Chabad Says It Operates 941 Centers Across Israel

Ahead of the 32nd memorial day for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, marked on 3 Tammuz, Chabad's youth organization, Tzerei Agudat Chabad, released a summary of the movement's activity in Israel. The report says the group now runs 941 Chabad Houses nationwide, staffed by 1,335 emissary families.

The organization says its annual activity generated about 3.5 million participations in events and programs. Its network includes 95 Chabad Houses dedicated to new immigrants, mainly from the former Soviet Union and France, as well as branches in hospitals, university campuses, and IDF bases. Chabad's education system, Ohel Yosef Yitzchak, now includes 1,589 institutions, and the Houses operate about 800 synagogues.

In welfare and aid work, the movement says it distributed direct support grants totaling about 16.1 million shekels over the past year. It also operates 37 soup kitchens and food programs that provided about 410,000 meals and food baskets, and hosted about 310,000 people at Shabbat and holiday meals. In outreach, it handed out about 185,000 information kits and religious items, and carried out about 140,000 checks of mezuzahs and tefillin.

The report also highlighted the digital arm of the movement, Chabad Israel. Over the past two years, the online center handled 248,450 personal inquiries, and during Passover 132,960 users sold their chametz through the site. Jerusalem led online requests with 12,409, followed by Petah Tikva with 11,850 and Rishon Lezion with 10,839, while Beersheba and Ashkelon were also among the leading cities. The digital outreach also brought in 25,789 new donors for the emissary network. Chairman Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Aharonov said the growth reflects the saying, 'As his offspring are alive, he too is alive,' and shows that the Rebbe's vision continues today.