Celebrating Gains in Jewish Life at Largest Ever Chabad Conference

More than six thousand rabbis and their supporters are due to arrive in Brooklyn, New York, this weekend for the 36th International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries. After two years of scaled-down events due to Covid-19, this year’s conference will set attendance records.

Generally referred to as the “Kinus Hashluchim”, the conference will culminate on Sunday night in New Jersey with what may be one of the largest sit-down dinners ever to take place, anywhere. The conference begins on Wednesday, November 16, at Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn. Over the course of the five-day event, emissaries from around the world will have the opportunity to meet their colleagues and enjoy each other’s company in a setting of camaraderie at their “home base.”  In addition, they will choose from an impressive menu of courses and workshops, many that are led by experts in their respective fields, related to their communal and educational activities. Among them, applied rabbinics, chaplaincy, mental health, fundraising, and building more resilient communities.

Underscoring Chabad’s continued growth amid a time of uncertainty around the world are the one-hundred-and-twenty families who joined the ranks of Chabad emissaries. This, states Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky,  Vice Chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, “makes Judaism more accessible than ever before, bringing Chabad’s educational and community programs to cities like Tel Aviv, Israel and Phoenix, Arizona, as well as to remote Jewish communities like Billings, Montana and S. Teresa, Costa Rica.” Chabad’s expanded footprint is one reason the 36th conference is shaping up to be the largest ever, with nearly 6,500 participants.

For Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman of Lubavitch’s Educational and Social Services Divisions, the movement’s success is a testament to the vision of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. “The past year has brought all too many new challenges,” he said, “but as a movement, the Rebbe taught us to see the silver lining and the hidden opportunity within the greatest difficulties.”

The gala banquet on Sunday night will feature a keynote address by legendary businessman and philanthropist, and a pillar of support and household name at Chabad centers around the world, Mr. George Rohr. 

The banquet, perhaps best known for its roll call, will conclude with the announcement of all 5,520 Chabad emissary families by name and the city they serve.