Milhouse,
“Yes, DSG, it is really correct. That is what happened. Yes, Chabad loves all Jews, including the worst resha’im, and definitely including misnagdim. But misnagdim hated chassidim, and the fact is that the Alter Rebbe’s suffering during the few hours he was stuck in the misnaged’s home was worse than he had suffered the whole 53 days he was in prison.”
This story turns “loving all Jews” on its head. To make a holiday celebrating the founder of Chabad’s “rescue” from a misnagid where a few hours in his house was worse than 53 days in a Russian prison does not reflect love. It’s canonizing a libel. An implication that misnagdim are far worse than Russian anti-Semites. Early Christianity demonized “Pharisees” through anecdotes similar to this despite the fact that it was the brutal Roman oppressors who killed their deity, and those libels had devastating consequences for the Jewish people over the past 2000 years.
While anti-Chabad sentiment certainly exists, there are no anti-Chabad holidays on the Snag calendar. Hatred can flow in more than one direction.