Leadership in the HaBaD Movement : A Critical Evaluation of HaBaD Leadership, History, and Succession

Leadership issues are subject to much discussion and interest yet too little is known of their internal dynamics. Leadership and succession of authority has been a constant theme in Jewish literature and life from biblical days until today. The present work studies questions relating to authority in general and hasidic authority in particular. It uses the various HaBaD hasidic dynasties as a case study to illustrate how authority was transferred from one generation to another and how a leader emerges as a leader despite opposition. The rise to eminence of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the third major subject discussed therein. He is the focus of careful analysis. Through such illustrations, leadership characteristics peculiar to that movement as well as general leadership theory are better understood. In this work, leadership criteria are analyzed and discussed to properly ascertain what brought one person to a position of supreme leadership and what brought another to become a subordinate.