Biography of Rabbi Menachem-Mendel Shneerson (1902–1994)
Rabbi Menachem-Mendel Shneerson, the leader (Rebbe) of the Lubavich movement of Chassidic Judaism for 44 years, was a remarkable man. During all the years of his activity he practically never left his neighborhood but his influence encompassed the whole world. He was considered one of the most prominent theologists of the world, and also was an outstanding scholar in mathematics and science. Some saw him as an Old Testament leader acting within the confines of an isolated community but in fact he was well-informed of all the events of the modern world; with genuine enthusiasm he addressed all the people, both Jews and non-Jews, stimulating their striving for virtuous life, education and unity.
Menachem-Mendel Shneerson was born on April 18, 1902, (11 of Nissan, 5662 from creation of the world) in Nikolaev, a little town in the South of Ukraine. His father Rabbi Levi-Itschok was a well-known learned theologist, his mother Rebetsin Chana was from a respected rabbinical family. Menachem-Mendel had two younger brothers – Dovber and Isroel-Arje-Leib. When the oldest son was 5, the family moved to Yekaterinoslav where the father of the family was invited as the Chief Rabbi. The Rebbe spent his childhood and youth in Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk).
Outstanding gifts of Menachem-Mendel became evident in his early childhood. His parents took him home from school and hired private teachers. At bar-mizvah he was already considered a wunderkind, a brilliant expert on Torah. While growing up he deeper and deeper immersed into the studies of Torah refinements. In 1923 he met Yosef-Itschok Shneerson, the Lubavicher Rebbe, and joined his nearest entourage fulfilling various duties for the Rebbe. Five years later in Warsaw Menachem-Mendel married the eldest daughter of the Rebbe – Chaia-Mushka (1901–1988). Soon after that the couple moved to Berlin where Rabbi Menachem-Mendel started his studies of mathematics and science at Berlin University. In 1933 when the Nazis came to power in Germany the young Rabbi and his wife went to Paris and Menachem-Mendel continued his education at Sorbonne. But his main pursuit was prayer and religious studies. Rebbe Yosef-Itschok who moved to New-York in many cases took advice from his son-in-law, in particular in cases connected with publication of the Lubavich literature. He also authorized Menachem-Mendel as his personal secretary to hold meetings with many Jewish leaders in Europe.
When the Nazis occupied France the Shneersons were forced to leave Paris. On June 23, 1941, they arrived to New York by boat. Here Rabbi Yosef-Itschok Shneerson made his son-in-law the leader of the educational system of Lubavich movement as well as the system of social assistance. In addition to that Menachem-Mendel also controlled publishing of Lubavich literature.
In 1950 the sixth Lubavicher Rebbe passed away. Rabbi Menachem-Mendel was his obvious successor but he agreed to officially lead the movement only a year later. While accepting the title of the Rebbe he promised to the members of Lubavich movement to conscientiously lead the community but emphasized that every man and every woman should finally be responsible for their actions, for taking the course indicated by G-d.
During the next 44 years, when the Rebbe was the leader of Lubavich movement, it turned from an insignificant organization the majority of which members died during Holocaust into a movement uniting over 200 thousand followers all over the world. Being aware of specific needs of the new generation and foreseeing public revival in the nearest decades the Rebbe set to create educational centers, programs of social and humanitarian aid for the needy regardless of their faith and origin. He sent his emissaries (shluchim) to every nook and cranny of the world instructing them to establish Chabad Lubavich centers aimed at satisfying spiritual and material needs of local Jewish communities. Currently in 35 countries on six continents there are over 1,400 of such centers.
Having combined deep theological and scientific knowledge with genuine compassion to people and remarkable shrewdness the Rebbe has become the leader to whom came major political and religious figures, important businessmen. Since 1986 every Sunday he received thousands of visitors and gave to them one-dollar notes in order to encourage charity. Many people keep those notes as souvenirs of their meeting with the Rebbe and the proof of the influence of the meeting on them.
In 1992, when the Rebbe was 90, he was paralyzed as the result of a new stroke and on June 12, 1994 he passed away. Soon after that congressmen Charles Shumer, John Lewis, Newt Gingrich and Jerry Lewis offered to the house of representatives a draft law on posthumous decoration of Rabbi Menachem-Mendel Shneerson with the Gold Medal of the Congress. Both houses of the Congress unanimously accepted the law and gave the Rebbe his due for “outstanding and long-term contribution into improvement of educational system, strengthening of morality in the world and organization of international charity events”.
From «To Life Full of Meaning»
(Compiled by Simon Jacobson. «Lechaim», M., 1999)