Thousands of rabbis in black hats and coats assembled Sunday morning on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn for a group photo of the largest rabbinic gathering in the world, snarling traffic in both directions under the watchful eye of dozens of police officers.
The photo is a yearly tradition for the Annual Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries, which brings together the heads of the Chabad houses scattered around the world to assist Jewish communities and travelers.
But at this year’s conference, which attracted a record 6,500 rabbis and guests from more than 100 countries and all 50 US states, there was a loss that was felt by everyone: Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a Chabad emissary to Abu Dhabi who was murdered at the end of last month in the United Arab Emirates.
Kogan, 28, worked to expand Jewish life in the UAE, including ensuring the wide availability of kosher food and opening the first Jewish education center in the country.
Israeli officials have said Kogan was targeted because he was Jewish and branded his killing as an antisemitic terror attack. He was buried last week at Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives cemetery.
Friends and colleagues of Kogan spoke fondly of him as a selfless leader who lived to help others, and, in Chabad style, vowed to use his memory as inspiration to continue his legacy.
Zvi Kogan, a Chabad rabbi who was murdered in the UAE in November 2024. (Courtesy: Chabad)
“You would see Zvi’s special care for every single person,” said Rabbi Levi Duchman, chief rabbi of the United Arab Emirates, in a video tribute to Kogan produced for the conference.
“One thing I know is that when receiving such devastating news, our response can be only one way — to grow even more, to bring more Judaism to the UAE, to impact more Jews, and to add more good deeds,” Duchman said.
“He was like a big brother that we always relied on,” said Rabbi Mendel Duchman, another emissary in the UAE. “Inspired by Zvi, we’re going to go back and focus on being there [even more] for other people.”
The Chabad conference ran over Thanksgiving weekend and consisted of four days of workshops and a massive communal Shabbat.
It culminated with a visit to the “Ohel” where the last Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, is buried, and a gala banquet Sunday night in New Jersey.
This year’s conference also came against the backdrop of Israel’s wars and rising global antisemitism.
Chabad rabbis pray at the resting place of the last Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (Shmulie Grossbaum/Chabad.org)
Attacks on Jews in communities and college campuses have skyrocketed since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists from Gaza attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages and sparking the ongoing war.
Attendees at the US gathering represented a diverse spectrum of Jewish communities with different communal needs, from rabbis in war-torn Ukraine to those serving college campuses across the United States, to others serving new or small communities with little Jewish infrastructure, Chabad said.
Members of Israel’s approximately 1,400 Chabad rabbis who live in Israel attended the event, unlike last year when most stayed home due to the outbreak of war.
Despite the challenges, Chabad noted that nearly 100 young emissaries took up new posts during the past year, and that it had opened new outposts in four new locations: Andorra, on the Iberian Peninsula; the French Caribbean island of Martinique; Trois-Rivières, Canada; and the city Surprise in the US state of Arizona.
