Why can't Chabad be more like “Mainstream Orthodoxy”?

There are people who, when they encounter Chabad, are troubled by the distinctiveness and differences between how Chabad operates and how other “mainstream orthodox” groups operate. Why do Chabadniks have to be so different from everyone else? Do they think they are better than everyone else? Are they just “perverse” and choosing to be different merely for the sake of appearing distinctive?

I have tried to answer this question on various occasions, and what I have learned from the experience is that sometimes it is better not to try to answer the question directly. No matter how good your material is, if you try to answer a confrontational question,... ( Read More » )

The Secret of Lubavitch Success?

 New York Times/January 22, 2000 By Peter Steinfels... ( Read More » )

 Rebbe to the world
By SHMULEY BOTEACH

Few men are able to shape the world in death as they did in life. To do so is to so subsume your existence to a lofty ideal, with such complete thoroughness, that your life comes to symbolize the values for which you toiled. ... ( Read More » )

The images from Sudan are horrific: wounded, starving, diseased adults; skeletal, dying infants. Some people have referred to this as "ethnic cleansing," and the U.S. called it "genocide." Since 2003, an estimated 400,000 Africans have been massacred by the state-sanctioned Janjaweed ("men on horses"), many of them through savage torture. Many men had their eyes poked out. Countless women were raped, and if they refused, their arms and legs were broken. Children were mutilated while others perished from famine and disease. Two million people have been displaced from their homes and villages.

As youngsters, many of us could not fathom how the world remained silent as six million Jews were taken to... ( Read More » )

We would love your comments and feedback about the Chanukah Menorah's in Forest Hills.

The Forest Hills Menorah Story: Abridged Ver.: 1) Six years ago, after much negotiations, we the people represented by Chabad were granted permission by the Gardens Corp. to place the menorah in Station Square. The following year the Jewish Festivals Committee of the Forest Hills Gardens was formed and they coordinated the menorah each year thereafter. 2) 4 years ago we petitioned the Courd Meyer Corporation to place a menorah atop the Chase bank on Queens Blvd & 71st Ave. and after some negotiations and signed petition they arrange this Menorah each year. 3) For many years Chabad of Flushing has assited Chabad of... ( Read More » )