Chabad Lubavitch of Belgium
Chabad-Lubavitch in Belgium: Chabad of Antwerp under Rabbi Shabtai Slavaticki, its city-funded activities and 2013 centre, Chabad in Brussels, and the Brussels-based Rabbinical Centre of Europe and European Jewish Association led by Rabbi Menachem Margolin
| Chabad Lubavitch of Belgium
| |
|---|---|
| Logo |  Logo of Chabad of Antwerp |
| Type | Jewish religious organisation (Chabad-Lubavitch) |
| Founded | 1966 or 1973 (first Chabad synagogue in Antwerp; sources differ) |
| Headquarters | Antwerp |
| Location | Brialmontlei 46-48, 2018 Antwerp (Chabad Huis voor Cultuur, Welzijn, Zorg en Vorming vzw) |
| Area served | Belgium |
| Services | Synagogues, Chabad houses, youth, student and adult education programmes |
| Key people | Shabtai Slavaticki and Richa Slavaticki (directors, Chabad of Antwerp); Shimon Lasker (Beth Chabad of Brussels) |
| Website | https://www.chabadantwerp.org |
Chabad Lubavitch of Belgium is the Chabad-Lubavitch network in Belgium, with centres in Antwerp and Brussels. Its oldest branch is Chabad of Antwerp, led since 1977 by Rabbi Shabtai Slavaticki and Richa Slavaticki.[1][2] Brussels is also the seat of two organisations led by Chabad rabbis that work across Europe, the Rabbinical Centre of Europe and the European Jewish Association, both headed by Rabbi Menachem Margolin.[3][4]
Size
Chabad's world headquarters lists nine Chabad institutions in Belgium on its Europe index.[5] Its Belgium page lists eight, in four places: one each in Antwerp, Berchem and Edegem, and five in Brussels.[6]
Antwerp
Early history
The sources differ on when organised Chabad activity began in Antwerp. Obituaries of Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Holtzman published by Anash.org and Chabadinfo.com say that the Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, sent him to Antwerp and that he and his wife moved there in Cheshvan 5727 (autumn 1966), where he founded the city's first Chabad minyan, called "Beis HaKnesses Anshei Lubavitch".[7][8] In 2011 the Chabad news site COLlive wrote instead that "In 1973 a Chabad shul, operating only on Shabbos and yomtov, was established by Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Holtzman."[2] COLlive also wrote that Lubavitch Hasidim had lived in Antwerp since the end of the Holocaust.[2] According to Chabadinfo.com, Holtzman later opened a second Chabad synagogue, "Beis Menachem Antwerp", in Shevat 5752 (early 1992).[8]
Chabad of Antwerp
According to COLlive, Rabbi Shabtai Slavaticki and his family were sent by the Rebbe to Antwerp in 1977; the Chabad House at Brialmontlei 48 was inaugurated in 1984 and expanded next door in 2000 with a yeshiva and a rabbinical ordination programme.[2] Chabad.org wrote in 2013 that Chabad of Antwerp "was established more than 30 years ago".[9]
Its legal entity, Chabad Huis voor Cultuur, Welzijn, Zorg en Vorming (Chabad House for Culture, Welfare, Care and Education), abbreviated Chabad, is a non-profit association (vzw) registered in the Belgian Crossroads Bank for Enterprises since 24 February 1981, with its seat at Brialmontlei 46-48 since 2005. Its listed directors are Richa Silberstein, Szabtai Slavaticki and, since 2024, Menahem Tvardovitz.[10]
In 2013 Chabad of Antwerp opened a new centre, which Chabad.org described as costing $3 million, in the building next door. Slavaticki told Chabad.org that the building's owner, a medical centre, had wanted 3 million euros; a businessman's pledge to buy and renovate it "never materialized", after the Chabad House had mortgaged its own property for a down payment, and Chabad "eventually found an investor to go through with the sale". The Flemish Minister-President, Kris Peeters, cut the ribbon, and the mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever, presented a declaration in honour of Chabad of Antwerp, saying "it is a privilege to serve as mayor of a city where people cherish Chabad". Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch was guest of honour.[9]
In 2011 COLlive wrote that Antwerp's second religious council, Shomre Hadass, "primarily oriented toward the Modern Orthodox community", was led by Chief Rabbi David Moshe Lieberman, whom COLlive described as "a Chabad chossid" (a Chabad Hasid).[2]
Public funding
In June 2019 the college of mayor and aldermen of Antwerp approved an operating grant of €20,000 to "vzw Chabad" for 2019 under the city's culture objective, with an agreement setting out its aims. The decision said that the association "is al vele jaren in de stad Antwerpen actief" ("has been active in the city of Antwerp for many years") and organises several cultural events each year.[11]
Brussels
Chabad's world headquarters lists five Chabad institutions in Brussels: Beth Chabad of Brussels (Rabbi Shimon and Yentie Lasker, Avenue du Roi); the Chabad Center for Students – Maayan Hay (Rabbi Menahem Hadad) and the European Jewish Development Fund (Rabbi Eliyahu Edelkopf), both at Rue du Cornet 22; Ohel Eliezer (Rabbi Michoel Rosenblum); and Ohel Menachem (Rabbi Shmuel Pinson, Avenue du Gui).[12] The European Jewish Association gives Rue du Cornet 22 as its head office address in the EU Transparency Register.[13]
Rabbinical Centre of Europe and European Jewish Association
Rabbinical Centre of Europe
The Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) says that it "originated in 2000", that its offices are "in the heart of the European Union", and that it runs a branch in Jerusalem. It describes its chairman, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, as managing "all the organization's diplomatic and government-related matters", including "court appeals or lobbying parliament members"; its director-general is Rabbi Arie Goldberg.[3]
