Uncategorized
Thousands of Chabad rabbis convene in New York amid a banner year for their movement
(JTA) — It was unseasonably cold on Sunday morning when thousands of rabbis crowded on risers in front of Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn to snap a photograph.
The group photo is a signature moment during any gathering of the Orthodox movement, allowing the movement to create a visual record of its growth: Unique among Hasidic movements, Chabad is known for sending rabbis and their wives to far-flung locations around the globe to minister to local Jews, regardless of denomination or beliefs. (A picture taken at a smaller gathering of Chabad rabbis in Kazakhstan last year netted the group a $200 fine for violating a ban on large gatherings.)
And the picture taken early Sunday was the largest yet, as some 6,500 rabbis from all over the world descended on Crown Heights, Brooklyn, for the first full-size conference since 2019. Known within the movement as the kinus hashluchim (conference of emissaries), the gathering is a can’t-miss event featuring workshops, prayer, socializing and a gala at which the achievements of the previous year are recounted with great fanfare.
This year, those achievements stretched to a long list as Chabad is in the middle of a push to create 1,200 new institutions — synagogues, schools, camps, ritual baths and more — during the year marking the 120th birthday of the movement’s last leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994.
The international Chabad community has pulled out extra stops for Schneerson’s birthday because of the special significance of 120 in Jewish tradition. Moses was 120 when the Bible records his death, and that age is considered the ideal duration of a good life. “To 120 years” is a traditional accompaniment of birthday greetings for many Jews, especially in Orthodox communities, and Schneerson was a notable proponent of robust birthday celebrations.
Chabad says it is launching centers in more than 120 new locations over the course of year, and announced a new one during a gala Sunday night: in Zambia, which will be the 110th country to house a Chabad emissary. The gala also saw the dedication of 36 Torahs that rabbis will carry home to Kampala, Uganda; Ibiza, Spain; Alameda, California, and other locations where the local Chabad previously did not have one. The group also announced a new $2.5 million overnight camping initiative.
Rabbis from all over the world descended on Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to have their photo taken at the largest gathering of Chabad “emissaries” since the start of of the pandemic, Nov. 20, 2022. (Shmulie Grossbaum/Chabad.org)
At the gala, which was attended mostly by rabbis but also about 1,000 guests, often major local supporters, special attention was paid to the movement’s 177 emissaries in Ukraine, who have been scrambling to reboot their operations to meet wartime needs since Russian troops invaded Feb. 24. Videos showcased the relief efforts that the rabbis have spearheaded; Rabbi Yechiel Levitansky of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine spoke about how “40 brave Jews” celebrated Sukkot together despite bombings and curfews. Rabbi Nochum Tamarin, who serves small communities, got a standing ovation following a video about his work during the war.
A traditional roll call of the emissaries by location paused for special shoutouts to the two countries that appear headed for a long winter of war. “Let us welcome the shluchim to the country where it all began, the shluchim to Russia,” the emcee said as music and clapping broke out. The movement was based in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in what was then the Russian Empire.
After the single emissary in Uganda was recognized, the next emissary got a similar ovation: “Please join me in welcoming the shluchim from the birthplace of our dear rebbe, the country of Ukraine!”
The emphasis on Ukraine’s sovereignty was notable for a religious movement that has been in a delicate position since Russia invaded Ukraine Feb. 24. Chabad has historic roots in both countries and they are home to the largest number of emissaries outside of the United States and Israel, with 202 in Russia joining the 177 in Ukraine. In keeping with Chabad’s ethos that rabbis remain in the community where they are sent, through thick and thin, the Russian rabbis have continued their operations amid pressure from the government to back the war.
—
The post Thousands of Chabad rabbis convene in New York amid a banner year for their movement appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
YouTuber Ms. Rachel Apologizes for ‘Accidentally’ Liking Instagram Comment Calling to ‘Free America From Jews’
Ms. Rachel. Photo: Wiki Commons.
Children’s educator and YouTuber Ms. Rachel admitted on Wednesday that she “accidentally” liked an antisemitic comment on Instagram that called for America to be “free from the Jews.”
The YouTube star, who creates toddler learning videos, apologized for the apparent mistake after a social media user privately messaged her on Instagram and pointed out that Ms. Rachel liked the antisemitic comment left on one of her posts. The private message promoted Ms. Rachel, 43, to issue a public apology in a video that she posted Wednesday on Instagram for her 4.8 million followers.
The YouTuber, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, explained that she thought she deleted the hateful comment but accidentally hit “like and hide” instead. The avid critic of Israel, who has shared online posts accusing the Jewish state of “genocide” and has 18.6 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, got emotional in an Instagram video while explaining what happened.
“I thought I deleted a comment, and I accidentally hit ‘like’ and hide,’” she said in an Instagram video. “I don’t know how or why. I’ve accidentally liked comments before. It happens. I’m a human who makes mistakes. I would never agree with an antisemitic thing like the comment. We have Jewish family, a lot of my friends are Jewish. I delete antisemitic comments.”
The issue reportedly began when Ms. Rachel shared a statement from her notes app on Instagram that read “Free Palestine, Free Sudan, Free Congo, Free Iran.” A social media user who replied to the post wrote, “Free America from the Jews” and the comment garnered four likes including from Ms. Rachel, according to screenshots cited by the New York Post.
