The Lubavitcher Rebbe

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, zt"l

(April 18,1902 - June 12,1994)   

   The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known simply and lovingly as "the Rebbe," has cast the warm glow of his sanctified existence, his Solomonic wisdom, his vision for a world perfected, and his sensitivity and love for humanity, over the lives of millions, to the farthest reaches of the world. Through his inspired vision, the Rebbe endowed Jews with a passion for the good and the G-dly, and the means to understand that the good and the G-dly are inherent in the world and within each person. It is a vision that will inspire the world for generations to come.

From his early years in Nikolaev, Russia, where he was born in 1902, the Rebbe displayed a prodigious mind and a sensitivity to human suffering. Educated by private tutor as a child, and then at the University of Berlin and the Sorbonne, the Rebbe exhibited an extraordinary breadth and depth of knowledge, was gifted in the sciences, and had a remarkable fluency in many languages.

But it was in the Torah, the Talmud, in both the exoteric and esoteric realms of Torah and Judaism, that the Rebbe's erudition and brilliance provided fundamental and original insights to Jewish scholarship. Indeed, more than 200 major volumes of the Rebbe's prolific writing and discourses have already been published; more are on the way.

In all his talks, as well as in his innovative, worldwide ubiquitous mitzvah campaigns, one discerns a unifying system which binds the physical to the spiritual, and empowers every individual to actualize their potential to impact their immediate surroundings, their community, and ultimately, the world, through their even small acts of kindness.

It is truly impossible to gauge the scope of this great leader. He never took a day off in 42 years. He rarely slept. He fasted most days while praying for the hundreds of thousands of people who beseeched him to intervene on their behalf. He also inspired his followers and admirers with his incredible activism, devotion, foresight and leadership. He always saw what others did not and did what others saw not.

Well before activities on behalf of Soviet Jews became a popular cause, the Rebbe quietly and effectively worked to save lives. Well before the demonstrations and sit-ins began to make news, the Rebbe had established a clandestine network of Chasidim to supply money, food, clothing, and spiritual support to the thousands of Jews suffocating physically and spiritually under communism's boot.

While the prophets of doom talked of the vanishing Jew -- through intermarriage and assimilation -- the Rebbe, in contrast, established bold and daring programs to reach out to those people who otherwise would be lost to the Jewish people. When others had given up, the Rebbe always discerned even a small ray of hope and enlarged that hope so that everyone could share in it, and draw strength from it.

And as always, at every step, regardless of the idea or project, there were voices of opposition to the Rebbe's movement toward a better, saner and more G-dly world. Never inhibited by these voices, the Rebbe persisted, and prevailed. He has left a legacy of thousands of educational institutions, humanitarian projects and outreach centers the world over. As it is impossible to gauge the scope of the Rebbe as a person, so it is impossible to gauge the impact of his world wide achievements. Millions are inclined to a better life of goodness and meaning, due to his counsel.

The above biography was taken (and briefly edited) from the Chabad website