Posted on 06/22/2004 12:10:37 PM PDT by Alouette
If the non-Jewish public is even vaguely aware of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, it's probably because its annual telethon draws celebrities including Adam Sandler, Michael Douglas, James Caan, Whoopi Goldberg and Anthony Hopkins.
But within the Jewish world, this small branch of Judaism is generating outsized levels of interest — and concern.
On the one hand, Chabad — with its rigorous observance of Jewish law and rabbis in long beards and wide-brimmed black hats — has become an island of growth, innovation and success at a time of aging synagogue memberships and stagnant population elsewhere among American Jews.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
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Denis Prager usually hosts the telethon.
Odd timing, today’s the tenth Yahrtziet of the Rebbe's passing, though it's not mentioned in the article.
As far as I knew, most Lubavitchers do not think Rebbe Schneerson was the messiah.
Your tagline is one of my Favs...and I don't even have children!
Jon Voight is JEWISH????
Never mind . . . I read the full article at the link provided later in the thread.
No, he is a "Noachide" a non-Jew who accepts the Covenant G-D made with Noah after the flood. ZC can explain this.
Jon Voight is JEWISH????
No, he is a "Noachide" a non-Jew who accepts the Covenant G-D made with Noah after the flood. ZC can explain this.
Wow. I haven't heard anything about this. Noachism simply doesn't seem to make noise. We aren't on anyone's radar screen. Maybe things will change now.
Pasadena Chabad makes some awesome latkes.
I have friends who dropped out of temple due to increased costs; I know so little of organized religion I generally ignore it.
this is what i have heard is said, but every site I can find regarding Chabad has numerous references to the Rebbe, so even if they are not considering him the Messiah they are still very much concentrated on him. Is that bad? I dunno - but it's something that I have a hard time with personally.
I think you misunderstand what the poster said about "self-doubt."
"Hillel said: Do not separate yourself from the community; do not be sure of yourself until the day you die; do not condemn your neighbor until you have stood in his place; do not make a statement which is not readily understood thinking that it will eventually be understood." [Pirke Avot 2:4]
Of course Chabad is about self-improvement and always striving to better oneself. No one is perfect. I know I certainly am not.
I think what the poster meant (correct me if I'm wrong) is that we are more confident in our belief that G-D exists and what our mission is on earth.
You got it. Of course to have no self-doubt whatsoever would be non-Jewish in nature; we must necessarily doubt and ask questions in order to make our faith all the stronger. However, the kind of left-wing self-hating doubt that is all too common, and the doubt that stems from trying to be secular and devout simultaneously, is not present with the Lubavitchers, in my admittedly limited knowledge of the group.
Ok, I'm good with that. In fact, I wish I had something near that level of surety, which is what got me looking at Chabad in the first place.
honestly, i'm pretty much utterly confused about my Judaism right now, so I haven't got any opinions that I'm 100% attached to, except that I have to figure it out before I have kids, or how can I raise them Jewish?
On the other hand, when one is looking so hard for something, how does one distinguish between what is right and what presents itself as right?
May I ask how you classify yourself within Judaism, and do you have that self doubt you talk about? If you don't want to answer that's fine, I don't intend to pry. This thread is touching on things that have been primary in my thoughts lately, so I'm very curious where we all are coming from.
Rebbe Schneerson helped many people and really was the driving force behind so much of Chabad's outreach programs. I don't think it's bad to admire him.
However, on the last telethon, at they end, some people were dancing with a huge portrait of him.
Yeah they do!!!
I'm a Conservative Jew, and yes I have that self-doubt/cognitive dissonance of trying to be Jewish in a secular world.
And why would that be any different from some people dancing with a huge portrait of Ronald Reagan at the Republican National Convention?
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