To understand the background to the dramatic event of the "Targil Madih" affair in Chabad, which erupted on Passover of 1959 and whose details will be described in detail, it is worth recounting the attempted coup d'état that occurred two years earlier.
In those years, a struggle was waged over the establishment and budgeting of Chabad institutions in the Holy Land. The struggle over government budgets for the institutions reached the High Court of Justice, where it was clearly ruled that Chabad - despite being apolitical and lacking coalition power - deserved a share of the 'unique budgets', as the budgets of the Haredi institutions were called in those days.
From then on, the institutions enjoyed good support every year. Without the evil eye, there were quite a few old and new institutions, and at some point - I think starting from the third year of receiving budgets - the Chabad Rabbinical Committee was given the honor and right to decide which institution would receive, and how much support would be awarded to each institution.
The government funds were received by the 'Roof Organization', which provided the 'Chabad Rabbinical Committee' with information about the scope of the incoming budget, and after their decision, it was the one who actually made the financial transfers.
And see for yourself: As long as there were no budgets coming from the state treasury, and the operation of the institutions required dedication to raising resources, legions of donors, and enormous toil and sweat - no one disputed that the great "right" to engage in this was dedicated and given to Chabad activists who took it upon their shoulders and responsibility, and who also received divine assistance through the Rebbe's blessings over the years and succeeded in establishing, expanding, and operating the institutions with heavenly success and with great talent and wisdom.
But once "there is money to share" and obtaining the money does not involve sleep deprivation and enormous labor, the humiliations of "snobbery" and a constant search for donors - suddenly, like a swarm of bees, they pounced on the right to decide how the cake should be divided. Their disproportionate "spiritual" status overcame them. The fact that they lacked any understanding of running institutions and how to set priorities inevitably led to completely irresponsible behavior.
For example: In 1988, the rabbis decided to accept the claim of deprivation made to them by the Chabad Women and Girls organization. They sent a letter to the Gag Organization that a budget should be transferred to the Chabad Women. The Gag Organization responded that it was not enough to decide to add beneficiaries, but that the rabbis also needed to decide where to allocate budget for this addition: from whom to take?
The rabbis responded in a surprising and unusual way: They told the Chabad women that they would issue a 'refusal letter' against the 'roof organization'. This decision was so absurd and strange that when the Chabad women wrote a report to the Rebbe, the Rebbe had them reply: "If so, demand a refusal letter from the rabbis and fax it to me."
In my humble opinion, besides the fact that they were looking for every way to harass the 'Upper Organization' and present them in a negative light, the 'Chabad Rabbinical Committee' also had a problem: their only option in response to the 'Upper Organization' was, God forbid, to take responsibility and engage in a serious discussion about where to create free resources to fulfill their request. And this, in other words: taking responsibility and taking action that requires making difficult decisions, they were in no way capable of doing.
An act of loan and a threat of a 'letter of refusal'
In the run-up to Passover 1988, the Oheli Yosef Yitzhak network, the Chabad school network, found itself in very large debt. They applied for a loan of 150,000 shekels and were granted a loan by Menachem Lerer (then head of the Kfar Chabad committee) and Shmuel Hefer (principal of the Beit Rivkah seminary and high school in Kfar Chabad B), who each agreed to lend them half of the amount - on the condition that the Gag organization would be a guarantor for the loan.
The 'Network' turned to the rabbis, and the rabbis turned to the 'Gag Organization' with a demand: to provide a guarantee for the amount. It turned out that a year earlier, the 'Gag Organization' itself had given a generous loan to the 'Network' - which was not repaid. The only development since then was: a renewed accumulation of large debts. The 'Gag Organization' management had no choice but to reply to the rabbis that a necessary condition for fulfilling their demand and providing a guarantee for the loan was if the 'Network' management agreed to enter into a recovery plan that would stabilize its situation and allow it to operate economically without debt and with the ability to repay existing debts.
The affair soon develops into a particularly shameful saga, as the authorized person in the Oheli Yosef Yitzhak Network was none other than Rabbi David Hanazin, who in his additional hat was a dominant member of the Chabad Rabbinical Committee. Without thinking about the overall picture - Rabbi Hanazin wore two hats and made a firm demand from the Gag Organization to allocate additional resources to the network, and threatened that if his demand was not met - the rabbis would, of course, issue a 'letter of refusal' against the Gag Organization.
