Dec. 29, 2008
dovid eliezrie
THE JERUSALEM POST
Jewish tradition tells us the first 30 days of mourning are the most intense. This week we mark end of this period since the terrorist attack against the Chabad Center in Mumbai. It's been a watershed event for world Jewry and Chabad. It will have a long lasting effect in diverse ways.
It has sparked an existential dialogue within Chabad. "Why have we become a target for the unfathomable." A few days after the attack, a group of Jewish security experts told me, "You guys are on the frontlines, it was only a matter of time." That's the practical perspective you would expect from security gurus. At a farbrengen held last week for California shluchim that question was at the core of the evening. Rabbi Ezra Schochet, rosh yeshiva, dissected the issue. The intellectual inquiry did not bring him, or us, solace. At the end he said, "We have a question, a question without any answer."
FOR MILLENNIA Jews have grappled with the same questions, seeking to pierce the mystery of divine providence. Shluchim were promised special blessings. Years ago a Chabad supporter suggested to the Rebbe in a private audience that he give more kudos to his shluchim. While the Rebbe showed appreciation, it was done in his classic understated style. Hassidim felt it an honor to serve the Rebbe's higher purposes. After hearing the question, the Rebbe's face took an austere look. He told the man, "They all have children."
Out of the close to 4,000 couples, you can't count on one hand those who do not have children. It's not uncommon in Chabad to find a childless young couples in business make a career change to become shluchim to benefit from this unique spiritual blessing. So how could we, who have had our lives so enriched with so many blessings, lose two of our best to evil is a question gnawing at our souls.
While we have no answer, most of us have taken consolation and inspiration from the Rebbe's message to Kfar Chabad in 1956 after five children and their teacher were killed by terrorists. "In your rebuilding you will find consolation." Last Thursday night the parents of Rabbi Gavriel and Rebbitzen Rivka Holtzberg returned to Mumbai to light the menora. Their message was clear terror will not deter us, only prompt us to achieve more.
Around the world many of us have undertaken new projects. Our community in Yorba Linda, California is writing a Torah scroll in their memory. Just down the freeway, the Chabad Center is placing a shaliah at University of California at Irvine, a hotbed of radical Arab activism. Across the world similar initiatives are being launched.
This tragedy touched a deep chord in the Jewish world.
FOR SOME 36 hours millions watched the drama unfolding. Jews were hunted down and killed for being Jews. Chabad was not attacked as a symbol of the West, as J. J. Goldberg attempted to claim in the Forward. Clearly there were more prominent Western targets in Mumbai. Islamic terrorists sought out Chabad as an objective. A nondescript six-story building tucked away in one the most demographically dense cities in the world. The terrorists searched and found the only rabbi living in the city. Chabad may have been the specific target, but it was an attack on the Jewish people as a whole. It impacted all aspects of the Jewish world. The six victims rooted in the world of Satmar, secular Jews, Zionists and non Zionists.
Sadly in death we were all united. It reminded us of our vulnerability as Jews. It wasn't too long ago that armies marched across Europe in search of Jews, now a force based on religious fundamentalism reaches out from the mountains of Pakistan with the same goals.
THE ATTACK was personal; for the untold numbers of Jews who know a Chabad shaliah, their friend was in mourning. Gabi's father had been my classmate in yeshiva, my son with Gabi himself. Chabad may have grown but we are all interconnected. Our personal pain of reached deep into every Jewish community in the world. Tens of thousands attended hundreds of memorials.
It accentuated a reality that challenges the status quo of Jewish life. Today Chabad is the largest Jewish organization in the world. It eclipses in size and scope all other Jewish groups. As Andrew Silow-Carroll of the New Jersey Jewish News noted, the event has "repositioned Chabad as the de facto Jewish vanguard, and made other Jewish groups acknowledge it." The attack has sparked and rekindling of the relationship between Chabad and other parts of the haredi world.
The schism has deep roots reaching back to split between hassidim and mitnagdim two centuries ago. In modern times it has been intensified for a variety of reasons. The messiah issue worried many. The haredi world responded to the challenge of modernity by erecting barriers. Chabad chose to engage it, look for the good and offer its contribution to all. While most haredim stepped back into their own world, Chabad reached out to others.
AT THE funeral, standing together with hassidic rabbis were President Shimon Peres and leaders of Israel's key parties. Their participation was reflective of Chabad's willingness to play a role in larger society while decisively maintaining Jewish principles. Mumbai was the catalyst for the haredi community to seek reconciliation. As the editor of Yated Ne'eman (different than its Israeli namesake) in the US, a paper that historically would not acknowledge Chabad, wrote in article lauding the Holtzberg's self sacrifice, "We are tribes of a same nation." Strangely it's the shluchim around the world who have laid the ground for this rapprochement. At the shluchim convention held in New York a week before the attack, leaders of Satmar sat at tables of shluchim they have become friends with during their business travels. In recent years even the most insular Lithuanian yeshivot have discovered the importance of outreach.
A few days after their passing, JEM, Chabad's producer of film and video released a hastily assembled memorial video on their lives. They had discovered a rare clip of Rivka Holtzberg talking about her life in Mumbai. Her warmth, charm and inner beauty radiate on the screen. One moment deeply touched me, when asked how can you have dozens for dinner every night, she responds in the typical Israeli, "Zeh kef - its fun." Her joy in giving to others was palatable. If only if each of us could capture a part of that enthusiasm and infuse it into our lives, how much better the world would be.
The writer is a Chabad shaliah in Yorba Linda, California. rabbi@ocjewish.com
Showing posts with label response. Show all posts
Showing posts with label response. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Chabad's Tremendous Response to Terror
Stunned, lamenting, action. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy that struck Mumbai, India on November 26th and 27th, Chabad took action. In tremendous ways, the ultra-orthodox Hassidic Jews redirected their grief into positive action in order to combat the evil that quaked their world.
"This week, no one is celebrating," said Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, editor and publisher of the weekly newspaper, Yated Neeman. "But they are more united than ever before. After the atrocities in India, all of us are more united."
Among the hostages who were killed by terrorists at Mumbai's Nariman House were two Chabad Shluchim [emissaries] of the Lubavitcher Rebbe: Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife, Rivka.
