The journey
From Nikolaev to Brooklyn
Menachem Mendel Schneerson was born on April 18, 1902, in Nikolaev. His father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, was an outstanding Torah scholar and Kabbalist, later exiled by the Soviet authorities; his mother, Rebbetzin Chana, came from a distinguished rabbinic family. From childhood he showed exceptional gifts both in Torah and in the exact sciences.
His path led through Nikolaev, Yekaterinoslav, Berlin and Paris, where he studied engineering, and brought him in 1941 to New York. There, in Brooklyn, a decade later, he became the one the world came to know as the Rebbe.
Timeline
Ninety-two years
1902
On April 18, in Nikolaev, Menachem Mendel is born, the son of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson.
1928
In Warsaw he marries Chaya Mushka, daughter of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak. This marriage binds his fate to the Chabad dynasty.
1930s
Years of study in Berlin and then in Paris, where he studies mathematics and engineering while continuing his deep immersion in Torah.
1941
Escaping the Nazi occupation of Europe, he and his wife reach New York. The sixth Rebbe entrusts him with the movement's most important areas of work.
1950
The sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe passes away. The Hasidim turn to the late Rebbe's son-in-law — but for a full year he declines to accept the leadership.
1951
On 10 Shevat he formally becomes the seventh Rebbe. In his very first programmatic talk he sets the goal: to bring the world to an era of goodness and redemption.
1988
His wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, passes away. Hundreds of Chabad institutions around the world would later be named in her memory.
1994
On June 12 (3 Tammuz), the Rebbe passes away at the age of 92. He is buried in New York, at the Ohel, beside the sixth Rebbe.
"When you see something in the world that needs to be repaired, that is the part of it the Almighty has left for you to repair."From the talks of the Rebbe