 
In 1988, before most of society was aware of the unfolding communication revolution that became the Internet, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement began using online discussion networks to bring Judaism to tens of thousands of Jews around the world.
 Thousands of documents were converted into what became the world's first virtual Jewish library, enabling many to experience Torah for the first time.
With the advent of the World Wide Web in 1994 our activities increased greatly and the Chabad website became recognized as the purveyor par excellence of Jewish information on the internet.
For countless individuals the Chabad-Lubavitch website served as their lifeline to Judaism.
In late 1999 we added the now famous Chabad Online Magazine to our stable, offering a sophisticated but accessible weekly mix of Torah commentary, Chassidic philosophy, stories, personal essays and more.
We also created a network of sites worldwide to enable Chabad-Lubavitch institutions everywhere to reach out to local communities with ever fresh and relevant material.
Our series of specialty sites, including one for each of the primary Jewish holidays, have become annual "must-visits" for hundreds of thousands around the globe.
We are now in the midst of transforming the design, programming and architecture of the entire site to accommodate many more users, much more interactivity and even more content.
FATHER OF THE JEWISH INTERNET PASSES AWAYRabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kazen, 44 (Lubavitch News Service, December 3, 1998)
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kazen, Director of Chabad Lubavitch in Cyberspace and considered by many the pioneer of Jewish education on the internet, passed away yesterday -- Tuesday, December 2 -- at age 44.
 Kazen was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1954 to Rabbi Zalman and Mrs. Shula Kazen, escapees of Stalin's prisons and the Nazi holocaust. The Kazen home was always a center of Jewish activity and Yosef Yitzchak, youngest of seven siblings, grew up helping to resettle Russian immigrants, preparing and delivering meals to the poor, and volunteering for all types of communal activities.
As a young boy Yossi Kazen left home to study in New York, near the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, whom he loved dearly. He was an early volunteer of the now ubiquitous Mitzvah Tanks, the Lubavitch international telephone hook-ups and many other original ideas and programs, and was endeared to many friends.Related Links
Even before the web, Kazen was one of Lubavitch's technological innovators, and helped develop the systems whereby the Rebbe's talks were broadcast via telephone to far-flung Lubavitch outposts around the globe.
But there was much better to come.
With the advent of computer communication technology, Kazen immediately recognized its potential for reaching an almost limitless audience, particularly people limited by geographic and other constraints.
In 1988, long before the internet was popularized, Kazen reached out to thousands of people on Fidonet, an online discussion network that was distributed on several thousand nodes around the world. So primitive was the technology that it would sometimes take three days for messages to travel from one part of the world to the next. But Kazen was relentless in his determination.
From early morning to late at night Kazen could be found slaving away -- digitizing and entering thousands of documents into what became the world's first virtual Jewish library, and enabling thousands of people to learn about Judaism for the first time.
As soon as the news spread on the internet yesterday the tributes began pouring in from all around the Jewish world.
A. Engler Anderson, Editor of Shamash--The Jewish Internet Consortium which is based at Boston's Hebrew College, said that Kazen "was a pioneer of the use of the internet for religious study and dissemination of religious materials. The title 'visionary' is definitely applicable to him. He saw it when most others did not."
Anderson further pointed out that Kazen also created the first and largest virtual congregation. "He had people from every part of the world who considered him their rabbi," Anderson said. "He never automated his responses, choosing to meticulously answer tens of thousands of emails directly himself."
The Jewish Theological Seminary's Michael Starr said that Kazen's site became the standard bearer for the Jewish internet world. "[His] site was the one by which all the others were judged."
Kazen's exploits in helping to set up a Passover service on a boat off Antarctica, providing information for a Jewish defense officer in Saudi Arabia, and teaching an Irish minister about Judaism earned him prominent coverage in media outlets like the New York Times, CNN, USA Today, Good Morning America, and many others who were fascinated by this man's vision in helping to educate through the internet.
His outreach is immortalized in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History collections exhibit about the internet. Many books, including the popular The Soul of Cyberspace, feature his ideas on internet education as well.
In mid-1998 Kazen was diagnosed with lymphoma but refused to notify his thousands of internet admirers. In fact, between painful treatments at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center he would dial up and respond to emails on his laptop.
Rabbi Kazen was interred at the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, in proximity to the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbes.
He leaves behind his wife, Rochel, and six children ages 5-18, in Brooklyn; his parents, Rabbi Zalman and Rebbetzin Shifra Shula Kazen of Cleveland, Ohio; and six sisters and their families who are representatives of Lubavitch around the world.
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"The Lubavitch Web site aims to bring people together from across the world." —The Tennessean
"The first and the largest virtual congregation." —The Jewish Week
 "At a time when [some] have banned the Internet as morally perilous for their followers, Chabad has created 700 Web sites in more than 50 countries... to serve not its own members but Jews in general." New York Times
"Web site visitors can feel as if they are visiting their spiritual leader." —Wired.com
"A model of effective web-outreach." Atlanta Jewish Times
"The Web page was created with practicing and non-practicing Jews in mind." —The Washington Post
"If you want it, Chabad has it!" —Moment Magazine
"Nobody does sites better than Chabad; they're always slick, attractive, easy to use and informative." —Baltimore Jewish Times
"Every day Jews stumble on Chabad Online... a first step toward a changed life." —Village Voice
"Cyber-outreach at its best." —Detroit Jewish News
"At the vanguard of harnessing technology to promote Judaism."
