Someone mentioned pictures of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and it brought back another painful awakening.
When I was a believer absolutely everything was right when it had to do with the Rebbe. If someone would have proven to me that the Rebbe cheated in the NY Marathon I would have said it was not only ok but it was what had to be done to bring Moshicah. But once I woke to the hypocrisy and I saw that the entire system was without solid base I noticed more and more major, and I mean major, problems.
Even now I have pictures of a few great tzadikim on my wall, but that’s the extent of it. Pictures on the wall for me to see and hopefully to get inspired when I seee them. Before Gimmetl Tammuz however I had pictures everywhere: in my wallet, in my car, in my tefillin bag. It was obsession. But that’s the way we all were and I was no different to anyone else.
There is however a Rebbe-picture-minhog which I later realized is absolutely wrong and close to a”z. They put a picture of the Rebbe inside the pillow under the babys head at his bris. If the baby could at least see the picture (although I don’t believe kids that age can actually see images) I could condone it. But since no one at the bris can see the picture the only explanation can be that a picture somehow on it’s own has kedushoh c”v.
Isn’t that at the very least similar c”v to the a”z of dor Enoish as described by the Rambam?
I remember reading years later in a LItvishe magazine (it was an anti-Chabad article so it may not be true) that Rav Yaakov Landa the former Rav of Bnei Brak was once at a bris and he saw them doing this so he started shouting “Avoido Zoroh! Avoido Zoroh!” and he had to be taken out of the shul because they couldn’t proceed with the bris.
For those who may not know this, Rav Yaakov Landa was not only a Lubavitcher but he was the Rav the Rasha”b used to pasken his sheilos.