The children’s YouTube star insisted she was “so broken over” the incident.
“I feel like we can’t be human anymore online,” she complained in the video. “And I’m so sorry for the confusion it caused. I’m so sorry if anyone thought that I would ever agree with something horrible and antisemitic like that. I don’t.”
“I want to say that it’s OK to be human and it’s OK to make mistakes and I’m old, so I am not as good with touching things online, I guess. I have liked things by accident before,” she added. “Everyone who knows me knows I would never like that.”
In an earlier Instagram post about the incident, Ms. Rachel wrote that “people are allowed to make mistakes” and that she was “super sorry for any confusion it caused.”
“I delete antisemitism ANY time I see it. I am against all forms of hate including antisemitism against the Jewish people,” she added.
The watchdog group StopAntisemitism.org has previously accused Ms. Rachel of spreading Hamas propaganda and false information about Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war.
Ms. Rachel lives in New York City and her husband is Broadway music director and composer Aron Accurso.
Uncategorized
Discussion: Growing up Hasidic in Vienna
זונטיק דעם 25סטן יאַנואַר וועט אויף זום פֿאָרקומען אַ שמועס מיט איידל מלובֿיצקי (מאַלאָוויצקי), אַ צאַנזער־רביש אייניקל וואָס איז געבוירן און דערצויגן געוואָרן בײַ אַ חסידישער סלאָנימער משפּחה אין ווין, עסטרײַך.
אלי בענעדיקט, וואָס וועט פֿירן דעם אינטערוויו און איז אַליין פֿון אַ חסידישער משפּחה, האָט געזאָגט אַז איידל מלוביצקי „טראָגט אין זיך אַ לעבעדיק לעבנבילד פֿון אַ חסידישער וועלט אין אַ מאָדערנער שטאָט. אין איר דערציילן פֿאַרבינדן זיך פּערזענלעכע זכרונות מיט קהילות־געשיכטע, און ייִדיש בלײַבט די שליסלשפּראַך פֿאַר ביידע.“
די דיסקוסיע ווערט געשטיצט פֿון דער ייִדיש־ליגע.
איידל מלובֿיצקי איז הײַנט אַ ייִדיש־לערערין און קולטור־פֿיגור, אַקטיוו אין פֿאַרשידענע אינסטיטוציעס — צווישן זיי: דער ווינער אוניווערסיטעט, „יונג־ייִדיש־ווין“ און „ייִדיש־זומער־ווײַמאַר“. זי איז אויך אַ וועגווײַזערין און גיט לעקציעס וועגן דער ייִדישער געשיכטע פֿון ווין, וועגן דער חסידישער געשיכטע בכלל, און די געשיכטע פֿון דער חסידישער קהילה אין ווין בפֿרט. בקרובֿ וועט אויך אַרויס אַ דאָקומענטאַר וועגן די בית־יעקבֿ־שולן, וווּ זי ווערט אויך אינטערוויוירט.
דער שמועס, וואָס איז פֿרײַ פֿון אָפּצאָל, וועט פֿאָרקומען זונטיק, דעם 25סטן יאַנואַר, 2 אַ זייגער נאָך מיטאָג ניו־יאָרקער צײַט. כּדי זיך צו רעגיסטרירן גיט אַ קוועטש דאָ.
The post Discussion: Growing up Hasidic in Vienna appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Australia PM Albanese ‘Profoundly Sorry’ for Failing to Prevent Bondi Beach Attack
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the Sydney Opera House during a National Day of Mourning for the victims of the Dec. 14, 2025, mass shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Jan. 22, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Jeremy Piper
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday he was “profoundly sorry” for his failure to prevent the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as the country observed a day of mourning for the victims of the attack.
Police say a father and son opened fire at an event celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah on Dec. 14, killing 15 people in Australia‘s worst mass shooting in decades.
They say the two men were inspired by Islamic State to carry out the attack, which the government has called an act of terrorism against Jewish people.
Flags were flown at half-mast across the country ahead of a memorial event at Sydney’s iconic Opera House, where Albanese apologized to the relatives of the victims in the audience.
“You came to celebrate a festival of light and freedom and you left with the violence of hatred. I am deeply and profoundly sorry that we could not protect your loved ones from this evil,” Albanese said to sustained applause in his speech at the event.
Last month, the prime minister said he was “sorry for what the Jewish community and our nation as a whole has experienced” – an apology that some relatives said was insufficient.
A minute’s silence, including on the country’s main television channels, was held across the nation just after 7 pm in Sydney (0800 GMT) as the memorial event began.
Event attendees lit candles and heard speeches from other lawmakers, as well as Jewish prayers and video tributes.
Buildings across the country, including cricket stadiums in Melbourne and Perth, were also illuminated, while play was paused during the Australian Open tennis tournament to observe the minute’s silence.
The Bondi attack shocked the nation and led to calls for tougher action on antisemitism and gun control, with critics of Albanese saying he had not done enough to crack down on a spate of attacks on the Jewish community in recent years.
The government disputes this, and has already passed legislation tightening background checks for gun licenses, as well as separate legislation that would lower the threshold for prosecuting hate speech offenses.