In 2005, as part of a series on Chabad in Europe, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported that the RCE had its office across the street from the headquarters of the European Commission, and that Margolin, then its secretary-general, said: "We have around 700 rabbis across Europe who look to us for spiritual and technical guidance." The JTA wrote that "The Chabad enterprise in Europe is coordinated through the Rabbinical Center in Brussels".[14] The RCE's then director, Rabbi Moshe Garelik, told the JTA: "I want to make it clear that the RCE is not a Chabad institution." The JTA reported, however, that the RCE and the European Jewish Community Center "were created as Chabad institutions and are still so considered by Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn", that Chabad's official website listed the RCE as one of its Brussels institutions, and that Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky said Garelik had been placed in Brussels by his organisation. Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky said that Garelik's role was "to coordinate all the rabbis who are emissaries in West and Eastern Europe".[14]
The JTA also reported criticism of the names used. Some Jewish organisations objected that the RCE used the same letters as the Conference of European Rabbis; Rabbi Avraham Guigui, chief rabbi of Belgium's Consistoire, said "I'd want them to say that they are really Chabad in order not to mix up terms". Cobi Benatoff, president of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), objected to the European Jewish Community Center calling itself "EJC", saying "This way of misleading people is not the Jewish way". Margolin said the RCE's name reflected its pluralist approach.[14]
European Jewish Association
The European Jewish Association (EJA) describes Menachem Margolin as its chairman and founder. According to the EJA, he became programme director of the RCE in 2004 and its general director in 2006, and four years later became general director of the EJA; it says that he "ensures that the EJA effectively lobbies European and national politicians".[4]
The EJA has been in the EU Transparency Register since 6 February 2014. For the financial year August 2024 to July 2025 it declared a total budget of €400,000, mainly from donations, including €50,000 from the EJDF (the European Jewish Development Fund), six lobbyists (four full-time equivalent) and 14 high-level meetings with the European Commission; it also declared that it hires the consultancy services of David Lega through his company, Ranstam Lega AB.[13] In an article on The Electronic Intifada, the journalist David Cronin described the EJA as "A leading pro-Israel group in Brussels" and wrote that it had declared a budget of $8.5 million for the 2016 financial year, five times its earlier figure of $1.7 million. He wrote that Margolin refused to answer his questions about the increase or about funding from the Israeli government, that the EJA had hosted Israel's strategic affairs minister, Gilad Erdan, in Brussels in 2017, and that Margolin had formed other organisations in Brussels, including The Joseph Project and the European Cultural Center.[15]
See also
- Chabad-Lubavitch movement
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Belgium
- Chabad Lubavitch of Netherlands
- Chabad Lubavitch of France
- Rabbinical Centre of Europe
- European Jewish Association
References
- ↑ "Banquet Keynote: Richa Slavaticki", COLlive, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Chabad Greet Antwerp Rov", COLlive, 4 April 2011.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "About Us", Rabbinical Center of Europe, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Leadership", European Jewish Association, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "Europe – Centers", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters (lubavitch.com), accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "Belgium – Centers", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters (lubavitch.com), accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ "Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Holtzman, 87, A"H", Anash.org, 12 August 2021.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "In Royal Service: Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Holzman a"h", Chabadinfo.com, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Dovid Zaklikowski, "A 'Sparkling' New Diamond in the City of Antwerp", Chabad.org, 29 March 2013.
- ↑ "0421.531.217 – Chabad Huis voor Cultuur, Welzijn, Zorg en Vorming", Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen (Crossroads Bank for Enterprises), FPS Economy, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Stad Antwerpen, "Werkingstoelage 2019 aan vzw Chabad" (2019_CBS_04772), decision of the college of mayor and aldermen, 7 June 2019.
- ↑ "Brussels – Centers", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters (lubavitch.com), accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "European Jewish Association", LobbyFacts (data from the EU Transparency Register, ID 707551412661-80), accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Philip Carmel, "In capital of European Union, Chabad wields great influence", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, republished by Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, 20 May 2005.
- ↑ David Cronin, "Leading Israel lobby group sees massive rise in budget", The Electronic Intifada, accessed 25 October 2026.