Report on the Chabad Rally in Israel

I just spoke to an Israeli musician who played at the Chabad rally in Israel commemorating the last Rebbe's 102nd "birthday", the New York version of which was brought to our attention by Protocols.

He told me that there were about 10,000 people in Yad Eliyahu Stadium, many, but not all of whom, were Chabadniks. He said that the program consisted of a combination of very right wing political talk on one hand and Meshichist talk on the other, with a bunch of music from a number of performers, including MBD, thrown in throughout.

My musician friend, who was the only one not from the Boro-Park-Rock, Armani-suit, shiny-black-shoe school, was chosen because he had recorded a very popular tune a couple of years ago called Zman Hageulah (Time of Redemption). He told me the place went WILD when he played that tune. He also told me that they tried to get him and MBD to wave yellow "Yechi Adoni Melech Hamoshiach" flags but they both refused.

There is no doubt that this was just a paying gig for MBD. I leave for others to consider whether MBD should have done the gig in light of its Meshichist nature. On the other hand, my Israeli friend is a young, totally trusting, somewhat naive, b'simchadik guy. He clearly had no idea what he was getting into.