KAZAKHSTAN (JTA) — For Chabad-Lubavitch, major events aren’t over until they take a group photograph.
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The tradition, covering the international Hasidic movement, creates much more than a souvenir. It has also generated a visual record of Chabad’s growth from a small group in the 18th century in what was then the Russian empire to a global movement with branches today in dozens of countries.
Last month in Kazakhstan, the photo opportunity yielded something else: a fine for violating rules against large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 200 Chabad rabbis had convened in Almaty, the largest city in the Central Asian republic. Their picture taken outside the Rixos Hotel caught the attention of local authorities grappling with a worsening pandemic in a country where only about a quarter of the population is vaccinated. They issued a fine of about $200 to the Central Synagogue of Almaty for violating social distancing measures, the Kazinform news agency reported Monday.
Elchanan Cohen, the chief rabbi of the Almaty region, did not immediately reply to a request for comment by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about the fine.
The gathering was significant for several reasons.
It marked the first official large-scale group photo for Chabad since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic early last year. It also was the 77th anniversary of the death in Almaty of Rabbi Levi-Yitzchak Schneerson, the father of the movement’s last spiritual leader, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and the first gathering since the Kazakh government added the gravesite of the elder Schneerson to its list of national heritage sites last year.
And the event brought together two rabbis who reportedly have an uneasy relationship: Berel Lazar, Chabad’s chief of operations throughout much of the former Soviet Union, and Yeshaya Cohen, the chief rabbi of Kazakhstan.
Local philanthropists in Kazakhstan have enabled Cohen to operate relatively independently from Lazar, who is based in Moscow but has a hand in Chabad’s work throughout the region. This dynamic has led to tension, according to multiple reports, and the fact that both men posed together added to the significance of the photo that signaled a return to normalcy, Zvika Klein, a journalist for Makor Rishon who specializes in Jewish world news, wrote on Twitter.
With 200 men on hand, the gathering was a far cry from previous reunions. More than 6,000 rabbis posed at the 2019 annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries — the last such event to date. (Last year’s conference was virtual and gave rise to a days-long online celebration.)
The record attendance in 2019 required Chabad photographer Mendel Grossbaum, who has perfected his group photo techniques over the years, to switch to an ultra-wide angle fisheye lens: The normal one could no longer capture everyone in front of Chabad headquarters in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.
Shame on JTA for such low level twisted reporting (and a pity VIN rode their wave, too).
Not that the fine didn’t happen.
But come on.
There is hardly a more profound absurdity of missing the forest from the trees than this!
I was there.
Ponder this:
77 years ago the Soviets exile R’ Levi Yitzchak Schneerson זצ”ל, then chief Rabbi of Yekatrinaslov (today: Dniper) to a remote G*d forsaken corner of the USSR where no Jews even lived… Thinking they would squash Yiddishkeit….
And now, 77 years later on his Yartzeit an ELAL dreamliner arrives from NY with 200+ Chasidim to Almaty to observe his legacy, study his teachings,
And another few hundred Chabad Rabbis who are keeping the torch alive of Yiddishkeit throughout Russia (long after the Soviet Regime and Communism’s collapse!!) Come too.
Just look at how in 77 years the tables have turned. Its mind blowing. It’s inspiring.
And all you can focus on, and make the headline of your news story, is the little fine that was received for a group photo.
How vain.
How pathetic.
How childish.
Look at the miracles that unfolded here, not merely for Chabad, but for the Jewish people’s eternal survival over its enemies.
This picture is so powerful if you understand whatil it represents and you reduce it to a ticket?
How silly and low.
Grow up.
You can say what you want about Chabad. However, their ahavas yisroel is the main reason for their success. Everyone knows internationally, that wherever they go in the world, they can turn to Chabad for their needs. No one serves the Jews of the world like they do.
So, they like to take group pictures. So what, they’ve earned it.
I love Chabad. They have done so much to attract me to Yiddishkeit. Never the negativity and denigration I repeatedly see on this web site. It appears that other sects want nothing to do with people like me. Perhaps other groups are jealous of the Chabad success to spread religion and love for fellow Jews and the world at large.
Still, a Chillul Hashem in the current situation and circumstances. We should be very careful about that. Why coudnt they be masked? See through plastic masks would have enabled a good enough commemorate picture. Better yet, a sefer.
Wow. So much hate packed in to these comments
Wow
oy vey.
The entire social distancing and even the Covid narrative is false (the virus was never actually isolated, there is untold wealth by the inoculation patent-holders and the chain of its distribution, and let alone that it only treats the illness in a limited and symptomatic way and if dangerous, there is no one to sue).
However, in many ways much of Chabad has also been ‘drinking the kool-aid’, whether they realize it or not. Rabbi Lazar, for instance, just a week or so ago went on public Russian broadcast announcing that the Sputnick vaccine (the mRNA experimental inoculation used there) was safe. Very presumptuous at best.
So now, unless someone steps out in a better way, Chabad has to walk the same walk and live by the regulations of the narrative. Lubavitch is iconic and always lives by the law, else it will not be inclusive.
However, this is also why the voice of alternate views of the validity of the ‘plandemic’ itself, of the efficacy -and presumed safety of the inoculation, of the necessity of masking, and of the need for social distancing need to be honored and respected – from members of the inner circle of Chabad as well.
B’h, these great people also exist — may they find meaning by more in the world at large for the Rebbe’s greater understanding, which they have worked diligently to attain. Seek them out. Help change the narrative for the better.
One of the pillars of the Chabad-Lubavitch faith is publicity, PR. Helps them feel important, and lead others to believe that they are more numerous and powerful than they actually are. So they try various stunts for press coverage and publicity, as instructed by their late Rebbeh, who died close to three decades ago.
With all due respect to Chabad chasidim, if I was was Czar of Russia after reading the Tanya, I would have thrown the prison key away. Dina dmalchusa dina. The bal hatanya had no right speaking out against gentiles the way he did. Who knows how much senseless jewish blood was shed because of these horrible anti gentile teachings.
I’m more concerned about the racist rhetoric of the Tanya, comparing gentiles to animals souls with no hope for rectification. Etc…