In Chicago, a crowd of 1,300 showed unity and support at the Skokie Hotel on the evening of November 26th, for the Jewish Community's Memorial Evening of Tribute and Solidarity. Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, regional director of Chabad Lubavitch of Illinois, read a letter from President-Elect Barack Obama that offered condolences to the entire Jewish community, acknowledged the "mission of service to the Jewish community" which the Holtzbergs provided, and vowed that the "terrorists with no regard for human life" would be brought to justice. Moscowitz then appealed to the crowd to utilize this moment of inspiration to add light to the world by increasing personal acts of goodness and kindness, a response central to Chabad values. Mitzvah-pledge cards were filled out by participants, which Moscowitz will take to the grieving families in Israel. 250 letters of comfort written by students of the Jewish day schools in Chicago will also be delivered. Hundreds of Friday Light kits were distributed to the participants as part of the Shabbat candle-lighting campaign.
Shluchim of Long Island gathered Sunday, November 30th at Chabad of Mineola for a memorial and prayer service, as reported by www.crownheights.info, a leading Chabad news site. The community, consisting of several Chabad institutions, joined in prayer, song, and inspirational speeches. Rabbi Raify Konikov, representing the neighboring Chabad emissaries, was chosen to travel to Israel for the Holtzberg's funeral.
About 1,000 people thronged to Gayley Avenue on Sunday, November 30th, to attend a memorial at the West Coast headquarters of Chabad in Los Angeles, California. Those in attendance paid tribute to the Holtzbergs and the other victims, vowing to combat the evil with acts of goodness, even in the face of the terrorist attacks.
Thousands of Jews, from every corner of the world, regardless of their prior observance, have pledged to do acts of kindness and good deeds in the wake of the terror attack in India. While some have taken upon themselves to light Shabbat candles or don traditional phylacteries, others have resolved to increase contributions to charity, go to their local Chabad House, show more love for their fellow man, learn from the Bible, or offer prayers to G-d. According to Chabad teachings, such deeds serve as the light that dispels darkness. "We must honor the souls of those torn away from us, by immortalizing their lives through our positive deeds," said Rabbi Simon Jacobson, scholar of mysticism and author of the best selling book Toward a Meaningful Life.
Donations have been steadily pouring into funds set up for the rebuilding of the Mumbai Chabad Center and to support the two orphaned Holtzberg children. "I attended a memorial for the victims of Chabad Mumbai at my synagogue on Saturday," said Lucette Lagnado, author and reporter for the Wall Street Journal. "It was very crowded - filled with people I had never seen before. Worshippers went up to the pulpit and pledged thousands of dollars."
Arising from India's 9/11, as the media has termed the attacks, is peace and unity among Jews and even among the media; Jewish communities gathered together to pay tribute to the victims of terror in India, while media exchanged minute-to-minute updates.
In addition to the sorrow Jews are experiencing upon the loss of their own in India, the latest acts of terrorism have had a far-reaching, enabling effect on the entire Jewish community.
"This Shabbat you'll find me at a place I haven't been for years -- my local Chabad," proclaimed Rob Eshman, Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal, on Friday, November 28th. "I hope you do the same. I hope rabbis of all stripes march down with their congregants to do the same."
Mel Konner, author and professor at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, told CNN, "The extremists, the terrorists, the Islamist radicals… hate the prospect of peace among these nations and the possibility of progress and getting away from this violence… Unfortunately in these situations, it's always possible for a small number of people to have an exaggerated effect on everything."
"As we mourn [the Holtzberg] untimely and incomprehensible deaths," said Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, Chabad shliach to Scottsdale, AZ, "it is high time for each of us to continue their work with renewed vigor and conviction." Allouche encouraged Jews to continue to perpetuate Judaism, in their own lives as well as in the lives of every Jew encountered, which is in essence the very mission for which the Holtzbergs sacrificed themselves. "There could not be a sweeter revenge for the barbaric terrorists, may their names be erased, who murdered them so cold-bloodedly," he added.
Naftali Salomon, a friend of the Holtzbergs', related, "Gabi and Rivka's entire goal in life was nothing other than to help a fellow human being in need, bring a fellow Jew closer to Judaism, or to simply put a smile on the face of someone who was feeling down. And they did so with the utmost sacrifice, selflessness and humility; never taking credit for their accomplishments or patting themselves on the back."
"What else can one do but look for the glimmers of light and hope amid the darkness and bitterness?" Salomon said, going on to describe the lasting impact the Holtzbergs had had on those whom they encountered, whether it be through the Jewish ritual bath they established, the prayer services they conducted, the Jewish weddings they presided over, and their son Moshe who "miraculously survived thanks to the heroic nanny."
Perusing the headlines of articles posted on Chabad websites, one would surely notice the influx of news announcements of Chabad-initiated memorials in cities across America as well as internationally, in which entire Jewish communities have joined in mourning. Unity, support, solidarity; Jews have shown their fundamental ties, many disregarding their differences in denomination, by joining together in memorial and action to honor the Holtzbergs and others killed in Mumbai.
"You know, this is the Chabad spirit: turn tears into action and into energy," said Rabbi Shalom Paltiel, a close friend of the Holtzbergs, during his interview on NBC's Today Show.
"In order to succeed in this battle," wrote Uri Orbach in his article titled "Light versus Darkness" published in Ynet News, "we must realize that this is yet another struggle between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. And light shall win."
Today, after the global media coverage of the horrific Anti-Semitic events in Mumbai, the world has more exposure to Judaism and Jews: a people steadfast in their beliefs and selfless acts to bring the world to a better place - one not of darkness, but of light.
It begs the ironic question: was this the terrorists' intent?
"This week, no one is celebrating," said Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, editor and publisher of the weekly newspaper, Yated Neeman. "But they are more united than ever before. After the atrocities in India, all of us are more united."
Among the hostages who were killed by terrorists at Mumbai's Nariman House were two Chabad Shluchim [emissaries] of the Lubavitcher Rebbe: Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife, Rivka.
In Chicago, a crowd of 1,300 showed unity and support at the Skokie Hotel on the evening of November 26th, for the Jewish Community's Memorial Evening of Tribute and Solidarity. Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, regional director of Chabad Lubavitch of Illinois, read a letter from President-Elect Barack Obama that offered condolences to the entire Jewish community, acknowledged the "mission of service to the Jewish community" which the Holtzbergs provided, and vowed that the "terrorists with no regard for human life" would be brought to justice. Moscowitz then appealed to the crowd to utilize this moment of inspiration to add light to the world by increasing personal acts of goodness and kindness, a response central to Chabad values. Mitzvah-pledge cards were filled out by participants, which Moscowitz will take to the grieving families in Israel. 250 letters of comfort written by students of the Jewish day schools in Chicago will also be delivered. Hundreds of Friday Light kits were distributed to the participants as part of the Shabbat candle-lighting campaign.
