Chabad (Hasidic Dynasty)

Chabad (Hasidic Dynasty)

Chabad-Lubavitch is a Hasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. One of the world's larger and best-known Hasidic movements, its official headquarters is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. The organization is the largest Jewish organization in the world today.

The name "Chabad" (Hebrew: חב"ד) is an acronym for Chochmah, Binah, Da'at (חכמה, בינה, דעת): "Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge." "Lubavitch" is the only major extant branch of a family of Hasidic groups once known collectively as the Chabad movement; the names are now used interchangeably. The only other existing branch of Chabad is the Malachim. Other branches such as Strashelye, Bobroisk (Babruysk) and Kapust later re-integrated into the main fold of Chabad-Lubavitch.

Chabad was founded in the late 18th century by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. The Lubavitch branch takes its name from Lyubavichi, the Russian town where the group was based until the early 20th century. Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the sixth leader, fled war-torn Europe for New York in 1940, where he established a synagogue. His son-in-law, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, turned the movement into a powerful force within Judaism.

Chabad maintains institutions in over 1000 cities around the world. By 2010, there were an estimated 3,600 Chabad Institutions worldwide, in 70 countries, providing outreach and educational activities for Jews through Jewish community centers, synagogues, schools and camps. 1,350 institutions were listed in the Chabad directory as of 2007.

The movement has over 200,000 adherents, and up to one million Jews attend Chabad services at least once a year. Chabad's adherents follow Chabad traditions and prayer services based on Lurianic kabbalah.

An adherent of Chabad is called a Lubavitcher (Yiddish: ליובאוויטשער), a Chabadnik (Hebrew: חבדניק‎), or a Chabadsker.