Agudas Chassidei Chabad is the umbrella organization for the worldwide
Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The chairman of the executive committee is Rabbi
Abraham Shemtov
Abraham Shemtov (born February 16, 1937) is a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi and a shaliach ("emissary") of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
He is chairman of the board of Agudas Chasidei Chabad, the movement's umbrella organization, ...
.
History
Agudas Chasidei Chabad was established by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi
Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn
Yosef Yitzchak (Joseph Isaac) Schneersohn ( yi, יוסף יצחק שניאורסאהן; 21 June 1880 – 28 January 1950) was an Orthodox rabbi and the sixth Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic movement. He is also known ...
in 1923. In the letter the Rebbe Rayatz wrote to Rabbi
Eliyahu Yochil Simpson, a
Lubavitcher Rav in New York about this new Aguda in a letter dated 6 Kislev, 5686/1925. He wrote that Divine Providence had caused Chassidim who had learned in Lubavitch to go to America in order
to inspire Chassidim and mekuravim in that country who never saw the Rebbeim:
"I have asked twice and three times that the talmidim, rabbanim, shochtim the balabatim correspond with one another, to inspire each other with a proper arousal. With
the same feeling and pleasure that
they merited to enjoy from the light
which is good, when they stood in
the holy chamber of
he Rebbe
Rashab who toiled and worked
exceedingly hard to endow them
with bountiful good and the dew of
resurrection through numerous
sayings
hich areholy of holies;
so that they would shine forth like
stars in the sky in all their beings,
for good and blessing."
"You dear students … upon
whom Hashgacha Elyona decreed
that you go to a distant land, a
place where they did not see the
light of tzaddikim, our fathers the
holy Rebbeim. Even for the elders,
may they live long, it is many years
that they have not been in the
chambers of holiness, and the
young ones never saw anything.
Therefore, upon you and only upon
you, devolves the obligation and
mitzva to fulfill the great mission
to inspire them and draw them to
the light which is good."
Then the Rebbe calls upon the
Tmimim to unite:
"Unite, our dear talmidim, unite.
Awaken, awaken and rise up and illuminate with the light
which is good and the merit
of our fathers, the holy
Rebbeim, should cast a tent
upon you and the members
of your households, on those
who learn and support, on
them, their households and
children, and all they have
should be blessed with
unlimited blessings from
spirit to flesh."
The founding meeting of
the Aguda (association) took
place at Rabbi Simpson's
house on Motzaei Shabbos,
Parshas Shmini, the eve of 27
Nissan, and was attended by
about ten Lubavitcher
Chassidim who had learned in
Tomchei Tmimim in
Lubavitch.
The following are
the minutes of the meeting:
“The purpose of the Aguda
is for all the Tmimim in the United
States to unite in one bond, heart
and soul, physically and spiritually,
to arouse the spark of love and spirit
that they had when they were
together in Lubavitch.”
A book was chosen to record the
minutes of the Aguda. At the
beginning there was a paper on
which they signed their agreement of
the founding of the Agudas
HaT’mimim, which read as follows:
“Boruch Hashem, Motzaei
Shabbos kodesh Parshas Shmini,
5686, New York.
"We the undersigned have gathered
together for a meeting of Tmimim at
the home of Rabbi Simpson and we
have decided with a resolute decision
to unite together in one association,
heart and soul, and to meet once a
month, bli neder, at the home of one
of the Tmimim, to learn Chassidus
and to farbreng. It is the obligation
of each member to involve himself in
all matters of commitment to the
association materially and spiritually,
bli neder, and also to involve himself
in the welfare of our mosdos and the
welfare of the Rebbe shlita, bli neder.
“Eliyahu Simpson,
Gershon Simpson,
Alter Beilin,
Yisroel
Jacobson,
Zev Wolf Koznitz,
Avner
Shifrin,
Yosef Nelson,
Yitzchok Schneiderman,
Gershon Chanoch Hecharin .”