Rabbi Yosef Gerlitzky (the chief Chabad emissary in Tel Aviv), who at the time served as a member of the 'Gag Organization', turned to Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi (the rabbi of Kfar Chabad at the time) in the hope that the latter would exercise his diplomatic skills and explain to Rabbi Hanazin that it would seem very strange, and even disrespectful, if Rabbi Hanazin, in his role as a member - and even acting chairman - of the 'Chabad Rabbinical Committee', issued a 'letter of refusal' against someone with whom he had an argument in his other role as chairman of the 'Oheli Yosef Yitzchak Network'; moreover, 'Gag Organization' is interested in helping, only asking that the 'Network' be managed responsibly, enter a process of recovery and emerge from the vortex of debt that is gripping it and preventing it from moving forward.
The harsh and surprising response resonates in my ears to this day. Rabbi Ashkenazi responded in the following sentence: "The time has come for the court to fight the 'roof organization' and show it once and for all who owns the house."
In hindsight, and from a perspective that was impossible to see in real time, one can see in all those anecdotes - which reflected a mindset and a system that was heating up beneath the surface with persistence and stubbornness - the fruits of the efforts of the one with the guiding hand, who sat and stirred the cauldron, and every opportunity was used by him to advance his desires: to control. To remove every responsible person involved in the work and to insert the secret agents under his control into key positions.
In any case, 5748 ended without the court taking public action to eliminate the veteran activists.
But the efforts to achieve this did not stop even for a moment.
Bonds under open attack
This conduct of the Chabad Rabbinical Committee in financial matters continued in full force even in the first months of 1989.
And here, the one who decided to rise in rank decided: Near Passover 5789, Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, chairman of the Chabad Hasidic Association and the Rebbe's representative in Israel, received a letter of demand from Yosef Yitzhak Aharonov, for payment of a "debt" of $27,000 that the Chabad Hasidic Association "owes" to the "Chabad Association Youth."
It is my duty to direct attention to a particularly painful point, which also joins the shameful mix that preceded and enabled the 5789 crisis - and that is, the provisional conduct that characterized the 'Chabad Rabbinical Committee'. Imagine this: at an unknown date and without any proper procedure that characterizes every 'Beit Din' in the world, a verdict is reached, without presence and without documentation, imposing a financial debt on the 'Chabad Hasidic Association'. No matter how you look at it, it is impossible to relate to this by the standards of a reformed world. After all, apparently and according to Aharonov, as it turns out in retrospect, the Rebbe gave an 'order' on Tishrei 5789 to grant the young people of the Chabad Association a sum of money. What happened since then over the course of five months - until Adar-Shani 5789? It is unclear. Then, according to the claim of the 'Chabad Rabbinical Committee,' a discussion was held and a decision was made on the debt - and a letter arrives on the eve of Passover, with a 'ruling' that, as mentioned, binds the bond.
AGOUCH, as it was characterized by conventional conduct, convenes to discuss the matter on the 5th of Iyar and replies to the IAA that since the coffers are empty and there is currently no money, the payment - which we undertake - will be made at the first possible opportunity, as soon as funds arrive.
It should be noted that the very fact of a 'cash fund' in the bonds was not something that was taken for granted: over the years, the organization served as a platform for 'one-time' financial activity, such as construction projects or individual supports that reached a specific goal, came in and went out. It was not a 'cash fund' that contained funds, and the very use of the 'cash fund' even for such individual needs - was renewed after a long period in which this was not done. The reason for the re-use of the bond platform was as a result of the re-establishment of bonds in the United States, following the 'Book Law'.
Either way, the bonds had no budgetary basis or a feeder that would bring in money, and a financial demand on the organization required time to raise the funds.
And yet: no letter or appeal from the Chabad Rabbinical Committee itself reached Agoh, not before the 'hearing' at the end of Adar-Shani; not after the 'ruling' was received, nor at any other stage. The correspondence in the meantime is, as mentioned, between Aharonov and Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, and then Agoh's response to Aharonov in which they inform him that at the first possible opportunity they will obtain the money he requested.
A few more weeks pass, and on the 13th of Tammuz 5789, a letter arrives from the Chabad Rabbinical Committee to Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, chairman of the Chabad Hasidic Association, expressing surprise in a sharp style that the payment to the ISA has not yet been made. The letter, which, as mentioned, is the first ever on this subject addressed by the Chabad Rabbinical Committee to the ISA, is signed with a threat: the ISA must pay the debt by the end of that week.
Is the cash register empty? Pay from your own pocket.
Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, in his royal and polite style, respects the Rabbinical Committee and replies that the matter of the required money was discussed at the meeting of the board members on the 2nd of April, and unfortunately, since the bonds do not have a budget, we are waiting for the money and at the first opportunity, as soon as possible - the funds will be transferred to the requester.
Rabbi Wolf even concludes with a proposal and request from Rabbi Yitzhak Yehuda Yaroslavsky, a member of the Rabbinical Committee, that he instruct the 'Upper Organization' to assist in this and transfer the funds to the Bond, which will help the Bond fulfill the payment requirement.
And here, before my eyes, torn with amazement, two parallel processes were carried out - that only a blind man or a person with a biased mind would not distinguish between darkness and light: on the one hand, the management of Agouach, despite their overwhelming response and even though their coffers are completely empty and depleted - are personally devoting themselves, going out to seek and raise money (not that the debt is really related to something under their responsibility). On the other hand, Rabbi Leibel Gruner and Yosef Yitzhak Aharonov, with a group of their companions, are going out with the cry of the robbed Cossack. They are spreading a rumor that "letters of refusal have been issued" against Agouach; that the management of Agouach "refuses" to listen to the voice of the Rebbe and transfer to the ISA money "that the Rebbe requested" and even in the Holy of Holies they are reporting as if the ISA is ignoring the Rebbe's requests and refusing to pay the money.
Things got to the point where Rabbi David Hanazin approached Rabbi Ephraim Wolf with a brilliant idea: If you don't have money in the "coffers," each of the bond members will pay $1,500 from his own pocket and transfer the money "that you owe" to Aharonov.
On the 20th of Tammuz - Rabbi Ephraim Wolf informs his members of the Aguh management that the sum of $27,000 - a huge sum in the terms of those days, has been transferred to the ISA.
Unbelievable: The members of the bond actually personally took on the payment, with each of them pledging some amount until the payment was made.
Upon transferring the funds, the Agouach management decides to express its protest. Still, there is a limit... In a letter dated Tammuz 21, they express their pain to the Chabad Rabbinical Committee, about unacceptable conduct: about holding discussions without their presence or the presence of a representative on their behalf; about spreading false information in public as if there was a 'letter of refusal' against them; about the lack of consideration for the reality presented to them, namely that there is no money in the Agouach fund (which is usually empty to begin with), not even by referring a request for help to an 'umbrella organization'; about the lack of time, at least a delay of a few months, to settle the matter, about the personal pressure and pressure that was exerted against them, and more.
The next day, 22 Tammuz, the "Honorable Court" of the Chabad Rabbinical Committee convenes and decides that this is an "impudent" letter and that "letters of refusal" should be issued against Agouach. All Agouach members must resign immediately, the rabbis decided, and give the Chabad Rabbinical Committee the authority to decide who will be appointed to the Agouach board.
How recklessly they acted there is evidenced by the piquant fact that two of the rabbis were Rabbi Ben Zion Lipsker of Arad and Rabbi Yochanan Goraria of Holon; both of them, in fact, wrote a 'letter of refusal' against themselves! Because since the letters of refusal were issued against 'all members of the Agouch', without exception, they were among those who refused the court of which they themselves were members.
Rabbi Khodukov intervenes - and is decisive
The average reader has probably 'lost' the chronological sequence here, so I will summarize the facts as they are: On the 13th of Tammuz a letter arrives from the court (for the first time); seven days later, on the 20th of Tammuz, the funds (which were personally raised by members of the board of directors) were transferred to Aharonov. The response was record-breaking by any standards. Still, the heads of the court did not miss the opportunity to "show who is the boss here" and issued 'letters of refusal' and even a decision that anyone who has a 'letter of refusal' against them cannot serve as a member of the board.
In his grief and pain, Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, in light of all this conduct, turned to Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Isaac Chodkov, the authority from whom he received instructions on a daily basis, and who also held the title of Chairman of the World Chabad Chassidim Association.
Rabbi Chadokov is quick to respond: The blatant and improper attempt at intervention should not be taken into account. Not only this, but also this, Rabbi Chadokov immediately addresses the rabbis in a very sharp letter - and among other things writes to them "And accept the truth not only as you accept from everyone who says it, but also consider those who say it" - when the intention of the words is very clear. Pay attention, who are you playing with! Play with Rabbi Alleyne!
Did that help stop the rampage? Not even joking. Those rabbis didn't stop for a moment. They responded with a brazen letter, in which they claim that they alone are solely responsible for what is happening in the Holy Land.
