Thousands of Chabad Rabbis pose for a group photo in front of Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters

[Jazzymom]

Originally Posted by Fullback32

Thanks for the info Walter and Jazzy. All the Jews I have known in my lifetime were either Conservative or Reform and never had the pleasure of speaking to any Orthodox Jews in person. Have some reading to do.

I have attended Chabad services from time to time and every Hanukah they light an ice menorah at one of the town centers. They are very orthodox in their services with men and women sitting on opposite sides of the room separated by a screen. The Hebrew is not Sephardic but Ashkenazi. the Rabbi is very nice and has a great way with people. His center is very oriented to reaching out to Jews in my area and bringing them back to Jewish practice. He is a very dynamic person!

[MissShona]

I've seen this picture floating around the net. Interesting...but for me, a tad bit scary.

I was active in the Orthodox Jewish community for 7 years (was a Reform Jew, found Aish HaTorah, became a 'right-wing Modern Orthodox Jew', but left my Orthodox synagogue this past summer because I started dating a non-Jew. Now I go to a conservative synagogue {although I'm probably the most observant person there besides the rabbi})...so I'm pretty familiar with Chabad. On one hand, I love how far and wide Chabad has gone...into small and far flung communities, and provides some much needed Jewish necessities - like mikvaot, kosher meals, mezuzot, etc. For example, my alma mater in WV has a Chabad....which is just amazing to me. However Chabad and their rabbis were told to leave my home (Orthodox) community alone. Many members of my Orthodox synagogue were very opposed to them...and for some very good reasons. Here are some of them:

1) Chabad does kiruv (outreach) to all Jews; including ones that are already Orthodox. This is a problem. Every Jew, observant or not, has their own mesorah...heritage. Unless you are a convert (like me) or do not know your exact heritage, you are supposed to follow the customs of your family. Chabad on the other hand tries to get Jews to become Lubavitchers and shirk their own respective heritages.

2) There is a growing undercurrent among Lubavitchers that their late rebbe, Menachem Schneersohn, zt'l is the messiah. There is huge criticism about this from the rest of Orthodox Jewry (and even non-Orthodox) in that the entire tenet of Judaism is that the messiah has yet to arrive. Many (including myself) go as far to say that such Jews are no longer monotheists; and commit avodah zarah (idol worship) by believing this. However not every Lubavitch Jew believes this; but unfortunately it is tolerated within the movement (i.e., there has been no official statement from their leadership against it).

3) Someone mentioned that Hassidic Jews are the most observant Jews. I would disagree with this...and so would many other Orthodox Jews. Hassidic Jews, Lubavitch included, have actually taken on many minhagim (customs) and chumarot (stringencies) as part of their practice of Judaism. But in my opinion, that doesn't mean they are more observant. To me, that is like saying that someone who takes lots of vitamins every day is more healthy than everyone else. Who's to say that is really the case or not? I know that it can be "tricky" dealing with the Lubavitch community...even in shared social events. One big issue is food. Orthodox Jews keep kosher...but there are different stringencies that we maintain. For example, kosher meat for us is kosher meat; but Lubavitchers have their own special shechita (ritual slaughter) on their meat. Most Orthodox Jews rely on the posek (Jewish law ruling) from the late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt'l, that the FDA requires all non-cow's milk in the US to be labeled as such; therefore, there is no need for milk to be produced by a Jew (chalev yisrael) in order to be sure that it is from a kosher animal (like a cow); but Hasidim, including Lubavitch, still require this. So I eat M&Ms (which are certified kosher by the Orthodox Union), but a Chabad rabbi wouldn't (because it contains milk products that were not produced by Jews).

So what's the issue? Well many Orthodox rabbis say that the Torah (G-d's teachings) are divine and should be adhered to. And they should not be subtracted from or added to. Centuries ago, when the Jews lost their temple and their homeland, the Sages codified the Oral Torah in the Talmud. The practice of "building fences around fences so that Jews don't sin" is debated. And that is what the Hasidim have done...built fences around the actual law....and turned Judaism into something quite unrecognizable than what it was ever intended to be.

So while it is interesting to see Chabad grow, I personally would much rather like to see a more moderate form of Orthodox Judaism rise to the forefront.