Download The Chabad-Lubavitch Movement

Recap the features of a Fundamentalist
Group
Fundamentalist Group 2 - Chabad Lubavitch
Chabad Lubavitch –
distinctive beliefs and
practices

To understand how the Chabad Lubavitch movement began and developed and why.

To know and understand the distinctive beliefs and practices of the Chabad
Lubavitch.
What do you know about Judaism?
Judaism has about 13 million followers throughout the world, mostly in USA and
Israel. Approximately 270,100 people in the UK said that their religious identity
was Jewish (2011 census). Judaism originated in the Middle East over 3500 years
ago.
Moses was the main founder of Judaism, but Jews can trace their history back as
far as Abraham.
6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust
in an attempt to wipe out Judaism.
Beliefs
Jews believe that there is only one God.
Jews believe they have a special agreement or covenant with God. In exchange for all
the good that God has done for them, Jewish people keep God's laws and try to bring
holiness into every aspect of their lives.
Judaism is a faith of action and Jews believe people should be judged not so much on
what they believe as on the way they live their faith - by how much they contribute
to the overall holiness of the world.
Holy Books
Worship
The most holy Jewish book is the Torah (the first five books
of the Hebrew Bible) which was revealed by God to Moses on
Mount Sinai over 3,000 years ago.
The Torah, together with the Talmud (commentary on the
Torah), give the Jewish people rules for everyday life.
Observing these rules is central to the Jewish religion.
Jewish festivals
The most important Jewish festivals are:
•Pesach (Passover)
•Rosh Hashanah (the New Year)
•Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)
•Hanukkah (the Festival of Lights)
Jewish symbols
The emblem of the Jewish people is the Magen David
(Shield of David), also known as the Star of David.
Jews worship in Synagogues
A Jewish Religious leader is called
a Rabbi (literally 'teacher')
Shabbat (The Sabbath)
The family and community are very
important within Jewish life.
The most important day of the week is
Shabbat (the Sabbath). It is the day on
which Jews remember the seventh day of
creation on which God rested. On
Shabbat Jews stop working and make
time for God and family life.
Shabbat starts on Friday evening and
ends at sunset on Saturday.
Shabbat begins with the family sharing a
meal.
During Shabbat, services are held at the
synagogue, often led by a Rabbi.
Jerusalem
The First Temple was constructed during the
reign of David’s son, Solomon, and completed in
957 bc. Other sanctuaries retained their religious
functions, however, until Josiah (reigned c. 640–
609 bc) abolished them and established the
Temple of Jerusalem as the only place of sacrifice
in the Kingdom of Judah.
In the early years of the Israelite kingdom, the Ark of the
Covenant was periodically moved about among several
sanctuaries, especially those of Shechem and Shiloh. After
King David’s capture of Jerusalem, however, the Ark was
moved to that city. This action joined Israel’s major
religious object with the monarchy and the city itself into a
central symbol of union of the Israelite tribes. As the site
for a future temple, David chose Mount Moriah, or the
Temple Mount, where it was believed Abraham had built the
altar on which to sacrifice his son Isaac.
A rebellion against Rome that began in ad 66
soon focused on the Temple and effectively
ended with the Temple’s destruction on the
9th/10th of Av, ad 70.
All that remained of the Second Temple was
a portion of the Western Wall (also called
the Wailing Wall), which continues to be the
focus of Jewish aspirations and pilgrimage.
Made part of the wall surrounding the Muslim
Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqṣā Mosque in ad
691, it returned to Jewish control in 1967.
The Chabad-Lubavitch Movement
What you need to know about Chabad-Lubavitch:
•Key beliefs and distinctive practices
•Attitude to social, moral and political issues including education, the role of women,
crime and punishment and war.
•Ways in which they are related to, differ from and influence mainstream Judaism.
•Ways in which they seek to reject, challenge, reform or revolutionise society and
how far they are successful.
Chabad-Lubavitch is a movement within
Hasidic Judaism. So we need first to look
at the origins of Hasidis.
Hasidism, sometimes Hasidic Judaism, (originally,
"piety") is a Jewish religious sect.
It arose as a spiritual revival movement in
contemporary Western Ukraine during the 18th
century and spread rapidly through Eastern
Europe. Wikipedia
Hasidism began in Eastern Europe in the 18th
Century.
It was founded by Israel ben Eliezer (who is also
known as the Baal Shem Tov).
Judaism at that time was seen by some to be too
academic and focused on study of the Torah and the
Talmud.
The Hasidic movement was a reaction to this trend
Hasidism is not just one movement, but a collection and centred on joyful spirituality and a personal
experience of God, emphasising prayer, camaraderie
of separate groups which share common features
and deeds of kindness.
Each group is called a Hasidic dynasty and is
usually named after the European town where it
originated.
A dynasty is led by a rebbe, a spiritual leader
whose role is passed down after the death of the
original rebbe, usually to a family member. Each
dynasty has its own distinctive principles, but all share
the same common principles of Hasidism and of
Judaism generally.
This was attractive to many ordinary Jews as it
offered closeness to God through joy in daily life,
without the need to be thoroughly educated in the
Jewish law.
There were once several hundred thriving Hasidic
dynasties, but most of Europe’s Hasidic Jews were
killed during the Second World War. The few surviving
Hasidim gathered in the United States (particularly
New York), and later in Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wik
i/Chabad
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/36226/jewish/AboutChabad-Lubavitch.htm
The word “Chabad” is a Hebrew acronym for the
three intellectual faculties of:
• chochmah —wisdom,
• binah — comprehension
• da’at — knowledge.
The movement’s system of Jewish religious philosophy,
the deepest dimension of G-d’s Torah, teaches
understanding and recognition of the Creator, the role
and purpose of creation, and the importance and unique
mission of each creature.
This philosophy guides a person to refine and govern
his or her every act and feeling through wisdom,
comprehension and knowledge.
The word “Lubavitch” is the name of the town in
White Russia where the movement was based for more
than a century.
Appropriately, the word Lubavitch in Russian means the
“city of brotherly love.”
The name Lubavitch conveys the essence of the
responsibility and love engendered by the Chabad
philosophy toward every single Jew.
The Lubavitch dynasty began in the town of Lyubavichi in Russia, with the Rabbi Schneur Zalman
of Liadi (1745-1812).
His teachings focused on how the individual can use his mind in study in order to arouse inspiration
and spiritual dedication in the heart (“The mind is the key to the emotions”).
His movement became known as Chabad, an acronym made up of the initial letters of the Hebrew
words for Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge.
The leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement was passed on
through the dynasty, until in 1951 it was taken on by the seventh
leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
He is often known by members of Chabad-Lubavitch simply as “the
Rebbe”, or by others as “the Lubavitcher Rebbe”. Under the
leadership of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the movement expanded
globally.
He died in June 1994, but there has not as yet emerged a
successor to him.
Make a flow diagram/memory map of Chabbad
Lubavitch so far