Rabbi Chadokov, the Rebbe's chief secretary, was forced to respond and wrote a clear and unambiguous letter stating that he was the sole owner of the bonds, and that they had no permission to make any changes, neither personal nor otherwise. Only then did they let go of their grip, and the process stopped and fizzled out.
From my close acquaintance and many years of experience, and from sources of information that cannot be detailed, I have (more than) a reasonable basis to assume that the Rebbe intervened at a certain point, and was forced to put Rabbi Leibel Gruner in his place.
Only then was the dance of the devils stopped.
The end of the current putsch attempt was in a 'conciliatory' letter that Rabbi Chadokov wrote to Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, in the following terms: "We were happy to be informed that despite the 'intimidation' aimed at removing from him matters that belong to the Chabad Association, with the help of God, the Chief Rabbinate is standing firm in the attempt and is keeping the faith that he will not convey to anyone without our permission things that the Baalbekishkeit over completely belongs to the World Chabad Association. And by the way, we would like to note that in general, authority over all branches of the Chabad Association wherever it is is vested, as is well known, in the World Chabad Committee."
About the signatory of this letter: "World Committee for Chabad Care, Rabbi H.M.A. Hadakov, Chairman."
Devil's work
I chose to detail in such detail two of the putsch attempts that occurred in the years preceding Passover 5750 - in order to refute the erroneous perception that the 'Parashat 5750' incident begins in 5750, and that it is related to the conduct of dedicated Chabad activists against the backdrop of Shimon Peres' failed attempt to form a government, contrary to the Rebbe's opinion.
Every action knew - not a single detail in the dedicated conduct of Chabad activists was done without the Rebbe's "You have done it"; and every creature understood - every meeting, every progress, and every detail, small or large, in the relations between Chabad and Peres and his people, and between Chabad and the Agudath Yisrael party, was done in a "You have done it" manner by the Rebbe.
One was the tendency of the veteran Chabad activists: absolute dedication to their mission, as representatives of the Rebbe and doers of his word. They stood guard and did so in every way and manner, and even had the privilege of faithfully representing the Rebbe, and there is no doubt that they "built" with their own hands the royal repertoire of the Lubavitch name - which was synonymous with values, halacha, and a pure and firm ideology, without clichés or politics.
Even if there was a grievance against some conduct - let's say someone wanted to investigate it, to claim that the businessmen were wrong; there is a way. In practice, no one conducted even the minimum required investigation into anything.
What was done, time and time again - once towards the 'umbrella organization' and once towards the 'Chabad Hasidic Association', once towards the 'management of the institutions' and once towards the public activists? What was done constantly was subversion and putsch attempts, to humiliate them, to take away their powers, to remove them from their positions and status and to appoint others in their place.
The attempts failed once, twice, and three times, but Satan's work finally succeeded, in the middle of 1959. Was it because the activists suddenly became discouraged? God forbid that such a thing should be brought to mind. Moreover, even at the time of the incident, not a single hearing of any 'court of law' was held to clarify and prove such arguments.
Everything that happened then, as they had tried to do before, was nothing more than a calculated act, the fruit of the labor of Rabbi Leibel Gruner, who tried again, but this time succeeded, to carry out a plan he had worked hard on since 1987: a meticulous putsch, which included the targeted removal and elimination of businessmen, individuals who had given their souls and lives for the Rebbe and his affairs, and whose sin began and ended with their failure to submit to his discipline or submit to the authority of the 'secretary', and in his opinion, they "stood in his way."
Of course, the targeted suppression would not have been possible if he had not managed to recruit into his ranks those who would do his bidding: Aharonov, who sought a monarchy and in this way managed to take control of the de facto Chabad kingdom.
To this end, he was appointed Director General of the IDF in 1987: someone who had set a goal and worked tirelessly to advance the 'mission' from then on. He and his fellow comrades, officials and assistants, were assisted by their colleagues from among the 'Chabad Rabbis' Committee' - who were mostly weak-willed, cowardly people who did not know how to say 'no', and who even lacked a minimum of leadership ability or halakhic knowledge and did whatever they were told without using their brains.
Chapter One:
35-year-old secrets revealed for the first time: The 'stinking exercise' that shook Chabad
Chapter Two:
Chapter Three:
When Oded Ben Ami asked the Rebbe: "So it is preferable that Mr. Shamir be Prime Minister?"
Chapter Four:
Sharon's Oath and the Mysterious Eve: A Dramatic and Emotional Conversation with the Rebbe
Chapter Five:
Chapter Six:
Rabbi Leibel, I said when I returned from 770, our situation is not good. You will have to give us
English 
Hebrew