Mordechai Lightstone (born 1984) is a

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic groups ...

rabbi who directs social media for

Chabad.org Chabad.org is the flagship website of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. It was one of the first Jewish internet sites and the first and largest virtual congregation. History In 1988, Yosef Yitzchak Kazen, a Chabad rabbi, began creating ...

and is the founder of Tech Tribe.

Biography

Lightstone was an early social media adopter, helping to start the

Chabad-Lubavitch Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

presence on Twitter in 2008, and later Snapchat. Lightstone has been described as "Twitter’s most prominent rabbi", regularly tweeting from his personal account in addition to the account he manages for Chabad.

Tech Tribe

Lightstone directs Tech Tribe, along with his wife Chana. It is an organization for Jewish people in technology and hosts events such as the #openShabbat Friday night dinner at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

and

Comic-Con A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at co ...

. In 2021 they launched a project to create an

NFT A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the b ...

Torah.

Appearances and recognition

Lightstone was a 2018

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depart ...

resident speaking about bringing "centuries-old wisdom to modern-day social media". In April 2020, Lightstone was featured in the

Saturday Night Seder The Saturday Night Seder was a Passover Seder held on April 11, 2020 by StoryCourse in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; to provide relief and support to the public in an effort to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The seder was sponsored b ...

alongside other Jewish personalities. In June 2021, Lightstone was awarded a Rockower Award for his column on

Al Jaffee Allan Jaffee (born Abraham Jaffee; March 13, 1921) is an American cartoonist. He is notable for his work in the satirical magazine '' Mad'', including his trademark feature, the ''Mad'' Fold-in. Jaffee was a regular contributor to the magazine ...

. In July 2021, Lightstone was named as one of

The Jewish Week ''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish W ...

's 36 under 36.

Personal life

Lightstone lives with his wife Chana in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

. Together they have seven children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lightstone, Mordechai 21st-century American rabbis Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis Living people Orthodox rabbis from New York City People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn 1984 births