(JTA) — Some 3,000 female Chabad emissaries from around the world paid tribute at their annual conference in New York to the late wife of the Lubavitcher rebbe.
The conference, which concluded Sunday with a gala banquet, brings together thousands of day school principals, Hebrew school directors, adult educators, counselors, motivational speakers and their supporters to provide several days of workshops, inspirational programs, networking opportunities and celebrations, according to Chabad.org. It is hosted by Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch.
Since its establishment, the event has been held near the anniversary of the 1988 death of the wife of the last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Chaya Mushka Schneerson died on the 22nd day of the Hebrew month of Shevat.
“The Rebbe placed women on a pedestal, comparing their daily tasks with the tasks of priests in the Holy of Holies,” Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, told the conference attendees at the banquet at the Hilton New York in mid-Manhattan. “You personify a beautiful mosaic by the way you act. It is in the power of the Jewish woman to make changes in the world, to fill it with goodness and kindness.”
At the end of the evening, six emissaries from different continents came on stage to present the roll call of emissaries from around the world. The names were greeted with cheers and applause.
