Menachem Mendel Schneerson: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively ← Previous edit Next edit →Content deleted Content addedVisual WikitextInline

Revision as of 23:33, 30 December 2002 editIZAK (talk \| contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, File movers, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers86,943 editsNo edit summary← Previous edit		Revision as of 23:39, 30 December 2002 edit undoIZAK (talk \| contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, File movers, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers86,943 editsNo edit summaryNext edit →
Line 36:		Line 36:
	*		*
	*		*
			*
	*		*

Revision as of 23:39, 30 December 2002

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson 1902 - 1994

In 1950 , upon the death of his father-in-law and cousin Rabbi Joseph Isaac (Yosef Yitzchok) Schneersohn b. 1880, and 6th Rebbe of the Lubavitch hasidim,(their names differed with the "h" in "so-h-n"); Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson known as "The Rebbe" became the 7th and last Lubavitcher rebbe, or paramount spiritual leader, of Chabad.

Steeped in the profoundest teachings of hasidic mysticism and possesed of a brilliant mind,after his marriage to Chaya Mushka,he went to study in Berlin, Germany where he obtained degrees at Heidelburg, and studied engineering at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. This was to give him a unique vantage point and appreciation of the workings of the modern scientific age.

In 1941 he escaped from France, and joined his father-inlaw in New York. They immediately began building a Jewish educational and hasidic outreach empire that had heretofore only been a fantasy. By the time of his death in 1994, he had overseen the training of thousands of young Chabad hasidic rabbis and their wives and sent them all over the world. Wherever their were Jews to be found, emmisarries, known as "shlichim" were sent to reach out to Jews who had few contacts with formal Judaism.They worked through a system of mitzva campaigns,such as keeping kosher , observing shabbat, learning more Torah , writing a Torah scroll, and belief in Moshiach , the coming of the Jewish Messiah, all the while stressing that it was Rabbi Schneerson himself who was pushing everyone to accomplish these things, which was basically correct.

They did this with the greatest of devotion to Rabbi Schneerson, believing implicitly in his vision, insight, and super-natural powers. He hardly ever left his home in a building in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn at 770 Eastern Parkway which became known as "770" Chabad world headquarters from where he directed and controlled all aspects of his emmisaries' work. They built schools, community centers, youth camps, colleg campus centers known as Chabad houses, and reached out to the most powerful Jewish lay leaders and non-Jewish government leaders wherever they found themselves. They were exceptionally succesful fundraisers for their causes. In acknowledgement of his work, the US Congress declared that the Rebbe's personal birthday April 18th,should be observed as Education Day USA in.

Many politicians would come pay homage to the mystical mind-penetrating rabbinical-sage at 770, and they would leave with insights and guidance pertaining to their policies and positions of leadership. By dint of charisma and magnetism and an emphasis on the Jewish laws of Ahavat Yisrael,of loving one's fellow Jews, and armed with many attractive hasidic teachings and texts especially the book of Tanya, the Lubavitchers won many adherents to their rebbe and to their cause.

Towards the end of his life, thousands of people would line up to receive a dollar and a quick blessing from him.His fame had spread far and wide and Jews of all persuasions were sympathetic to him and were quite often won over to becoming Orthodox Lubavitch hasidim or sending their children to Lubavitch run schools all over the world. In spite of the fact that following his death in 1994, some of his followers went so far as to openly declare their personal opinion about him to be the long awaited King Messiah, the Moshiach,the bulk of the movement has kept a lower profile about this; yet this has not stopped the growth of the movement which still serves as a magnet for any Baal teshuva who seeks them out and learns at their many programs, all of which still stress the centrality of the last Lubavitcher rebbe.No-one was named to succeed him, so he rules from the "beyond', whereby his voluminous writings are examined for their guidance in all situations.

Misplaced Pages