Branch of Hasidism founded by Shneur Zalman of Liady (ca. 1745–1812). The townlet of Lyubavichi (Yid., Lubavitsh; commonly, Lubavitch), some 50 miles west of Smolensk, was the center between 1814 and 1915 of the main branch of Ḥabad Hasidism (Ḥabad, or ḤaBaD, is an acronym for ḥokhmah, binah, da‘at—“wisdom, understanding, knowledge”). Shneur Zalman emphasized an intellectualist form of spirituality and a systematized version of the teachings of Yisra’el Ba‘al Shem Tov (ca. 1700–1760) and Dov Ber, the Magid of Mezritsh (1704–1772).
