Agudas Chassidei Chabad (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
:אַגּוּדַת חַסִּידֵי חַבָּ"ד ) is the umbrella organization for the worldwide
Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The chairman of the executive committee is Rabbi
Abraham Shemtov.
History
Agudas Chasidei Chabad was established by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi
Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn in 1923. The founding meeting was in the early spring (27
Nisan), attended by about ten Lubavitcher Chassidim.
The American branch existed at least as far back as 1927.
It was led by lay officers, and four rabbis serving as directors (Lakshin,
Simpson,
Mendelson, and Rabinowitz).
In 1940, after arriving in the United States, Schneersohn became president, effectively making the American branch the worldwide organization base. In 1941, following the arrival of his son-in-law, Rabbi
Menachem Schneerson, he appointed him as executive chairman.
After Schneersohn died in 1950, his son-in-law succeeded him as President of Agudas Chassidei Chabad.
Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Schneersohn 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, Schneersohn escaped Europe and immigrated to the United States, though he was unable to bring his library with him. During the 1970s, a significant portion of the collection was recovered in Poland and returned to Chabad. The library, now overseen by Rabbi Shalom Dovber Levine, holds over 250,000 volumes..
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. The court ordered the Gabbayim to deliver possession of the premises of 770 Eastern Parkway to Agudas Chasidei Chabad.
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