The Surprising Connection Between Mark Zuckerberg and the Lubavitcher Rebbe

In a recent interview with a Jewish magazine in the US, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a special connection he has to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, a bond that began before he was even born. "Before I was born, my parents had three daughters and my father wanted a son. They visited several doctors, but weren't successful. They were nearly at a total loss until a close family friend, who was affiliated with the Chabad movement, advised my father to seek the Rebbe's blessing." In 1982, Zuckerberg's father found himself in New York, the seat of the Rebbe. He waited in the long line, and when his turn came, he requested the Rebbe's blessing for a son. To his surprise, before granting the blessing, the Rebbe warmly asked whether he was observant of Torah and mitzvot. 

(Photo and composition: Hidabroot, Flash 90, Wikipedia)

When his father admitted he wasn't observant, the Rebbe explained to him the philosophy of Chabad and asked him to commit to giving the future son a Jewish education. "My father promised he would, and I was born less than 18 months after the Rebbe's blessing," Zuckerberg said with a smile. But the story doesn't end there: "When my bar mitzvah came, my father gave me that dollar bill he received from the Rebbe and passed along the message that came with it. I held on to the dollar, without giving it much thought. During my college years, the idea for Facebook began to form, and suddenly, I recalled what my father told me. I felt there was a connection between the Rebbe's message and my social network. When it was time to officially establish 'Facebook' as an active company, I felt it was time to use the dollar, and I deposited it in the bank on the day the company was founded."

"Though I'm not religious, I can vouch for this man's extraordinary intuition (referring to the Lubavitcher Rebbe - S.C), and I regret not having met him," Zuckerberg added at the end of the interview.