In this picture The Jewish World was sent from 1983 Kinus conference,  we are told that Rabbi Israel Rubin, director of Capital Chabad, is shown in the first row.

6,500 Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and Jewish leaders from around the globe gathered on Friday, Nov. 14, at the Ohel—the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson—in a display of unity and prayer marking the start of the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim).

The visit to the Ohel at Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, N.Y., is considered the emotional and spiritual centerpiece of the multiday conference, which brings together shluchim from more than 100 countries for workshops, prayer, strategy sessions and the celebrated Sunday-night gala banquet. Organizers said this year’s gathering came at a pivotal moment, with Jewish engagement rising even as global anti-Semitism intensifies.

For many emissaries, the Ohel visit is the anchor of their yearly return to New York.

“I traveled to New York to visit the Rebbe's grave specifically as part of the annual conference. I do that every year,” Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, chief rabbi and director of Chabad of Bangkok, Thailand, told JNS. “I come to the conference from Thailand, and one of the central parts of the conference is to visit his resting place collectively. We did it on Friday as we do every year.”

Coming Home

Kantor described the atmosphere at the Ohel as one of deep connection, both spiritual and communal.

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“During my visit, I met people from all over the world, and God orchestrated things,” he told JNS. “I met all kinds of people that I had things in common with: people we know in common, projects we’re working on in common, without even planning it. So many Divine Providence meetings were taking place.”

Kantor noted the significance of visiting the Ohel with his colleagues, who are “all like-minded, of the same mission, although we all work in different locales and have to adapt our message to be pertinent to the various customs and particulars of the locations that we are individually, respectively, living and working in.”

“Participating is a feeling of coming home, of going to a place that understands you fully, the challenges you’re going through, celebrating with you the successes that you have,” he said.

The Ohel provides grounding at a time when outside influences can feel disorienting, Kantor told JNS.

“It’s reassuring and uplifting and strengthening to come to a place like this resting place that is so pristine, so authentic, so untouched and unfazed by passing fads or ethos and values that are not consistent with the Torah,” he said.