Chabad
The ISI and the JewsThursday, January 3, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Pakistan's intelligence agency has supported Al Qaeda, Iran, and Lashkar-e-Taiba—the terrorists who attacked Mumbai in 2008, killing six at Chabad. But the U.S. still treats it as an ally.
Spinoza in ShtreimelsTuesday, September 4, 2012 by Carlos Fraenkel | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Philosophy professor Carlos Fraenkel wrote that “the cultural relativism that often underlies Western multicultural agendas [is] a much greater obstacle to a culture of debate than religion.” Today, in an exclusive preview from the Jewish Review of Books, Fraenkel relates how his theory fared among a group of Hasidim.
Crown Heights in the MirrorThursday, August 18, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On the evening of August 19, 1991, the three-car motorcade of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, entered the intersection of President Street and Utica Avenue in Brooklyn.
The RebbeThursday, June 10, 2010 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The story of Lubavitcher Hasidism in our time is nothing short of astounding. Here is an ultra-Orthodox sect, deployed all over the world, exuberantly engaged with non-observant Jews and with non-Jews, availing itself of every imaginable form of contemporary communications technology. What was, for generations, the most intellectual and scholastic-minded hasidic dynasty—its other name, Chabad, is an acronym for "Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge"—has become an ecstatic mass movement. At the heart of it all is the seventh and last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), who died childless—and whom some substantial number of his followers forthrightly regard as the messiah.
Editors' Picks
The Mighty Hand Lazer Gurkow, Chabad. Why does the Torah tell us that God rescued the Israelites with both a mighty hand and an outstretched arm? Because our redemption was not only physical, but spiritual.
America's Rabbis Bounce Back Steven Windmueller, eJewish Philanthropy. Twenty years ago, America’s communal elites curtailed the rabbis’ influence. But with Orthodoxy’s new assertiveness, rabbis are shaping American Judaism again.
Beyond the Tanya Eli Rubin, Chabad.org. The Tanya, by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, remains the foundational text of Chabad Hasidism. But it was Shneur Zalman's oral teachings that built a movement.
Immunity for Terrorists? Anirban Bhaumik, Deccan Herald. The 2008 Mumbai terrorists killed over 150, including Chabad hostages. Victims’ families have sued Pakistan’s secret service for its role. The State Department wants to grant it immunity.
Branching Out Shmarya Rosenberg, Failed Messiah. Virtually every ancient image of the menorah depicts it with curved branches. So, why do Chabad’s hanukkiot have angled straight branches instead?
Chabad, the Corporation Maya Balakirsky Katz, Sh'ma. By not appointing a successor, the Rebbe sowed the seeds of Chabad's institutional transformation from a Hasidic dynasty to a successful religious corporation.
Chabad vs. Chabad Paul Berger, Forward. What’s at stake in a decades-long battle by a powerful Lubavitch rabbi to take over the deed to a 150-family synagogue in a Detroit suburb?
The Jew of Jobbik Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press. Hungary’s far-Right Jobbik party has ostracized a prominent anti-Semitic political figure after discovering his Jewish roots—and Chabad has taken him in.
The Visionary Joshua Runyan, Tamar Runyan, Chabad.org. The true scope of businessman and philanthropist Sami Rohr’s charity is still not fully known, and perhaps may never be.
Chabad: The Operation Steven Windmueller, eJewish Philanthropy. Many leadership experts focus on the Hasidic sect’s organizing model, but can it be copied and reproduced elsewhere?