I looked up the headlines podcast. Rav dovid cohen did not say that the idea of a dead messiah is valid, only that it doesn’t make one pasul, as in, an apikores. He also claimed that other jews have had such ideas in the past, but did not say that gedolim or talmidei chachamim did.
The host also only played a snipet of what rav Cohen said. We have no idea what other caveats or qualifying statements he may have made. The host also clearly had a pro-chabad agenda, praising them at every chance he got, and throwing around gemaras without giving the rabbis he interviewed a chance to answer them. Same thing with his snipet of rav shmuel kaminetzky saying that they’re our brothers.
I think it’s understood that the rabbonim who go on headlines know who their audience is and would likely say something different if asked in person; rav shmuels Rebbe was rav aharon, who held very strong views on Lubavitch.
He did have rabbi Hershel shechter speak, who he allowed to speak longer. Rabbi Shechter said that the plain messianics are not doing avodah zara, but that a sizeable, growing amount pray to the Lubavitcher rebbe, which he agrees is avodah zara and requires richuk. He also said that this is exactly how Christianity started; first he was messianic, then they prayed to him, etc…
I agree that it’s not apikorsus to believe in a dead messiah. It’s wrong, and it’s a twisted interpretation of a gemara that the rishonim and achronim do not use in explaining moshiach nearly at all, and it’s of course wrong because they say he started his mission and will return to finish it, which the rambam clearly says won’t happen(if he was not successful to this point…)
But no one’s giving them a stamp of approval. Rav dovid cohens rebbe, rav hutner, had very, very strong things to say about Lubavitch as well. I daven in his shul sometimes; maybe I’ll ask him why he said those things on the podcast, if he’s feeling up to talking.
Either way, rav dovid cohen isn’t rav shach, the chazon ish, and brisker rov, who all held anti chabad views, with the chazon ish calling the Lubavitcher rebbe a kofer for his god- wrapped-in-a-body line.