PROTEST

 The latest issue of Colel Chabad's fundraising magazine "Ambassadors of Chesed" contains objectionable content that must be corrected.

This sadly isn't the first time, as I've pointed out in the past [1]. 

In this issue, Colel Chabad no longer boasts of its partnership with the Israeli government, which is a significant improvement from past issues.

However, Colel Chabad now showcases its collaboration with big corporations. On page 25, for example, it features an article from Chabad.org [2] that reports how Colel Chabad, described as "Israel's largest food-security NGO," has partnered with "acclaimed...television program HaTzinor" to create a new supermarket "Super HaTzinor" that seeks to "shake up Israel's supermarket industry" (sic).

A quick internet search reveals that HaTzinor (or HaZinor) is a popular news program on Channel 13, Israel's largest television network. Channel 13 is owned by a number of shareholders that include multinational corporations dominated by Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street.

Should a holy institution founded by saintly Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi be associating with such shady partners?

It's rather peculiar that Colel Chabad refers to itself as an "NGO" (i.e. non-governmental organization), while Chabad institutions typically identify as non-profit organizations instead [3]. "NGO" might suggest much wider scope of activities but it also implies collaboration with governments or globalist entities such as United Nation and WEF, another prominent "NGO." Why does Colel Chabad need that dubious distinction? [4]

In the magazine, Colel Chabad boasts of plans to erect a new ten-story high-rise in the heart of Yerushalayim. Why does Colel Chabad need such an imposing and pretentious edifice? Shouldn't a synagogue or study hall be the highest structure in any neighborhood [5], let alone in our holy city? I don't recall that the Rebbe ever instructed his chassidim to build high-rise towers to flaunt Chabad institutions. If you have written evidence to the contrary, please send it my way

The cover features three girls immodestly dressed, one of whom is making an odd hand signal, something like a "v" turned sideways. Why would Colel Chabad prominently display a hand signal of dubious origin? This strange signal has no Jewish significance of any kind. Moreover, it reportedly derives from Freemasonry and represents the 33rd degree of this polytheistic secret society [6]. It may have begun to connote peace in the 1960s, but that was only after 33rd-degree Freemason Winston Churchill popularized it by making that signal in public during WWII, supposedly to symbolize "v" for victory.

Why in the world would the Rebbe's holy institution wish to be associated with occult hand signals of unholy origin?

In addition to the cover, the magazine is rife with images of immodestly dressed women and girls, images of men and women in shoulder embrace, and numerous photos depicting masked individuals and boys with uncovered heads. These latter images are presumably of Jewish boys attending Chabad summer camps, wearing t-shirts emblazoned with Colel Chabad's logo. Are yarmulkas and tzitzis no longer important to Colel Chabad?

There's more to bemoan but for the sake of brevity, I'll limit my protest to the above-mentioned points that address the most bizarre incongruities of this latest issue. None of the above are appropriate for any Jewish publication, let alone that of a venerated flagship institution like Colel Chabad that represents our Rebbe and his holy predecessors.

Let's all remind the directors of Colel Chabad that they're not only ambassadors of chesed (sic), but first and foremost of our holy Rebbeim.

As such, we must demand an immediate correction to these latest disturbing trends.

Notes:

[1] in the summer of 2021, Colel Chabad's "Ambassadors of Chesed" boasted of its partnership with the Israeli government. I posted my protest on social media on September 19, 2021 (on Telegram and Facebook): 

A prominent Chabad charity organization sent a glossy newsletter to donors that has left me scratching my head.

A couple questions:

Since when does Chabad

1. distribute machine matza to Jews for pesach?

2. feature images of immodestly dressed women?

3. boast how similar it is to Amazon?

4. boast how it's been funded by the Israeli Government?

5. boast how fastidiously it adheres to secular state policies?*

Once we're on the subject, the very format of their newsletter is worrisome, as is that of the so-callled "Lubavitch International."

Since when does Chabad publish glossy quarterly reports (boasting its humanitarian accomplishments) that resemble those of the JNF and other secular institutions?

* as apparent from the numerous images of strictly-masked Chabad rabbis throughout this glossy magazine, although images of nearly all other people were unmasked (except for two Chabad girls who were wearing masks on their chins)

Disclosure: I was nominally disassociated from the outreach organization of the Chabad movement back in February for the "crime" of speaking out against "public health policies."  I understood at that time that the organization's leadership (or lack thereof) is desperate to maintain its hard-won "mainstream" reputation. However, after viewing these recent publications, I suspect that their problem is much more deeply-ingrained than I had imagined. In their zeal to kowtow to public opinion at all cost, have the compromised individuals at the helm of Chabad's leadership sold their soul? When will the rank-and-file chabadniks rally together to take back Chabad?

[2] originally published here: https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/6410584/jewish/Colel-Chabad-Shakes-Up-Israels-Supermarket-Industry-with-New-Store-in-Beersheva.htm

[3] for example: https://www.chabad.com/about#:~:text=We're%20a%20community%2Dbased,regardless%20of%20background%20or%20belief.

[4] The only other time I've seen Chabad referred to as an NGO is cited here, in reference to the UN: https://westbororabbi.substack.com/p/time-to-speak-out

[5] Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 150:2, based on Ezra 9:9.

[6] https://www.dtss.us/blog/everything-changes-at-33-numerology-occult-symbolism/

6] https://www.dtss.us/blog/everything-changes-at-33-numerology-occult-symbolism/