seeing how rabbinic judaism is a 100% diaspora phenomena, it's not surprising to hear this articulated because it proved that judaism can be born, bred, and more than thrive disconnected from the land. after all, it didn't need a temple, so it could do without the land too. i'll stop there.

moron - these people know nothing of self reliance and nationality - they truly are..."The wandering jew"

This fellow is a stooge of the government. He will say what he thinks his handlers in Moscow want him to say.

More likely by far for the reason of being Jewish than anywhere else.

HAHA...yea right, buddy. vast majority of Russians Jews were completely secular, as this Chabad Rabbi clearly indicates by Russian Jews who were trying to re-connect with their prohibitied religion. Why is it that Haredi Jews insist their twisted rabbinic judaism is true Torah Judaism?? Here's a hint: it's a rhetorical question

The disaster of the Rabbinical High Court retroactively revoking conversions of immigrants from the former Soviet Union must have alienated many Russian Jews as well.

Secular Israel can't wait to divest itself of it's lands and independance. Olmert Livni Sharon, Beilin Gaylin, Sheretz ad nauseum. Religious jews have a very hard time remaining religous - let alone converting those who have drifted into hell on earth - but many sacrifice everything for the lost souls anyhow.

I understand what the Rabbi is saying but a Jew living in Russia is almost certain to have non-Jewish descendants and that is the end of his family's being Jewish. In Israel, even though he may be turned off by the Orthodox, his chances of marrying another Jew are better but not 100 % of course since so many of the younger Russian olim in Israel are not Jewish.

Depends also on doing some research and finding the right Rabbi. There is in Ashdod a thriving community with David Sprung leading and going stronger every day, B*H*.

Rabbinic Judaism was born in Israel and the prophets taught that Jews didn't need the land. That's the whole symbolism behind a portable ark.

It would be great if Rabbi Lazaar became the next Rebbe of Chabad. He is a natural born leader and gifted in Torah knowledge... He is exactly what Chabad needs and what all of Klol Israel needs right now!!!

Ask your wife's older family members about what life was really like under Ottoman rule. Just for your information, Judaism has never been disconnected from the land. 2000 years of counting the Omer and prayers for rain and dew in the Holy Land are proof of this. If the fact that the People of Israel have finally re-achieved a political state in the Land of Israel after 2000 years of Roman and Arab occupation is so troublesome to you, why don't you just go back to the US? Both the salaries and the quality of life are higher there. Just for kicks, also ask your wife if she knows the 5 indigenous grains of the Holy Land off the top of her head (no googling for the answer!). This will tell you how "baladi" the Arab occupation really is...

It's absolutely untrue that they respond positively to acceptance: the vast majority suffer from various types of mental illness including prevalent Borderline Personality Disorder and worse schizophrenic disturbances. Society should concentrate on mitigating the effects on the next generation through psychotherapy.

hello? where in my comment do you see that i'm talking anything about israel? my observation is about rabbinic judaism's connection with this secular jewish state. i love this country, wouldn't have it any other way, but the rabbi raises an interesting point that you say nothing about. modern zionism is just a late coming add-on that not all jews accept (see said rabbi). makes you wonder why such a minuscule percentage of jews over the past 60+ years have returned, if it is indeed so integral as you say. those are the facts, i'm just wonderin'. 11 - btw, the ark (where god's shekinah dwelled [and was curiously absent in the 2nd temple]) was meant for a one-way destination. are you suggesting that because the ark was portable that, despite the ultimate destination on mount moriah, god intended for the temples to be destroyed and jews scattered? hope not. and "Jews didn't need the land"? funny, i thought god's covenant with abraham was to make him a great nation and give him the land? if that part of the covenant doesn't matter, what about the other... oh silly me! don't listen to the blind christian fundamentalist when you got the rabbis saying something completely different.

Uh . . . You do read your own articles, right???

The spiritual backsliding started in Israel! Pa-leaze!

I agree with your message, but given that, am quite a bit surprised at your address... You do catch my drift, no?

s one of the mitzvot. But even more important to my mind is that, in wake of Shoah, and particularly in light of Russias bloody anti-Jewish history over decades and centuries even preceding the Holocaust, for any Jewish leader, anywhere in the Christian world, to discourage aliyah to Israel is not just plain ignorant, it is criminal.

Secular society in America (usually )shows respect for Judaism. Not sure about Israel. I've heard Hiloni people say very derogatory things. If a non-Jew said it, what would you call it? The problem is that for Israelis, 'religious' means Ultra-something. Getting that way in the States, but there still exists a rational, Centrist Orthodoxy. Haredi world IS pushing people into Secularism. May be hurtful to religious Zionist sentiment, but where was the Rabbi really wrong?

