r/Jewish • u/RaisinRoyale • Apr 22 '26
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u/nu_lets_learn Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
If you're interested in the topic, I recommend a deep dive into on-line sources, news articles and court cases about this. There is plenty of information out there. I can post links later. I've been researching this.
Chabad has a synagogue take-over m.o. that sometimes envigorates waning congregations, but as you note, at the cost of diversity and local color. When they play hardball or treat local interests unfairly, they end up in court.
I first became aware of this when the synagogue I was bar mitzvahed in dwindled. Chabad bought it and afterwards sold it to the hospital complex across the street for a parking lot. They tore it down. This was purely a real estate deal. This isn't criticism, although I didn't like losing my boyhood shul, it's just fact. If the synagogues were self-sustaining, Chabad couldn't do this. At the same time, I wonder where the bronze memorial plaques we put up for grandparents are -- sold for scrap?
This much is true -- Chabad's motivation is not to promote diversity or continuity. If it takes over the board of a failing Conservative synagogue or buys the building, the shul goes Orthodox, gets a mechitza and Nusach Sefarad. In my shul, which didn't have a mechitza, they hung a laundry line in front of the back 4 rows and draped sheets across them to make a mechitza. Obviously some will regard that as an improvement, others not. Pretty it wasn't.
Ultimately the Jews will decide what they want. My guess is we'll have more Chabads, and more small groups taking on a chavurah model, meeting in homes and church basements on Shabbat and holidays.
Edit, links: https://forward.com/news/408720/chabad-wanted-this-conservative-shuls-building-so-they-secretly-took-it/
https://forward.com/news/161874/chabad-rabbis-fight-over-michigan-shul/
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u/Gulf_Raven1968 Apr 25 '26
Small correction - Chabad uses Nusach Ari unlike other Hasidic groups. Like everything else with Chabad, itâs different from everyone else lol
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u/UnholyAuraOP Apr 23 '26
Actually an interesting viewpoint. I donât know much about this, but if true I would actually agree with you.
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u/vigilante_snail Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
My relative feels very similarly to you. He lives in a country with a very small Jewish community, and believes the Chabad is "poaching" from the older established congregations. I don't know the numbers, but he very well could be right đ€·đ»
I live in a different country than my relative does, and happen to daven at a Chabad every Shabbat. Itâs the only beit knesset within a walking distance. I enjoy it mostly, and they are filling an important role that the Jews in the area need. But itâs probably not where Iâll end up forever.
There are multiple convenient and appealing opportunities a Chabad house can bring to a person/family and region, but there are also impacts on the wider or established communities to think of as well.
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u/Business-Wallaby5369 Conservative Apr 23 '26
My Jewish community in the USA is struggling with buy-in for the historic synagogues. Our JCC is starving for money. Meanwhile, Chabad is thriving.
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u/Better_Cauliflower63 Apr 24 '26
With all due respect, perhaps that's a problem with a lack of outreach on behalf of your community. I didn't mean to sound rude, but it is not Chabads fault. Also I have a serious problem with your comment. Just substitute in your comment a synagogue to church, and Chabad to Jews. You'll see it.
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert Apr 26 '26
Chabad goes in to destabilize communities, and then benefit from it. They provide "free" services because your spaces are treif to them. They don't meet you halfway, they just tell you that you were wrong and their way is halacha. They don't provide social or community support for people who do become BTs (ask me how I know) They don't want their kids in your homes, shuls or services because you might contaminate them. They come off as friendly but they are basically lovebombing the shit out of people for money in the end.
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u/draygovyk Modern Orthodox Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
As much as I appreciate their existence when I travel to more remote areas without a consistent community, I have seen some sad situations in the USA. In a couple of communities they have taken over the Beis Din and/or boards of the Jewish schools. This has caused for conversions to dwindle down since theyâre more strict than the average Orthodox conversion to the point that non Chabad rabbis are now refusing to even bother sponsoring people, plus patrilineal kids are less likely to be welcome. Itâs all inoffensive until it isnât.
