Chabad-Lubavitch is considered the most dynamic force in Jewish life today — and your local Chabad house is one branch of a family tree that reaches almost every corner of the world.
A Hebrew acronym for the three intellectual faculties. The movement's philosophy, the deepest dimension of G‑d's Torah, teaches understanding and recognition of the Creator and the unique mission of each creature — guiding a person to refine every act and feeling through wisdom, comprehension, and knowledge.
The name of the town in White Russia where the movement was based for more than a century. Fittingly, Lubavitch means “city of brotherly love” in Russian — conveying the essence of the responsibility and love the Chabad philosophy carries toward every single Jew.
Following its inception 250 years ago, Chabad-Lubavitch — a branch of Hasidism — swept through Russia and the surrounding countries, providing scholars with answers that eluded them and simple farmers with a love that had been denied them. Eventually its philosophy reached almost every corner of the world, touching almost every facet of Jewish life.
The movement is guided by the teachings of its seven leaders (“Rebbes”), beginning with Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812) — leaders who expounded the most refined aspects of Jewish mysticism into a corpus of study thousands of books strong, and who concerned themselves with the totality of Jewish life, spiritual and physical.
“No person or detail was too small or insignificant for their love and dedication.”
In our generation: the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of righteous memory (1902–1994), known simply as “the Rebbe,” who guided post-Holocaust Jewry to safety from the ravages of that devastation.
Today's organization traces to the early 1940s, when the sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880–1950), appointed his son-in-law and later successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, to head its newly founded educational and social service arms. Motivated by profound love for every Jew and boundless optimism, the Rebbe set into motion a dazzling array of programs and institutions — today over 6,000 full-time emissary families applying 250-year-old principles to more than 3,500 institutions dedicated to the welfare of the Jewish people worldwide.
Adapted from our content partner, Chabad.org.
