Lubavitcher Rebbe

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Hebrew: מנחם מנדל שניאורסון‎; Yiddish: מנחם מענדל שניאורסאהן‎; April 18, 1902 OS – June 12, 1994; AM 11 Nissan 5662 – 3 Tammuz 5754), known to many as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or simply as the Rebbe, was a Russian Empire–born American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, and the most recent rebbe of the Lubavitcher Hasidic dynasty. He is considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century.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 world Jewry, with an international network of over 3,000 educational and social centers. The institutions he established include kindergartens, schools, drug-rehabilitation centers, care-homes for the disabled and synagogues.Schneerson was known for his intelligence and strong memory. Many testimonies attribute the performance of miracles to Schneerson. Schneerson's published teachings fill more than 300 volumes, and he is noted for his contributions to Jewish continuity and religious thought, as well as his wide-ranging contributions to traditional Torah scholarship. He is recognized as the pioneer of Jewish outreach. During his lifetime, many of his adherents believed that he was the Messiah. Schneerson's own attitude to this subject and whether he explicitly encouraged this belief are debated among his followers and researchers alike. Many followers refused to accept the fact of his death after 1994. Since his death, Chabad has been torn between "Messianics" who openly declare he is alive, and "antis", who accept the fact of his death. A very small group within Chabad claims that Schneerson is not merely the Messiah but divine as well, "God and above God".In 1978, the U.S. Congress asked President Jimmy Carter to designate Schneerson's birthday as the national Education Day U.S.A. It has been since commemorated as Education and Sharing Day. In 1994, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his "outstanding and lasting contributions toward improvements in world education, morality, and acts of charity." Schneerson's resting place attracts Jews and non-Jews for prayer.