Sehel complains that whatever habad says is taken by its critics in a literal sense.
Answer is simple – that’s because that’s the way it is taken by habad hasidim , the intended audience – in a literal sense.
Which is also part of the speakers intention.
Doesn’t the speaker know that his hasidim will take it literally ??
Sure he does .
And he nevertheless continues speaking , knowing that it will be taken literally.
Without any caveats or warnings, that this meant to be understood in a non literal sense
So ,after we know that the audience AND the speaker mean it literal, why the complaint about the critic and the bystander also taking it literally ?
This is disingenuous , in my view.
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Btw – this is how their rebbi succeeded in getting his hasidim to this point .
You cannot whip your followers into hysterics overnight .
You cannot change their mind overnight either.
Don’t forget all those ideas of him being the greatest the cleverest the one we waited for 2000 years etc etc are all new . They had to seep into his follower’s consciousness AND subconsciousness .
That takes time, subtlety and consistency.
The best way is to use language which lends itself to both a literal and non literal meaning .
Thats how it is never earth-shattering news , which might cause opposition, evidence-based scrutiny or criticism .
Because its ‘only’ non literal.
Not a big deal.
But the new language lodges itself in the listener’s brain.
Then there is a repetition, or better, many repetitions , until this becomes part of normal conversation between his followers, like hello and good morning.
Which again fortifies this new idea in the listeners consciousness. It becomes so strong and so pashut in his mind after years of the above , that when challenged by an outsider who did not go thru this process, the listener genuinely believes the outsider is at odds with objective reality.
This has been going on for the last 8 decades, with the abysmal results now plainly on display.