Scholars On The Rebbe’s Teachings

Beginning this week, hundreds of Chabad centers around the world will present a new six-session Rohr Jewish Institute Learning (JLI) course titled Paradigm Shift: Transformational Life Teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, marking 20 years since the passing of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.

The course took more than eighteen months to create and comprises the work of more than forty scholars in an effort to encapsulate and teach the Rebbe’s vast, all-encompassing and unique perspective on a purposeful life to adult students around the world.

Included are Rabbi Yehudah Leib Altein – Director, Heichal Menachem and Transcriber of the Rebbe’s talks, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Chaim Shaul Brook – Director, Va’ad Hanachos Lahak, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Sholom Charitonow – Mashpia, Oholei Torah, Editorial team, Sefer Ha’erchim Chabad, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Shlomo Cunin – West Coast Head Shliach, Member, Agudas Chassidei Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Los Angeles, CA; Rabbi Yisrael Deren – Regional Director, Chabad of Western and southern New England, Member of the board, Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Stamford, CT; Rabbi Adin Even-Yisrael Steinsaltz – Founder of Shefa and the Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications, Author, My Rebbe, Jerusalem, Israel; Rabbi Dovid Feldman – Editor in Chief, Va’ad Hanachos Lahak, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Moshe Feller – Regional Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of the Upper Midwest; Member of the board, Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch-Lubavitch World Headquarters, S. Paul, MN; Toronto, Canada; Rabbi Manis Friedman – Founder, Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies; Translator of the Rebbe’s telecasts into English, S. Paul, MN; Rabbi Yehudah Leib Groner – Secretariat of the Rebbe, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt – Regional director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rabbi Simon Jacobson – Transcriber of the Rebbe’s talks, Director, Meaningful Life Center, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson – Rosh yeshivah, theyeshiva.net, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Yoel Kahn – Chief transcriber of the Rebbe’s talks, Senior mashpia, Central Lubavitch Yeshiva; Editor in chief, Sefer Ha’erchim Chabad (Chabad Encyclopedia), Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan – Regional director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Maryland; Member of the board and executive committee, Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Baltimore, MD; Rabbi Binyomin Klein – Secretariat of the Rebbe, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky – vice-chairman, Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Chairman, International Conference of Shluchim, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Chaim Yehudah Krinsky – Chairman, Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Secretariat of the Rebbe, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Shmuel Lew – Director, Lubavitch Senior Girls School, London, England; Rabbi Sholom Dovber Lipskar – Founder and spiritual leader, “The Shul”; Founder, Aleph Institute, Bal Harbor, FL, Mrs. Sara Lieberman – Teacher, Beth Rivkah Division of Higher Learning, Brooklyn, NY; Dr. Naftali Loewenthal – Lecturer, University College London, London, England; Mrs. Baila Olidort – Editor in chief, Lubavitch.com, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Dovid Olidort – Editor in chief, Kehot Publication Society; Transcriber of the Rebbe’s discourses, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Abba Paltiel – Mashpia, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Paltiel – Mashpia, Central Lubavitch Yeshiva, Founder, InsideChassidus.org, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Ezra Binyomin Schochet – Dean, Yeshivas Ohr Elchonon Chabad, Member, Central Committee of Chabad Lubavitch Rabbis, Los Angeles, CA; Dr. Don Seeman – Associate professor, Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, GA; Rabbi Avraham Shemtov – chairman, executive committee, Agudas Chassidei Chabad – Lubavitch World Headquarters, Regional director, Lubavitch of Pennsylvania; Chairman, American Friends of Lubavitch, Washington DC, Philadelphia, PA; Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin – Regional director, Lubavitch of Wisconsin, Member of the board and executive committee, Agudas Chassidei Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, Milwaukee, WI, Mrs. Rivka Slonim – Education director, Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY; Rabbi Avrohom Sternberg – Director, Chabad of Eastern Connecticut, Rabbi, Congregation Ahavath Chesed, New London, CT; Rabbi Shlomo Sternberg – Mashpia, Oholei Torah, Talmudic Seminary, Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Shais Taub – Author, God of Our Understanding and JLI’s Soul Maps, Pittsburgh, PA; Rabbi Yanki Tauber – Editor in chief, Chabad.org, Woodmere, NY; Rabbi Joseph Telushkin – Author, Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History, New York, NY; Mrs. Shimona Tzukernik – Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Avraham Menachem Mendel Vechter – Head of Kollel Nachalat Har Chabad, Israel.

For the countless people who have encountered Chabad-Lubavitch, the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s impact upon their lives has been profound. From Jewish education to access to a kosher mikvah to building the face of Jewish outreach, the Rebbe – through his emissaries – has radically changed the face of the Jewish world for the better.

Yet despite this immense impact, many Jews who have benefited from the good works of Chabad do not actually know the man behind the movement. Who was the Rebbe? How did the Rebbe approach the problems facing Jews in the modern world? What was the Rebbe’s vision for each Jew individually, for the Jewish people, and humanity at large? This is what the JLI course will address.

In addition to the regular course, a special two-segment edition of Paradigm Shift is being made available for all shluchim to offer ahead of Gimmel Tammuz, allowing for even more Jews to bring into their own lives the lessons drawn from the Rebbe’s unique outlook.