As Chabad shluchim prepare to travel to New York for the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries, the Kinus Hashluchim, new figures show the movement continuing to grow across Eretz Yisroel.
According to data released ahead of the conference, 1,401 shluchim now run 984 active Chabad Houses throughout Israel under Tzeirei Agudas Chabad. Since last year’s kinus, 68 new couples have joined the network of shluchim in Israel, and 40 new Chabad Houses have opened in communities and neighborhoods around the country. Worldwide, the movement now counts more than 6,000 shluchim families.
In recent weeks, shluchim across Israel have gathered for farbrengens ahead of the trip, joining together for learning and mutual encouragement to strengthen their hiskashrus to the Rebbe and their dedication to their work.
These gatherings are part of the spiritual preparation for the kinus itself, where shluchim from posts around the world come together, draw strength from one another, and return to their communities with renewed energy.
The high point of the conference is the shluchim’s joint visit to the Ohel, the Rebbe’s resting place in Queens, where a collective pan, or letter of request, is read aloud and the shluchim daven and seek strength for the year of shlichus ahead.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Aharonov, chairman of Tzeirei Agudas Chabad in Israel, said that the growth to more than 1,400 shluchim families, including 68 new couples and 40 new Chabad Houses since the last kinus, reflects the continued momentum of shlichus in the Holy Land.
“Hundreds of shluchim are working to illuminate the world with the light of Torah and Chassidus,” he said. “Together we are strengthening the work of the shluchim, whose purpose, in the Rebbe’s words, is to bring Moshiach and the true and complete geulah.”
