The Chabad Takeover of Hungarian Orthodoxy: The Exposed Agenda

Foreword

The following document was circulated to rabbis, community members, and supporters of Hungarian Orthodoxy in the summer of 2023 (5783), during the hostile takeover and exploitation of the historic Orthodox community by Chabad. This campaign was a systematic effort to seize control of the community’s assets, institutions, and spiritual legacy.

It is our profound hope that under the current administration, these grave injustices will be rectified and the stolen property returned to its rightful owners. Those who orchestrated and executed this egregious theft—specifically Shmuel Oirechman, Gábor Keszler, Slomó Köves, Ákos Bíró, and all who took part—must be held accountable for their actions. We demand that justice be served and the truth prevail

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### **The Chabad/EMIH’s Agenda in Hungary**

Chabad’s agenda in Hungary is very clear to everyone who follows their operations from close up. With the government’s backing – earned by Chabad Hungary through their political services – they want to control Hungarian Jewry as much and as fast as possible. The takeover of Hungarian Orthodoxy has enormous benefits for them, and if completed, it means the end of Hungarian Orthodoxy as we know it, contrary to their promises and assurances.

I talked to political pundits and well-informed and influential people within the Hungarian Jewish community and outside it. They, as well as most of the “true” and valid membership of Hungarian Orthodoxy, share the following assessment of what is the most likely and realistic Chabad/EMIH agenda:

#### **1.) Political context**

The current Hungarian Government tries to promote a “regime change” in Hungarian Jewry. They want Hungarian (religious) Jewry to be controlled by EMIH (that is, Chabad Hungary) which – unlike Neologs and secular Jews – fully supports them politically, and caters to them valuable political services. Chabad/EMIH improves the image of the authoritarian Orban-regime worldwide: first and foremost, its problematic record on antisemitism and rewriting Hungary’s role in the Holocaust. Compare the role of R. Berel Lazar, Oberlander’s brother-in-law, in Russia, who – as Chief Rabbi of Russia – legitimizes Russia’s war on Ukraine and enthusiastically supported previously its annexation of Crimea.

#### **2.) Religious agenda**

Chabad/EMIH is in desperate need of the brand “Hungarian Orthodoxy,” therefore they keep the Kazinczy Shul as a façade for the time being, with minimal intervention into its prayer services. However, they already almost managed to finish the kashrut services (shechita, Hanna restaurant, food store) of the Community and merging it with their own, so if nothing stops them, R. Oberlander’s hechsher will be the only local one operating in Hungary.

And if nothing changes, a Chabad-affiliated rabbi (perhaps Oberlander himself) will be appointed as the Chief Rabbi of the Community and the Kazinczy shul in due course, gradually turning it into a Chabad-dominated minyan, with changes in the nusach and the minhagim accordingly. These changes can take a few years – as it happened and happens in all the shuls that Chabad/EMIH took over in Budapest and elsewhere.

The two points mentioned above are the background of R. Köves’ claim that “the government insists they (EMIH) get involved, but he (Köves) does not want to turn it into a Chabad Shul”. This claim is almost correct. In the meantime, they have neither the manpower and the money nor the intention to take the Kazinczy Shul under their full control. And yes, the government “insists” that EMIH take MAOIH under their control. But if the government meets with significant political and rabbinic “noise” and resistance (domestic and international), it will force them to rethink their political calculations and to withdraw from their plans.

#### **3.) Financial agenda**

Since the 1990s, the Hungarian Government provides a Jewish Compensation Annuity to the main Jewish religious streams or communities. This is an annual payment after the Jewish properties nationalized in the wake of World War II. This is the dominant source of income for all the three streams. Before WWII the majority (80%) of the Jewish properties was in the hands of the Orthodox communities; however, the formula of the distribution of the annuity for the Jewish communities, established in the 1990s, took into account current religious statistics, which produced the inverse proportions:

* 88% for the Neologs (MAZSIHISZ); and

* 12% for the Orthodox (MAOIH).

Chabad/EMIH, after their establishment (in 2004), fraudulently began to usurp the Status Quo Ante “brand” (the third historical Jewish religious/organizational stream within Hungarian Jewry – a non-orthodox one! – which disappeared after WWII and Chabad/EMIH has no historical and religious continuity and connections with it) in order to demand part of that annuity. Their lobbying at the government resulted in a change of the original distribution of the Jewish Compensation Annuity as follows (the amounts reflect the current figures):

* 80% MAZSIHISZ - HUF 2,266,666,667 (USD 6,400,000)

* 12% MAOIH - HUF 340,000,000 (USD 960,000)

* 8% EMIH - HUF 226,666,667 (USD 640,000)

*(Total: HUF 2,833,333,334 [USD 8,000,000])*

Once Chabad/EMIH completes its takeover of the Orthodox Community (MAOIH) and merges the two communities for all practical purposes, it will initiate – together with MAOIH, controlled by Chabad/EMIH – to review the Jewish Compensation Annuity agreement with the State, and renegotiate its distribution.

Chabad/EMIH and MAOIH then will ask the Hungarian government to shift the principles of the distribution towards the original property distribution (MAOIH 80% and MAZSIHISZ 20%) and to take into account their (fraudulent) expansion. The government control of these “negotiations” will result in a new distribution of the resources which will establish the financial dominance of Chabad/EMIH, and cause the collapse (or at least the absolute marginalization) of the Neologs (MAZSIHISZ).

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**In sum,** the Chabad/EMIH-takeover of Orthodoxy, concocted with governmental backing, has progressed significantly. Without significant resistance, in the short term this process will lead to the total loss of the financial autonomy of Hungarian Orthodoxy, and in the mid-term it will wipe out Hungarian Orthodoxy.

This process still can be halted, if friends and supporters of Hungarian Orthodoxy worldwide join in recognizing that (1) MAOIH should be freed from Chabad/EMIH influence, and (2) concrete and urgent steps should be taken to mobilize rabbinic, political, and financial support in strengthening the “old”, authentic Orthodox Community.