In 1940, upon his arrival in the United States, he assumed the role of President and in 1941, upon the arrival of his son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, he appointed him as executive chairman. Its initial purpose was to "unify the Chasidim (adherents) of Chabad; to establish ordinances in every Chabad synagogue concerning the communal study of Chasidus... To establish
Cheder
A ''cheder'' ( he, חדר, lit. "room"; Yiddish pronunciation ''kheyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language.
History
''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th ...
s for children and with God-fearing teachers. To establish Yeshivot for students to learn, from whom Torah may spread forth... and to support the organizations founded by the previous (Chabad) Rebbes."
After the passing of Rabbi
Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn
Yosef Yitzchak (Joseph Isaac) Schneersohn ( yi, יוסף יצחק שניאורסאהן; 21 June 1880 – 28 January 1950) was an Orthodox rabbi and the sixth Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic movement. He is also known ...
in 1950, his son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson succeeded him as President of Agudas Chassidei Chabad. Since then, Agudas Chassidei Chabad has served as the umbrella organization for the Chabad Lubavitch movement.
In 1984, Rabbi Schneerson selected several new people to serve on the board. After their appointments, the board consisted of the following:
*
Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, President.
*
Chaim Mordechai Hodakov, vice-president.
*
Avraham Shemtov, chairman.
*
Nissan Mindel
Nissan Mindel was a Chabad Hasidic rabbi, author, editor, and served on the administrative staff of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Background
Nissan Mindel was born in Riga, Latvia in March, 1912, one of nine ch ...
, Treasurer.
*
Yehuda Krinsky, Secretary.
*
Dovid Raskin
*
Moshe Pinchas Katz
*
Moshe Herson
*
J.J. Hecht
In March 1990, the documents were once again modified and Rabbi Schneerson selected a total of twenty-two individuals to serve as members on the board of the umbrella organization:
*
Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, President.
*
Chaim Mordechai Hodakov, vice-president.
*
Avraham Shemtov, chairman.
*
Nissan Mindel
Nissan Mindel was a Chabad Hasidic rabbi, author, editor, and served on the administrative staff of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Background
Nissan Mindel was born in Riga, Latvia in March, 1912, one of nine ch ...
, Treasurer.
*
Yehuda Krinsky, Secretary.
*
Benjamin Goredetzky
*
Menachem Shmuel Dovid Raichik
*
Dovid Raskin
*
Moshe Herson
*
Shlomo Cunin
Rabbi Baruch Shlomo Eliyahu Cunin (Hebrew ברוך שלמה אליהו קונין) (Shlomo Cunin) is a Hasidic Rabbi, associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Cunin is the director of Chabad-Lubavitch of California, and Chabad activities on t ...
*
Sholom Marozov
*
Ephraim Wolff
*
Nachman Sudak
*
Joseph Weinberg
*
Sholom Mendel Simpson
*
Benjamin Levetin
*
Shimon Goldman
*
Zev Kasinetz
*
Joshuah Korf
*
Joshua Pinson
*
Shmuel Fox
*
Zev Katz
Ownership of 770 Eastern Parkway
In 2010, a New York judge ruled in favor of Agudas Chasidei Chabad, deciding over an ownership dispute between the organization and the
Gabbayim of the synagogue housed at
770 Eastern Parkway
770 Eastern Parkway ( yi, 770 איסטערן פארקוויי), also known as "770", is the street address of the World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, located on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brookly ...
. The court ordered the Gabbayim to deliver possession of the premises of 770 Eastern Parkway to Agudas Chasidei Chabad.
Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak was forced to flee from the USSR and went to Poland. He was given permission by the Soviet government to take many of his religious texts from his library with him. In March 1940, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak managed to escape Europe for the United States, but was forced to leave his library behind. In the 1970s, many of the texts were recovered in Poland and were returned to Chabad. Today, the chief librarian is Rabbi Shalom Dovber Levine and contains over 250,000 books.
References
External links
Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad
{{Authority control
Chabad in the United States
Chabad organizations
Jewish-American history
Jewish organizations established in 1924