Shluchim of Long Island gathered Sunday, November 30th at Chabad of Mineola for a memorial and prayer service, as reported by www.crownheights.info, a leading Chabad news site. The community, consisting of several Chabad institutions, joined in prayer, song, and inspirational speeches. Rabbi Raify Konikov, representing the neighboring Chabad emissaries, was chosen to travel to Israel for the Holtzberg's funeral.
About 1,000 people thronged to Gayley Avenue on Sunday, November 30th, to attend a memorial at the West Coast headquarters of Chabad in Los Angeles, California. Those in attendance paid tribute to the Holtzbergs and the other victims, vowing to combat the evil with acts of goodness, even in the face of the terrorist attacks.
Thousands of Jews, from every corner of the world, regardless of their prior observance, have pledged to do acts of kindness and good deeds in the wake of the terror attack in India. While some have taken upon themselves to light Shabbat candles or don traditional phylacteries, others have resolved to increase contributions to charity, go to their local Chabad House, show more love for their fellow man, learn from the Bible, or offer prayers to G-d. According to Chabad teachings, such deeds serve as the light that dispels darkness. "We must honor the souls of those torn away from us, by immortalizing their lives through our positive deeds," said Rabbi Simon Jacobson, scholar of mysticism and author of the best selling book Toward a Meaningful Life.
Donations have been steadily pouring into funds set up for the rebuilding of the Mumbai Chabad Center and to support the two orphaned Holtzberg children. "I attended a memorial for the victims of Chabad Mumbai at my synagogue on Saturday," said Lucette Lagnado, author and reporter for the Wall Street Journal. "It was very crowded - filled with people I had never seen before. Worshippers went up to the pulpit and pledged thousands of dollars."
Arising from India's 9/11, as the media has termed the attacks, is peace and unity among Jews and even among the media; Jewish communities gathered together to pay tribute to the victims of terror in India, while media exchanged minute-to-minute updates.
In addition to the sorrow Jews are experiencing upon the loss of their own in India, the latest acts of terrorism have had a far-reaching, enabling effect on the entire Jewish community.
"This Shabbat you'll find me at a place I haven't been for years -- my local Chabad," proclaimed Rob Eshman, Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal, on Friday, November 28th. "I hope you do the same. I hope rabbis of all stripes march down with their congregants to do the same."
Mel Konner, author and professor at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, told CNN, "The extremists, the terrorists, the Islamist radicals… hate the prospect of peace among these nations and the possibility of progress and getting away from this violence… Unfortunately in these situations, it's always possible for a small number of people to have an exaggerated effect on everything."
"As we mourn [the Holtzberg] untimely and incomprehensible deaths," said Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, Chabad shliach to Scottsdale, AZ, "it is high time for each of us to continue their work with renewed vigor and conviction." Allouche encouraged Jews to continue to perpetuate Judaism, in their own lives as well as in the lives of every Jew encountered, which is in essence the very mission for which the Holtzbergs sacrificed themselves. "There could not be a sweeter revenge for the barbaric terrorists, may their names be erased, who murdered them so cold-bloodedly," he added.
Naftali Salomon, a friend of the Holtzbergs', related, "Gabi and Rivka's entire goal in life was nothing other than to help a fellow human being in need, bring a fellow Jew closer to Judaism, or to simply put a smile on the face of someone who was feeling down. And they did so with the utmost sacrifice, selflessness and humility; never taking credit for their accomplishments or patting themselves on the back."
"What else can one do but look for the glimmers of light and hope amid the darkness and bitterness?" Salomon said, going on to describe the lasting impact the Holtzbergs had had on those whom they encountered, whether it be through the Jewish ritual bath they established, the prayer services they conducted, the Jewish weddings they presided over, and their son Moshe who "miraculously survived thanks to the heroic nanny."
Perusing the headlines of articles posted on Chabad websites, one would surely notice the influx of news announcements of Chabad-initiated memorials in cities across America as well as internationally, in which entire Jewish communities have joined in mourning. Unity, support, solidarity; Jews have shown their fundamental ties, many disregarding their differences in denomination, by joining together in memorial and action to honor the Holtzbergs and others killed in Mumbai.
"You know, this is the Chabad spirit: turn tears into action and into energy," said Rabbi Shalom Paltiel, a close friend of the Holtzbergs, during his interview on NBC's Today Show.
"In order to succeed in this battle," wrote Uri Orbach in his article titled "Light versus Darkness" published in Ynet News, "we must realize that this is yet another struggle between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. And light shall win."
Today, after the global media coverage of the horrific Anti-Semitic events in Mumbai, the world has more exposure to Judaism and Jews: a people steadfast in their beliefs and selfless acts to bring the world to a better place - one not of darkness, but of light.
It begs the ironic question: was this the terrorists' intent?
Monday, December 15, 2008
`Insensitive' govt continues to ignore Jewish deaths in Mumbai
15 Dec 2008
NEW DELHI: Two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg tugs at your heartstrings, crying for his mother who was brutally killed by Pakistani terrorists at Nariman House in Mumbai during the three-day terror attacks. In many ways, Moshe is the face of the trauma that wracked the city.
Moshe's Israeli parents, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his pregnant wife, Rivkah, 28, were killed along with other hostages. His story of being whisked away from his dead parents, soaked in blood, by his nanny has brought tears to most hardened hearts all over the world.
The Indian government, however, has remained completely immune to all this. In a display of crass insensitivity as well as an enduring sign that the government continues to pander to the politics of the Muslim-Jew divide, minister of state for external affairs E Ahamed did not mention the Nariman House attack in his statement to the UN Security Council last week. And this from an India which officially maintains that terror has no religion and all victims are equal.
In his speech to the UNSC asking for the world to ban the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Ahamed referred to "pre-selected targets which included a cafe popular with Indian and foreign tourists and two major hotels". There was no mention of the Jewish Chabad Lubavitch centre, which was specifically chosen by the terrorists to attack Jews.
The Nariman House siege was even more horrific as it was the only one where the entire world was witness to NSG commandos rappelling down from a helicopter and blowing up the building with grenades after a 56-hour battle. It was also the only place where another Jewish leader from New York actually conducted a conversation with one of the terrorists.
While there is no official reason for this omission, sources said it was "inadvertent".
In the aftermath of the attacks, India showed a lot of insensitivity, this was just one more of them. For instance, the Maharashtra government sent official letters of condolence to the families of victims. Singapore found that the name of its lone victim was misspelt badly. The letter had to be returned to get the name right. In Delhi, the Malaysian high commission found that it had not been invited to the government's condolence briefing because its citizen who died in the attacks was of Indian origin, so the government thought he was Indian!
