Menachem Mendel Schneerson[a] (April 5, 1902 OS – June 12, 1994; AM 11 Nissan 5662 – 3 Tammuz 5754), known to adherents of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or simply the Rebbe,[2][3] was a Russian-American Orthodox rabbi and the most recent Rebbe of the LubavitchHasidic dynasty. He is considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century.[4][5]
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,[6] with an international network of over 5,000 educational and social centers.[7][8][9] The institutions he established include kindergartens, schools, drug-rehabilitation centers, care-homes for the disabled, and synagogues.[10]
Schneerson's published teachings fill more than 400 volumes, and he is noted for his contributions to Jewish continuity and religious thought,[11] as well as his wide-ranging contributions to traditional Torah scholarship.[12] He is recognized as the pioneer of Jewish outreach.[13][14] During his lifetime, many of his adherents believed that he was the Messiah. His own attitude to the subject, and whether he openly encouraged this, is hotly debated among academics. During Schneerson's lifetime, the messianic controversy and other issues elicited fierce criticism from many quarters in the Orthodox world, especially earning him the enmity of Rabbi Elazar Shach.
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