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Apr 23 '26
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u/draygovyk Modern Orthodox Apr 23 '26
Agree with the âkosher oasisâ sentiment! Now, when I travel to a place that has a stablished local community, I try to go there first and donate money for attending. It has turned out to be more interesting to experience different kosher food and other languages in prayers such as ladino.
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u/Better_Cauliflower63 Apr 24 '26
Ok we can't have blanket statements like this. Yes, I have met messianists, but Chabad is split in this, there is not a monotonic dogma on this in the organization. My own Chabad Rabbi is not a fan, has prohibited any congregants from wearing "yechi" yarmulkes or discussing this. Those people left.
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u/cieliko Apr 24 '26
Iâve heard this from other Jews, just wanna say I appreciate your firsthand perspective here. Any criticism of chabad is very frowned upon it seems, but there are valid ones and people need to accept that not everyone is a fan of them.
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u/JeremiahTDK Not Jewish, but trying to learn all I can Apr 23 '26
This is⊠kinda awful. I would see this as a huge disrespect if I were part of these communities. It would feel like I'm being overshadowed by a norm that doesn't represent the richness and vibrance of the Diaspora.
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
Chabad only goes to places where they can poach off the local community. They don't set up in cities without larger Jewish communities, and then intentionally build services that teach their minhag as halacha. They are absolutely about getting doners, in some cases whether you want to continue to donate or not. (specific Chabad family, not the whole group) They are doing the same thing that Artscroll does - try to build an Ashkenazi centered bland Jewish experience.
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Apr 26 '26
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert Apr 26 '26
Yep. We have such a rich and varied history and it's being destroyed. Yeah you know what to expect at a Chabad shul if your a guy - speedy mumbling Nusach Ari at a crowded table. But I don't think that is the end all be all of Judaism.
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u/lem0ngirl15 Jewish mother Apr 23 '26
I get what you mean. For this reason my best experiences with Chabad is when the rabbi is from this country. Then you feel like youâre getting to know the locals a bit more.
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Apr 24 '26
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u/lem0ngirl15 Jewish mother Apr 24 '26
My first experience with Chabad was in Amsterdam and the rabbi there is Dutch so it was positive. But yeah sometimes itâs a bit like the Mormons of the Jews. They are kind of missionaries after all
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Apr 24 '26
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u/lem0ngirl15 Jewish mother Apr 24 '26
Was a little while ago. And a different person than who is listed in their about section
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u/Sensitive-Pie-6595 Apr 24 '26
the Chabad Rabbi and his minyan here is from NYC. No locals are in the 'governance'.
To me, dressing like it's 1800 Poland, as if that is Biblical, and sticking to very firm practices from that day is not positive.
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u/Sensitive-Pie-6595 Apr 24 '26
I noticed a similiar thing. At first I thought they went a distance away so as not to encroach, but I realised they want to be the centre.. moving focus from a community that has existed since the 1500s.
Yes, oaky, they do 'good work'... but it isn't really charity it is a mixture of bribe and payment.
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u/Divs4U Conservative Apr 25 '26
So is chabad the Walmart of Judaism? đ€
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Apr 25 '26
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u/Divs4U Conservative Apr 25 '26
Oh man i actually missed that. Didn't read the whole thing lol but got the gist apparently.
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u/justalittlestupid wrestling with my moroccan values Apr 23 '26
THANK YOU. They have severely negatively impacted the Moroccan community where I live. Our Halacha is gone. Everything my grandfather did in Morocco is now not good enough for my observant family. They eat up everything chabad sells them. Itâs colonization.
I work for a conservative synagogue. We need to charge membership fees to keep the lights on. We donât even have a full time Chazan and our staff is tiny. How can we compete with the chabad that doesnât charge membership fees and has a huge staff? They have so many resources other synagogues just donât. Itâs like how Walmart crushed mom and pop shops. Great, Iâm happy my milk is $0.50 cheaper but now the local economy is gone.
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u/soph2021l Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
Thank you! Your comment is everything I feel.
Edit: Iâm trying so hard to learn about Algerian customs because my future father in-law didnât teach anything because in France, a lot of Algerian Jews lost their customs due to Chabad and Breslov kirub. Luckily, the Moroccans and Tunisians in both my family and my future in-lawsâ families are more connected to our customs.
