@toi and @DaasYochid
The other thing I wanted to mention is that there are really a few Taanos against us, said by different people, so a response against one isn’t a response to another. If I remember correctly, DaasYochid was fine with all the Lubavitch Rabbeim until the Frierdiker Rebbe. And the Taanah was on innovations over the past 70 years.
And that’s why I brought up the whole Heicha Kedusha business. Because the thing is, I don’t believe that the Rebbe canceled Mitzvos, and I don’t believe that Reb Yaakov cancelled Chazaras HaShatz. “Cancelling a Mitzvah” means that someone says “This Mitzvah (or this part of the Mitzvah) was applicable from 2448 – 5779. From today, it’s over.” And neither of them said that.
So if you’ll look at the Taanos most often leveled against us (Zman, Sukkah and Shalosh Seudos), all of those were innovated before the Rebbe.
The issue with Zman Tefilla goes way back, that even the Zamir Aritzim (the anti-chossidic polemic issued during the Charomim) mentions that problem among Chassidim (not just Lubavitchers), along with being too happy and focusing too much on Kabbalah at the expense of Gemara. So that’s definitely not a modern problem, and going back to the Rebbe Rashab’s style Lubavitch wouldn’t solve the problem.
The other two were also mentioned in Sichos of the Frierdiker Rebbe. So while NCB and rso will say “it’s a fairy tale”[1], that doesn’t change the situation. The thing is, that Lubavitchers don’t believe that when the Frierdiker Rebbe said something like “My father did X”, or “The Mitteler Rebbe said Y”, he was lying. So by the time the Rebbe became Rebbe, the whole Davening late, eating before davening, not sleeping in a Sukkah, not eating Shalosh Seudos was not a crazy “who invented that?!”. It was fairly accepted within Lubavitch.
And if you’ll look at those Sichos, the Rebbe’s not saying “Ok guys, the Mitzvah of Sukkah is hereby cancelled!! Woo Hoo.” He’s saying “The Minhag is X, how can we explain it so it’s not explicitly violating Halacha.” It’s a sort of Moreh Hetter for a Minhag. And, for example, when it came to Shalosh Seudos, the Rebbe toned down the existing minhag[2], for example, by requiring that we eat something, so we at least fulfill the Mitzvah in a Bedievediker manner.
And, (for NCB and Toi), that’s why I mention all the Chumros we keep. It’s not like the Conservative movement, say, which goes out of its way to find every single Kulah they can find. It’s not like the Rebbe was looking for every annoying Mitzvah to cancel it. It was those specific Mitzvas which were previously mentioned by the Frierdiker Rebbe where we were already lenient.
[1]. I saw Reb Moshe Shternbuch quote the Frierdiker Rebbe’s quote of the Alter Rebbe (“Chalav Akum causes Sefeikos in Emunah”) besheim omro. So it looks like he doesn’t believe that it’s all a fraud.
[2]. That’s another interesting thing. The Rebbe toned down a lot of the extreme Chabad minhagim. Starting from the decree on Mashke, to strengthening the importance of Niglah within Lubavitch, to pushing that Yeshivas set aside a seder to learn Shulchan Aruch every day, to making a Friday morning seder until roughly noon (again, including Niglah seder), to encouraging learning Gemara on Shabbos (rather than Chassidus only, as was done in previous generations), to the push for Chassidisher Levush (the Kapoteh), and of course, the Takanah to learn Rambam daily (you’re going to say “but people will paskin from the Rambam!!” So I’ll say back “But I know of people who learn Mishna and Paskin from there. And I know of people who paskin from an Artscroll Gemara. Does it mean that you shouldn’t learn that? At least you’ll now know that you should be asking a Shaalah).