770

International Architecture?

{ Original 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York }

{ Kfar Chabad, near Tel Aviv, Israel }

{ Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California }

{ Camp Gan Israel, near Montreal, Canada }

{ Sao Paulo, Brazil }

{ Milan, Italy }

Lubavitchers are one of the largest groups of ultra orthodox, or Hasidic, Jewish groups, and number about 100,000 worldwide. In 1940 the Lubavitchers purchased a small collegiate-gothic-style Brooklyn building (once a medical clinic) for the sixth Lubavitch Rebbe, Yoseph Yitzchak Schneerson, who had recently immigrated to the United States to escape Nazi persecution. In 1951, a year after his passing, his son-in-law Menachem Mendel Schneerson officially accepted the title of the seventh Lubavitch Rebbe, and inherited a congregation decimated in numbers by the holocaust.

One of Rebbe Schneerson’s legacies was the establishment of Chabad centers, places of community and outreach around the world. Because of his charisma, energy and the devotion of his followers, the building in Brooklyn has become a kind of holy ground for Lubavitchers.

This building, often referred to as “770,” has been replicated worldwide with varying degrees of precision, as Chabad centers or for other purposes. Currently there are twelve 770’s, including the original, in the United States, Canada, Israel, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia, and more are under construction in Cleveland, U.S.A and Santiago, Chile. { Robbins Becher | all photos }