At Rebbe’s Ohel, shluchim reconnect, recommit

They came from far and near, like children returning home. Single file, the thousands of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries each passed through rows of tombstones to pray at the Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson zt”l.

The annual visit by the thousands of rabbis to the Ohel, in the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardnes, during the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries is an emotionally charged experience, as they pray for their families, for the Jewish communities they serve, and for others they come in contact with throughout the year. For many, the pandemic took away the opportunity to visit the Ohel last year, and they’re grateful to be able to return once again.

Many say that the intensely spiritual visit to the Ohel is the high point of their annual gathering. As the emissaries prepared to file into the small enclosure, they sang moving Chassidic melodies, and strengthened their commitment to the communities they live in and to the Jewish people as a whole.

The piercing, emotional depth of the day was given voice when Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, read the collective prayer request on behalf of all the shluchim. Beseeching the Rebbe to intercede on High, Kotlarsky’s voice rose and fell, at times overcome with tears and pleas for a complete healing for all who are ill.

Rabbi Kotlarsky concluded the lengthy letter, filled with requests for blessings for the entire Jewish people and the world at large, sobbing with emotion and imploring G-d to bring the final redemption and end all pain and suffering.

Clutching a thick stack of prayer notes from members of the Utah Jewish community, Rabbi Avremi Zippel, program director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Utah, told Chabad.org that he’s come to pray for the health and wellbeing of the community he serves.

“Shluchim from around the world, serving vastly different communities, we all come together today bound by a common goal, united as we face the Rebbe and recommit ourselves to his ideals,” Rabbi Zippel said.

“The heavens are open at this moment,” said Rabbi Shmuel Neft of JRCC Rockford in North York, Ontario. “I pray for my community members and their families.”

The pandemic contributed to the atmosphere pervading the Ohel, and the prayers being recited.

Rabbi Eli Levy, co-director of Beit Jabad Colegiales in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a member of Chabad.org’s Spanish language team, came with the names of people who asked him to pray on their behalf.

Rabbi Levy said the pandemic — during which much Jewish interaction moved onto the internet — initiated a connection with many people who would otherwise not have walked into a bricks-and-mortar Chabad center. And the sheer volume of prayer requests shows it. “I have 2,000 names I’m praying for.”

Rabbi Dovid Tal is the director of Chabad of Timrat, a small village in Northern Israel. He serves approximately 500 families there, and is also a major in the Israeli Air Force, and an electrical engineer who was a key player in the development of Israel’s Remotely Piloted Vehicle program. Visiting the Ohel is “always an emotional time,” he said. “Just seeing all my brothers-in-arms, my fellow shluchim, gives me the strength to continue my activities.”