Kinus Hashluchim Draws 6,500 as Global Chabad Network Marks a Year of Challenge and Growth

The 42nd International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim) concluded this week with a gathering in Edison, N.J., bringing together 6,500 shluchim and guests from every corner of the globe. The annual event, which continued afterward with a farbrengen at 770 in Brooklyn, framed a year marked by global uncertainty but also unprecedented Jewish engagement.

The Kinus is the central meeting point for Chabad’s worldwide network, whose emissaries serve on campuses, in cities, and in remote communities across more than 100 countries. Organizers say this year’s gathering underscored a shared determination to meet rising challenges with growth, guided by the Rebbe’s message to respond to darkness by increasing light.

The evening opened with a musical montage tracing the movement’s mission to bring Godliness to every Jew and every corner of the world. It set the tone for a program centered on resilience, leadership and the global impact of shluchim.

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, 91, chairman of Chabad’s educational and social-service arms, greeted the crowd and pointed to new data showing that the largest increase in Jewish engagement since Oct. 7 has taken place among Jews connected with Chabad. He noted that across continents, Jews seeking community and spiritual grounding have found it at local Chabad centers.

One of the night’s first presentations came from Rabbi Yaakov Raskin of Jamaica, who survived Hurricane Melissa in October and immediately turned to help others. He described barricading his doors with beds as violent winds battered the island, and the strength he drew from the Rebbe’s teachings. “Even as the walls shook, I knew I was not alone,” he said. “I remembered the Rebbe’s words: A Jew does not find himself in a situation. A Jew makes a situation.” He connected his experience to the weekly Parsha, urging emissaries to continue “digging wells” of spiritual nourishment wherever they serve.

The program then highlighted the story of Staff Sgt. Ben Craig, a U.S. Marine who discovered his Jewish identity while stationed in Japan. Chabad chaplain Rabbi Levy Pekar recalled inviting Craig for Shabbat, sparking a transformative journey. “In the Air Force, we say, service before self,” Pekar said. “Today, we reflect on the Rebbe’s deep concern for those who served in uniform. He understood that … nothing stands in his way until the mission is accomplished—just like a shliach!” With military chaplains from all service branches on stage, he presented Craig with a mezuzah for his new Jewish home.

Following this was the completion of a Torah scroll dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, whose leadership had long animated the Kinus. As the scribe filled in the final letters, the room rose in song.

This led into the annual roll call. With the movement’s reach now spanning more than 100 nations, organizers this year called out regions and continents rather than individual countries, reflecting Chabad’s exponential growth. The hall erupted when the host declared, “A round of applause for the whole wide world.”

Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, director of the Kinus, spoke about the driving force behind the shluchim. “Every shliach represents and transmits these ideals. By immersing themselves in the Rebbe’s Torah, studying it, crystallizing it, and internalizing it, they align their worldview with the Rebbe’s own,” he said. “The Rebbe’s vision of mankind, of the Jewish soul, of what the world can become, this is the essence of what people admire in Chabad. In truth, they are marveling at the Rebbe’s perspective, reflected through his shluchim.”

Rabbi Naftali Rot of Yerushalayim added that “This year’s Kinus Hashluchim is truly extraordinary,” he said. “This year, the shluchim, together with all of Klal Yisroel, rejoice in the miracles Hashem has performed in Eretz Yisrael, foremost among them the return of the hostages.”

As the final letters of the Torah were completed, the room burst into spontaneous dancing in an expression of joy that, as attendees emphasized, will continue radiating across continents in the days and weeks ahead.