From the Kinus to Mineola: Carrying generations of hope!

By Rabbi Anchelle Perl, Chabad of Mineola, Long Island

At this year’s International Kinus Hashluchim banquet, approximately 6,500 Chabad emissaries and guests gathered in Edison, New Jersey. From communities across the globe, they came together to renew their commitment to strengthening Jewish life.

One message from the gathering deserves to travel home with every participant.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, recalled a conversation with his son Moshe Yedidya, who later fell defending Israel. Asked how he endured a grueling military march with a heavy backpack, his son explained that he imagined carrying his grandparents’ hopes, prayers and dreams on his shoulders. That awareness gave him strength to bear the weight.

The load remained heavy. But every step had meaning.

For us in Mineola, Long Island, that image carries a deeply personal lesson. We, too, carry generations on our shoulders: grandparents who prayed that their descendants would remain Jewish, parents who sacrificed for Jewish education, and ancestors who preserved their faith under circumstances we can scarcely imagine.

Some crossed oceans with little more than their convictions. Some whispered the Shema because saying it aloud was dangerous. Their dreams included the freedoms we enjoy today—to attend synagogue, light Shabbat candles and teach our children Torah.

We are living inside somebody else’s prayer.

That understanding must shape our response to antisemitism. We must protect our communities, report threats and demand accountability. We must also give our children a Jewish life filled with knowledge, confidence and joy.

When hatred seeks to isolate a Jewish family, invite them to a Shabbat table. When a Jewish business is targeted, offer peaceful, practical support. When someone tries to make a Jew ashamed, create an opportunity for Jewish learning and pride.

The Rebbe’s call to add light requires something concrete: a candle lit, tefillin put on, tzedakah given, a lonely person welcomed.

At the banquet, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky recalled the Rebbe’s response to the 1956 terrorist attack in Kfar Chabad. The delegation he dispatched was charged with strengthening Torah and Jewish life, helping the community build its future. That same commitment ran through this year’s gathering, with Jewish education at its center.

Here in Mineola, we can carry that mission forward through one additional mitzvah, one more person welcomed to shul, one more child given a joyful Jewish experience.

Our ancestors’ aspirations reach beyond survival. Through generations of exile, they prayed for Moshiach—for the ingathering of our people, the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash and a world filled with the knowledge of Hashem, where nations will no longer lift a sword against one another.

Every mitzvah helps prepare that world.

We carry the prayers of generations—and ours can be the generation that sees those prayers fulfilled.

May Hashem protect our people, heal our wounded and comfort our bereaved. May we merit the coming of Moshiach speedily, in our days, when hatred and suffering will end and all humanity will serve Hashem together in peace.

May it be now.