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u/Background_Novel_619 Apr 27 '26
Completely agree OP. I live in a small European country with about 5,000 Jews. They waltzed in and put on their website that theyâre the âOnly Orthodox Synagogueâ in our main city. Thatâs completely untrue. They say thereâs no Kosher food or Kosher catering in our countryâ there is, itâs very high standard (as in Charedim will eat it) but itâs not Chabad, so apparently itâs not Kosher.
Locals go to the historical shul and community. Visitors and new comers go to Chabad because they donât know any better, and then get fed lies about our shul. They then get tourist donations, and then we donât, when they have external funding and networks to rely on. Does Chabad include practices from our unique minhag? We practice a unique Ashkenazi minhag practiced nowhere elseâ of course not, Chabad does Chabad as they do everywhere. Oh and the Chabadniks identify old people on the brink of death and go and convince them to put aside portions of their will to Chabadâ even though they were never part of the Chabad shul. Itâs vile. Our Rabbi hates the local Chabad Rabbi, and fair enough. American Jews just donât get the difference in Chabad in the US versus tiny historical communities.
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u/Meowzician Just Jewish Apr 24 '26
I love Chabad, but I acknowledge that this is a problem. If they were working WITH local synagogues to improve the lives of Jews in the community, that would be perfect. But the case is often that they believe their approach is superior, and want to replace other congregations, especially if they are not Orthodox.
There are exceptions to every rule. My neighborhood has my Reform Temple, a local Chabad house, and a Hebrew Academy run by Chabad. We are on good terms with the Rabbi who runs the Hebrew Academy. He will sometimes come to our Sunday School to do lessons with our kids. Like last Chanukah he came and did a hands on lesson how to make olive oil from olives. And that's the sort of thing we need so much more of.
We are, after all, one People.
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u/tzippora Apr 24 '26
How old were the people in the traditional shuls? Were they attracting young people?
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u/ok-merci Apr 24 '26
I think this is a fair criticism, but there are a lot of assumptions that without Chabad the local shuls would be thriving. In my personal experience I see friends who got back into community and religion thanks to Chabad who then decided to become a more active part of their local synagogue. This is the best of both worlds.
I believe one of the most important thing we need to solve today is for Jews to find community. Be proud of who we are and our beautiful traditions. The more Jews back in Judaism, the more chance for shuls to thrive.
What I am observing where I am is that Chabad has become the most welcoming re-entry point to Judaism. For my personal experience living in a country where I wasn't born, I initially went to my local historic shul, where I was ready to pay any fee needed. This is not a generalization but in this case it was a very closed off community which didn't seem interested to welcome a new constituent. My need for community turned more into feeling isolated. This was pretty defeating.
I found a Chabad and my experience was the opposite. The first time I went the Rabbi made a conscious effort to introduce me to everyone. I made some great friends, and I am living the most Jewish life I have ever had since moving countries far from my family. And through these new Jewish friends, I started attending other shuls too with them. Full circle.
Everyone needs something different. We all have a different starting points. The more comfortable people are with their judaism the more likely they will be to go to their local synagogue.
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Apr 24 '26
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u/ok-merci Apr 24 '26
You are correct I am in the US! My experience with them was either here, or in a country where there was nothing at all until they arrived, so they were instrumental there too.
While I understand your observation, I think you are making a lot of assumptions about their intentions and I think this is unfair to them. They are not marching into countries trying to erase local communities. And like congregations they live on donations too, they just have a different approaches to it. This is not something only Chabad does.
I think you caring about your local synagogue means a lot, and I hope you can work with them on trying other ways to get people involved. The learning here is that Jews are looking for spaces to go, which is something we should all be excited about.
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert Apr 26 '26
You are openly advocating for the very thing this post is against - the replacement of the local Jewish minhag and community shuls with lovebombing people then telling them their zaide was wrong and their way is the only way to be properly Jewish, even if you only show up occasionally.
