Although Mayor Ray Nagin ordered an evacuation of New Orleans shortly before Hurricane Katrina hit, the city's Chabbad Sheluchim did not leave, "on the premise that a shliach does not leave his post without an explicit directive of the Rebbe." How can they find out the will of a human being who died eleven years ago, you ask? Simple, though 'iggeroth qodhesh, the process of opening a collection of Rabbi Schneerson's directives to a random page, and applying the advice found therein to one's own situation. They received this 'answer': "Tracht Gut vet Zain Gut" - Think good and it will be good."Ye Gods.
Alan lists 9 problems with the approach of the Chabad representatives, to which I'll add another: The Torah prohibits "consulting the dead." All authorities agree that it is forbidden to pray to a dead person, while most authorities add that it's forbidden to ask a dead person to intervene on your behalf. And Rabbi Schneerson, it may surprise you to learn, is most certainly dead.