But was Ahamed's omission of the Jewish house in his speech a function of the utterly improbable relationship that India enjoys with Israel or was it a function of the fact that the government didn't want to "anger" Muslims by sympathising with the Jews. Sources said it could be both.
India's relationship with Israel resembles an irresistible, clandestine affair -- where the linkages are growing in many spheres but all below the radar. So, while the government is perfectly happy to have a huge defence relationship with Israel and an intelligence synergy that is seemingly bottomless, a strong fear of angering the Muslim keeps it from acknowledging this relationship openly.
Little Moshe did not even comprehend the nature of his parents' deaths. But for those who hoped for a word of sympathy for an orphaned child, the Indian government has decided not to oblige.
NEW DELHI: Two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg tugs at your heartstrings, crying for his mother who was brutally killed by Pakistani terrorists at Nariman House in Mumbai during the three-day terror attacks. In many ways, Moshe is the face of the trauma that wracked the city.
Moshe's Israeli parents, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his pregnant wife, Rivkah, 28, were killed along with other hostages. His story of being whisked away from his dead parents, soaked in blood, by his nanny has brought tears to most hardened hearts all over the world.
The Indian government, however, has remained completely immune to all this. In a display of crass insensitivity as well as an enduring sign that the government continues to pander to the politics of the Muslim-Jew divide, minister of state for external affairs E Ahamed did not mention the Nariman House attack in his statement to the UN Security Council last week. And this from an India which officially maintains that terror has no religion and all victims are equal.
In his speech to the UNSC asking for the world to ban the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Ahamed referred to "pre-selected targets which included a cafe popular with Indian and foreign tourists and two major hotels". There was no mention of the Jewish Chabad Lubavitch centre, which was specifically chosen by the terrorists to attack Jews.
The Nariman House siege was even more horrific as it was the only one where the entire world was witness to NSG commandos rappelling down from a helicopter and blowing up the building with grenades after a 56-hour battle. It was also the only place where another Jewish leader from New York actually conducted a conversation with one of the terrorists.
While there is no official reason for this omission, sources said it was "inadvertent".
In the aftermath of the attacks, India showed a lot of insensitivity, this was just one more of them. For instance, the Maharashtra government sent official letters of condolence to the families of victims. Singapore found that the name of its lone victim was misspelt badly. The letter had to be returned to get the name right. In Delhi, the Malaysian high commission found that it had not been invited to the government's condolence briefing because its citizen who died in the attacks was of Indian origin, so the government thought he was Indian!
But was Ahamed's omission of the Jewish house in his speech a function of the utterly improbable relationship that India enjoys with Israel or was it a function of the fact that the government didn't want to "anger" Muslims by sympathising with the Jews. Sources said it could be both.
India's relationship with Israel resembles an irresistible, clandestine affair -- where the linkages are growing in many spheres but all below the radar. So, while the government is perfectly happy to have a huge defence relationship with Israel and an intelligence synergy that is seemingly bottomless, a strong fear of angering the Muslim keeps it from acknowledging this relationship openly.
Little Moshe did not even comprehend the nature of his parents' deaths. But for those who hoped for a word of sympathy for an orphaned child, the Indian government has decided not to oblige.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Chabad
By Rabbi Jason Miller
Chabad Lubavitch has been getting a lot of press recently since the tragic murders of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg (z"l), the Chabad shlichim (emissaries) in Mumbai, India who were killed by terrorists. Their story underscores the important mission of these Chabadnik leaders willing to relocate their families to far-flung corners of the earth for kiruv (Jewish outreach). I've heard from several young people who stopped at the Chabad-Lubavitch Nariman House while backpacking through India only to be treated so warmly by Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife. I experienced similarly warm hospitality when I visited a Chabad House in Sumy, Ukraine a few years ago with students from the University of Michigan.
I have always been amazed and impressed by Chabad's devotion to the Jewish people. Their marketing machine and political savvy are the envy of Jewish leaders everywhere. But I have also been skeptical at times about their approach and their agenda, especially on college campuses where the Jewish students are hyper-impressionable.
Due to their belief that Rebbe Menachem Schneerson (left) is the mashiach (messiah), many have cynically described Chabad Lubavitch as the closest religion to Judaism. Regardless of this belief, which is often denied by Chabadniks in large metropolitan Jewish communities where such a messianic tenet would not be well received, Chabad is doing important work throughout the globe.
In many Jewish communities, Chabad has taken on the important job of training young people to work with the developmentally disabled through The Friendship Circle. The program, now with over sixty chapters, matches teenage volunteers who become friends and mentors to children with special needs. Chabad has also pioneered important programs in the Former Soviet Union, including in the devastated community of Chernobyl.
If you're interested in a fair and in-depth study of Chabad Lubavitch, I would highly recommend Sue Fishkoff's The Rebbe's Army.
The most daring, insightful coverage of Chabad however can be found in last month's issue of New Voices magazine. The young columnists of the New Voices journal demystify Chabad, answering questions like: Why, unlike most ultra-Orthodox, do the Lubavitch reach out to rather than reject secular Jews? What do they get when you put on tefillin? Are they Zionist or anti-Zionist? What do they think of mainstream Jewish movements and what do those movements think of them? Do all Lubavitchers even share the same views on these issues?
A blogger on the Moment Magazine blog writes: "Takedown or not, New Voices has done what no other serious Jewish publication has dared do: subject Chabad to the same journalistic scrutiny every powerful, religious movement deserves."
The New Voices issue includes Chabad-related stories about the Agriprocessors Kosher meat scandal, an interview with a Reform rabbi about the place of Chabad in the religious life of secular Jews, a critique of non-Orthodox support for Chabad, and an exploration of the contemporary meaning of the Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway.
The interview with the Reform rabbi who shares his thoughts on Chabad is very interesting. The rabbi is Rabbi Rick Jacobs (left), Senior Rabbi of Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York. I met Rabbi Jacobs last year at a STAR Foundation PEER Alumni retreat and was extremely impressed. Rabbi Jacobs tells a funny story in the New Voices interview:
I was in midtown Manhattan, and I'm walking down the street and this wonderful friendly warm Chabadnik stops me and says, 'Are you Jewish?' I'm walking along, I'm wearing a grey suit. I don't know, maybe I have curly Jewish hair. I said, 'Yes, are you?' And he looked at me and started to laugh and he pointed to his tzitzit and to his beard. I said, 'You know, appearances are not always reality.
