Aerial view of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, where this year's Kinus Hashluchim Banquet will be held.

5,200 Shluchim to Mark 20 Years Since Gimmel Tammuz

Chabad Lubavitch emissaries will begin arriving in New York next week from all parts of the world for the Kinus Hashluchim—the annual get-together of emissaries, their parents, friends and supporters, and a record number are expected to attend this year.

Organizers have spent more than six months planning for the Chabad showcase weekend, which is expected to draw more than 5,200 from more than 80 nations around the world. This includes preparing for the gala banquet on Sunday, Nov. 3, which will take place at a new and larger venue this year—the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a 110,000-square-foot warehouse near the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

The keynote speakers will be former U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, and Rabbi Dov Greenberg, co-director of the Rohr Chabad House–Jewish Student Center at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., has been selected to represent his fellow shluchim.

The theme of this year’s gathering, “Through Darkness a Shining Light”, will mark 20 years since Gimmel Tammuz, the anniversary of the passing of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, that will take place this coming year.

Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, chairman of the kinuscommittee and vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, noted that “the committee scoured the shluchim family and the long list of Chabad supporters and admirers to find two speakers that could accurately portray this year’s theme,” he said.

Lieberman, who served as senator from 1989 until his retirement in early 2013, first connected with Chabad-Lubavitch in his law school days at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

As he describes, a friend of his brought him to a farbrengen at 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

“I was entranced, if you will, with the fervor, with the spirit and with the sense of purpose,” recalled Lieberman. Speaking of the Rebbe, he said: “I was impressed … by his obvious spirituality, by his soaring intellect, by the extent to which he was involved in the world.”

Lieberman’s respect and reverence for the Rebbe turned him admirer immediately, supporter later, and seeker of advice and blessing throughout his public and political career. During one of his early political campaigns,Lieberman visited the Rebbe to seek his blessings.

According to Rabbi Yisrael Deren, regional director of Chabad-Lubavitch in Connecticut, “Joe Lieberman is a close friend with awesome respect for the Rebbe’s shluchim all over the world. His public career as a ShomerTorah U’mitzvot [a follower of Torah and observer of the commandments] in the highest pinnacles of government has made him a role model for many.”

Greenberg is often quoted for his insight as part of Shabbat sermons, classes and articles. His widely syndicated ability to morph difficult and complex Chassidic texts and topics into short, coherent articles and concepts have enabled many to share in the knowledge of Chassidic philosophy, say organizers.

11 Comments

  • So cool

    but… how do 1000 Shluchim go out every year? Each year the number goes up about 1000, but we never hear about who they are, what they do or what cities they operate in?

  • CR

    Can we please stop talking about “Gimmel Tammuz”? You make it sound like there was no such date on the calendar before 20 years ago. Call the event by what it really was; our dear Rebbe, after being with us for nearly a century and leading us for 43 years, passed from this world. Until we can come out and say so explicitly without hesitation we will remain the laughing stock of the world.

    And spare me the nonsense of “Yaakov lo meis” and various other such explanations gleaned after-the-fact.

    • Ezra

      Uh huh, CR. So I suppose by that logic, everyone who ever spoke of “Chof-Daled Teves,” “Yud Shevat,” etc., was also trying to hide the facts?

    • Ezra

      Dunno; why can’t Tisha B’Av be called “the date of the churban”? Obviously (sarcasm alert), people are in denial that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed…

    • CR

      Nobody ever referred to the act of the Babylonians or Romans torching the Bayis as “Tishah BeAv”. The name of the day did not become the proper noun for what actually happened. Closer to home, nobody ever uses “Yud Shvat” to refer to the FR’s histalkus. Yes, calling our Rebbe’s actual departure from this world “Gimel Tamuz” reveals denial.

    • Ezra

      Wrong, CR: I have heard elder chassidim speak of “Yud Shevat” in exactly that same way.