—Wired.com
"[The] high-octane Chabad page outshines them all."
—The Jewish Week
"In a web awash with [Chanukah] sites... this site stands apart..." —Britannica.com
"A huge, beautiful site with information both for kids and for adults..." Canadian Broadcasting Company
"This Web site [offers] hundreds of Web pages from practical, how-to guides to deep mystical insights, video and audio clips and even java games." —Newsbytes.com
"[Chabad's] Internet site served as a model for other Jewish organizations, who created their own educational Web sites."
—New York Times
"[Chabad's] comprehensive Internet Web site... includes prayer excerpts, children's stories and interactive quizzes offering a wealth of information on the upcoming month of Jewish Holidays..."
—Newark Star Ledger
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"The biggest and best on-line Hanukka party is at the Chabad Hanukka site..." Jerusalem Post
"At the vanguard of harnessing technology to promote... Judaism. [The site includes] pages on topics ranging from proper kosher dietary restrictions to the popular 'Ask the Rabbi' feature... translations of Passover and Hanukkah texts in a dozen languages... Talmudic law for reference and online Torah studies. A user-friendly template..." —Wired.com
"Amazing." —Jewish.com
"An outstanding, easy-to-use site that has something for everybody in the family." —The Jewish Week
"[The site] administers to the spiritual needs of a community of Jews once stranded along the information superhighway."
—Village Voice
"One more cyber-success for the high-tech Chasids."
—Atlanta Jewish Times
"A model of effective Web-outreach. Other Jewish groups should take note." —Atlanta Jewish Times
"The site shares... facts and experiences through sophisticated audio and video technology..." —Washington Post
"A very beautiful and user-friendly site..." —Europe Online
"[Chabad-Lubavitch] eagerly provides translations of theological works over the Net." —Time Magazine
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"Whatever your interest or pleasure, you'll find it at your fingertips: songs, interactive games, Torah studies, stories and recipes... There are lots and lots of videos of every kind... Surf the site now and come back..." —Detroit Jewish News
"Activities [vary] from helping to organize a Passover service held on a boat near Antarctica to dispatching kosher recipes to Jews living far from centers of Jewish population." —New York Times
"High-energy Judaism." Northern California Jewish Bulletin
"This site is fun for everyone... Though I usually like to write about web sites that are not so popular and well-known, this one can't be ignored..." The Jeffersonian
"A beautifully designed offering..." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Once again, the wonderful people at Chabad-Lubavitch have invested much thought and innovation in their annual Chanukah festivities... Their site makes manifest the Rebbe's famous teachings..." Jerusalem Post
"[Rabbi Kazen was] considered the pioneer of Judaism on the Internet..." The Jewish Week
"The site... has links to hundreds of Web pages with information, how-to guides and interactive quizzes... a history of the Jewish people, prayer excerpts, Bible readings, stories for children, and more than 35 explanations for the sounding of the "shofar," the ram's horn, on Rosh Hashanah..." UPI
"The site is designed for all ages and educational levels, from young children to scholars..." West Bloomfield Eccentric
"Giving your kids insight to the rich history of Chanukah traditions is easy with [Virtual Chanukah]..." Fox News
"The world's most comprehensive Passover site...;"
Parents.com
"For the basics, presented with class, Chabad... can't be beat."
Baltimore Jewish Times
"Features of the site range from... games aimed at children to discussions designed for serious religious scholars." C-Net
"While the story's been re-told every year... it's never been told better that at the Chabad-Lubavitch organization's Chanuka Website..." Detroit Jewish News
"[Lubavitch emissaries'] commitment to outreach is the envy of the Jewish world... They have utilized every medium - from television to books to the Internet to mitzvah mobiles - to bring assimilated or uneducated Jews back into the fold." Washington Jewish Week
"Educating readers on the many aspects of religious life... [taking] 3,000 years of Jewish history, and [making] it available to people." —ABC News
"Lubavitch is way out in front of every other Jewish group in establishing outposts and outreach on the information frontier..."
The Jewish Week "One of the more exciting [Jewish sites]."
London Jewish Chronicle
"Every day Jews stumble on Chabad online. Some will be transformed, finding a reason to... build a permanent home..." Village Voice
"[The site] is a virtual temple that accommodates a far larger and more diverse congregation than any real building could hold. Thousands of people visit the site every day to download weekly Torah readings." 24 Hours in Cyberspace
"[The site] is an olio of Jewish lore." Cybertimes.com
"A first step toward a changed life... something precious, a deep and lasting feeling rarely experienced in this ruptured age of postmodernity, a profound social integration..." Village Voice
"[Making] information available to anyone anywhere..."
Miami Herald
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Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel "A real standout... A marvel of good organization."
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"The outreach-minded Lubavitchers have just the site to help you learn about the holiday, its origins and its customs."
Baltimore Jewish Times
"This is a great site for parents, kids, and kids-at-heart."
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