Rick's story reminds me of another story: Two Jewish Theological Seminary rabbinical students (a man and a woman) were walking by the main gate of Columbia in New York's Upper West Side when a Chabadnik asked the man if he put on tefillin that morning. His response? "No, but she did!"
I'm not sure what the ultimate attraction to Chabad is for so many -- not just the impressionable Jewish college students who flock to Chabad houses for the Rebbetzin's homemade chicken soup and challah, whiskey shots with the rabbi, or hot cholent on Shabbat afternoon. For some college students it may well be that the Chabad rabbi looks, well, more authentically Jewish than his or her Reform or Conservative rabbi back home -- which means more Eastern European and more pious.
The bigger question for me is the new fad of contemporary, progressive Jewish families joining Chabad congregations (in many communities called simply "The Shul"). I know this is driving many rabbis crazy. In some cases, rabbis are seeing their congregants attend Chabad congregations to complement their other synagogue membership. They may go to Chabad for a Shabbat service or even a holiday service (e.g., Simchat Torah), but wouldn't think of not attending their ancestral synagogue for High Holiday services or to celebrate their child's bar or bat mitzvah. But in other cases, Reform and Conservative congregations are seeing their membership numbers decrease to the benefit of the Chabad shul down the street. Again, this could be chalked up to the "authenticity factor" or it could be something deeper. Perhaps it is the warmth that the Chabad rabbis display in their outreach efforts much like the warmth that was a trademark of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, stationed in Mumbai and racking up all those "mitzvah points" through their generosity.
May their memories be for blessings.
Rabbi Jason Miller is a Conservative rabbi ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was the first Gladstein Fellow. Rabbi Jason holds a master's degree from the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at JTS.
Rabbi Jason is interested in how modern technology affects Jewish life, particularly the impact of the Internet on Jewish education and the global Jewish community.
Chabad Lubavitch has been getting a lot of press recently since the tragic murders of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg (z"l), the Chabad shlichim (emissaries) in Mumbai, India who were killed by terrorists. Their story underscores the important mission of these Chabadnik leaders willing to relocate their families to far-flung corners of the earth for kiruv (Jewish outreach). I've heard from several young people who stopped at the Chabad-Lubavitch Nariman House while backpacking through India only to be treated so warmly by Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife. I experienced similarly warm hospitality when I visited a Chabad House in Sumy, Ukraine a few years ago with students from the University of Michigan.
I have always been amazed and impressed by Chabad's devotion to the Jewish people. Their marketing machine and political savvy are the envy of Jewish leaders everywhere. But I have also been skeptical at times about their approach and their agenda, especially on college campuses where the Jewish students are hyper-impressionable.
Due to their belief that Rebbe Menachem Schneerson (left) is the mashiach (messiah), many have cynically described Chabad Lubavitch as the closest religion to Judaism. Regardless of this belief, which is often denied by Chabadniks in large metropolitan Jewish communities where such a messianic tenet would not be well received, Chabad is doing important work throughout the globe.
In many Jewish communities, Chabad has taken on the important job of training young people to work with the developmentally disabled through The Friendship Circle. The program, now with over sixty chapters, matches teenage volunteers who become friends and mentors to children with special needs. Chabad has also pioneered important programs in the Former Soviet Union, including in the devastated community of Chernobyl.
If you're interested in a fair and in-depth study of Chabad Lubavitch, I would highly recommend Sue Fishkoff's The Rebbe's Army.
The most daring, insightful coverage of Chabad however can be found in last month's issue of New Voices magazine. The young columnists of the New Voices journal demystify Chabad, answering questions like: Why, unlike most ultra-Orthodox, do the Lubavitch reach out to rather than reject secular Jews? What do they get when you put on tefillin? Are they Zionist or anti-Zionist? What do they think of mainstream Jewish movements and what do those movements think of them? Do all Lubavitchers even share the same views on these issues?
A blogger on the Moment Magazine blog writes: "Takedown or not, New Voices has done what no other serious Jewish publication has dared do: subject Chabad to the same journalistic scrutiny every powerful, religious movement deserves."
The New Voices issue includes Chabad-related stories about the Agriprocessors Kosher meat scandal, an interview with a Reform rabbi about the place of Chabad in the religious life of secular Jews, a critique of non-Orthodox support for Chabad, and an exploration of the contemporary meaning of the Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway.
The interview with the Reform rabbi who shares his thoughts on Chabad is very interesting. The rabbi is Rabbi Rick Jacobs (left), Senior Rabbi of Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York. I met Rabbi Jacobs last year at a STAR Foundation PEER Alumni retreat and was extremely impressed. Rabbi Jacobs tells a funny story in the New Voices interview:
I was in midtown Manhattan, and I'm walking down the street and this wonderful friendly warm Chabadnik stops me and says, 'Are you Jewish?' I'm walking along, I'm wearing a grey suit. I don't know, maybe I have curly Jewish hair. I said, 'Yes, are you?' And he looked at me and started to laugh and he pointed to his tzitzit and to his beard. I said, 'You know, appearances are not always reality.
Rick's story reminds me of another story: Two Jewish Theological Seminary rabbinical students (a man and a woman) were walking by the main gate of Columbia in New York's Upper West Side when a Chabadnik asked the man if he put on tefillin that morning. His response? "No, but she did!"
I'm not sure what the ultimate attraction to Chabad is for so many -- not just the impressionable Jewish college students who flock to Chabad houses for the Rebbetzin's homemade chicken soup and challah, whiskey shots with the rabbi, or hot cholent on Shabbat afternoon. For some college students it may well be that the Chabad rabbi looks, well, more authentically Jewish than his or her Reform or Conservative rabbi back home -- which means more Eastern European and more pious.
The bigger question for me is the new fad of contemporary, progressive Jewish families joining Chabad congregations (in many communities called simply "The Shul"). I know this is driving many rabbis crazy. In some cases, rabbis are seeing their congregants attend Chabad congregations to complement their other synagogue membership. They may go to Chabad for a Shabbat service or even a holiday service (e.g., Simchat Torah), but wouldn't think of not attending their ancestral synagogue for High Holiday services or to celebrate their child's bar or bat mitzvah. But in other cases, Reform and Conservative congregations are seeing their membership numbers decrease to the benefit of the Chabad shul down the street. Again, this could be chalked up to the "authenticity factor" or it could be something deeper. Perhaps it is the warmth that the Chabad rabbis display in their outreach efforts much like the warmth that was a trademark of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, stationed in Mumbai and racking up all those "mitzvah points" through their generosity.
May their memories be for blessings.
