B EYOND HAGIOGRAPHY WITH F OOTNOTES :WRITING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE CHABAD REBBE IN THE P OST-S CHNEERSON E RA Wojciech Tworek Abstract: This article discusses the biographies of Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the Rebbe) within the broader context of Chabad historio- graphic lore, in particular the quasi-historical writings of Yosef Yiz . h . ak Schneersohn from the 1930s and 1940s. Described by Ada Rapoport-Albert as “hagiography with footnotes, ” these seemingly scholarly and modern texts constituted an alternative narrative to that of academic Jewish history. From this vantage point, I consider how biographies published by academics and by hasidic authors have mutually influenced each other, particularly in their scope, form, and method. To that end, I examine the controversy that sur- rounded the 2010 publication of the first academic biography of Schneerson, Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman’ s The Rebbe, and analyze the strategies undertaken by subsequent authors that have allowed them to present the Rebbe’ s life in a form that was no longer “hagiography with footnotes” (which would have alienated a secular readership) but as seemingly impartial biographies (without alienating the hasidic readership). The impact of the Chabad movement on postwar Jewry can hardly be com- pared to that of any other Orthodox group. Chabad is famous both for proselytiz- ing Jews alienated from religion and for the messianic controversy surrounding the last leader of the movement, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the Rebbe, 1902–94). Many of his followers predicted that he was the messiah, a belief that, surprisingly, went unchallenged by his most radical adherents after his death. The unprecedented scale and intensity of Chabad messianism shook the Jewish community and sparked a new wave of interest in Chabad teachings, rituals, and, most of all, in the persona of the Rebbe himself. Interest in the life of the Rebbe reached its pinnacle in 2014. That year, which marked the twentieth anniversary of the Rebbe’ s passing, saw the publica- tion of three biographies penned by authors with varying degrees of connection to Chabad. 1 Although not stated explicitly, these books were also written in response to an academic biography of the Rebbe by Samuel Heilman and Menachem I presented an early version of this article at the Third Annual Oxford Summer Institute in Modern and Contemporary Judaism. I would like to thank the participants of this workshop, as well as all the anonymous readers for their constructive criticism. 1. Chaim Miller, Turning Judaism Outward: A Biography of the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Brooklyn, NY: Kol Menachem, 2014); Joseph Telushkin, Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History (New York: Harper Wave, 2014); Adin Steinsaltz, My Rebbe (New Milford, CT: Maggid, 2014). A year earlier, a popular AJS Review 43:2 (November 2019), 409–435 © Association for Jewish Studies 2019 doi:10.1017/S036400941900045X 409 https://doi.org/10.1017/S036400941900045X Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core . University of Wroclaw, on 29 Nov 2021 at 14:49:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms .