[Peace-discuss] Re: Chabad

[David Green]

In all honesty, I'm not sure they are more formdiable or as formidable as any number of secular interests in Israel. Also, there are various aspects (sects) of Hasidism in general, of which Chabad (Lubavitcher) is one strain, and of orthodoxy at large, including those who don't recognize a Jewish state.

I'm actually a little surprised to find the local Chabad so openly on board with the Zionist program. But they're appealing to secular Jews on the basis of their established Jewish identity, which tends to rely quite a bit on identification with Israel. And in a sense, they're also competing with Hillel in relation to students. Aside from religion, there's politics going on at a number of levels, which I suspect is a change over the past few decades from a much more insulated environment.

It's said that Jews don't proselytize, but Chabad does proselytize among Jews, in its own way. On a religious level, it's none of my business. The fact that Jewish fundamentalism seems to be successful and growing in this country is perhaps parallel to the growth of Christian fundamentalism. 

________________________________
From: "n.dahlheim at mchsi.com" <n.dahlheim at mchsi.com>
To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
Cc: Peace-discuss at anti-war.net
Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 10:36:04 AM
Subject: Re: Chabad


 I live here in NYC, and I have had a couple of encounters with people from Chabad.  The Chabad movement is very cultish---they practically worship their late Rebbe.  They are fanatics and paranoid extremists.  They do a lot to give Jews a very bad image and name.  An Israeli friend of mine complained that they are taking over many parts of Israel----shutting down trains on Sabbath for instance.   Chabad searches for people to take in, and they indoctrinate them.  They certainly are as formidable an enemy of peace in the Holy Land as Hamas.


-------------- Original message from David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>: -------------- 


> This is from the Jewish Voice for Peace Listserv. The Chabad Center should not be confused with Hillel in literal terms, although they do compete to dumb down Jewish students on this campus (not to take any of this lightly in the context 
> of Israeli atrocities): 
> On the website of Chabad Center for Jewish Life at the University of Illinois, 
> Champaign Urbana 
> -- a bit like watching a video produced by the Onion -- ML] 
> 
> 1:56 video 
> 
> Quotes [some excerpts]: 
> "Experience Israel For Free With Young Israeli Soldiers" 
> "Young man: "Hangin' out with the soldiers right here." 
> Young man: "It's the Jews' home, their real home." Young man: "The soldiers!" [jump cut to another young man] "The coolest people 
> I've ever met." 
> Young woman: "The soldiers were probably, I think, the best experience" 
> Young woman [standing in front of tanks]: "I'm serving in a secret unit." 
> Young woman: "I'm in combat intelligence. " 
> Young woman: "We had eight Israeli soldiers with us." 
> Young woman [peeking her head out from a tank]: "We're on a military base." 
> Young woman [seen through a green lens ala night vision] "Join the ride." 
> Young man: "We're very curious about the soldiers, what kind of things they do." 
> 'Young man: "I like the uniforms." 
> Young man: 'I feel much safer here than I do on the streets of Chicago." 
> Young man [standing in a synagogue]: "Gives me a Jewish identity." 
> Young man [soldier pointing at the wall]: "The West Wall of Jerusalem." 
> "This trip is a gift of Taglit-birthright israel" 
> 
> http://www.jewishui uc.org/templates /articlecco_ cdo/aid/157561/ jewish/Free- 
> Trips-to- Israel.htm 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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