Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 05, 1902 – June 12, 1994), known to adherents of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or simply the Rebbe,Noah Feldman, June 25, 2014 "Remembering a Force in Jewish History" , BloombergViewShmuly Yanklowitz, Rabbi Telushkin's Newest Book on the Lubavitcher Rebbe: A Testament to Greatness Huffington Post, May 30, 2014. was an Orthodox rabbi, alleged Messiah claimant, and the Rebbe of the Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty. He is considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century.Matt Flegenheimer, "Thousands Descend on Queens on 20th Anniversary of Grand Rebbe’s Death" , The New York TimesSteve Langford, "Crowds Flock To Queens To Remember Influential Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson" , CBS New York
As leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, he took an insular Hasidic group that almost came to an end with the Holocaust and transformed it into one of the most influential movements in religious Jewry, with an international network of over 5,000 educational and social centers. The institutions he established include kindergartens, schools, drug-rehabilitation centers, care homes for disabled people, and synagogues.
Schneerson's published teachings fill more than 400 volumes, and he is noted for his contributions to Jewish continuity and religious thought,The Messiah of Brooklyn: Understanding Lubavitch Hasidim Past and Present, M. Avrum Ehrlich, p. 106. KTAV Publishing, as well as his wide-ranging contributions to traditional Torah scholarship.Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Vice President of the Orthodox Union. "The Contributions of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to Torah Scholarship" . Jewish Action Magazine He is recognized as the pioneer of Jewish outreach.Susan Handelman, The Lubavitcher Rebbe Died 20 Years Ago Today. Who Was He? , Tablet Magazine During his lifetime, many of his adherents believed that he was the Messiah, though not all Chabadniks subscribe to this belief. His own attitude to the subject, and whether he proclaimed it, is hotly debated among academics and scholars of Judaism. During Schneerson's lifetime, the messianic controversy and other issues elicited fierce criticism from many quarters in the Orthodox world, from Israel's Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to Elazar Shach.
In 1978, the U.S. Congress asked President Jimmy Carter to designate Schneerson's birthday as the national Education Day in the U.S. It has been since commemorated as Education and Sharing Day.Joseph Telushkin, Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History. HarperCollins, 2014. pp.30–36.Fishkoff, Sue. The Rebbe's Army, Schoken, 2003 (08052 11381). Page 192. In 1994, Schneerson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his "outstanding and lasting contributions toward improvements in world education, morality, and acts of charity". Schneerson's resting place attracts Jews for prayer.Sarah Maslin Nir, Jews Make a Pilgrimage to a Grand Rebbe's Grave . September 13, 2013, The New York Times.Matt Flegenheimer, Thousands Beat Path to Queens Cemetery to Remember a Jewish Leader . July 1, 2014. The New York Times.Menachem Butler, Visiting the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Grave in Queens, N.Y. Tablet Magazine, July 2, 2014.
Biography Early life and education
Menachem Mendel Schneerson was born on April 5, 1902 (OS) (11 Nisan, 5662), in the Black Sea port of Nikolaev in the Russian Empire (now Mykolaiv in Ukraine).Joseph Telushkin, Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History. HarperCollins, 2014. Page 455 His father was rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, a renowned Talmudic scholar and authority on Kabbalah and Jewish law.Introduction to Likkutei Levi Yitzchak, Kehot Publications 1970 His mother was Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson (). He was named after the third Chabad rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Tzemach Tzedek, from whom he was a direct patrilineal descendant.
In 1907, when Schneerson was five years old, the family moved to Yekaterinoslav, where Levi Yitzchak was appointed Chief Rabbi of the city. He served until 1939, when he was exiled by the Soviets - who were anti-religion - for five years to KazakhstanShmuel Marcus, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson – A brief biography for his activities on behalf of strengthening Judaism in the Soviet Union. Schneerson had two younger brothers: Dov Ber Schneerson, who was murdered in 1944 by Nazi collaborators, and Yisroel Aryeh Leib Schneerson, who died in 1952 while completing doctoral studies at Liverpool University.
During his youth, he received a private education and was tutored by Zalman Vilenkin from 1909 through 1913. When Schneerson was 11 years old, Vilenkin informed his father that he had nothing more to teach his son.Chana Vilenkin, Zalman's daughter on "The Early Years Vol I". Jewish Educational Media 2006, segment Nikolaev, Russia 1902. (UPC 874780 000525) At that point, Levi Yitzchak began teaching his son Talmud and rabbinic literature, as well as Kabbalah. Schneerson proved gifted in both Talmudic and Kabbalistic study and also took exams as an external student of the local Soviet school.Adin Steinsaltz, My Rebbe. Maggid Books, page 24 He was considered an illui and genius, and by the time he was 17, he had mastered the entire Talmud, some 5,422 pages, as well as all its early commentaries.Slater, Elinor, "Great Jewish Men", , page 277.
Throughout his childhood, Schneerson was involved in the affairs of his father's office. He was also said to have acted as an interpreter between the Jewish community and the Russian authorities on a number of occasions.Schneerson, Chana, A Mother in Israel Kehot Publications, 1983. , page 13. Levi Yitzchak's courage and principles guided his son for the rest of his life. Many years later, when he once reminisced about his youth, Schneerson said, "I have the education of the first-born son of the rabbi of Yekaterinoslav. When it comes to saving lives, I speak up whatever others may say."Adin Steinsaltz, My Rebbe. Maggid Books, 2014. Page 25.
