Chabad: Difference between revisions

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== Geography ==

[[File:שלוחים.jpg|thumb|200px|Shluchim from around the world]]

The [[geography of Chabad|geography of the Chabad movement]] spreads across the world. Chabad maintains a strong presence in every significant Jewish community across the world. Although the Chabad movement was founded and originally based in the Russian Empire and Eastern Europe, various Chabad communities span the globe, including [[Crown Heights]] in [[Brooklyn]], and [[Kfar Chabad]] in [[Eretz Yisroel]]. Chabad communities are present in many other countries, as are Chabad shluchim in many more remote places.

* '''Russia and Eastern Europe''' - Initially, Chabad was based in Liozna and Liadi before being centered in Lubavitch. The Chabad movement was at times subjected to governmental oppression in Russia. The Russian government, first under the Czar, later under the Bolsheviks, imprisoned all but one of the Chabad rebbes. The Bolsheviks also imprisoned, exiled and executed many Chabad Chassidim. And many were sent to Siberia for years of hard labor. Between the two World Wars, Chabad communities were reestablished and strengthened across Eastern Europe, including in Poland, where the Rebbe Rayatz settled. During the Second World War, the Rebbe Rayatz was rescued and came to America. Many Chabad Chassidim evacuated to the Uzbek cities of Samarkand and Tashkent where they established small centers of Chassidic life, while at the same time seeking ways to emigrate from Soviet Russia due to the government's suppression of religious life.<ref>Estraikh, G. (2018). Escape through Poland: Soviet Jewish Emigration in the 1950s. Jewish History, 31(3-4), 291-317.</ref> The reach of Chabad in Central Asia also included earlier efforts that took place in the 1920s.<ref>Levin, Z. (2015). 1 "The Wastelands": The Jews of Central Asia. In Collectivization and Social Engineering: Soviet Administration and the Jews of Uzbekistan, 1917–1939 (pp. 7–26). Brill.</ref> Following the war, and well after the center of the Chabad movement moved to the United States, the movement remained active in Soviet Russia, aiding the local Jews known as Refuseniks who sought to learn more about Judaism.<ref>Beizer, M. (2007). The Jews of struggle: the Jewish national movement in the USSR, 1967–1989.</ref> And throughout the Soviet era, the Chabad movement maintained a secret network across the USSR.<ref>Gitelman, Z. (2007). Do Jewish Schools Make a Difference in the Former Soviet Union?. East European Jewish Affairs, 37(3), 377–398.</ref> Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, state persecution of Chabad ceased, and the Chabad movement openly leads the rebuilding of Judaism in Russia. Similarly, the Chabad presence in other Eastern European countries have grown since the fall of the Soviet Union.

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 == Geography ==
+[[File:שלוחים.jpg|thumb|200px|Shluchim from around the world]]
 The [[geography of Chabad|geography of the Chabad movement]] spreads across the world. Chabad maintains a strong presence in every significant Jewish community across the world. Although the Chabad movement was founded and originally based in the Russian Empire and Eastern Europe, various Chabad communities span the globe, including [[Crown Heights]] in [[Brooklyn]], and [[Kfar Chabad]] in [[Eretz Yisroel]]. Chabad communities are present in many other countries, as are Chabad shluchim in many more remote places.
 * '''Russia and Eastern Europe''' - Initially, Chabad was based in Liozna and Liadi before being centered in Lubavitch. The Chabad movement was at times subjected to governmental oppression in Russia. The Russian government, first under the Czar, later under the Bolsheviks, imprisoned all but one of the Chabad rebbes. The Bolsheviks also imprisoned, exiled and executed many Chabad Chassidim. And many were sent to Siberia for years of hard labor. Between the two World Wars, Chabad communities were reestablished and strengthened across Eastern Europe, including in Poland, where the Rebbe Rayatz settled. During the Second World War, the Rebbe Rayatz was rescued and came to America. Many Chabad Chassidim evacuated to the Uzbek cities of Samarkand and Tashkent where they established small centers of Chassidic life, while at the same time seeking ways to emigrate from Soviet Russia due to the government's suppression of religious life.<ref>Estraikh, G. (2018). Escape through Poland: Soviet Jewish Emigration in the 1950s. Jewish History, 31(3-4), 291-317.</ref> The reach of Chabad in Central Asia also included earlier efforts that took place in the 1920s.<ref>Levin, Z. (2015). 1 "The Wastelands": The Jews of Central Asia. In Collectivization and Social Engineering: Soviet Administration and the Jews of Uzbekistan, 1917–1939 (pp. 7–26). Brill.</ref> Following the war, and well after the center of the Chabad movement moved to the United States, the movement remained active in Soviet Russia, aiding the local Jews known as Refuseniks who sought to learn more about Judaism.<ref>Beizer, M. (2007). The Jews of struggle: the Jewish national movement in the USSR, 1967–1989.</ref> And throughout the Soviet era, the Chabad movement maintained a secret network across the USSR.<ref>Gitelman, Z. (2007). Do Jewish Schools Make a Difference in the Former Soviet Union?. East European Jewish Affairs, 37(3), 377–398.</ref> Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, state persecution of Chabad ceased, and the Chabad movement openly leads the rebuilding of Judaism in Russia. Similarly, the Chabad presence in other Eastern European countries have grown since the fall of the Soviet Union.