Regional Conventions Become a Hallmark of Rabbis Summer Schedules

Brooklyn, NY — More than 100 Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis gathered in Atlanta, Ga., earlier this month to inspire each other, discuss plans for the future and return to their communities – stretching from Texas to Puerto Rico – reenergized towards the task of reaching out to every single Jew.

The last time the Southeastern Regional Chabad-Lubavitch Conference of Shluchim, or emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, was held in Atlanta was 16 years ago. Since then, the very concept of gathering together Lubavitch rabbis according to the region they serve – set into motion by a directive from the Rebbe in the late 1980s – has gained traction to the point where 10 such conventions have taken place this summer alone.

According to Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, Chabad-Lubavitch’s educational arm, regional conventions indeed have evolved over the years. Their growth has paralleled the International Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries Conferences; starting out in the early 1980s as a relatively small affair, that convention has exploded in attendance, with more than 2,500 men turning out to Lubavitch World Headquarters every fall for the occasion, and an equal number of women during their conference in the winter.

“The regional conventions were small in the beginning,” Kotlarsky reported in Atlanta. “But here [in Atlana], for example, there are more than 100 emissaries. Lubavitch, with the Rebbe’s direction, has grown tremendously over the past 20 years.”

Article Continued (Chabad.org)