Kinus Hashluchim Group Photo: 15 Years of Growth

An iconic moment will be missing from this year’s virtual International Kinus Hashluchim: the group photo in front of 770. We gathered the photos of the last 15 years that show the spiraling growth of the Rebbe’s soldiers. Full Story, Photos, Video

November 15, 2020 – 28 Heshvan 5781

By COLlive reporter

The International Kinus Hashluchim, the annual convention held in Brooklyn, NY, is taking place virtually this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

While lectures and sessions are being presented online, one iconic moment will be missing: the group photo in front of 770 Eastern Parkway.

The initial idea was a spontaneous one. “It was Sunday afternoon in midst of the Kinus in 5744,” recalls Rabbi Lipa Brennan, who has been involved in the organization when the Kinus was a gathering of Shluchim in the USA.

“It was decided to write a joint ‘pan’ to the Rebbe in the name of all Shluchim,” he says. We placed the letter on the table of the Farbrengen in the center of the Zal and asked Shluchim to walk over and sign their name.”

“As it was happening, an idea flashed in my mind: why don’t we utilize this moment that all the Shluchim are in 770 to take a photo of everyone? I right away notified that we will be taking a photo. Everyone agreed and quickly gathered on the bleachers in the back part of 770.

“One Shliach went outside and brought in the sign that read “Kinus Hashluchim” and hung it on the wall in the back. Another person brought a photo of the Rebbe and gathered in front of the photographer Goldstein who was there and captured the moment,” Rabbi Brennan said.

The photo was given to the Rebbe. “We didn’t give it much importance,” Rabbi Brennan notes. “We kept taking it in the following years in the same setting – spontaneously inside 770.”

As the number of Shluchim grew so did the Kinus. By the kinus of 5751, the Rebbe already instructed to take the photo in front of 770 and asked to provide him with a copy to bring to the Ohel of the Rebbe Rayatz.

The group photo is now an official part of the program of the Kinus and requires extensive preparation and coordination by the organizers from Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, a full team of photographers and the NYPD.

As the group photo will not be taken this year, we gathered the group photos of the last 15 years showing the exponential group of the Chabad-Lubavitch Shlichus network around the world.

Click here for full gallery – 2004