Thank G‑d, this past year has been a productive one here at Chabad.org. Our site has regularly featured fresh new content, geared for all types of people—men and women, young and old, scholars and laypeople. In all, 8,143 new articles, 1,222 new videos, and 1,461 new audio classes appeared on Chabad.org during 2009. We served up 83,454,964 web-pages to 11,615,314 different users. (And you downloaded off the site 226,516 MP3 audio classes!)

In the following lines we'd like to share with you some of the notable new sections and features that debuted on our site in the past twelve months.

Current Events

IDF Soldiers read a letter sent by one of you, delivered by a Chabad.org volunteer

War in Gaza

With the entry of 2009, the minds of Jews worldwide were focused on the Holy Land, where in the last days of 2008 the IDF had launched an offensive in response to incessant rocket attacks against Israeli towns and cities. On December 30, 2008, we launched a War in Gaza Section, complete with latest news and commentary. Of particular note was our Front Line Blog by First Sergeant Yared Ben-Caro who kept us updated via text messages from the Gaza War battle arena.

Solidarity with Israel

We also partnered with Colel Chabad and Israel's Chabad Youth Organization to offer our readers the opportunity to write letters and send pictures and care packages to Israeli soldiers and beleaguered families in the areas affected by the war. Almost ten thousand letters and packages were personally delivered on behalf of our readers.

Chabad.org's Economy Section

The Economy

Chief on many people's minds this past year was the global economic recession. In response to the pressing need for Jewish perspective, our Economy Section was unveiled on February 1st, complete with videos, insights, stories, practical tips for coping – submitted both by experts as well as our readership – and a section discussing the importance of giving charity even when times are tough.

The Legacy of Mumbai mini site

Mumbai Terror Attacks

The Mumbai Terror Attacks were a very fresh wound at the year's start—barely one month after the horrific murders of Rabbi Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg along with four of their guests at the Mumbai Chabad House. In December of 2009, our Legacy of Mumbai section told the story of the millions of points of light triggered by the tragedy: children named after the slain, and institutions, mitzvah initiatives, and Torah scrolls established and named in memory of the Holtzbergs.

Multimedia

Jewish.tv - Chabad.org's Video Site

Jewish.tv

Perhaps the area of our site to have grown most this past year is our Video Section. This past June, the section was completely redesigned, with regularly changing new videos playing on the homepage, and the substantial content divided into nineteen channels. The new, expanded and improved product was rebranded: Jewish.tv.

Among the other newly added features on Jewish.tv:

• Jewish.tv's Live Video Channel

  An increasing amount of the videos are now embeddable on other sites. This embeddable player debuted in time for the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries this past November, and allowed for the gala banquet to be viewed live by tens of thousands worldwide.
• Also in June, we launched our Live Events page. This page streams live regular classes (daily and weekly) as well as an assortment of special lectures and events. For example, this past Chanukah, this page broadcast live Menorah lightings from ten locations, including Jerusalem, Israel; Helsinki, Finland; Cape Town, South Africa; and Hollywood, CA.

"What If?" 3-D Adventure Series

3-D Animations

Have you ever wondered, What If? Well, wonder no more. A new 3-D animated series launched before Passover of 2009, series geared for kids (but definitely enjoyed by adults too), that asks interesting What If? questions – ...we hunted for Jewish treasure? ...the Torah was given on the moon? – and provides a package of great entertainment and education. The sixth episode in this series – What if we were Chanukah Heroes? – was released in December.

Holidays

Blessing of the Sun Mini Site

Blessing of the Sun

Without a doubt, the most unique holiday-related project we embarked upon this past year was our Birkat Hachamah Section, released in the end of January, two months in advance of the "Sun Blessing" recited only once every 28 years. With FAQs, videos, texts, videos, in-depth explanations, and even a special Sun Blessing E-Card—the section quickly spurred worldwide recognition of this fascinating but rare ritual. The site also featured round the clock live coverage of Sun Blessimg ceremonies around the world, from New Zealand to Jerusalem.

High Holidays on Chabad.org

High Holidays and more

In addition, in 2009 we completely redesigned and overhauled our sections on Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Three Weeks.