RABBI = R B Y ROSH BENEI YISRAEL, HEAD OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. WE NEED LEADERS TO EDUCATE TO WARN US , TO REBUKE US, TO SHOW US THE WAY IN THIS TERRIBLY CONFUSING WORLD IF WE RUN FROM ISRAEL WHERE ARE WE RUNNING TO? TO WHERE WE CAME? THATS NOT WHAT WE READ ON PESACH, from where did we come from, to where are we going. ROSH BENEI YISRAEL,HEAD OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SO WHAT DO WE DO? WE CONVERT? G'D FORBID CHAS VE SHALOM WE STAND UP FOR TORAH, WE MAKE A NEW SHUL , WE MAKE A NEW COMMUNITY, WE MAKE A MIKVAH APPOINT JUDGES WE FIND A QUALIFIED TORAH RABBI TO LEAD US, WE FIND A LEADER WHO HAS TORAH VALUES BUT THE RABBI RUNS? WHY ISNT HE FIGHTING , WHY ISNT HE JOINING THE POLITICAL ARENA, OR HOLDING THE FIRE OF TORAH.. WHY IS HE NOT SPEAKING AGAINST THE FAKE JEWS BEING BROUGHT IN BY THAT REDICULOUS RABBIS BRINGING IN STRANGERS POSING AS JEWS WHILE NEGLECTING THE JEWS IN YOUR HAND, RUNNING??? MY RABBIS TAUGHT ME TO HOLD UP TORAH AND STAND FOR AND WITH GD. REBBE SCHNEERSON, WASNT IT HE, THAT COINED THE PHRASE ''HASHEMS ARMY' HASHEMS ARMY DOESNT RUN THIS MESSAGE WAS BASICALLY TO RABBI LAZAR AND OTHER ''LEADERS'' THAT ARE POLITICALLY INCORRECT THANK YOU, DACON9 AM YISRAEL CHAI THE NATION OF ISRAEL ENDURES FOREVER AND EVER A JEWISH LAND THE ONE G'D OF ISRAEL NONE BESIDES'HIM' NONE OTHER THAN 'HIM' ONLY 'HIM' listen messianicsand xtians and muslims when mashiach comes you do not get to the MT OF G'D WITH YOUR CROSSES AND IDOLS. no other gods are permitted ... G'DS OWN WORDS the day of judgement is close

For a conservative Jew to show respect for Judaism is normal. Orthodox fanatics show respect merely for those who are part of their sect. That is the fact and the reason why so many Jews are driven from what they call Judaism. We are Jews in spite of the blatent hatred and stupidity of the fanatics. As far as the Russian immigrants in Israel, I'm well aware fo some of their problems. Laziness is one of the main faults found in the kibbutzim, not lack of being Jewish. If the fanatics were to use their brains, they might realize that those immigrants have been denied the right to practice Judaism since the Stalin years. and most have lost the basics of Jewish life. Rather than deem them non-Jews, help them to recover what has been taken from them. That may be contrary to the fanatics belief, but it certainly makes more sense than what is going on today in Israel. The UO fanatics in Israel have been a detriment to Israel from her inception to this very day. Reading the posts of the brainwashed here only convinces me further of that fact.

B"H And for the same reason: to preserve his worldly power

Why are you surprised by his address? Because of all the pogroms and anti-Jewish violence in America? America is not Russia or Europe. Never was. The Jewish experience is not the same here. It's amazing that Israelis, who are the victims of more anti-Jewish violence than Jews anywhere else on earth, can make such judgments.

I know many Russian olim who have become religious in Israel and they are well accepted by the general religious community.

So Israel weakens Jewish life? Well, well..., the sages must be rolling themselves on the grave: "Stay is Eretz Yisrael even if in the middle of non-Jews", curious, curious... Well, the problem is solved: Take a G-Vitamin (Ghetto), followed by H-Vitamin (Haredi), with doses of AS-Vitamin (Anti-semitism) twice a week. Then finish with ORL-Vitamin (Only Religious-Life) and P-Vitamin (Pogrom) weekly. Oh, yes: a little remark by Rabbi Soloveitchik: "better ruled by the most secular of Jews in Israel than living in Brooklyn"

perhaps the values and background that they are given in Russia are not sufficient and when they come to Israel where the eye of G-d is watching from the begining of the year till the end, they are not sufficiently prepared for Torah Judaism. After all just drinking vodka at a farbregin is not the stuff to make a person G-d fearing and truly observant. Perhaps if they learned more Talmud and halachot they would fare better. from a chabadnik to another

Lazar? Putin's best friend and friend of Putin's puppet Medvedev? The Lazar who signed a psak din saying that R. Shnerson was the moshiach? Have a look to these websites: ivrit: www.psakdin.net english: www.psakdin.net/en There you'll find a "psak din" saying that R.Shnerson was the moshiach, signed by LAZAR (3rd line, first signature from right): www.ksol.org/image.asp?f=psak_large.pdf&d=11