Chabad-Lubavitch חב"ד-ליובאוויטש

The Alter Rebbe and the Tanya

Chabad was founded in 1775 in the town of Liozna in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus) by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi — a disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch, the successor of the Baal Shem Tov ^[1]. The name Chabad is an acronym of “Chochmah, Binah, Daas” (wisdom, understanding, knowledge), reflecting the emphasis the movement places on deep contemplation of Chassidus and Kabbalah ^[1]. Its central work is the Tanya (“Sefer shel Beinonim”), which Chabad Chassidim study every day ^[1].

Lubavitch

The Mitteler Rebbe, Rabbi Dovber Schneuri, moved the court to Lubavitch in 1813, and the center remained there for a hundred years ^[1][2]. After the passing of the third Rebbe, the “Tzemach Tzedek,” the movement divided among his sons into several branches; the Lubavitch line was carried on by Rabbi Shmuel Schneersohn, and since 1923 it has been the only surviving Chabad dynasty ^[2].

In 1915 the fifth Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, left Lubavitch and settled in Rostov ^[1].

Under Soviet Rule

The Russian government — first under the Czar and later under the Bolsheviks — arrested every Chabad Rebbe but one. The Bolsheviks also arrested, exiled and killed Chassidim ^[1]. In the interwar years the center, under the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, was in Riga and then in Warsaw ^[1]. During the Second World War many Chassidim fled to Samarkand and Tashkent, and the movement continued to maintain a secret network across the entire Soviet Union ^[1].

“770” and the Lubavitcher Rebbe

When the war broke out, the Previous Rebbe moved to America, and since 1940 the center of Chabad has been in Crown Heights, Brooklyn ^[1] — in the famous building at 770 Eastern Parkway.

Under the leadership of the seventh Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from 1951 to 1994, the movement grew rapidly: it established a worldwide network of synagogues, educational institutions, aid organizations and Chabad Houses serving Jews of every kind ^[1]. In 2020 there were more than 3,500 Chabad centers in 100 countries ^[1].

Chabad Today

By a 2018 estimate Chabad numbers more than 90,000 Chassidim, but up to a million Jews take part in Chabad programs each year ^[1]. The central organization is Agudas Chassidei Chabad; its educational and social-service arms are Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch and Machne Israel, and its publishing house is Kehot ^[1]. After the Rebbe’s passing in 1994, no successor was appointed ^[1].