“Unlikely Allies: The Shocking Nazi Mission to Rescue a Jewish Leader that Shook History”
The Hasidic Jewish movement of Chabad [“Ha-bad”, with a fricative on the H] was founded in 1775 by rabbi Schneur Zalman in the Russian village of Liozno – now Liozna in Belarus. Named after the combination of the words Chokmah, Binah, and Da’at – Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge – Chabad was heavily based upon Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism and emphasized such concepts as intellectual inquiry being the gateway to understanding God and the idea that people are not inherently good or evil but rather face a continuous inner struggle between these two extremes. In 1796, Rabbi Zalman published the Tanya, the foundational text of Chabad. Today, the movement preaches 10 basic Mitzvahs or commandments: Ahavas Yisroel, or the love of one’s fellow Jew; Chinuch or Torah Education; Torah Study; the donning of Tefillin – leather boxes containing Jewish texts wrapped around the left arm and head during weekday morning services; the affixing of a mezuzah or scriptural scroll on the doorpost of a house; observing Tzedakah or the giving of alms every weekday; the possession of Jewish holy books; the lighting of Shabbat and festival candles; the following of Kashrut or Jewish dietary laws; and the following of Taharas Hamishpocho or the Torah perspective on married life.
In 1813, Rebbe Zalman’s successor, Dovber Schneuri, moved the seat of the movement to the village of Lyubavitchi in Smolensk Oblast, where he established a long-lived dynasty of Rebbes. In 1915, the fifth Rebbe, Shalom Dovber, left Lyubavitchi and relocated the movement – now commonly known as Chabad-Lubavitch – to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Post Comment