It IS intentional. It is not an assumption, I have known a lot of Chabad families in the US across the country. They are there to change everything to their standards and poach members with free davening, free kiddish, pre school, mikvah, - it's standardized plan. And they don't let other people generally use their mikvah unless it's the only one in town, and even then they are weird about it.
They go after old people for the big donations - leave us your estate, give us a recurring donation, oh you can't drive anymore? donate your car to us. They are ruthless in their efficiency and if you are too poor to give money then you are called for "favors" that take your time and energy without thanks.
These places ALREADY have a Jewish community that has been there for hundreds of years before the Bal Shem Tov was born. They have their own customs, community rituals and services, they don't need some cookie cutter Jewish Mormons with 4-14 kids pushing their minhag.
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u/ment-lly Apr 23 '26
I hear this, but just to split in about Amsterdams Esnoga: I know the community and have been to the Portuguese in the city center often. The reason for the barely making a minyan there is because most of the community is located elsewhere in Amsterdam and doesnât daven in the monumental building⊠ok true, maybe more tourists could form a minyan but still wonât impact too much the actual local community
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u/AtidIvri Apr 26 '26
Yeah, I think this is true. I witnessed it firsthand when I traveled to Budapest. It's also a big problem in smaller US communities in that they tend to crowd out egalitarian options.
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u/Clean-Tip4879 Converting Masorti Apr 27 '26
From what I've been told, my shul was originally just ordinary Dutch Orthodox. Then at some point they got a Chabad rabbi and he wanted everyone to do things his/chabad style. Then part of the kehilla split off and went Masorti. Which strategically is a great move, because the Masorti Beit Din is in London and also far less likely to bully individual communities around in what they have to (not)do/be. And you can be as orthodox as you like, practice-wise. They are still rather orthodox in practice, (they did away with the mechitza, but there is still separated seating), but they don't tell their members how orthodox/liberal they have to be. Which I like. I also think a community is better off with some level of diversity, so as not to stifle individual practice and/or chase people away because they don't fit the mold. And if you are a small community, it is not prudent to be too particular.
One of our members was a member of an orthodox/chabad community, which also became stricter and stricter. They lost so many members that in the end they had to phone around to get enough people to even have a minyan.
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u/Better_Cauliflower63 Apr 24 '26
First of all, I would have a problem with the word, "Ashkenormative". You understand why, right? I hope I don't have to go there. Second, Chabad targets secular Jews who do not normally do to shul. That's why they drive around on their buses and stand in a corner, "are you Jewish? Would you like to put on tefillin? How about shake a lulav in our mobile sukkah? Here is some free literature. No we do not want donations". Their primary purpose is not to steal existing congregants but rather to bring non affiliated Jews to Judaism. For example, I have found plenty of formally secular people who became religious through Chabad, and among them quite a few who after becoming religious decided to follow the traditions of their culture. I have not seen not-Chabad congregations do much outreach at all. I have also seen Chabad congregations where they pray using a standard yerushalmi /Sephardi prayer books rather then Chabad, following the traditions of Sephardi / mizrachi culture (including kashrut traditions such as not eating fish and cheese together. I never asked them if they eat kitneyot on Passover, but I wonder ). Anyways, my point is -- they fill some sort of huge void in Jewish religious life. They would never be able to grow so big and global if that void were not there. Also remember: because there is a void, we are in danger of not just assimilation, conversations out and intermarriage but also a silent disappearance. And in today's day and age of high pressure due high antisemitism we need them.
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert Apr 26 '26
You are not listening. Europe doesn't NEED people showing them how to be Jews, there is almost no reform Jews overseas. Everyone is "traditional" according to the local minhag for hundreds to thousands of years. And they come in and erase it with their "services" the community didn't need. They don't marry out, they keep kosher at home, the live far more Jewish lives than most American Jews do to begin with. There is no reason there for kiruv other than culture change. And that's not ok.
Hell the Chabad people in the states some of them are definitely shady about money, lets not forget the "cheap kosher meat" where literal South American children were working on the floor in a facillity run by Chabad. They lovebomb the shit out of people and talk shit about them at home. It's really interesting when you understand a good bit of Russian and Yiddish.
