Shliach Families vs. New Shtellars

[Yonah]

I was discussing this with a friend over yom tov, and figured some people here who are part of the chabad community might offer some unique insight. The friend and I noticed that a lot of new Shluchim ultimately open up satellite programs or chabad houses in the vicinity of their parents - i.e. opening a chabad house in a neighboring town or having the kids run a 'Young Professionals' or teen program.

Is that the new mode now? Is it to the point that Chabad is saturated enough that there really isn't that much new territory to cover for new shtellars? Or are there still new communities opening up, but there are a lot of long-time shluchim who want to include their kids in their community or nearby and are also thinking of them as a succession plan?

Just curious, and would love some insight.

[whYME]

Is that the new mode now? Is it to the point that Chabad is saturated enough that there really isn't that much new territory to cover for new shtellars? Or are there still new communities opening up, but there are a lot of long-time shluchim who want to include their kids in their community or nearby and are also thinking of them as a succession plan?

Just curious, and would love some insight.

I would say all of the above. How much of each depends on the specifics of the situation.

[Dan]

Extreme nepotism is an unfortunate side effect of the head shliach territorial system.

[Yonah]

Extreme nepotism is an unfortunate side effect of the head shliach territorial system.

What makes someone a head shaliach? Is it a self-proclaimed title?

How does a new shtellar even open up? Does it start with info gleaned from mercaz shlichus? Requests from far-flung baalei batim?

[Dan]

What makes someone a head shaliach? Is it a self-proclaimed title?

How does a new shtellar even open up? Does it start with info gleaned from mercaz shlichus? Requests from far-flung baalei batim?

Generally the first shliach to an area is the head shliach of that area. Merkos defines what that area is. After that point you need the head shliach's permission to open a Chabad House.

Many head shluchim hold onto coveted areas under their control for their own kids, which is why you see the phenomenon in the OP.

[whYME]

What makes someone a head shaliach? Is it a self-proclaimed title?

Generally it's the first one in that area.
Some places are trickier and/or controversial, e.g. where there multiple shluchim to a state etc before "head shliach" became a thing.

How does a new shtellar even open up? Does it start with info gleaned from mercaz shlichus? Requests from far-flung baalei batim?

Sometimes it's one of those, I'm sure there are a myriad ways people find places.

Extreme nepotism is an unfortunate side effect of the head shliach territorial system.

Very true. but I don't think it's always as nefarious as it sounds in your post.

True, there are some times it's pretty bad, e.g. the head shliach who's "saving" that city in his state for when hopefully in a few years one of his kids will get married and might want to go there. OTOH, a lot of the time, especially when dealing with carving out little slivers of territory for each shliach, or when having a new sub-mossad, there are a lot of advantages to having family. I believe in many ways it generally makes things cleaner and lower friction. (Of course in these cases, when it does go bad it goes really, really bad.)

[Yonah]

True, there are some times it's pretty bad, e.g. the head shliach who's "saving" that city in his state for when hopefully in a few years one of his kids will get married and might want to go there. OTOH, a lot of the time, especially when dealing with carving out little slivers of territory for each shliach, or when having a new sub-mossad, there are a lot of advantages to having family. I believe in many ways it generally makes things cleaner and lower friction. (Of course in these cases, when it does go bad it goes really, really bad.)

A long time ago, our shul had a guest speaker who was a sociology professor. He talked about the establishment of community kollels for kiruv, and what lessons they learned from Chabad. One of the things he pointed out, was that they realized one of the hard things about Chabad Shluchim was that they were literally in many cases the only frum family in their area and had little or no support. The idea for the kollels was to have at least 3-4 families to provide support for one another as they established the kollel. (I think they also did it for continuity's sake, as not all of those families who started out there remained, so if they turned over a couple every 3-4 years, there'd still be continuity).

I think that's the benefit you're referring to. Agreed, that it could be helpful and hurtful. I imagine it's one thing to start getting supported by your parents balei batim, but at some point you might find yourself battling for dollars too.