Chabad-Lubavitch is one of the largest Hasidic movements in Orthodox Judaism, and is based in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Chabad (חב"ד ) is a Hebrew acronym for Chochmah, Binah, Da'at ( חָכְמָה, בִּינָה, דַּעַת ) meaning Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge. Lubavitch is the only extant branch of a family of Hasidic sects once known collectively as the Chabad movement; the names are now used interchangeably.

The movement took its name from Lyubavichi, the Russian town which served as the movement's headquarters for over a century. It has over 200,000 adherents, and up to a million Jews attend Chabad services at least once a year. Its adherents follow Chabad traditions and prayer services based on Lurianic kabbalah. As "Hasidim", they follow the Chassidus of Israel ben Eliezer.

Founded in the late 18th century by Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Chabad-Lubavitch has had seven leaders or rebbes. Menachem Mendel Schneerson succeeded his father-in-law, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn in 1950, becoming the seventh leader of the movement, a position he held until his death in 1994.

Today the movement runs thousands of centers around the world, Jewish community centers, synagogues and schools, providing outreach and educational activities for Jews.

Philosophy of Chabad

Chabad philosophy incorporates the teachings of Kabbalah as a means to deal with one's daily life and psyche. It teaches that every aspect of the world exists only through the intervention of God. Through an intellectual approach and meditations, Chabad teaches that one can attain complete control over one's inclinations.

In a break with early Hasidism, Chabad philosophy emphasises mind over emotions.Weiner, Hebert, 9 1/2 Mystics (ISBN 00206-81607).

"Chabad"

According to Tanya the intellect consists of three interconnected processes: Chochma (wisdom), Bina (understanding), and Da'at (knowledge). While other branches of Hasidism focused primarily on the idea that "God desires the heart," Rabbi Shneur Zalman argued that God also desires the mind, and that without the mind the heart was useless. With the Chabad philosophy he elevated the mind above the heart, arguing that "...understanding is the mother of...fear and love of God. These are born of knowledge and profound contemplation of the greatness of God."

According to Jonathan Sacks, in Rabbi Shneur Zalman's system Chochma represents "the creation in its earliest potentiality; the idea of a finite world as was first born in the divine mind. Binah is the idea conceived in its details, the result of contemplation. Da'at is, as it were, the commitment to creation, the stage at which the idea becomes an active intention." The Encyclopedia of Hasidism, entry: Habad, Jonathan Sacks, pp. 161-164 While in Kabbala there are clearly delineated levels of holiness, in Chabad philosophy these are grounded in the mundanities of peoples inner lives. So in reality - according to the Chabad analogy - Chochma is the birth of an idea in the mind, Binah is the contemplation, and Da'at is the beginning of the actualisation of an idea. Sacks argues that this provided a psychological formulation that enabled the hasid to substantiate his mystical thoughts. "This was an important advance because bridging the gap between spiritual insight and daily behaviour had always been a problem for Jewish mysticism."