Kfar Chabad

Kfar Chabad (lit. "Chabad Village") is a Chabad-Lubavitch village in central '48 'Israel'. Between Beit Dagan and Lod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Sdot Dan Regional Council. In it had a population of .
==History==
The site had previously been the Palestinian village of al-Safiriyya (known to the Byzantines and Crusaders as Sapharea or Saphyria). During the 16 century, Haseki sultan endowed al-Safiriyya to its Jerusalem soup kitchen. Under Ottoman rule, the area of Kfar Chabad belonged to the Nahiyeh (sub-district) of Lod that encompassed the area of the present-day city of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut in the south to the present-day city of El'ad in the north, and from the foothills in the east, through the Lod Valley to the outskirts of Jaffa in the west. This area was home to thousands of inhabitants in about 20 villages, who had at their disposal tens of thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land.
Kfar Chabad was established in 1949 by Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn.Chabad.org Calendar As late as 1957 it was referred to in Hebrew as Tzafrir or Shafrir.
The first inhabitants were mostly recent immigrants from the Soviet Union. Regarding their settlement, the Zionist Jewish Observer reported: “There were several noteworthy aspect of this Aliyah. Chabad members refused all offers of help from religious and political organizations; they insisted on going on the land. Adapting themselves to modern agricultural methods ... To them it was a point of honor to live as they were taught. This meant subsisting only on what they earned by their own toil".Jewish Observer and Middle East Review, 3 July 1959
Kfar Chabad, which is just outside Lod and about 8 km southeast of Tel Aviv, includes agricultural lands as well as numerous educational institutions. It serves as the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement in Israel. Kfar Chabad is a Lubavitch community.
===Replica of "770"===
The village features a full-scale replica of "770", the world headquarters of Chabad at 770 Eastern Parkway, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, which was built in 1986. The building, which serves as a synagogue, includes the exact same number of bricks as the original structure; the brickwork was produced by Teracotta Ofakim Clay Industries in Ofakim. The Lubavitcher Rebbe covered the US$700,000 building cost.Rubenstein, Rayle. "The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Replicas around the world". Binah Pesach supplement, 2015, p. 27.
===Railway station===
Kfar Chabad has a railway station served by trains on the line between Binyamina and Ashkelon. It was built in 1952 and rebuilt in 1999.
==Education==
Kfar Chabad provides vocational training in printing, mechanics, carpentry, and agriculture for male students, and education for female students. The programs are combined with religious education. Most students, who come from outside the village, are not Hasidic.Despite All Odds: The Story of Lubavitch, Edward Hoffman (New York, 1991, Simon and Schuster), pp. 154–5
==Political leadership==
Previous mayors include Shlomo Meidanchik and Menachem Lehrer. The current mayor is Nachmen Richman.
==Religious leadership==
The village rabbi was Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi from 1983 until his death in 2015. The previous rabbi was Shneur Zalman Gorelik, from the town's founding until his death.
==See also==
*Kfar Chabad Railway Station
==References==
Category:Chabad-Lubavitch
Category:Chabad in occupied Palestine