Executive
01-10-2006, 10:58 PM
About Chabad-Lubavitch
The Philosophy
Chabad-Lubavitch is a philosophy, a movement, and an organization. It is considered to be the most dynamic force in Jewish life today.
Lubavitch appropriately means the "city of brotherly love"The word "Chabad" is a Hebrew acronym for the three intellectual faculties of: chachmah-wisdom, binah-comprehension and da'at-knowledge. The movement's system of Jewish religious philosophy, the deepest dimension of G-d's Torah, teaches understanding and recognition of the Creator, the role and purpose of Creation, and the importance and unique mission of each Creature. This philosophy guides a person to refine and govern his and her every act and feeling through wisdom, comprehension and knowledge.
The word "Lubavitch" is the name of the town in White Russia where the movement was based for more than a century. Appropriately, the word Lubavitch in Russian means the "city of brotherly love." The name Lubavitch conveys the essence of the responsibility and love engendered by the Chabad philosophy toward every single Jew.
The Movement
Following its inception 250 years ago, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement -- a branch of Hasidism -- swept through Russia and spread in surrounding countries as well. It provided scholars with answers that eluded them and simple farmers with a love that had been denied of them. Eventually the philosophy of Chabad-Lubavitch and its adherents reached almost every corner of the world and affected almost every facet of Jewish life.
We Are One
Once upon a time there were different synagogues for different social classes’ one synagogue for carpenters and shoemakers, another for farmers, and an entirely separate one for learned Torah-scholars who would not pray alongside the “common folk.”
Unbelievable? Just two hundred years ago, throughout the shtetls of Eastern Europe, such was indeed the situation.
Then came the Baal Shem Tov.
No Jew should be characterized as “distant,” for, in essence, we are one.Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (lit. “Master of the Good Name,” 1694-1748), founder of Chassidim, showed how such “social” divisions were inimical to Judaism. He explained the common Divine origin of all souls, and the beautiful traits of spiritual treasures to be found in every Jew, whether scholarly or unlearned. He taught:
It is written, “For you (the Jewish People) shall be a land of desire, says the L-rd of Hosts.”
Just as the greatest scientists will never discover the limits of the enormous natural resources which the Almighty has sunk into the land, neither will anyone ever find the limits of the great treasures which lie within Israel G-d’s “land of desire.”
Everywhere he went, the Baal Shem Tov broke down the barriers between Jews, building bridges of ahavat yisrael (love of one’s fellow), bringing them together, teaching them about their enormous obligations of mutual responsibility and mutual affection; showing that we are one.
But opposition was fierce -- sometimes fanatical. Building bridges between the Torah-scholar and the unlettered -- declared his opponents-degraded the honor of Torah and encouraged simplicity.
Yet, within several generations, the Chassidic attitude became universal. In our own age, the notion of separate synagogues for different classes of Jews seems such an absurdity that some, to this very day, find it difficult to accept that the Baal Shem Tov was indeed the author of the barrier-melting revolution in Jewish society two centuries ago.
The Philosophy
Chabad-Lubavitch is a philosophy, a movement, and an organization. It is considered to be the most dynamic force in Jewish life today.
Lubavitch appropriately means the "city of brotherly love"The word "Chabad" is a Hebrew acronym for the three intellectual faculties of: chachmah-wisdom, binah-comprehension and da'at-knowledge. The movement's system of Jewish religious philosophy, the deepest dimension of G-d's Torah, teaches understanding and recognition of the Creator, the role and purpose of Creation, and the importance and unique mission of each Creature. This philosophy guides a person to refine and govern his and her every act and feeling through wisdom, comprehension and knowledge.
The word "Lubavitch" is the name of the town in White Russia where the movement was based for more than a century. Appropriately, the word Lubavitch in Russian means the "city of brotherly love." The name Lubavitch conveys the essence of the responsibility and love engendered by the Chabad philosophy toward every single Jew.
The Movement
Following its inception 250 years ago, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement -- a branch of Hasidism -- swept through Russia and spread in surrounding countries as well. It provided scholars with answers that eluded them and simple farmers with a love that had been denied of them. Eventually the philosophy of Chabad-Lubavitch and its adherents reached almost every corner of the world and affected almost every facet of Jewish life.
We Are One
Once upon a time there were different synagogues for different social classes’ one synagogue for carpenters and shoemakers, another for farmers, and an entirely separate one for learned Torah-scholars who would not pray alongside the “common folk.”
Unbelievable? Just two hundred years ago, throughout the shtetls of Eastern Europe, such was indeed the situation.
Then came the Baal Shem Tov.
No Jew should be characterized as “distant,” for, in essence, we are one.Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (lit. “Master of the Good Name,” 1694-1748), founder of Chassidim, showed how such “social” divisions were inimical to Judaism. He explained the common Divine origin of all souls, and the beautiful traits of spiritual treasures to be found in every Jew, whether scholarly or unlearned. He taught:
It is written, “For you (the Jewish People) shall be a land of desire, says the L-rd of Hosts.”
Just as the greatest scientists will never discover the limits of the enormous natural resources which the Almighty has sunk into the land, neither will anyone ever find the limits of the great treasures which lie within Israel G-d’s “land of desire.”
Everywhere he went, the Baal Shem Tov broke down the barriers between Jews, building bridges of ahavat yisrael (love of one’s fellow), bringing them together, teaching them about their enormous obligations of mutual responsibility and mutual affection; showing that we are one.
But opposition was fierce -- sometimes fanatical. Building bridges between the Torah-scholar and the unlettered -- declared his opponents-degraded the honor of Torah and encouraged simplicity.
Yet, within several generations, the Chassidic attitude became universal. In our own age, the notion of separate synagogues for different classes of Jews seems such an absurdity that some, to this very day, find it difficult to accept that the Baal Shem Tov was indeed the author of the barrier-melting revolution in Jewish society two centuries ago.