On Sun, 11 Apr 2004, Doug Henwood wrote:
> There's a kosher deli across from our apartment on W 85th St that's
> festooned with pix of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Recently, awning appeared
> with a passage from the Psalms (something about "bulls will then be
> offered") and a banner flying over the entrance that promises "un
> avant-gout de la boeuf messianique" (excuse me if I'm screwing up my
> genders there - my French was never very good). Does anyone have any
> idea what they're talking about? Are the hamburgers they serve somehow a
> foretaste of the end-times?
IANEOLOEJ (I am no expert on Lubavitchers or even Judaism), but I believe this is a reference to the holiday of Sukkot (better known among English speakers as the "feast of the tabernacles"). Part of Sukkot is about outreach to the gentiles. In the torah, they talk about how pre-70 CE, before the Romans destroyed the temple, Jews would sacrifice 70 bulls on behalf of the 70 nations of the world.
You see the Jews are supposed to be the "light unto nations" (the Ohr LaGoyim). It's not enough for them to follow the law. All the goyim should also learn from them to follow a minimal version of the law. And when that happens, the messiah will come, and everyone in the world, Jew and Gentile, will celebrate Sukkot together.
Now the Lubavitchers believe that the Messiah is about to come any moment -- in fact he's overdue and should be here already -- because Rabbi Schneerson told them so before he died. Some of them even think he's the messiah but he hasn't been recognized yet. So I'm guessing that they place more emphasis on the messianic connotations of sukkot than any other Jews (since they really believe they'll see the last sukkot soon). And -- I'm guessing here -- it would make sense if the dinner was traditionally beef.
But since Sukkot doesn't happen until the fall, I'm guessing this is just an advertising slogan that is saying in effect: our beef is heavenly.
(It's also super-kosher -- literally more kosher than it has to be, since that's what makes a Hasid a Hasid -- so I doubt outside observers would agree.)
It's often funny how sacreligious really religious Jews sometimes look. For most of us, "sacred" means separated from the profane world. But for them, holy objects are everyday objects, and preordained events are as real as predictions on the news. So they don't feel like they are "profaning" with a statement like this because for them it's not a simile. They are quite sure the Messiah really will visit soon, and when he comes, this is the kind of beef we'll eat.
Michael