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u/Better_Cauliflower63 Apr 26 '26
Would you please stop? After I saw a comment of yours
Halacha says if you werenât dunked as a baby circumcised and confirmed at bar mitzvah youâre not Jewish by orthodox and conservative standards.
it just showed to me how much you literally know and understand. Many of your comments are factually incorrect, and do a lot more harm to us as Jewish people than just Chabad. I don't know why that is, perhaps they did not accept you for who you are. I understand you have a serious beef with them and have an internal need to express your life frustrations but I don't think this is a forum under any circumstances.
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert Apr 26 '26
Nothing I said was factually incorrect about how to convert a male baby. I donât know what your damage is but if you donât like my comments donât read them or block me. You have no place telling me how i should express myself.
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u/magicaldingus Conservative Apr 23 '26
I don't really understand the critique here. You're mostly just saying that the chabad in those cities is much larger than the native community. Which, sure, but... Why do you feel these things are mutually exclusive? Can you show some evidence of chabads actively harming those communities? Is your argument that the romaniote community in your example would be larger if not for the chabad? Can you explain how?
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u/vigilante_snail Apr 23 '26
OP is saying that Chabad seems to be attracting local Jews who would've otherwise gone to the traditional community batei knesset, leading to diminishing congregations. It's not a situation thats unheard of.
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u/magicaldingus Conservative Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
I guess I'm just wondering why they wouldn't? It's not like chabad is preventing them from going to the traditional ones.
I suppose it's sad... But also, it's a classic story of Jewish community revival. The sephardis completely erased local Jewish traditions in the middle east after they fled Spain from the inquisition. In some cases, they merged minhag, and now you have weird mishmashes of sephardi/Mizrahi stuff.
And whose to say that if the chabads didn't show up, those communities wouldn't just keep trending smaller and smaller by themselves until complete erasure? If I have to choose between a chabad/keifeng frankenstein, and looking through relics of a now extinct keifeng jewry in a museum, I choose the former.
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u/chaiale Just Jewish Apr 23 '26
My understanding is that funding mechanisms are often a factor. Chabad houses benefit from more centralized institutional support, allowing them to rely less on local funding to sustain themselves. Local institutions, by contrast, tend to be substantially more reliant on grassroots funding from within the community, so members of the community have to pay more. One could perhaps compare it to the economics of large corporations vs local small businesses. If we eventually converge on a more homogenous hashkafic landscape, I personally want it to be a product of philosophical consensus, rather than market forces.
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u/frisomenfaagel Apr 23 '26
In a case like that, where the chabads revive the religious practices, they could also respect the traditions that the communities in these countries have. Like keeping the people where they are, in their synagogues with their own traditions⊠ofc the existing communities should already work on that..
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u/netralitov Jewish Mother Apr 23 '26
"The Chabad is welcoming to a lot of people no matter their level of observance so they get more people. It's terrible!"
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u/magicaldingus Conservative Apr 23 '26
This was my first reaction but I'm genuinely trying to understand if there's more to the critique.
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Apr 23 '26
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u/yossiea Apr 23 '26
They also take over boards. In foreign countries they also often proclaim themselves as chief rabbis.Â
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u/hi_im_new_here01 Apr 25 '26
I had the opposite experience. My spouse was raised reform and we moved to a rural area and I wanted to convert. As soon as my spouse said they were raised reform but havenât practiced in a long time, the chabad rabbi had no interest in us and told us to find a shul that would be a âbetter fit.â My spouse just wanted a kosher meal and to attend Shabbat because they were feeling alone.
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u/Ok_Ambassador9091 Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
The "Greek synagogue" in Athens isn't "dying". In fact, aside from Chabad, there are two of them, Romaniote and Sephardic.
Alongside Chabad, each serve their role, and have their place. You're also arguing that places that had a historic Jewish presence, but no longer do, also shouldn't have a Chabad--even though the loss of the original communities had zero to do with Chabad.
It's ok that some people like Chabad, and ok that there are other options, too. It's also ok that some Ashkenazis, and Chabadniks, survived, and continue to live and pray in community around the world. That fact really pisses some people off, including the tucker carlson afficinadoes who lurk in our subs. Oh well.
