Hailing from as far away as Laos and Angola, Ghana and Uzbekistan, more than 3,000 Chabad-Lubavitch women emissaries and communal leaders from around the world arrived in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., for multiple days of activities at the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchos).
This year’s Kinus takes place from Thursday, Feb. 13, to Monday, Feb. 17. The annual event aims to bolster Jewish awareness and practice around the world. Preconceived notions about the insular role of women in Chassidic life will go by the wayside, organizers say, as thousands of women from around the world, each serving in crucial leadership positions, gather for five days of brainstorming about the future of world Jewry and their roles as representatives of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
The leaders, known as shluchos (emissaries), who embrace multiple roles and responsibilities, will explore both timeless and timely issues, and learn from professionals and colleagues with years of experience.
Dini Freundlich—co-director of Chabad of Beijing, China, with her husband, Rabbi Shimon Freundlich—will serve as keynote speaker at the conference’s gala banquet on Sunday night, and will describe Chabad’s role in serving communities facing the COVID-19 coronavirus in China and in other affected locales around the world.
In addressing the integral role of a shlucha, Freundlich tells Chabad.org that “as women, we have every ability to be part of the mission and dream of the Rebbe [Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory]. We should each find areas we shine in—our creative side, social side, academic side—each woman and each of her daughters.
“We all have a responsibility to make the world a better place, to spread the love and warmth and message of the Rebbe.”
Coming in the wake of a series of anti-Semitic tragedies, including the April 2019 shooting at a Chabad center in Poway, Calif., that left one dead and three others injured, the leaders will take part in seminars and workshops on such topics as combating anti-Semitism, the pressing need for moral education and fostering Jewish pride in the face of growing hostility.
Other topics run the gamut of community concerns: assisting troubled relationships, adult education, inclusion, responding to loss, fundraising, the opioid epidemic and mental health. The gathering will also host a conference within the conference for Hebrew school and preschool directors, as well as one for those who serve students on college campuses, ensuring a lasting impact on the next generation of communal leaders.
Programs for Young People and Communal Leaders
A parallel program runs for Young Shluchos, daughters of Chabad emissaries, with a complete schedule and separate bunking quarters. Like their mothers, they will be enmeshed in workshops, general learning programs and group activities, while Friday continues with similar programming until candle-lighting and Shabbat dinner with host families.
Beginning on Thursday, two concurrent programs will be held for guests. One program recommended for first-time visitors and participants includes workshops, group sessions, a farbrengen (informal Chabad gathering), and tours of Crown Heights and the Jewish Children Museum. A more in-depth program for repeat participants focuses on more text-based study programs.
Shabbat will be a day of celebration, Torah study, prayer and discussion for all, complete with a farbrengen, followed by the Havdalah ceremony marking the end of Shabbat and the beginning of a new week, and a melaveh malkah (the meal held after the conclusion of the Sabbath).
Sunday will combine a day of workshops for emissaries and guests, culminating with a gala banquet. Highlighting the remarkable diversity of Jewish communities served by Chabad, emissaries from around the world will offer snapshots of their work during the dinner. The evening will also highlight the lives and work of women who recently returned to the traditions of their ancestors, as well as high school girls who proudly carry the unbroken traditions of millennia.
The banquet will be broadcast live on Chabad.org beginning at 5:30 p.m Eastern Standard Time on Sunday.
The conference is a tribute to the legacy of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, of righteous memory, the esteemed wife of the Rebbe, and is timed to coincide with the anniversary of her passing on 22 Shevat, corresponding this year to Monday, Feb. 17.
On Monday, the conference will conclude with a visit to the Ohel at the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, N.Y., the resting place of the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin. Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life come from around the world to the Rebbe’s resting place for blessing, spiritual guidance and inspiration each year, and the women and girls will arrive with prayers and petitions for themselves, their families, friends, communities and the world.
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