Chabad Lubavitch of Spain
Chabad-Lubavitch in Spain: the Madrid mission opened by Yitzchok and Meyta Shifra Goldstein in 1977, the Fundación Jabad-Lubavitch España registered in 2001, centres in Barcelona, Marbella, Valencia, Girona, Ibiza, Tenerife and elsewhere, and the Rebbe's links with Gibraltar
| Chabad Lubavitch of Spain
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Jewish religious organisation (Chabad-Lubavitch) |
| Founded | 1977 |
| Founder(s) | Yitzchok and Meyta Shifra Goldstein |
| Headquarters | Madrid |
| Location | Calle Eloy Gonzalo 19, Madrid (registered domicile of the Fundación Jabad-Lubavitch España, 2001) |
| Area served | Spain |
| Services | Synagogue services, Torah classes, Shabbat and holiday meals, Jewish education, services for tourists and students |
| Key people | Yitzchok Goldstein (head emissary, died 2023); Shneur Goldstein; Dovid Libersohn (Barcelona) |
| Website | https://chabadmadrid.com |
| Remarks | The Fundación Jabad-Lubavitch España was registered as a state-wide foundation by ministerial order of 5 November 2001 |
Chabad Lubavitch of Spain is the Chabad-Lubavitch network in Spain. Its first permanent emissaries (shluchim), Rabbi Yitzchok Goldstein and Meyta Shifra Goldstein, were sent to Madrid by Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in 1977.[1][2] Its legal body, the Fundación Jabad-Lubavitch España, was registered in 2001.[3] Chabad headquarters lists centres in Barcelona, Girona, Ibiza, Madrid, Marbella, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Tenerife and Valencia.[4]
History
According to Chabadinfo.com, the Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, sent Yitzchok Goldstein and his family to Spain in 1977 as his first permanent emissaries there. In about 2017, forty years later, his son Rabbi Shneur Goldstein and his wife, Shoshi, prepared to move from Jerusalem to Madrid as additional emissaries. The article says the Goldsteins worked closely with the local Sephardic rabbi and that Madrid's Jewish community had "some 600+ Jewish families".[1]
Fundación Jabad-Lubavitch España
The Boletín Oficial del Estado records that the Fundación Jabad-Lubavitch España was set up in Madrid on 20 March 2001 by Yitzchok Goldstein, Isaac Sigmundo Shocron Croitoru and David Alejandro Benarroch Assor, with an endowment of 1,250,000 pesetas (€7,512.65). Its stated purpose was to promote Jewish culture and traditions. Goldstein was its president, Shocron Croitoru its vice-president and Benarroch Assor its secretary. A ministerial order of 5 November 2001 entered it in the register of foundations as a state-wide foundation, with its domicile at Calle Eloy Gonzalo 19, Madrid.[3]
Expansion
Chabad of Barcelona says it was set up in 1999 by Rabbi Dovid Menachem Mendel and Nechama Dina Libersohn, and that it holds a public Passover seder for 800 people.[5] In 2017 Chabad.org reported that Mendel and Rina Baitz had moved from Odessa to open a centre in Ibiza. It said that after Madrid, Chabad had opened centres in Barcelona, Marbella and Valencia, and in 2017 in Girona and Ibiza.[2]
Chabad of Central Madrid, led by Rabbi Zalman Goldstein, says it opened a new Chabad house at Calle de la Reina 33, in the Chueca district near the Gran Vía, after Chabad of Madrid marked forty years.[6]
Death of Yitzchok Goldstein
CrownHeights.info reported that Yitzchok Goldstein died on 29 Av 5783 (August 2023), after more than 46 years as an emissary in Madrid. He was survived by his wife, Meyta Shifra, and his son Shneur Zalman, an emissary in Madrid.[7] As of October 2026, Chabad headquarters' listing for Chabad of Madrid still named Yitzchok and Meyta Shifra Goldstein as its emissaries.[8]
Gibraltar
According to Chabad.org, Rabbi Yosef Emanuel Pacifici, an Italian-born rabbi who led a religious revival among the Jews of Gibraltar in the 1950s and 1960s, did so "with encouragement from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, with whom he kept a steady correspondence".[9]
Centres
Chabad headquarters lists Chabad of Madrid at Calle Santísima Trinidad 8, Sótano E, 28010 Madrid.[8] Chabad of Central Madrid is at Calle de la Reina 33, 28004 Madrid.[6] Other centres listed by Chabad headquarters are in Barcelona, Girona, Ibiza, Marbella, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Tenerife and Valencia.[4]
See also
- Chabad-Lubavitch movement
- Chabad Lubavitch of Portugal
- Chabad Lubavitch of Andorra
- Chabad Lubavitch of Italy
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Spain: Additional Shluchim to Madrid", Chabadinfo.com, undated (about 2017), accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Menachem Posner, "Chabad Settles on the Shores of Ibiza, Spain", Chabad.org, 15 August 2017.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Orden de 5 de noviembre de 2001 por la que se inscribe en el Registro de Fundaciones la denominada 'Fundación Jabad-Labavitch España', de Madrid", Boletín Oficial del Estado no. 285, 28 November 2001, p. 43658 (BOE-A-2001-22223).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Spain – Centers", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters (lubavitch.com), accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ "About and Contact", Chabad of Barcelona, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Welcome to Chabad Madrid – Central", Chabad of Central Madrid, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ "BDE: Rabbi Yitzchok Goldstein, OBM", CrownHeights.info, 15 August 2023.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Chabad of Madrid", Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters (lubavitch.com), accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ Yehuda Altein, "13 Facts About the Jews of Gibraltar", Chabad.org, accessed 23 October 2026.