From the United Nations to the Kinus: A Tale of Two Gatherings
TWO UNITED NATIONS. TWO VERY DIFFERENT MISSIONS.
Why I’m Excited to Join Thousands of Chabad Rabbis in Brooklyn
Every year, New York hosts two extraordinary international gatherings.
One takes place at the United Nations in Manhattan. The other, the International Conference of Chabad Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim), takes place in Brooklyn.
Both bring together representatives from around the globe. Both discuss world problems. Both feature speeches, international cooperation, and people who haven’t slept properly in three days.
And both have plenty of men with beards.
Although Brooklyn wins that category by a landslide!
But here’s the difference:
At the UN, delegates pass resolutions. At the Chabad conference, rabbis return home determined to put them into action!
At the UN, ambassadors discuss humanitarian emergencies.
At Chabad, a rabbi gets a midnight telephone call and heads straight to the hospital.
At the UN, delegates negotiate international agreements.
At Chabad, negotiations sound more like: “Can you send me two rabbinical students for Passover? I’ll help you find a Hebrew teacher!”
At the UN, countries sometimes refuse to recognize one another.
At the Kinus, everyone recognizes everyone. If not personally, then through a cousin, brother-in-law, or somebody’s daughter’s shidduch!
And while diplomats may enjoy diplomatic immunity, Chabad rabbis enjoy absolutely no immunity from midnight emergencies, unexpected Shabbat guests, or frantic calls from Jewish travelers stranded halfway around the world.
So why am I so excited to attend?
Because once a year, I get to stand among thousands of extraordinary colleagues who remind me why I became a rabbi in the first place.
These are men who, together with their remarkable wives, the Rebbetzins, have devoted their lives to something greater than themselves.
Many serve in remote corners of the world, far from family, familiar comforts, and established Jewish communities.
Their homes become community centers. Their dining rooms become public institutions. Their children share their parents’ mission. And their doors remain open to strangers who quickly become family.
The Rebbetzins are not simply supporting the mission. They are leading it, teaching, counseling, organizing, comforting, and transforming entire communities.
No political litmus tests. No partisan agendas. No diplomatic skullduggery.
Just an extraordinary commitment to Jewish life, human dignity, and helping another person.
Of course, put two rabbis together and you’ll get three opinions. Put thousands together and you’ll get enough opinions to keep the United Nations debating until next Passover!
Yet beneath those differences is an astonishing unity of purpose.
It comes from the vision of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, who taught us that you don’t need to change the entire world overnight.
Change one person’s world today.
That is why the famous group photograph of thousands of Chabad rabbis outside 770 Eastern Parkway moves me every year.
To an outsider, it may look like the world’s largest convention of men who shop at the same hat store.
To me, every face represents a community, a family, a lonely soul comforted, a child educated, a life transformed.
And here’s what makes this gathering so personally meaningful.
After decades serving the Jewish community on Long Island, I don’t attend because I’ve run out of things to do or lessons to teach.
I attend because I want to return with fresh inspiration, renewed energy, and even greater enthusiasm for the sacred privilege of serving others.
I come home reminded that although we work in different countries, speak different languages, and face different challenges, we are all part of one magnificent mission.
The United Nations has its General Assembly.
Chabad has its global family.
The UN has ambassadors representing their countries.
Chabad has emissaries serving their communities.
And when the UN adjourns, diplomats return to their official duties.
When the Kinus concludes, thousands of rabbis return to their communities, where the next mitzvah, the next person in need, and the next opportunity to bring light are already waiting.
That’s why I’m going to Brooklyn. Not to get away from my work, but to fall in love with it all over again.
And that is one resolution I intend to bring home to Mineola!
Rabbi Anchelle Perl is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Sholom Chabad of Mineola and host of Jewish Talk on 90.3 WHPC.
