The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Chabad Lubavitch Movement since 1950, universally transformed the vision of Judaism.
Considered the most influential figure in the Jewish world, the Rebbe was born on April 18, 1902 (Nisan 11, 5662) in Nikolaiev, a city in southern Ukraine.
His father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, was a renowned Kabbalistic and Talmudic scholar and the Chief Rabbi of Yecaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovsk). From his earliest childhood, the Rebbe demonstrated prodigious intelligence, necessitating his departure from school for private tutoring. By his Bar Mitzvah, he was considered a Torah prodigy, and during his teenage years, he immersed himself in the intricacies of Torah study and prayer.
In 1923 he met his future father-in-law, the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Itzjak Schneerson, who introduced him to his environment, giving him several responsibilities; five years later, he married his second daughter, Chaia Mushka (1901 - 1988).
Later, the couple moved to Berlin, where the Rebbe studied Mathematics and Science at the University of Berlin.
In 1933, fleeing the Nazis, he moved to Paris, where he continued his studies at the Sorbonne. He devoted himself primarily to prayer and religious study.
On June 23, 1941, the Rebbe arrived in New York. The previous Rebbe appointed him to oversee Chabad Lubavitch's educational institutions and the organization of social movements.
In 1950, the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, passed away. Although the Rebbe was the obvious successor, he initially refused to accept the mantle of leadership. Only a year later did he formally assume the title of Rebbe.
For the next four decades, the Rebbe, with rare exceptions, went far beyond his home, his mother's house, the synagogue, and the grave of the previous Rebbe. He never took a day off, leading the Chabad Lubavitch Movement from a small community devastated by the Holocaust into a global movement. Through the establishment of more than 2,500 emissaries and 2,000 institutions employing over 35,000 people in 40 countries across six continents, he changed the face of Judaism in the modern era.
In academic terms, his more than 200 volumes of speeches and lectures influence the way the Torah is studied throughout the world.
The Rebbe passed away on June 12, 1994 (3 Tammuz 5754), a day on which the world wept.
The Rebbe continues to influence and guide us through his messengers and teachings, through a Movement that continues to flourish to this day.