Rabbi Jason Miller is a Conservative rabbi ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was the first Gladstein Fellow. Rabbi Jason holds a master's degree from the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at JTS.
Rabbi Jason is interested in how modern technology affects Jewish life, particularly the impact of the Internet on Jewish education and the global Jewish community.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
How did your organization weigh in on Mumbai?
This week I have a story about Chabad's efforts to transform the recent Mumbai attacks into an opportunity to spread its message, along with a sidebar about some Lubavitchers being rankled by similar efforts launched by the Israeli orphanage run by an uncle of one of the victims.
Of course, in general, it's become a ritual or sorts for organizations' PR machines to kick into high gear and weigh in when a major crisis erupts.
For most, it is all part of the adage in fund raising that to be effective, you have to tell your narrative -- and nothing sells a narrative like tragedy.
In fairness, before cynics start poking at Chabad, this situation is theirs to own, given that its Mumbai headquarters was attacked and the movement's emissaires in the city, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, were killed . Simply put, Chabad has quite reasonably sought to make the most of tragically finding itself in the center of the international media attention -- using the public relations opportunity to spread its religious message, as well as raise funds to repair its heavily damaged center in Mumbai and raise money for the Holtzbergs' child.
Several organizations are raising money for the families of other victims in Mumbai.
A group of friends of Benzion Chroman, who was killed at the Taj Hotel, are trying to raise money to buy his widow an apartment and to pay for the education and weddings of his three young children.
Another group is raising money to help the family of Leibish Teitelbaum, the Satmar man killed while staying at the Chabad of Mumbai.
Then there are the Jewish organizations who sent out mass e-mails weighing in on the situation in Mumbai. Here are links to and highlights from some of their various statements:
* The Zionist Organization of America played up the Islamic terrorist card: "We see in this attack – beyond the absolute horror of the assaults and the barbarity of the Islamist terrorists themselves – something else of terrible significance: although the Islamist jihadists targeted non-Muslims in general, it is quite clear that a special effort was also made by the Islamist terrorists to locate, torture and murder Jews simply because they were Jews.... As we have now learned, special sadism and barbarism was reserved for the Jews in the Mumbai Chabad House, as one of the examining doctors said: 'Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks ... It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again."
* The semi-Kahanist Jewish Defense Organization took it a step further with this want ad in all caps: "WANTED JEWS WITH GUTS ! TO TRAIN IN SELF-DEFENSE & GUN TRAINING TO HELP GUARD SYNAGOGUES AND JEWISH AREAS FROM ISLAMIC TERROR GROUPS AL QUEDA ,PLO,HAMAS, NEO-NAZIS-KKK ATTACKS TO DEFEND JEWS...BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! CALL THE MILITANT JEWISH DEFENSE ORGANIZATION TODAY! FIND OUT ABOUT OUR LEGAL KARATE-GUN TRAINING-ANTI-TERROR TRAINING -- TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!"
* World ORT, which runs a chain of Jewish vocational schools, sent out a statement saying that its school in Mumbai had seen a drop in attendance after the attacks because students were worried about security. ORT says it was also helping in the relief effort: “ORT staff members are helping the ZAKA personnel from Israel and the local Indian Jewish burial society (Chever Kadisha) who are working to identify Jewish bodies and preparing them for a Jewish burial, both at the Chabad House and in the hotels that were attacked. In addition, ORT India is providing these workers and other Israelis in Mumbai with kosher food.”
* Hillel: The foundation for Jewish campus life held interfaith candlelight vigils at campuses across the country.
* The Reform movement’s rabbinical association mourned: "We stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters, in shock at the brutal, senseless murders of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, his wife, Rivka, and three others at the Chabad-Lubavitch Center in Mumbai, India. Targeted for no reason other than that they were Jewish, their deaths deeply sadden Jewish people everywhere. We have been taught: Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh. All Jewish people are connected to one another. We are one people in mourning today."
* The World Jewish Congress condemned: "We stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters, in shock at the brutal, senseless murders of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, his wife, Rivka, and three others at the Chabad-Lubavitch Center in Mumbai, India. Targeted for no reason other than that they were Jewish, their deaths deeply sadden Jewish people everywhere. We have been taught: Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh. All Jewish people are connected to one another. We are one people in mourning today."
* As did Shmuley Boteach:"The horrific attack on the Chabad House of Mumbai and the monstrous slaughter of its devoted Rabbi and wife, Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, gives the lie to the media’s description of these murderers as ‘religious Muslim extremists.’ The world’s biggest atheist is more religious than these abominable fiends. Not only are they cold-blooded, heartless killers, they are pious frauds and spiritual charlatans who not only live without any G-d, but who have set themselves up as deities and executioners."
* Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, took a tip from Chabad in a column called “Fighting Darkness with Light,” which he sent out in his weekly email blast.
* The Joint “closely monitored” the situation and then “mobilized.”
* The Jewish Agency supported: "Following consultations at the end of Shabbat, the leaders of the Jewish Agency have decided to provide support from the Fund for the Victims of Terror to the families of those killed in the recent terror attack in India. Support will be transferred immediately to the families of the Jews and Israelis who were killed in the attack."
* The UJC, the umbrella organization of the Jewish federation system, worked closely with its partners JDC and JAFI to monitor and support.
* Yeshiva Univeristy prayed: "In light of the tragic events unfolding in Mumbai India I would like to share with you a tefillah that Dr. Moshe Sokolow, Professor and Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, wrote on behalf of those injured in this tragic event. Please share it with others."
Of course, in general, it's become a ritual or sorts for organizations' PR machines to kick into high gear and weigh in when a major crisis erupts.
For most, it is all part of the adage in fund raising that to be effective, you have to tell your narrative -- and nothing sells a narrative like tragedy.
In fairness, before cynics start poking at Chabad, this situation is theirs to own, given that its Mumbai headquarters was attacked and the movement's emissaires in the city, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, were killed . Simply put, Chabad has quite reasonably sought to make the most of tragically finding itself in the center of the international media attention -- using the public relations opportunity to spread its religious message, as well as raise funds to repair its heavily damaged center in Mumbai and raise money for the Holtzbergs' child.
Several organizations are raising money for the families of other victims in Mumbai.
A group of friends of Benzion Chroman, who was killed at the Taj Hotel, are trying to raise money to buy his widow an apartment and to pay for the education and weddings of his three young children.
Another group is raising money to help the family of Leibish Teitelbaum, the Satmar man killed while staying at the Chabad of Mumbai.
