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Abraham Yehudah Khein (1878 in Chernihiv – 5 October 1957) was a Chabad-Hasidic Rabbi in the Ukrainian town Nizhyn. Rabbi Khein was a pacifist anarchist. During Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson's reside in Paris, Khein served as Rabbi of the synagogue where Schneerson prayed, as well as catering for Schneerson's hospitality needs. Khein was instrumental in Schneerson's ascent to becoming Rebbe, and the two maintained a relationship for the remainder of Khein's life.[1]
Khein was a non-Zionist, committed to pacifism and nonviolence particularly during the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine. He tried to relate his readings of Leo Tolstoy and Pyotr Kropotkin to Kabbalah and Hasidism. Rabbi Khein deeply respected Kropotkin, whom he called "the Tzadik of the new world", whose "soul is as pure as crystal"[2][3][4] Interpreting various passages from the Talmud, Khein posited that there was never a moment when killing was justified, no matter how guilty the party, and used this theory to advise on the Jewish-Arab conflict at the time, writing to leaders such as the militaristic Ze'ev Jabotinsky.[5][6]
Rabbi Khein's most known work is his three-volume collection of essays, במלכות היהדות ("In the Kingdom of Judaism").
- ^ Leigh, Reuven (2021-09-21). "The Marxist Who Became the World's Most Influential Talmudic Scholar". Tablet Magazine.
- ^ Jewish-Christian Relations :: Universalist Trends in Jewish Religious Thought: Some Russian Perspectives
- ^ Cedars of Lebanon: "Sanctify the Ordinary"
- ^ ר' אברהם חן, במלכות היהדות, v.1 p.79
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:3was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Jabotinsky to Rav Khein". Israeli National Library.