LUBAVITCH FOUNDATION, 28555 MIDDLEBELT RD., FARMINGTON HILLS, MI. 48018 Celebrating the Rebbe's 85th Birthday Lubavitch, was translated into action, as Lubavitch Centers and Chabad Houses were opened in dozens of cities across the United States. Many of the Rebbe's achievements have shaped so deeply the development of post-war Judaism that we hardly think of them as Lubavitch at all. The Jewish day-school movement, of which Lubavitch was one of the earliest pioneers, has wrecked the once- prevalent ideology that Jewish education was a kind of dutiful appendage to the "real business" of acquiring a secular culture. The idea, in which Lubavitch was for so long alone, of resuscitating dying communities by sending out a resident nucleus of religious families, has been widely copied by yeshivas in America and abroad. Some 100 cities in 36 states in the United States and 5 provinces in Canada now have Lubavitch institutions or centers. In the Holy Land, Kfar Chabad — the Lubavitch ci- ty near Tel Aviv, became a unique educational center for thousands of Jewish Youth, and the headquarters for Lubavitch activities throughout Israel. A huge net- work of diversified Lubavitcher educational institutions dot that entire country. Lubavitch institutions have been established in coun- tries on six continents. The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, world leader of-the Chabad-Lubavitch Movement, has been -described as the most phenomenal Jewish personality of our time. To his tens of thousands of Chassidim and hundreds of thousands- of sympathizers and admirers around the world, he is "the Rebbe," today's most domi- nant figure in Judaism and, undoubtedly, the one in- dividual more than any other singularly responsible for stirring the conscience and spiritual awakening of world Jewry. These institutions monitor the pulsebeat of Jewish life in their respective communities and countries, and contribute to their spiritual health and stability. Direc- tors report to Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York. The Rebbe is the person who guides each individual towards his/her particular role: who, by standing above the partiality of ego, taking a global view of the pro- blems of the world, sees where the individual belongs. His brilliant insights into the human experience and world events, his genuine compassion for others, his strong leadership and his profound endless flow of genius shedding new light on the entire intricate spec- trum of Jewish scholarship, have made him a legend in his lifetime, and won him the admiration, respect and awe of all those who have come to know him. Under his leadership, Lubavitch has grown to be a worldwide presence. In all its varied activities is stamped the vision of one man: the Rebbe. And yet his personality remains curiously opaque. The word "Lubavitch" evokes many associations. Above all, however, it signifies the Rebbe. Followers travel thousands of miles for a brief audience. His public addresses are attended by thousands. They are relayed live by a communications nerve-center that links listeners and viewers across the world with - the Rebbe in his headquarters on Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn. There is a story told about his early life that seems to be almost symbolic of everything that was to follow. When he was nine years old, the young Menachem Mendel dived into the Black Sea to save the life of another boy who had fallen from the deck of a moored ship. That sense of other lives in danger seems to have dominated his consciousness ever since a sense of Jews drowning, and no one hearing their cries for help, Jews on campus, in isolated communities, under repressive regimes. 60 Brooklyn, N.Y.: Paul Borman presents the Lubavit- cher Rebbe with a copy of Governor Blanchard's declaration in honor of the Rebbe's birthday. Look- ing on is David Chase of Hartford, Connecticut, Lubavitch National Chairman. In 1929 Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, mar- ried the second daughter of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchake Schneerson, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rebbet- zin Chaya Moussia, in Warsaw. He later studied in the University of Berlin and then at the Sorbonne in Paris. It may have been there that his formidable knowledge of mathematics, medicine and the sciences began to blossom. Born in 1902, on the 11th day of Nissan, in Nikolaev, Russia, the Rebbe is the son of the renowned Kabbalist and Talmudic scholar, the late Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, and Rebbetzin Chana, as well as the great- grandson of the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, and his namesake, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch. In 1941 he emigrated to the United States. Shortly thereafter the Rebbe began writing his notations to various Chassidic and Kabbalistic treatises, as well as a wide range of responsa on Torah subjects. With publications of these works his genius was soon recognized by scholars throughout the world. From early childhood he displayed a prodigious men- tal acuity. By the time he reached his Bar Mitzvah, the Rebbe was considered an `illuy, a Torah prodigy. He spent his teen-age years immersed in the study of Torah. In 1950, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, reluctantly ascended to the leadership of the Lubavitch movement. Soon, Lubavitch institutions and activities took on new dimensions. The outreaching philosophy of Chabad- Friday, May 15, 1987 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS • HOLD THE DATE! • DINNER-CONCERT Tuesday, September 16, 1987 Masonic Temple Featuring Itzhak Perlman Tickets $125 Tables $1250 March along with .. . the GREAT LAG toot agar Ages 4 to 104! SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2:00 P.M. Jewish Community Center at 6600 W. Maple, W. Bloomfield