, in Toronto, Canada.

Rabbi Schochet is a son of Rabbi Dov Yehuda and Mrs. Sarah Schochet. The elder Rabbi Schochet was born in Telsiai (Telshe, Telz) Lithuania, and was one of the foremost alumni of the Telshe yeshiva and a renowned Talmud scholar. He served as rabbi in Basel, Switzerland from 1930 until 1947, and from 1947 to 1951 he served as chief-rabbi of The Hague and the adjacent regional towns, in Holland. Shortly after emigrating to Toronto in 1951, Rabbi and Mrs. Schochet Sr. and most of their ten children, joined the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a radical move for a family with a strong Lithuanian background and orientation. Numerous reasons are cited to explain this 'conversion', among them a miracle that the Lubavitcher Rebbe performed in saving the life of the youngest daughter after she had suffered severe burns. Essentially, though, the reorientation of the family was mainly due to their direct contact with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Menachem M. Schneerson. Rabbi Schochet Sr. was overwhelmed by the Rebbe's all-comprehensive scholarship and erudition in all areas of Judaism - Talmud, Halachah, Jewish Philosophy, Kabbalah and so forth. Rabbi Immanuel Schochet had a very close relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe from the time he was a young student in the Yeshivah, and thereafter the Rebbe urged and encouraged his academic pursuits and literary efforts. Some have suggested that in order to emphasize that the family regarded itself as extending into Lubavitch rather than removing itself from Telshe, he opens his classical text "Mystical Concept in Chassidism" with a quotation from Rabbi Joseph Leib Bloch, the rosh yeshiva of the Telshe yeshiva under who the elder Rabbi Schochet studied.

Rabbi Schochet remains active with writing and lecturing and communal affairs in Toronto. He is a member of the executive committee of the "Rabbinical Alliance of America", and on the boards of many educational and social institutions. Biographical data of his are listed in a number of "who is Who"s, such as "Directory of American Scholars", "Encyclopedia of Hassidism", and "Who is Who in Canadian Jewry".

Controversy

"Who Is A Jew"

With the heated controversy on the issue of 'Who is a Jew' arose in the 1970s, Rabbi Schochet was a leading proponent for amending the Israeli Law of Return to recognize only halachic (orthodox) conversions, as opposed to conversions performed by the reform, conservative and rconstructionist movements. He published numerous articles in the general and Jewish press, in addition to speaking at many public forums, to explain that position. His book "Who Is A Jew?" remains to this day the standard text on the subject, and has gone through several editions and translated into many languages.

"Kabbalah Center"

Rabbi J. I. Schochet is a vehement opponent of the The Kabbalah Center accusing it of distorting the teachings of the "Kabbalah", that its philosophy is antithetical to traditional Judaism, and that it is guilty of cultish practices. In 1993 the Kabbalah Center opened a slander lawsuit in Canadian Court against him, but eventually withdrew it in the face of Rabbi Schochet's vigorous defense of his position.

"I'm concerned that the Kabbalah Centers are exploiting people's legitimate pursuits for spirituality for their own financial gain," Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet told The Enquirer.

"I advise not only my congregants, but all people to stay away from the Kabbalah Centers. And if you see Madonna coming, run the other way" Schochet is quoted to have said. [ [http://www.rickross.com/reference/kabbalah/kabbalah72.html Hollywood Style of Kabbalah is a Cult, say experts ] ]

