Ever wonder how Chabad became so big in Russia and who got hurt in the process? Here's how to find out.
Above: The late Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Ha'aretz has an article on Chabad's "astonishing" growth in Russia written by Anshel Pfeffer and timed for the late Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson's 20th yartzeit.
Hagiography can be fun, but it is rarely appropriate.
The Ha'aretz article omits all mention of Chabad running roughshod over other Jewish – and even Orthodox and haredi – groups in Russia; its alleged role in helping Putin squash the pro-democracy movement and jail and terroize many of its leaders, including Jews; and how Chabad got its power in the first place.
Nine years ago, Ha'aretz published a long investigative piece by its top investigative reporter, Yossi Melman, that exposed Chabad's evildoings in Russia in great detail. (The Harvard-educated Melman was Ha'aretz's senior correspondent on national security, intelligence and strategic issues for decades.)
If you want to know what really happened and who suffered because of Chabad's complete disregard for anything but itself, read it.
Anshel Pfeffer and the current editors of Ha'aretz's English-language website clearly didn't.