Kinus Melava Malka Highlighted Chavrusa Study

By Yaacov Brooks

For thousands of Shluchim, the Kinus is a rare opportunity to go back to the source and spend quality time among peers. The beloved Motzai Shabbos session presented a way to maintain the kinus spirit throughout the year – by creating daily chavrusas with other shluchim to study the Rebbe’s Torah.

Shabbos at the Kinus Hashluchim takes on a life of its own. Pinging devices are nowhere to be seen, photographers’ cameras packed neatly in their microfibre lining bags, the shluchim go old-school. Catching up with old friends, farbrengens left right, and center, 770 and the Ohel are brimming with The Rebbe’s Shluchim reconnecting to the source. Extending the inspiration into the weekday, a Melavah Malka complete with media presentations, inspirational speakers, and synchronized translation headsets, unites the Shluchim once more.

On an inhospitably cold night in NYC, some shluchim bundled up and walked along Eastern Parkway’s treelined walkway to the Bedford Armory, reflecting on a busy day of Davening, farbrenging, and reciting Shabbos Mevorchim Tehillim. Others piled into buses taking the opportunity to update their families back home on the goings on over Shabbos. But all’s spirits were warmed by a program replete with joyous dancing, uplifting speeches, and practical takeaways.

Multiple screens lined the expansive room, playing curated videos of The Rebbe’s farbrengens throughout the years, evoking nostalgia for the shluchim who merited to be part of The Rebbe’s farbrengens in person, and longing for those born in the post-Gimmel Tammuz era.

“One must establish set times each day to study Chassidus and Nigleh, the set studies of Chitas don’t suffice,” Shluchim looked up from their seats as the Rebbe’s voice echoed throughout the hall. “Granted you’ve spent your entire life studying, but when a new day comes around, you are once again obligated to sit down and learn, irrespective of your wealth of knowledge.”

While a myriad responsibilities fill a shliach’s days, carving time out from one’s day to spiritually recharge from a holy book with a friend, is a priority, Shluchim were reminded. A curated schedule of words from their fellow shluchim and dramatic video presentations promoted chavrusa study as a means to elevate one’s Torah learning experience.

Organized for the shluchim by the shluchim, the assembly was addressed by a host of respected Shluchim. Rabbi Zalman Lipskier of Atlanta, Georgia discussed the Rebbe’s instruction for every chossid to learn the “chassidishe parsha” each week from Torah Or and Likkutei Torah. In true farbrengen spirit, Rabbi Mendel Dubrawsky of Dallas, Texas shared the powerful impact learning Torah had on a group of teenagers and the nachas it brought the Rebbe.

A masterful video presentation featured Shluchim from three continents; Rabbi Berel Levertov of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Rabbi Abba Perelmuter of Long Beach, California; and Rabbi Yitzchock Amar of Pontault-Combault, France. Each drawing on their own experience, they humbly recounted how carving out time from their busy schedules for personal Torah study vastly enhanced their focus, determination, and confidence on Shlichus.

Rabbi Yisroel Kotlarsky, Shliach to Lafayette Hill, PA, and son of Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky OBM, beloved chairman of the Kinus, recounted a moving story about his father. Exemplifying a true Shliach, Rabbi Kotlarsky OBM transformed a chance encounter on an airplane into an opportunity to connect a Jewish family with The Rebbe, from whom they received a blessing that miraculously restored their child’s health from the brink of despair.

The story was followed by a stirring montage of Rabbi Kotlarsky OBM addressing the Kinus Hashluchim in previous years. His familiar impassioned voice encouraged Shluchim time and again to stay grounded in their missions, to report their accomplishments to the Rebbe, and to appoint other shluchim too, ensuring no Jew is left behind.

Providing a vivid glimpse into the international connectedness of the family of Shluchim, Rabbi Avrohom Sternberg, of New London, Connecticut, recounted his personal story of starting a daily chavrusa with Rabbi Chaim Notik, a shliach 14 years his junior.

Ending the evening with a call to action, Rabbi Sternberg reminded the assembled Shluchim of the Kolel L’Rabbonei Chabad, a virtual Kolel offering learning tracks in Chassidus and halacha, specifically designed to suit Shluchim’s busy schedules and chavrusas across borders.