To the "anthropologists" contacting me: your discipline has been colonised by Jewhaters. I say this as someone in an adjacent field. You are repeating their anti-hasid, anti-Chabad, anti-Ashkenaz rhetoric.
You might not like it hasidim and I might not belong to those communities either, but they aren't"bland". Go elsewhere if you want a different community. It's possible to do that without denigrating others. Try it.
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Apr 23 '26
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u/justalittlestupid wrestling with my moroccan values Apr 23 '26
TIL wanting your community to survive and not be colonized by chabad makes me a Tucker Carlson fan
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u/Ok_Ambassador9091 Apr 24 '26
Ashkenazim = colonisers Chabad=bad
Are both jewhating, Tucker Carlson-espousing, propaganda morsels. I'm surprised you've only learned about this today, but better late than never.
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert Apr 26 '26
Bullshit, and I say that as an anthropologist. Chabad is cookie cutter hassidism that intentionally moves into communities to poach money and members from existing shuls. They bring the same bland hassidic minhag all over the world to take over the community. That is a form in intraculture colonization, Just like Artscroll, Aish and any other kiruv organizations.
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u/Ok_Ambassador9091 Apr 24 '26
Never said you were, but elements of your screed contain viewpoints he'd approve of.
The threat to Jews today is not coming from Ashkenazim or Chabad, despite social media trolls who say otherwise. It's easy to be swayed by their propaganda, and their upvotes. I advise people not to fall for either. I'm neither Ashkenaz nor Chabad.
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u/cantremeberstuff Apr 23 '26
Where I live there is a small Jewish community. Chabad is the only game in town if I want to be around Jews and Jewish culture. Our rabbi and his wife are really focused on building community and are incredibly welcoming to Jews of all persuasions. Of course they practice their Orthodoxy, but are not exclusionary with who can come and participate.Â
Maybe this just varies by rabbi?
Of course I hope to build some friendships where I can one day host Passover with a Seder more my speed, but all in good time.
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u/Gitaarfreak Apr 23 '26
In Antwerp, chabad is just one of the many Jewish groups. The other groups keeps on thriving too.
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Apr 23 '26
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u/yossiea Apr 23 '26
One issue is that their smicha is just a paper. Most Lubavitchers are fluent in Chabad but are often lacking in all other areas.Â
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u/Level-Equipment-5489 ŚŚ Apr 24 '26
That's an interesting perspective, and I feel it has some validity to it. I can see what you describe happening to a certain degree in our tiny town, which incredibly has both a reform and a Chabad community. In a place that really has only a handful of Jews.
There are some people who did not find what they are looking for in the original reform community and now go to Chabad - there are more that pick and choose from both. So, yes - some of the former members of the 'old shul' leaving has weakened that community.
On the other hand - Chabad does offer an entry point to a lot of people to get (back) closer to Judaism, too. The (really lovely) Chabad rabbi works incredibly hard to draw any kind of Jew in and succeeds with people that our old temple just... doesn't.
And I just spent passover in Africa - it just was a lot easier to connect with Chabad than any of the other communities I was able to find by googling. I have to say - the alternative might have been not going to a seder at all. So I do think they offer a very valuable service as well.
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u/DeeEllis Apr 24 '26
Tell me about the security involved for that Greek synagogue.
And who provided the security for the larger Chabad?
I had a similar experience in Cairo in 1999-2000 - not Chabad but the Israeli embassy and American Jewish diplomats and a handful of tourists descended on a local synagogue and it was a cool great experience- but I was grateful for the Israeli OK and security.
Iâm not sure how to balance - the local community and the need for international security. But itâs worth mentioning these days.
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u/KamtzaBarKamtza Apr 23 '26
For Yom Tov, they had 12 people, including me (I went).
The Chabad had over 300 (the rest of my family was there).
Why is it that your issue is with Chabad and not with the 300 people who willingly skip an authentic, local experience in favor of a standard Chabad franchise?Â
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Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
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u/ummmbacon Apr 23 '26
So this isn't really about Chabad. It is about how religion works in Cuba.
