
Joshua Shanes pours out here at FB about his 10 years at Chabad, what drew him into and then away from the community. And the FB post opened a torrential flood of responses, especially modern orthodox and Jewish Studies academics. For me, the heart of the discussion boils down to the avant-gardism of Chabad, namely the intense exclusivity that comes with sectarian-separatist movements in religion. Included here at the FB post is a lot of inside knowledge appertaining to the points of difference between Chabad and other hasidic and haredi communities. Joshua is thinking he might find a platform to develop and publish the piece. I will post a link here if and when it comes out. But even when it does, what’s also worth looking at here is all the feedback at the original post. Given the prominence of Chabad in contemporary Jewish life and on North American university-college campuses, I would assign the whole FB post to undergraduates.
Chabad has done more good for Jews around the world than Mr. Shanes has ever accomplished, with his endless diatribes.