Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Rabbi Menachem Mendel SchneersonFlash90

Just days after the left-wing daily Haaretzpublished a controversial article arguing Religious Zionist Jews are more dangerous than terrorist murderers and the Hezbollah terror group, the paper again drew criticism Friday with a piece smearing the late Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

In a piece criticizing a recent special aired on Channel 20 about the life of Rabbi Schneerson, Rogel Alpher denounced the Rebbe and his followers.

“There is no Messiah, and he will never come,” wrote Alpher. “The Lubavitcher Rebbe was completely insane, of course.

“Sometime around 1951 he lost his mind. That was the year that he stopped working in marine engineering and declared that he would bring back the Shechina [Divine Presence] to the world, the Redemption. Obviously he has a right to his insanity; and his followers have the right to follow in his footsteps, to worship him personally, and to obey his every command.

“It is their right to believe that they are still in direct contact with him, even though he died in 1994. He is no longer. He has ceased to be. Caput. He’s not here. But like the Monty Python sketch with the pet shop owner and the [dead] parrot, [the Rebbe’s] followers claim he’s here. Have fun with that. They’re wrong, of course – dead is dead.”

Following the article’s publication Friday, Chabad journalist Menachem Cohen blasted the paper and ridiculed it for its recent string of controversies.

“Keep doing this. You’re becoming a sad joke. A pathetic company that is consumed with bitterness and self-loathing.”