The Chabad movement is a Hasidic movement among Ultra-Orthodox Jews. Known collectively as the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, members follow the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who was the leader of the movement in its most recent incarnation in the United States from 1940 until his death in 1994. Although the philosophical and theological underpinnings of the Rebbe's teaching are complex, the fundamental mission of “Chabadniks,” as members are known, is to bring non-Orthodox Jews back to more Orthodox religious observance through gentleness, kindness, and the emphasis of the beauty of religious life. By reigniting the spiritual spark within individual Jewish souls, Chabadniks hope to make a holier world, and thereby encourage the coming of Moshiach, or the Jewish messiah.

The term Chabad, ...