5,200 Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinic emissaries and communal leaders from over 80 countries, hailing from as far away as Bangkok and Congo (and as close as the Hamptons and the Bronx) are gathering in New York this week for the 31st International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries.
The movement is renowned for its fusion of global activism and intellectual pursuit, which it says fuels the creation of at least one new religious or social-services institution someplace on the globe each week. Chabad-Lubavitch attributes its success as a spiritual movement, to its cadre of dedicated rabbinical emissaries whose families are willing to pick and move anywhere in the world to bring their fellow Jews closer to Judaism.