Discussion thread about Ohr Ein Sof and Tzaddikim

I received this email. anyone want to jump in and respond?

I have a few questions that bother me. When learning Kabbalah, i learnt about the great light(i'm not sure how holy the name is, so i'll avoid saying it) through which the world and existance was created...doesnt that sound like the xtian god-messiah Yeshu? Isn't that what the say about the Rebbe, that he become one with the great light? Also, the Kabbalistic interpretation of Beireshis, that moshiach preceded creation... In geneal there are a lot of kabbalistic principles that seem to parallel with xtian ideas, and it would seem impossible for xtians to borrow the ideas. Please help!

Apr 3, 2012 | Boruch Merkur

Not that i really understand the question... It seems that you are equating the role of said "great light" in creation with the shituf problem associated with Yoshke et al. The fact is that any G-dly power - including angels - are consider as "an axe in the hands of the axe wielder," having no personal ambitions but merely expressing G-d's will. You need not concern yourself with any non-Jewish sources of information or any seeming parallels that exist. I hope that this has been helpful. A chag kosher v'sameiach to you and all our readers.

Apr 5, 2012 | Boruch Merkur

This is the response i received by email:

The great light i'm talking about is the Or Ein Sof. Kabbalah teaches that it's via this light that all creation came about, through the process of tzimtzum, this light was compressed to create the lower worlds. Now chabad messianism claims that the Rebbe elevated himself so that he become one with the Ein Sof, thus becoming more than just a human being and attaining supernatural powers...all my sources are one hundred percent Jewish, chabad in fact. This is very problematic, because according to the argument supporting this, you say that the Rashbi was also the same, yet no one made the Rashbi some sort of supernatural being, in fact the Rebbe himself said that, instead of him, only G-d does miracles. But why is it that Kabbalah seems to narrow the gap between xtian and jewish views of the messiah, with principles that are found firstly in xtianity, instead of vice versa?

Apr 11, 2012 | Boruch Merkur

I don't know of any valid source where people claim what you say, "the Rebbe elevated himself so that he become one with the Ein Sof." Was he not always, or at least since he became nasi, "one with the Ein Sof"? The Rebbe said that a nasi is a veritable expression of the essence of G-dliness, manifest in the physical world. In Chabad, we pay attention to what the Rebbe says. We don't spend much time on unfounded speculation - at least in my experience.
Regarding Rashbi, i simply don't know what you mean. I can't think of any figure in Jewish history that has been ascribed with more miraculous G-dly power (except perhaps the Baal Shem Tov). In fact, he says of himself that he has the merit to exonerate all the world's sins and bring about the redemption!
I don't see the point of worrying whether what we say resembles other religions, so long as we are certain that this path is 100% derived from accepted Jewish sources.
Much hatzlacha and Moshiach now!