Schneerson went on to receive separate rabbinical ordinations from the Rogatchover Gaon, Joseph Rosen,Selegson, Michoel A. Introduction to From Day to Day, English translation of the Hayom Yom, , p. A20. and Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, author of Sridei Aish.Dovid Zaklikowsky, Details of the Rebbes Rabbinical Ordination Authenticated. January 21, 2013.
Marriage and family life In 1923, Schneerson visited the sixth Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, for the first time. He met the rabbi's middle daughter Chaya Mushka, who was a distant cousin. Sometime later, they became engaged but were not married until 1928 in Warsaw, Poland. Taking great pride in his son-in-law's outstanding scholarship, Yosef Yitzchak asked him to engage in learned conversation with the great Torah scholars present at the wedding, such as Meir Shapiro and Menachem Ziemba.Chaim Rapoport The Afterlife of Scholarship: A Critical Review of 'The Rebbe' by Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman, Oporto Press, 2011, , p. 77. Menachem Mendel and Chaya Mushka were married for 60 years and were childless.Dara Horn, June 13, 2014 "Rebbe of Rebbe's" . Book Review 'Rebbe' by Joseph Telushkin and 'My Rebbe' by Adin Steinsaltz, The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
Menachem Mendel and Yosef Yitzchak were both descendants of Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, known as the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Chabad.Chana Schneerson, "Memoirs of Rebbetzin Chana – Part 34" Kehot, 2011. Schneerson later commented that the day of his marriage bound the community to him and him to the community.Eli Rubin, "High Holidays in Riga: Self and Community"
In 1947, Schneerson traveled to Paris to take his mother, Chana Schneerson, back to New York City with him.Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History. HarperCollins, 2014. Page 475 Schneerson would visit her every day and twice each Friday to also prepare her tea.Chana Schneerson, My Son Visits Every Day. In 1964, Chana Schneerson died.Joseph Telushkin, Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History. HarperCollins, 2014. Page 488.
On February 10, 1988, Schneerson's wife Chaya Mushka died.The New York Times "Chaya Schneerson" , February 11, 1988 After the traditional year of Jewish mourning had passed on her Yahrzheit, the widowed Schneerson moved into his study above the central Lubavitch synagogue on Eastern Parkway.Alan Feuer, January 14, 2009 "No One There, but This Place Is Far From Empty" The New York Times
Berlin
After his wedding to Chaya Mushka in 1928, Schneerson and his wife moved to Berlin in the Weimar Republic (now part of Germany), where he was assigned specific communal tasks by his father-in-law, who also requested that he write scholarly annotations to the responsa (also known as teshuvot) and various Hasidic discourses of the earlier Rebbes of Chabad-Lubavitch. Schneerson studied higher mathematics, physics, and philosophy at the University of Berlin,"The Early Years Volume II (1931–1938)" Jewish Educational Media, 2006 (UPC 74780 00058) and reportedly in his philosophy class he scored the highest grade in the history of the university. He would later recall that he enjoyed Erwin Schrödinger's lectures.Eli Rubin, "Studies in Berlin: Science, Torah & Quantum Theory" His father-in-law facilitated his secular studies, including paying his tuition expenses. His engineering education subsequently helped facilitate his immigration to the United States, as immigration authorities were advised to identify his as a engineer.
During his stay in Berlin, his father-in-law encouraged him to become more of a public figure. However, Schneerson described himself as an introvert and was known to have pleaded with acquaintances not to make a fuss over the fact that he was the son-in-law of Yosef Yitzchak.Joseph Telushkin, Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History. HarperCollins, 2014. Page 465.
While in Berlin, Schneerson met Joseph B. Soloveitchik, and the two formed a friendship that remained between them years later when they emigrated to America. He wrote hundreds of pages of his own original Torah discourses,Menachem. M. Schneerson, Reshimot. Kehot Publication Society, 1994–2003 and conducted a serious interchange of halachic correspondence with many of Eastern Europe's leading rabbinic figures, including Joseph Rosen.Likkutei Levi Yitzchak Igrot Kodesh, Kehot Publication Society, 1972 In 1933, he also met with Chaim Elazar Spira, as well as with Talmudist Shimon Shkop. During this time, he kept a diary in which he would carefully document his private conversations with his father-in-law, as well as his kabbalistic correspondence with his father, Levi Yitzchak.The Rebbe's Early Years Ch. 5, Pg. 326 (Oberlander, 2012)
Paris In 1933, after the Nazis took over Germany, the Schneersons left Berlin and moved to Paris, where Menachem Mendel (known as "RaMash" before accepting the leadership of Chabad) continued his religious and communal activities on behalf of his father-in-law.
While in Paris, he took a two-year course in mechanical and electrical engineering at a vocational college.haaretz.com "While in Paris he acquired his only formal education: he took a two year vocational course in electrical engineering at a Montparnase Vocational College where he achieved mediocre grades." After this, he studied mathematics at the prestigious Sorbonne University.