Time to Speak Out

Davos is no place for Chabad

[EDIT: this post has been updated]

Public Protest:

It is categorically forbidden for any Jew to collaborate with the so-called World Economic Forum or assist their annual event in Davos, Switzerland, in any way whatsoever. Even more so a rabbi or representative of rabbis must not associate with this dubious body of globalist sociopaths in any capacity. How much more so a chief rabbi who represents Chabad Lubavitch in the world’s largest country has absolutely no business attending this event even once, let alone multiple times.

It is therefore with great dismay that I read that Rabbi Berel Lazar, director of Chabad Lubavitch in Russia, attends the WEF event in Davos every year since 2003, is part of a WEF “Council C-100,” and addressed the event as well. Shockingly this fact is publicized and celebrated by Chabad’s flagship media outlets [1].

Moreover, another Jewish publication reported that Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, a Chabad rabbi and former associate of Rabbi Lazar, organizes a yearly Shabbat dinner for 200 undisclosed WEF members at Davos for the past twenty years, and that this dinner is hosted by and presided over by none other than Klaus Schwab himself, who has referred to this annual Shabbat dinner as “his favorite part of the gathering” [2]. Even more disturbing is that this Rabbi Berkowitz, who served as a high-profile representative of Chabad Lubavitch and past "director at Chabad Headquarters and the Global Chabad Development Fund," now shockingly serves as a member of World Economic Forum Civil Society (sic).

Most disturbing of all is that this individual, who calls himself @GlobalRabbi on social media, serves as alternate delegate of the "Chabad NGO at the United Nations" in New York [3].

Shomu shomayim. Let the heavens be aghast. Why does Chabad Lubavitch have ANYTHING to do with the benighted United Nations or WEF? And why is the so-called leadership at Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn okay with any sort of association with global elitism or globalist cronyism!?

It is unconscionable that anyone who claims to represent the saintly Rebbe would be involved with such a highly political body. How dare they tarnish the Rebbe's name and legacy by involving his movement with such unspeakable degeneracy, even just nominally!

There's nothing wrong with inviting Jewish people to a Shabbat dinner. It's quite another thing when organizing a Shabbat dinner for non-Jew Klaus Schwab and his notorious ilk of globalist elitists.

The Rebbe did not tolerate any political affiliations or associations whatsoever. The failed leadership of Chabad Lubavitch was quick to publicly disassociate and malign me when I so much as dare to caution people against taking an experimental injection.

Yet Chabad’s Russian chief Rabbi Lazar and “global Rabbi” Berkowitz publicly implicate Chabad Lubavitch with globalist tyranny and not a single word of protest from its so-called leadership.

Sadly, Chabad's current establishment has slipped down a slippery slope of “political correctness" in recent decades. Shluchim nowadays are pressured to appear in vogue and even “woke,” Rachmono litzlan. I recall some years back when Chabad representatives organized a mitzvah tent at the Olympic games. Nothing wrong with this per se, but the organizers oddly created and publicized a colorful logo “Chabad at the Olympics" online. This was shocking and reprehensible. Everyone with a modicum of Jewish literacy knows that the Olympics is rooted in idolatrous worship. The Rebbe strictly cautioned rabbis against invoking the Olympics in any article or dvar Torah due to its pagan origin, yet here was Chabad Dot Org flagrantly touting an image celebrating Chabad at the Olympics, replete with the iconic five rings. I wondered at the time, who was responsible for this deplorable error and why weren't they correcting it? [4]

We may no longer remain silent. It's time to speak out.

To all fellow chassidim and supporters of Chabad Lubavitch worldwide:

Please voice your protest against this grave lapse and demand a public statement of disassociation and apology from the leaders of Merkos L'inyonei Chinuch.

Let them state clearly and unambiguously for all the world to hear: Chabad does NOT endorse globalism or the globalists' agenda in ANY way.

Any rabbi who aligns himself with the WEF, Klaus Schwab and his protégé Yuval Noah Harari, or any globalist endeavor, is a traitor to his people and has no business representing Chabad or our saintly Rebbe in any capacity.

If this shandah doesn't get resolved immediately, the cover is blown for the failed leadership of Merkos. You cannot play the game any longer. You claim to be apolitical, but your reckless political alignments jeopardize everything our holy Rebbeim have accomplished in the past seven generations.

It's not an option to remain silent. Every Jew has a moral obligation to protest this assault on yiddishkeit and humanity.


[1] https://collive.com/chief-rabbi-lazar-calls-trump-peace-plan-best-one/

https://www.lubavitch.com/chief-rabbi-of-russia-speaks-at-world-economic-forum/

https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/630459/jewish/Chief-Rabbi-at-Davos.htm

https://www.oxfordchabad.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/640796/jewish/Chief-Rabbi-of-Russia-Berel-Lazar.htm

Acknowledgement to Shani from my Telegram chat group for bringing these articles to my attention.

[2] https://jewishinsider.com/2023/01/davos-switzerland-shabbat-dinner-world-economic-forum/

[3] https://www.linkedin.com/in/avrahamberkowitz

[4] Fortunately, it appears that they removed the objectionable image from their site in recent years.