‘Here’s My Chabad Story:’ Thousands Share Encounters With Chabad on Social Media

by Tzali Reicher – chabad.org

Nick Matau, a non-Jewish Navy veteran and commentator with a large following on social media, had seemingly no direct stake in an online argument about a Chassidic Jewish movement. But last week, when he saw slanderous disinformation being spread online about the Chabad-Lubavitch movement by a pair of online provocateurs, Matau pulled out his phone and recorded a video.

He told the story of finding himself, during a moment of personal crisis during his military service in Hawaii, outside a Chabad center towards the end of Shabbat. The rabbi opened the door, and Matau told him he wasn’t Jewish and that he would be on his way.

“They didn’t care that I wasn’t Jewish; there wasn’t even a pause,” he said. “They fed me and included me in their activities. The rabbi took my number and told me to reach out if I ever needed anything.”

Matau’s video was one of thousands of messages of support for Chabad shared across the internet over the past week, after a conspiratorial podcast disingenuously spread falsehoods about basic Jewish beliefs, attempting to frame Chabad as a shadowy cabal behind the ongoing American and Israeli military operation in Iran.

From across the internet came the tributes and messages of gratitude. Jews who had lit Shabbat candles and wrapped tefillin for the first time at a Chabad center. Non-Jews who had been welcomed to a meal when they knew nobody in the city. College students who found their footing at a Chabad center on campus, and couples who had found their spouses at Chabad. Story after story, from every corner of the world.

“They’re full of love,” wrote Josh Kraushaar, editor of Jewish Insider. “Anyone who’s been to Chabad service or knows Chabad emissaries knows how warm they are and how much they care about Judaism and spreading it to other Jews… In fact, they have outposts in capitals of the world where there just aren’t many Jews, so Jews when they travel or when they’re on the road, they can celebrate their Jewish faith.”

Karol Markowicz, a columnist for the New York Post, described Chabad as “the warmest, kindest, most welcoming organization ever that does nonstop charity work.”

“They are an incredible organization that is spreading light in the world, including to non-Jews like myself,” Matau concluded in his post. “ … Anyone who is telling you otherwise is lying to you, and pushing an agenda, trying to divide an organization that is very much a light unto the nations in whichever community they’re in.”

‘Total Chaos. Total Warmth.’

Among those moved to respond was Harley Finkelstein, president of e-commerce giant Shopify.

On X, he described his years as a law student at the University of Ottawa, when the local Chabad on Campus center ran Friday-night dinners out of a rabbi’s living room. Students packed every corner.

“Total chaos. Total warmth,” is how Finkelstein pithily described the atmosphere.

Years later, Finkelstein made good on a promise he’d once made to the rabbi, donating $2 million to build a permanent Chabad center on campus—a building that today bears his family’s name. When the attacks on Chabad spread across social media last week, he and his wife, Lindsay, donated again, this time to Chabad campus centers across Canada, encouraging others to join them.

“To everyone at Chabad: thank you,” he wrote. “From every Jewish person, and frankly anyone, you’ve been welcomed with open arms and genuine care over the years. Chabad is one of the most extraordinary organizations in the world. I’m deeply grateful to be part of this community.”

Finkelstein was far from alone. At the University of Florida, a donor contacted Rabbi Berel Goldman with a $18,000 gift. He was encouraged to show his support after hearing of the scurrilous attacks. Many others, both Jews and non-Jews, also shared that they were donating to their own local centers, pushing against those who seek division and hatred.

Most moving were those who shared Chabad’s impact on their Judaism and encouraged them to learn more Torah and perform more mitzvot. Many men committed to laying tefillin the next day to show their solidarity.

(Photo: Chabad of the Western Wall)

Daniella Greenbaum Davis, a Jewish commentator and former producer on “The View,” shared her story.

After suffering repeated miscarriages and feeling unmoored, she felt the urge to restock her house with Jewish books and place mezuzot on her doors. But it was an hour before a major Jewish holiday, and all Jewish institutions were already closed. She reached out to Chabad, and a rabbi was at her home with everything she was looking for within 20 minutes.

“Geopolitical masterminds responsible for the Iran war? Not so much,” she wrote on X. “Just the kindest people you will ever meet who believe they are put here on this earth to spread goodness and godliness and help anyone, with anything, at any time.”