Jews for Jesus

Rabbi Schochet is also known for his outspoken opinions about, and vehement opposition to, Jews for Jesus and Christian missionaries that target Jews. For many years in the 1970s and 1980s he was the pioneer in anti-cult and anti-missionaries activities, adressing communities throughout the world on this problem, and successfullty working with Jewish youths to bring them back to their Jewish roots. "For a Jew, however, any form of shituf is tantamount to idolatry in the fullest sense of the word. There is then no way that a Jew can ever accept Jesus as a deity, mediator or savior (messiah), or even as a prophet, without betraying Judaism. To call oneself, therefore, a 'Hebrew-Christian,' a 'Jew for Jesus,' or in the latest version a 'messianic Jew,' is an oxymoron. Just as one cannot be a 'Christian Buddhist,' or a 'Christian for Krishna,' one cannot be a 'Jew for Jesus.'" Rabbi J. ImmanuelSchochet said. [http://www.cjnews.com/pastissues/99/july29-99/feature/feature2.htm] There are dozens of audio- and video-tapes of his powerful polemics against these missionaries, as well as a transcript circulating in manuscript-form.

Chabad Messianism and Modern Orthodoxy

Rabbi J. Immanual Schochet is known as opposing the "messianic branch" within Chabad. He has also called certain ideas prevalent in some modern orthodox groups [specifically those relating to Bible criticism and the religion-science controversies] , to be outright heterodox or non-normative.

Kedma: Do you see Messianism as a dangerous force in Chabad and do you speak out against it?

Schochet: I definitely always did, and continue to speak out against it.

Kedma: So then doesn’t it scare you that even 50 percent of the teachers teaching young children are Messianist?

Schochet: Not really, because many so-called Messianists have left that fold. As they grow older, they grow wiser. So number one—they drop it. Secondly, even those who remain Messianists, you have many different groups among them. You have those who simply believe—yes, the Rebbe will be Moshiach, which I would call a stupid belief. It is stupidity butessentially harmless. Then you have the real extreme fringe elements who, for example, would deny that the Rebbe died or would insert certain claims that I would call heretical ideas—and with regards to them I am in agreement with Berger. These, however, are a very very very very minute, fringe element of the fringes of the fringes. It is a terrible situation, it certainly gives a bad name to Chabad, to Lubavitch and most of all to the Rebbe, but I don’t seethat as a real danger for Judasim ["sic"] any more than I see danger in any other heretical ideas that you can find in the various so-called ‘denominations’ of the Jewish community, including the so-called Modern Orthodox. [ [http://www.hillel.upenn.edu/kedma/02/rebbe.html ] ]

At the same time Rabbi Schochet has been very critical of attacks on Chabad-Lubavitch, including specific accusations levelled against its messianic group which he himself opposes most vigorously. He responded sharply to a critical article by Rabbi Chaim D. Keller of the Telshe Yeshiva in Chicago that appeared in the "Jewish Observer", and more so to Prof. David Berger's book "The Rebbe, The Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference". In his responses Rabbi Schochet demonstrates on the one hand how many of the criticised practices of Chabad are fell-founded in normative orthodoxy of Jewish tradition, and on the other hand how other criticisms are unfounded or based on crude distortions. He is especially critical of the mostly anonymous anecdotes and attributions in Dr. Berger's book, his reliance on the innuendos and unsubstantiated accusations and excoriations by individuals known for their persistent historical opposition to Hassidism in general and/or "Chabad" in particular beyond the context of contemporary controversial issues in Lubavitch, noting that material like that is dishonest and devoid of academic value and validity. His responses have appeared in a number of publications and are also found on numerous web-sites.

He authored a widely clebrated text "Mashiach: The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition", which has appeared in numerous editions and translated into 8 languages. Its first edition appeared before Chabad-messianism became a controversial issue, and even the later expanded and revised editions do not deal with the controversy at all.

References

External links

* [http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/to-know-and-to-care-1/14.htm Webpage includes a brief account of the Schochet miracle.] www.aishdas.org/avodah/vo02/v02n094.shtml
* [http://www.chabadtalk.com/forum/showthread.php3?t=38 What is the Essence of a Rebbe?] on Chabadtalk.com
* [http://www.amazon.com/review/RHWERA9Z99NYO Jacob Immanuel Schochet's review of Berger's book.
* [http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/4382/jewish/Schochet-J.-Immanuel.htm Collection of articles and classes by Jacob Immanuel Schochet]