Then there are the Jewish organizations who sent out mass e-mails weighing in on the situation in Mumbai. Here are links to and highlights from some of their various statements:
* The Zionist Organization of America played up the Islamic terrorist card: "We see in this attack – beyond the absolute horror of the assaults and the barbarity of the Islamist terrorists themselves – something else of terrible significance: although the Islamist jihadists targeted non-Muslims in general, it is quite clear that a special effort was also made by the Islamist terrorists to locate, torture and murder Jews simply because they were Jews.... As we have now learned, special sadism and barbarism was reserved for the Jews in the Mumbai Chabad House, as one of the examining doctors said: 'Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks ... It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again."
* The semi-Kahanist Jewish Defense Organization took it a step further with this want ad in all caps: "WANTED JEWS WITH GUTS ! TO TRAIN IN SELF-DEFENSE & GUN TRAINING TO HELP GUARD SYNAGOGUES AND JEWISH AREAS FROM ISLAMIC TERROR GROUPS AL QUEDA ,PLO,HAMAS, NEO-NAZIS-KKK ATTACKS TO DEFEND JEWS...BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! CALL THE MILITANT JEWISH DEFENSE ORGANIZATION TODAY! FIND OUT ABOUT OUR LEGAL KARATE-GUN TRAINING-ANTI-TERROR TRAINING -- TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!"
* World ORT, which runs a chain of Jewish vocational schools, sent out a statement saying that its school in Mumbai had seen a drop in attendance after the attacks because students were worried about security. ORT says it was also helping in the relief effort: “ORT staff members are helping the ZAKA personnel from Israel and the local Indian Jewish burial society (Chever Kadisha) who are working to identify Jewish bodies and preparing them for a Jewish burial, both at the Chabad House and in the hotels that were attacked. In addition, ORT India is providing these workers and other Israelis in Mumbai with kosher food.”
* Hillel: The foundation for Jewish campus life held interfaith candlelight vigils at campuses across the country.
* The Reform movement’s rabbinical association mourned: "We stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters, in shock at the brutal, senseless murders of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, his wife, Rivka, and three others at the Chabad-Lubavitch Center in Mumbai, India. Targeted for no reason other than that they were Jewish, their deaths deeply sadden Jewish people everywhere. We have been taught: Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh. All Jewish people are connected to one another. We are one people in mourning today."
* The World Jewish Congress condemned: "We stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters, in shock at the brutal, senseless murders of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, his wife, Rivka, and three others at the Chabad-Lubavitch Center in Mumbai, India. Targeted for no reason other than that they were Jewish, their deaths deeply sadden Jewish people everywhere. We have been taught: Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh. All Jewish people are connected to one another. We are one people in mourning today."
* As did Shmuley Boteach:"The horrific attack on the Chabad House of Mumbai and the monstrous slaughter of its devoted Rabbi and wife, Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, gives the lie to the media’s description of these murderers as ‘religious Muslim extremists.’ The world’s biggest atheist is more religious than these abominable fiends. Not only are they cold-blooded, heartless killers, they are pious frauds and spiritual charlatans who not only live without any G-d, but who have set themselves up as deities and executioners."
* Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, took a tip from Chabad in a column called “Fighting Darkness with Light,” which he sent out in his weekly email blast.
* The Joint “closely monitored” the situation and then “mobilized.”
* The Jewish Agency supported: "Following consultations at the end of Shabbat, the leaders of the Jewish Agency have decided to provide support from the Fund for the Victims of Terror to the families of those killed in the recent terror attack in India. Support will be transferred immediately to the families of the Jews and Israelis who were killed in the attack."
* The UJC, the umbrella organization of the Jewish federation system, worked closely with its partners JDC and JAFI to monitor and support.
* Yeshiva Univeristy prayed: "In light of the tragic events unfolding in Mumbai India I would like to share with you a tefillah that Dr. Moshe Sokolow, Professor and Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, wrote on behalf of those injured in this tragic event. Please share it with others."
Monday, June 16, 2008
We're all right, Shmuley
Jun. 16, 2008
Dovid Eliezrie ,
THE JERUSALEM POST
Like many others, I wondered about the Chabad future after the Rebbe - Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn - passed away in 1994. I especially worried whether Chabad emissaries would attend their convention, scheduled for a few months later. Those fears dissipated when 700-strong showed up from around the globe.
Fourteen years later, the numbers are up again. Over 2,200 shlichim (emissaries) attended last year, reflecting a remarkable rate of growth.
One of the early challenges in the post-gimmel tammuz era (the Hebrew date of the Rebbe's passing) was Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's management of the Chabad L'Chaim society at Oxford University. He had involved large numbers of non-Jews in his programs, a radical departure from the Chabad norm, focused as it is on drawing Jews closer to their tradition. Some of his other activities also did not reflect Chabad standards.
During that confusing time, Chabad in the UK could have just turned a blind eye. Instead it made the decision that Shmuley's methodology did not meet Chabad policies.
No one doubted his creativity, his writing ability or his commitment to Judaism. Some said "it was nothing but politics - these older rabbis in London."
As Shmuley wrote in The Jerusalem Post last week (June 10), he feels to this day that he was in the right. In my mind, however, it was a turning point. Chabad in the UK took a courageous stand, insisting that our principles were sacrosanct. Coming shortly after the Rebbe's passing, it sent a strong message throughout the Chabad system that standards were not to be lowered.
THE LAST 14 years have been a period of both great success and serious challenge, internally and externally. The Rebbe had already laid the foundation for the transformation into a communal decision-making system by setting up an organizational structure guided by committees and boards. Rabbinical courts were appointed as the final arbitrators of policy and direction. More and more, Chabad become a consensus-driven culture.
Still the shift did not come without internal politics and dissension. When it comes to tough questions, the debate is, "What would the Rebbe have said?" or "What did he say?" in such a situation. There is debate and dialogue, and not everyone shares the same understanding of which precedent should apply.
CHABAD TODAY is the largest Jewish organization in the world, operating in 75 countries and 48 states. With over 5,000 rabbis and their wives on staff, there is no question that there will be issues. In such a large system there will be institutions that have financial or management problems. The Rebbe taught us to live up to high ideals, which, being human, we fail at times to reach. Chabad emissaries have the same frailties as anyone. At times those weaknesses trickle down to the institutions we are involved in.
There will be internal organizational politics. How many Chabad centers can we open, and who should run them? Who should be assigned to a suburb with great demographic potential? How do we resolve issues when there is internal conflict?
Chabad's expanding role in itself poses a new set of challenges. As Dennis Prager said recently to a group of Chabad rabbis, "For years Chabad was the outsider. Now you are becoming the establishment, and that demands a different type of responsibility."
