Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Chabad-Lubavitch, a Hasidic movement.
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The Latest
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Opinion The Passing of Sami Rohr
I just learned of the death yesterday of Sami Rohr, the businessman and philanthropist powerhouse behind the growth of Chabad around the world. He was also the namesake of an incredible literary prize that his children endowed in his name on his 80th birthday and that I was so grateful to receive this past year….
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Fast Forward Abuse Charges Dropped Against Aussie Chabad Leader
Multiple charges against a former Chabad-Lubavitch youth leader in Melbourne have been dropped. Aron “Ezzy” Kestecher, 27, was charged last year with four counts of indecent acts on a child under 16. All four charges were withdrawn Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice confirmed. Kestecher revealed the news on Facebook, writing “All charges…
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Fast Forward Australian Chabad Faces Abuse, Fiscal Scandals
The two major branches of Chabad-Lubavitch in Australia are in the grip of separate crises that threaten to tar the movement’s reputation and undermine much of the work the Hasidic organization has invested in the six decades since it began operating here. In Melbourne, a judge last week set the date for the trial of…
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Opinion Don’t Blame the Medium
Facebook has been characterized as many things. It’s a rabbit hole into which free time can disappear. It’s a portal that can be used to dip into the past — hey, whatever did happen to that high school boyfriend? It can show a new dimension to an acquaintance, and it can allow people to share…
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Life What Banning Facebook Is Really About
Facebook is forbidden among Chabad teenage girls, as The Sisterhood told you — and as the Forward reports here. This reflects a blatant double standard, the report points out, because the movement has widely embraced technology to spread its message, but refuses to allow its own youth to use these tools. But Chabad’s double standard…
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News Chabad ‘Likes’ Facebook, But Not for Girls
An Orthodox girls school’s recent decision to fine students $100 for using Facebook made national headlines. But there was nary a mention of the story on the popular Chabad website. And the news was nowhere to be found on the Facebook page or Twitter feed of Chabad-Lubavitch, the Hasidic sect with which the school, Beth…
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Life At Brooklyn Girls School, Facebook Is Off Limits
One Hasidic girls school is demanding its students remove their Facebook pages. Noncompliance means expulsion. Beth Rivkah High School, in the heavily Lubavitch Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, is requiring 11th grade girls with Facebook pages to cancel their accounts and pay a $100 fine. That’s quite a U-Turn from the school’s position in 2010,…
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Life A Russian On Campus
Last year, with each college campus I visited, the tour guide raved about the uniqueness of each brick that made up this or that structure, the new “green” innovations on campus, and the dining hall filled with organic and environmentally friendly food. What these guides also emphasized was the diversity that existed on their campus….
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Opinion What a remarkable Torah rescued from Iran — then LA’s fire — can teach about community amid devastation
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