(Yiddish, time spent together)- Term used by the Hasidim of Lubavitch to denote gatherings at which there are eating, drinking, singing and discussion of Hasidic teachings. The Hebrew expression for fabrengen is Hitvaadut.
There are two kinds of fabrengen: the fabrengen at the yeshiva, in which the mashpia (instructor in Hasidism) is surrounded by students and is the only speaker, and the fabrengen of older Hasidim, in which an old Hasid presides over a number of speakers.
A special fabrengen is one that is presided over by the rebbe. In Russia, in the days of R. Shalom Dov Baer, fabrengen with the rebbe took place on rare occasions only: on Simchat Torah and on 19 Kislev, the anniversary of the release from prison of R. Shneur Zalman of Liady. There were also minor fabrengen on Purim, on Lag BaOmer, and on 12 Tammuz, the anniversary of the release of Rabbi Joseph Yitzchak Schneersohn from prison.
The Immediate past rebbe, R. Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, held numerous fabrengen on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the final day of the three pilgrim festivals, the Sabbath preceding a New Moon, on 19 Kislev, on 12 Tammuz, and on the anniversaries of the deaths of the rebbe’s parents. Since 1970, until the rebbe’s illness in 1991, the major fabrengens that did not fall on a Sabbath or Festival were broadcast live to Lubavitch groups around the world.
Encyclopedia of Hassidus, Entry “Fabrengen”