Lifecycles

In June, we launched our Pidyon Haben Section—the who, what, when, why and how of the biblical Redemption of the Firstborn ceremony, along with to-do checklists and detailed preparation tips. In December, we released a new Upsherin Section, all about the three-year-old Jewish boy's traditional first haircut.

Study Opportunities

Kabbalah Online

Kabbalah Online

Many new sections and features were added to our site this year. The largest one is our Kabbalah Section, added in November, in partnership with kabbalaonline.org. It is the largest, kosher kabbalah-in-English site on the web.

Maimonides

In May, tens of thousands marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the daily study campaign of Maimonides' codification of Jewish Law. In honor of this event, we launched an all-new Maimonides Section.

Maimonides: His Life and Works

The section contains a comprehensive biography of this legendary figure as well as the historical background of the Maimonides Study Campaign. In honor of this occasion, and in partnership with Moznaim Publications, the English translation of Maimonides' great work—the first and only such translation—appeared on the Web. We are also currently translating Maimonides Sefer Hamitzvot ("Book of Commandments"), which can be accessed via our Daily Study section.

Jewish Meditation

A new section of Jewish Meditation videos, based on selections from the daily prayers, was launched in August.

TheRebbe.org

In June, in honor of the Rebbe's 15th yahrtzeit, TheRebbe.org became a "dynamic" site, with new articles, blog posts and videos now featured on a weekly basis.

More Learning Resources

Prayer 101

Also unveiled this year was a Jewish Prayer Section (in March) with prayer insights, texts, stories, video, audio and more. And, on a smaller scale, a Birkat Kohanim Section (in May) with information about the special Priestly Blessings. Mini-sections devoted to the lives and teachings of Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev were also released (in May and October respectively).

Expanding Our Reach

Other Languages

The family of Chabad.org language sites grew in the past year to include two new languages – a Russian one (launched in April) and a Portuguese one (in November). Their older siblings include Hebrew, German, French and Spanish. Their English Mommy is very proud of them all, and is looking forward to having many, many more children!

Chabad.org Mobile Edition

Chabad.org Mobile Edition

A mobile version of Chabad.org, especially designed for cell phones and PDAs, was released in January—m.chabad.org is the new destination for people seeking Torah and inspiration while on the run.

More Frequent Updates

This past September, we finalized our migration from a weekly to a daily site. New content is now available on our homepage six days a week—along with larger eye-catching promos.

Think Jewish, Chabad.org's Print Publication

Now in Print!

In December, Think Jewish, Chabad.org's weekly print publication, became available for home delivery. We now come to your mailbox (as well as your inbox).

Touching People One at a Time

Ask the Rabbi

While tens of thousands of people log on every day to our site for study, inspiration and/or entertainment, our incredibly dedicated staff of Ask the Rabbi team, from their stations all around the world, respond daily to the hundreds of questions that flood our inbox.

On average, our response team fields 212 inquiries a day

In 2009 our agents responded to more than 67,568 questions and requests for help!

Among these requests, we dealt with:

• 101 suicide attempts
• 68 cases of addiction
• 144 sufferers of abuse (wives, husbands, children, friends)
• 78 homeless people
• 259 kitchen-koshering related questions

And in the course of the year, 35,137 of you took the time to submit reader comments on articles on our site, contributing to the ongoing discussions and connecting our global online community.

In Conclusion

Much has been accomplished, but even more remains to be done. G‑d willing, the 2010 end-of-year report will be twice as long as this one.

And even as we speak, our programming and design teams are busy redesigning and reprogramming the entire site. You should be seeing the results of their labor of love in short order.

Much has been accomplished, but even more remains to be doneWe'd like to thank the Almighty for granting us the privilege, ability and wherewithal to serve you up till now. And we pray that He gives us the strength to continue.

We hope and trust that we are faithfully executing the mandate we were all given by our beloved Rebbe – to bring the light of Torah, Judaism and Chassidism to every Jewish man, woman and child, and to every corner of the earth.

And lastly, we are eternally grateful to all of you who – despite the crushing economic downturn – have selflessly become partners in this important work this past year by contributing to our cause. And we humbly ask that you continue showing your support—your partnership enables us to continue this lifeline to so many tens of thousands each day.

Sincerely,

The Chabad.org Team