Lubavitch European Bureau

“When two Jews meet, it must necessarily result in something good for a third one”, used to teach Rebbe Shmuel of Lubavitch.

In 1947, in the aftermath of the Second World War, Rabbi Yossef Itschak Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, opened in Paris the headquarters of his overseas activities, with a social, educational and religious vocation, then covering Europe and North Africa, and later Israel. He placed at its head one of his most illustrious Chassidim, Rabbi Binyamin Gorodetsky, who immediately addressed the problems of refugee families in Eastern Europe, then flocking to Displaced Persons camps. He settled them in Paris and the Paris area, providing them with material and religious well-being. In this post-war void, he gave a dazzling start to Jewish institutions, which were seriously lacking at the time, in the fields of education, housing, assistance and employment.

This very dynamic office undertook a series of effective actions for the rebirth of Jewish communities in France.

Rabbi Binyamin Gorodetsky helped to finance many premises in Paris and Ile-de-France : these would very quickly become essential places of Jewish life for the whole community (schools, Talmud Torah, community activities).

This office, which initiated the genesis of the Lubavitch movement in France, is still today, more than ever, present on all fronts of Jewish life, discreetly but effectively coordinating actions aimed in particular at Jewish communities far from large urban areas.

In 1992, the Rebbe sent the grandson, Rabbi Yossi Gorodetsky and his family, to head the European Lubavitch Bureau.

New projects in favour of the Jewish communities of Ile-de-France and elsewhere are regularly launched, installing new emissaries throughout France.

In 2009, Rav Yossi Gorodetsky set up a revolutionary project: Tefilin Bank and Mezuza Bank. These two structures make it possible to offer these religious objects at reduced prices ; thus, more Jews will be able to practice these Mitzvot.

In 72 years, thanks to this first meeting between a Rebbe and his devoted Chassid, hundreds of thousands of Jews have benefited, directly or indirectly, from the actions of the European Loubavitch Bureau.

OUR INSTITUTIONS, SERVICES AND PROJECTS

Chabad Community Centers – Synagogues – Hebrew  Day Schools – Nurseries – Day Camps – Overnight camps – Jewish Book Publication Department – Jewish Book Libraries – Mikvas – European Institute for Jewish studies – Yeshiva for young men – Seminaries for young women – Programs for children with special needs – Youth programs – Outreach programs – Visits to outlying and isolated communities  – Shabbat & Holiday programs – Services for the sick and needy – Hospital & old age home visitations – Adult education – Free loan fund – School & camp scholarship fund – Family counseling services – Tefilin Bank – Mezuza Bank