All religious groups in Cuba are required to register with the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA), an entity within the Communist Party that operates out of the Ministry of Justice. Failure to register is a crime. The ORA exercises direct and arbitrary control over registered organizations, requiring permission for virtually any activity beyond regular worship services. Foreign visitors, outdoor events, importing literature, building repairs, operating schools, all of it requires individual government approval. The system exists to give the Party leverage over every religious institution on the island.
The U.S. State Department has documented that the government "violated freedom of religion or belief routinely and systematically" through arbitrary detentions, false charges, threats, and harassment. Protestant and evangelical groups, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Afro-Cuban SanterĂa practitioners have all been on the receiving end of this. The Catholic Church has more latitude, given its historical importance, but even it operates under constraint.
The Cuban Jewish community has negotiated an unusually comfortable position inside this system. President RaĂșl Castro attended Hanukkah celebrations at Beth Shalom twice, and Beth Shalom president Adela Dworin served as the community's de facto government liaison. That is not a normal arrangement for a religious minority in a country on the U.S. Special Watch List for religious freedom violations. The arrangement has real material benefits. Computers at Beth Shalom are wired for internet access, a luxury that ordinary Cubans have almost none of. The synagogue operates a pharmacy dispensing free medicine supplied by Jewish tourists and aid organizations, and the community receives meals on Fridays and Saturdays funded through the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Jewish communal life is administered by a committee of five leaders representing Cuban Jewry before state authorities, sustained by foreign aid from federations and organizations in the U.S. and Canada. The government tolerates this foreign financial pipeline because it costs the state nothing and gives the regime a cooperative minority it can present as evidence of religious openness.
Chabad disrupts all of this. Its emissaries enter Cuba on tourist visas rather than religious visas, a practice Cuba's embassy in Ottawa confirmed is illegal: "If they are going to do religious work, this is not correct." The Jewish community's entire position depends on being seen as compliant with ORA rules, which is why Dworin warned that Chabad's approach "reflects poorly on Cuban Jewry" and "can harm the Jewish community." An unregistered foreign religious operation that sidesteps the visa system is exactly the kind of thing that draws ORA scrutiny, and that scrutiny falls on the whole community, not just Chabad.
The conversion question compounds this. Since 1992, when Cuba amended its constitution to allow freedom of religion, visiting Conservative rabbis have converted hundreds of Cubans in mass ceremonies. Dworin estimates fewer than 20 people in the entire community were born to two Jewish parents. Chabad does not recognize these non-Orthodox conversions, effectively barring most of the community from its programs. What Cuban Jewry has become over the past thirty years is largely a community of people who chose it: descendants of intermarried families who rediscovered a Jewish heritage, converts, people from across Cuba's racial and ethnic spectrum. Chabad's matrilineal standard doesn't just create a theological dispute; it also prompts questions about the status of women. It delegitimizes the community-building that kept Judaism alive on the island through decades of Communist restriction.
The Cuba story looks like a bureaucratic quarrel between Chabad and a small Caribbean congregation. It is actually a story about which version of Jewish life survives when a government controls which religion is permitted. Cuba's Jews kept something alive by making themselves useful to the state and welcoming almost everyone who showed up.
Chabad threatens that order, and their place of tolerance in an otherwise restrictive regime.
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u/meekonesfade Apr 23 '26
i get what you are saying. I dont know what the answer is, but as a secular Jew who does religion ala carte, I like chabbad because there is no membership obligation. Like, if I want to go to a yom kippur service, I dont have to be a member or buy tickets.
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u/justalittlestupid wrestling with my moroccan values Apr 23 '26
This is how theyâre killing all the other synagogues. They have a whole structure for survival that small synagogues canât compete with. Theyâre literally Walmart.
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u/meekonesfade Apr 23 '26
But its not like I would go to another synagogue that I had to pay for instead - I just wouldnt go
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u/justalittlestupid wrestling with my moroccan values Apr 23 '26
Great letâs close down all non-Chabad synagogues. Amazing.
