Zionism and Jewish Religious
Radicalism.
"The policy of the Rebbe, for
the last ten or 15 years, has
been to reach every Jew," said
Mr. Ravitzky. By contrast, he
said, other Orthodox streams
like the Satmar deliberately cut
themselves off from the rest of
the Jewish world.
Chabad members are con-
stantly out trying to get Israeli
men to put on tefillin and
women to light Shabbat can-
dles; they can be seen setting
up their tables at Ben-Gurion
Airport, bus terminals and at
crowded outdoor markets, and
STYLE
ummR
a6 r
"The rebbe is
not at all of the
real world as we
know it. He's not
flesh and blood,
he's the opposite."
Tuvia Doron
from their roving vans, or "mitz-
vah tanks," are a common sight.
Their charity efforts, espe-
cially during holidays, are un-
matched in Israel. In recent
years, the movement has placed
special emphasis on reaching
Russian immigrants, and many
thousands of these families
have received religious articles
and literature from the dozens
of Chabad Houses in Israel.
Politically, Lubavitchers pri-
marily identify with the oldest
of Israel's Orthodox parties,
Agudat Yisrael, but many ad-
herents vote for extreme-right,
anti-Arab parties like Moledet. -
The movement has been a
leader on the conservative side
of the "Who is a Jew?" contro-
versy, and in the 1988 election
its get-out-the-vote campaign
was the main reason why
dat Yisrael raised its Knesset
profile from two seats to five.
(Agudat Yisrael's showing in
the 1992 election suffered when
Chabad, with the rebbe im-
paired from his first stroke,
stayed out of the race.)
Since the signing of the Is-
rael-PLO accord, Chabad has
been a leading mobilizes of
anti-government opposition,
bussing many thousands of peo-
ple to right-wing demonstra-
tions and printing tens of
thousands of bumper stickers
and posters that warn, "Eretz
Yisrael is in Danger!" Lubav-
itchers live in nearly every one
of the West Bank and Gaza set-
tlements.
The rebbe's expected death,
however, will probably not af-
fect the movement's part in the
right-wing struggle, said
Aharon Domb. Li
. •
•
A colorful breez
e come summ
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