Moving from the periphery to the mainstream must cause us to see our role differently.
INTERNALLY, CHABAD must address additional issues: How do we inspire our children to have the same passion and ideals that we learned firsthand from the Rebbe? How do we create viable communities of hassidim that meet the spiritual and educational needs of a more diverse and growing population in a wide variety of geographic settings? How do we live our lives to the high standards that the Rebbe aspired to?
How do we ensure economic stability for hassidim who do not enter into Jewish education or outreach? For instance, a leading Chabad rabbinical figure in Israel talked to me about the need to help his community develop more varied job skills.
None of these questions has an easy answer, and they cannot be debated in the pages of The Jerusalem Post.
Chabad is a culture of intense self-analysis. Be it in the local synagogue, in conventions both regional and international, or on the various Web sites, the dialogue and debate is real. Just this week members of Chabad rabbinical courts convened in New York to talk about many of these questions. What is striking about Chabad is the personal sense of empowerment that most of its hassidim feel, which enables them to express their opinions openly and strongly.
WITH ALL its challenges, Chabad is booming. The network of Chabad Centers is growing in many ways. In Russia, Judaism has been rebuilt from the bottom up. In Israel, Chabad serves as a bridge between secular and religious in a polarized society. In the US and other Western countries, Chabad centers are growing in suburbia, creating a new synagogue movement involving hundreds of thousands of Jews.
In campus and adult education there is phenomenal growth and innovation. Internally the hassidic community is learning to find solutions to different challenges with innovative yeshivas and seminaries. A new generation of Chabad rabbinical scholars is providing much-needed spiritual direction to hassidim.
There are problems. And there will be new ones in the future. Still, the system the Rebbe put in place is proving itself responsive and resilient, both in sparking a Jewish renaissance around the world and in creating a viable community for Hassidim.
The writer is a Chabad emissary in Yorba Linda, California.
rabbi@ocjewish.com
Dovid Eliezrie ,
THE JERUSALEM POST
Like many others, I wondered about the Chabad future after the Rebbe - Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn - passed away in 1994. I especially worried whether Chabad emissaries would attend their convention, scheduled for a few months later. Those fears dissipated when 700-strong showed up from around the globe.
Fourteen years later, the numbers are up again. Over 2,200 shlichim (emissaries) attended last year, reflecting a remarkable rate of growth.
One of the early challenges in the post-gimmel tammuz era (the Hebrew date of the Rebbe's passing) was Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's management of the Chabad L'Chaim society at Oxford University. He had involved large numbers of non-Jews in his programs, a radical departure from the Chabad norm, focused as it is on drawing Jews closer to their tradition. Some of his other activities also did not reflect Chabad standards.
During that confusing time, Chabad in the UK could have just turned a blind eye. Instead it made the decision that Shmuley's methodology did not meet Chabad policies.
No one doubted his creativity, his writing ability or his commitment to Judaism. Some said "it was nothing but politics - these older rabbis in London."
As Shmuley wrote in The Jerusalem Post last week (June 10), he feels to this day that he was in the right. In my mind, however, it was a turning point. Chabad in the UK took a courageous stand, insisting that our principles were sacrosanct. Coming shortly after the Rebbe's passing, it sent a strong message throughout the Chabad system that standards were not to be lowered.
THE LAST 14 years have been a period of both great success and serious challenge, internally and externally. The Rebbe had already laid the foundation for the transformation into a communal decision-making system by setting up an organizational structure guided by committees and boards. Rabbinical courts were appointed as the final arbitrators of policy and direction. More and more, Chabad become a consensus-driven culture.
Still the shift did not come without internal politics and dissension. When it comes to tough questions, the debate is, "What would the Rebbe have said?" or "What did he say?" in such a situation. There is debate and dialogue, and not everyone shares the same understanding of which precedent should apply.
CHABAD TODAY is the largest Jewish organization in the world, operating in 75 countries and 48 states. With over 5,000 rabbis and their wives on staff, there is no question that there will be issues. In such a large system there will be institutions that have financial or management problems. The Rebbe taught us to live up to high ideals, which, being human, we fail at times to reach. Chabad emissaries have the same frailties as anyone. At times those weaknesses trickle down to the institutions we are involved in.
There will be internal organizational politics. How many Chabad centers can we open, and who should run them? Who should be assigned to a suburb with great demographic potential? How do we resolve issues when there is internal conflict?
Chabad's expanding role in itself poses a new set of challenges. As Dennis Prager said recently to a group of Chabad rabbis, "For years Chabad was the outsider. Now you are becoming the establishment, and that demands a different type of responsibility."
Moving from the periphery to the mainstream must cause us to see our role differently.
INTERNALLY, CHABAD must address additional issues: How do we inspire our children to have the same passion and ideals that we learned firsthand from the Rebbe? How do we create viable communities of hassidim that meet the spiritual and educational needs of a more diverse and growing population in a wide variety of geographic settings? How do we live our lives to the high standards that the Rebbe aspired to?
How do we ensure economic stability for hassidim who do not enter into Jewish education or outreach? For instance, a leading Chabad rabbinical figure in Israel talked to me about the need to help his community develop more varied job skills.
None of these questions has an easy answer, and they cannot be debated in the pages of The Jerusalem Post.
Chabad is a culture of intense self-analysis. Be it in the local synagogue, in conventions both regional and international, or on the various Web sites, the dialogue and debate is real. Just this week members of Chabad rabbinical courts convened in New York to talk about many of these questions. What is striking about Chabad is the personal sense of empowerment that most of its hassidim feel, which enables them to express their opinions openly and strongly.
WITH ALL its challenges, Chabad is booming. The network of Chabad Centers is growing in many ways. In Russia, Judaism has been rebuilt from the bottom up. In Israel, Chabad serves as a bridge between secular and religious in a polarized society. In the US and other Western countries, Chabad centers are growing in suburbia, creating a new synagogue movement involving hundreds of thousands of Jews.
In campus and adult education there is phenomenal growth and innovation. Internally the hassidic community is learning to find solutions to different challenges with innovative yeshivas and seminaries. A new generation of Chabad rabbinical scholars is providing much-needed spiritual direction to hassidim.
There are problems. And there will be new ones in the future. Still, the system the Rebbe put in place is proving itself responsive and resilient, both in sparking a Jewish renaissance around the world and in creating a viable community for Hassidim.
The writer is a Chabad emissary in Yorba Linda, California.
rabbi@ocjewish.com
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