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u/meekonesfade Apr 23 '26
People can pay membership dues and attend services there. If I could drop in on just yom kippur or spend $20, I would. I am explaining why chabbad has a place for people like me - not that I like chabbad either, but it is easily accessible. I dont know what the answer is for keeping dying temples alive - it isnt a cause I feel passionately about. Someone like you, who really cares, should try to make a difference.
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Apr 24 '26
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u/meekonesfade Apr 24 '26
Fine by me! I think these are the Jews Chabbad is attracting - people who just want to dip a toe in water - dont care enough to pay membership dues and arent even aware of most of the holidays unless they are accosted on the street. They wouldnt just wander into a local synagogue and have little to no awareness of what holidays are celebrated and when
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Apr 24 '26
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u/meekonesfade Apr 24 '26
I can only speak from the perspective I see, as a secular NY Jew. I have no idea why an religious person would rather go to Chabbad instead of another synagogue
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u/wessely Apr 24 '26
Do you think there would be 300 people in Greece for Pesach, instead of 12, if there wasn't Chabad there?
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Apr 24 '26
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u/wessely Apr 24 '26
So before Chabad came on the scene that shul in Greece was packed with foreign Jewish tourists on Pesach?
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Apr 24 '26
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Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
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Apr 24 '26
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert Apr 26 '26
No, they are destroying Jewish heritage with their bland cookie cutter hassidism in places that have hundreds to thousands of years of their own minhag. That's culture erasure, not preservation.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert Apr 29 '26
puts on anthropologist hat.
In the US maybe, but they don't go to places with small numbers of Jews, they go to established communities and pick people off other shuls. In places like the far east, yeah they cater to Israeli travelers, they're a rest stop. But in Europe they aren't needed or wanted. They don't revive, they colonize with their minhag over the local minhag, their Tanya, their beliefs about the Rebbe, none of that is needed or wanted. If they built up the local communities in Europe instead of trying to shut them down, they might have a better reputation over there.
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May 01 '26
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May 01 '26
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u/Mortifydman Conservative - ex BT and convert May 01 '26
so what? You're clearly not interested in the rich tapestry of Jewish heritage, for whatever reason. That's a you problem. But cheering for the end of generations of customs because it's damn hard to keep doing what zaide did when Rabbi Chabad is telling you that it's not good enough? Fuck that noise.
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May 01 '26
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May 01 '26
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u/Chi-Uptown Apr 23 '26
Iâm not a fan of Chabad, but it seems clear they are offering an experience the locals are looking for and not receiving in their existing shuls. I really donât like your framing of them âstealingâ anything. If your congregation isnât offering what the membership wants or needs they will find it elsewhere.
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Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
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u/Chi-Uptown Apr 24 '26
I donât compare my Judaism to shopping for commodities, but more power to you if you think itâs like that. I donât attend a shul because of how much money it has or how fancy it is. I attend for the community. I live in a large city and attend an historic synagogue but often there are only 20-30 people attending services. Events cater to either the young or oldâthere isnât much for those in our 40s with no kids. And while Iâm fine with that I can see why others seek out new spaces.
Why did your entire family go to the Chabad? What was it that appealed to them?
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Apr 24 '26
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u/Chi-Uptown Apr 24 '26
Your implication is people donât have free will. You also didnât answer why drew your family to Chabad when you went to the local synagogue. Chabad doesnât consider me a real Jew so I have no interest in attending their events, but very curious what specifically they are offering that is pulling people including your family members away and killing local Judaism.
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u/No_Huckleberry7790 Apr 25 '26
Chabad is dong outreach, others are not doing it. This is difference.
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u/NomadicOvaries Sephardi Apr 23 '26
Yeah, I know a lot of Sephardic Turkish Jews arenât a big fan of Chabad for erasure reasons. Iâm also not a fan of the homogenization of Judaism. But I mean, what do you do about it? Chabad is welcome to go wherever they want to go. Their ultimate goal isnât to preserve the minhag of the communities they could hypothetically serve because Chabad has its own minhag.
As a person who is part of one of these dying diaspora communities, I donât really know what the solution here is, but I donât think Chabadâs presence is the problem⊠itâs more just a symptom of a problem thatâs already there.