Chabad Messianism, the exclusion of Israeli holidays from Chabad calendars, the right-wing politics - I don’t like any of it. Other things are particular to Hasidism, notably the reverence shown toward an individual rebbe. Some of this is part of standard Orthodox Judaism, such as non-egalitarian worship and the belief in the superiority of the Jewish soul. In fact, taking pride in public displays of Judaism, which has grown steadily since the 1970s, first helped Chabad appeal to non-Hasidic Jews and has in turn been encouraged by Chabad’s success.Īt the same time, there are many things about Chabad I find troubling, even distasteful. Other Chabad innovations have been widely adopted by mainstream Jewry, from asking men in public places to put on tefillin (now Women of the Wall in Jerusalem asks women to do the same) to putting up Hanukkah menorahs in public spaces. Engaging the under-engaged - the mission of Chabad outreach - is now everyone’s mission. Today, 25 years later, most every synagogue says it is warm and welcoming. When I was researching my book, the Reform and Conservative movements were just beginning to look at Chabad outreach for practices they could adapt to their own needs. Different Jews find different needs fulfilled by Chabad. Other Jews who support Chabad come from traditional backgrounds, and find the dedication and seriousness they miss and have not found in their mainstream synagogues. Just spending time with the emissaries and their children provides them an entryway into Jewish practice. Many of the Jews who flock to Chabad come with little or no Jewish upbringing. Here’s what I heard, and continue to hear: Chabad taps into the joy and passion of Judaism for me it makes me excited to be Jewish the emissaries, or shluchim, are welcoming and nonjudgmental, even though they are more observant and Jewishly learned than I am they teach me how to be comfortable in my Jewish skin they make me feel good when I do mitzvahs. The same interviews could be conducted today. ![]() What need does Chabad fulfill, and why aren’t people finding it in the synagogues and Jewish schools they grew up with? That’s what I explored in my 2003 book “The Rebbe’s Army,” conducting interviews with more than 100 largely nonobservant Jews as to why they found Chabad appealing. If it did not, unaffiliated and searching Jews would not continue to come to Chabad centers, attend holiday and Shabbat celebrations, send their children to Chabad camps or supply the funding that keeps them afloat. Chabad’s enormous network of educational institutions and emissary outposts, put in place during Schneerson’s lifetime, continue the movement’s global work, buoyed by strong infrastructure and the motivation of his followers.īut there is another reason why the Chabad outreach movement in particular continues to grow: It fills a need. That is due to a number of factors, including routinization and institutionalization, as pointed out by Samuel Heilman in a recent JTA essay. When the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, died in July 1994, I was one of many journalists in the Jewish media who did not see how the Hasidic movement he led could survive, much less thrive, in his absence.
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