Chabad.org Celebrates 20 Years
Chabad.org is marking twenty years today since the Rebbe gave Rabbi Yosef Y. Kazen the bracha and haskama to proceed with Chabad-Lubavitch in Cyberspace.
In the words of Rabbi Kazan, a”h:
“[Rabbi Krinsky] went in to the Rebbe on ohr Le’Chof Teves, the yahrtzeit of the Rambam… On that evening, after maariv [he] came out and told me,‘Yossel, mazel tov! The Rebbe gave approval for Chabad’s name to be on the Internet.”
He then told me, ‘You’ve got a job. Your Chabad House is going to be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and you can’t have a minyan!’”
Chabad-Lubavitch in Cyberspace, or Chabad.org as it is known today, has been operating for twenty five years. Chabad.org proudly traces its roots back to Rabbi Kazen’s early involvement in uploading content and answering peoples questions on BBS and other networks back in 1988
The Chabad.org website, however, was acquired and launched twenty years ago, soon after the World Wide Web as we know it today became available.
As part of research into the history of Chabad.org conducted by members of the Chabad.org team, a recording of the “Chabad-Lubavitch in Cyberspace Session” at the Kinus Hashluchim 5755 has been located. The session features a presentation on the reach and vision of Chabad Lubavitch in Cyberspace by Rabbi YY Kazen a”h. In this talk, Rabbi Kazen maps out to his fellow shluchim many of the future plans for this organization, which continues to flourish today.
In 2013 alone, 37 million unique visitors came to Chabad.org for information, inspiration and guidance in all aspects of Judaism. Hundreds of questions are answered each day by the Chabad.org Ask-the-Rabbi team. The continued growth and reach of Chabad.org is a testament to the dedication and vision of its founder, Rabbi Yosef Y. Kazen, who is considered by many to be the pioneer of Judaism on the web.
Video: Chabad.org Over the Years
Audio: Rabbi Kazen at the Kinus Hashluchim, 5755 (1994)
Moshe
It is very nice of chabad.org to always give credit to Rabbi Kazen. Rabbi Kazen was a pioneer in his field really sacrificing a lot parnassah to get this gem started. I was always appreciative that Chabad.org gave Rabbi Kazen an honorable place on its page footer – chabad.org is really the legacy Rabbi Kazen would be proud of.
45 yr in the hood
yosel i miss you a lot , you were a gr8 friend
and gave me a chance to make parnosa.
send regards to my father ,obm
CHLEAKS.COM
Who needs Chabad.org and the unlimited Chabad (Torah/Chassidus) treasures it offers to millions of Jews (and non-Jews), when we can join the ‘call of the shofer’?
(this comment is meant to be sarcastic).
We miss yyk
Any other recordings of such a sweet positive voice like yyk? Such optimism and purity…
Wow
Hes an amazing man
Chana
cool
Old timer
The beginning of chabad.org was in text-based browsers and most of the communication was via ‘e-mail’, ‘irc’, ‘gopher’ and ‘ftp’, you guys missed it in the video you made.