Ohel (Chabad)
Burial site of the sixth and seventh Lubavitcher Rebbes at Old Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, and the Chabad visitor centre beside it
| Ohel Chabad Lubavitch | |
|---|---|
| Address | 226-20 Francis Lewis Boulevard, Cambria Heights, Queens, NY 11411 (US Internal Revenue Service record for Congregation Ohel Chabad Lubavitch, EIN 11-3400862); the 2013 zoning decision gives 226-10 Francis Lewis Boulevard[1] |
| Location | Old Montefiore Cemetery, Cambria Heights, Queens, New York |
| Building type | Mausoleum (ohel) with an adjoining synagogue and visitor centre |
| Owner | Visitor centre: Congregation Ohel Chabad Lubavitch (tax-exempt since August 1998); director Abba Refson |
| Opened | 1950 (first burial) |
| Website | |
The Ohel (Hebrew for "tent", the term Hasidim use for a rebbe's tomb) is the mausoleum in the Chabad section of Old Montefiore Cemetery in Cambria Heights, Queens, New York. It holds the graves of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who died in 1950, and his son-in-law and successor, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994.[2][3] Chabad describes it as "the most visited Jewish holy site in North America", with some 400,000 pilgrims a year.[4]
Since 1994 Chabad officials and emissaries who once reported to the Rebbe in his office have reported at his grave, the annual international conference of emissaries goes there to pray, and petitions arrive by post, fax and email.[2][5][4][6] It has also become a stop for politicians. Donald Trump marked the first anniversary of 7 October there in 2024. Javier Milei chose it for his first trip abroad as Argentina's president-elect, and Israel's national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, went there in 2025 with the director of Chabad of Hebron.[7][8][9] The site's neighbours, in a largely African American neighbourhood, have long objected to the crowds.[3][10]
The graves
Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn died on 28 January 1950 and was buried "in a back corner" of Old Montefiore Cemetery, "where Lubavitchers had a relatively small section for their people".[11] His son-in-law Shemaryahu Gourary was later buried beside the Ohel. Heilman and Friedman note that Gourary's wife Chana and son Barry Gourary were "denied this final resting place" and buried in New Jersey.[12] Chaya Mushka Schneerson, Menachem Mendel's wife, was buried at Montefiore in February 1988 next to her mother and grandmother.[13]
Fishkoff describes "a stark, twenty-foot-square granite mausoleum" with a candlelit foyer and separate exits for men and women. These lead to "a central pebble-lined square, open to the skies", where the two Rebbes lie side by side.[2] Visitors leave written petitions (pidyones), torn into strips, on the graves. Fishkoff calls the result "a feather-light blanket of sighs and tears".[5]
The Rebbe's visits
Visiting his father-in-law's grave was Menachem Mendel Schneerson's "one regular journey out of Brooklyn" after he became Rebbe. He went more often after his wife's death, and he would refer to "orders" he had received there from his predecessor.[14] Fishkoff writes that he spent six hours or more at a time there every week, "standing stock-still in the rain or snow".[15] His secretary Yehuda Krinsky, who drove him, said that what happened inside "was between the Rebbe and his predecessor".[16]
On 2 March 1992 Schneerson suffered a stroke while alone at the grave. He was inside for over two and a half hours before Krinsky, waiting outside, opened the door at 5:40 p.m.[17] He was buried there on 12 June 1994, within hours of his death.[18]
Pilgrimage since 1994
Fishkoff reports that more than 40,000 Chabad Hasidim came for the seventh anniversary of the Rebbe's death in June 2001. "Chabad officials and shlichim, who used to visit the Rebbe in his office to deliver their reports, now make the same pilgrimage to his grave."[2] In 2003 daily crowds of 200 to 300 rose to 800 or 1,000 on Sundays, and three fax machines printed 500 to 600 letters a day.[19] Engaged couples go to the Ohel to ask for the Rebbe's blessing, as they once did in person.[20] The Kinus Hashluchim of November 2025, attended by 6,500 emissaries from 111 countries, included prayers at the Ohel.[6]
The visitor centre is run by Abba Refson, a Leeds-born emissary, from a row of houses on Francis Lewis Boulevard. Heilman and Friedman describe its prayer rooms, library, Quonset huts, ritual bath and a small yeshiva.[3][19]
Political visitors
Fishkoff records that Benjamin Netanyahu visited the grave just before Rosh Hashanah 1996, calling Schneerson "a great teacher, a great healer, [who] certainly served for me as a source of inspiration".[21] Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner visited on the Saturday night before the 2016 US presidential election. According to Chabad.org, they visited "prior to both presidential elections".[22][4]
Javier Milei visited in July 2023 during his campaign and again on 27 November 2023, his first trip abroad after winning the presidency. He was accompanied by the Argentine businessman Eduardo Elsztain, who JTA reports has supported Chabad social programmes in Argentina.[8]
On 7 October 2024 Donald Trump, then the Republican nominee, marked the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel with a visit to the Ohel. The streets were closed and the Secret Service screened visitors.[7] Chabad.org reported that he was welcomed by Refson and Motti Seligson. The group included Yehuda Krinsky, Levi Shemtov of American Friends of Lubavitch, and the family of the hostage Edan Alexander.[4] JTA described the visit as "a gesture to a constituency — Orthodox Jews — that is expected to support him".[7]
On 25 April 2025 Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister and leader of Otzma Yehudit, wrote a petition and prayed at the Ohel with Rabbi Danny Cohen of Chabad of Hebron. COLlive described him as "known for his strong stance against terrorism".[9] In 2007 the Jerusalem Magistrates Court convicted Ben-Gvir of incitement to racism and of supporting a terrorist organisation, over placards reading "Expel the Arab enemy" and "Rabbi Kahane was right". This was a criminal conviction; he was acquitted on two further charges.[23]
Disputes with neighbours
Congregation Ohel Chabad Lubavitch bought the houses next to the cemetery in 1994. It applied to the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals (calendar no. 35-11-BZ) to legalise and enlarge the synagogue and visitor centre, including a "Shabbos house" with overnight beds. Queens Community Board 13, Council member Leroy Comrie, Assembly member Barbara Clark and the Cambria Heights Civic Association opposed the application. They cited litter, traffic, parking and visitors' "lack of consideration for the neighbors".[1] On 22 October 2013 the board granted the variance for ten years. It cut the Shabbos-house beds from 52 to 34 and limited overnight stays to 65 days a year. Over the congregation's objection that limits would interfere with religious practice, it restricted access to the graves to 6 a.m.–10 p.m.[1] Chabad.org nonetheless described the Ohel in 2024 as "open 24/7".[4]
In October 2015 Community Board 13 voted 38–0 against a four-storey school and dormitory proposed by Keren Peulos about 250 feet from the Ohel. Its lawyer said the applicant was not connected with the body that runs the visitor centre. The resolution said Keren Peulos already owed more than $250,000 in building fines on the site. Steven Taylor, president of the civic association, said of the conditions attached to the earlier variance: "Not a single promise was kept."[10] City property records show that Keren Peulos, of 816 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, acquired 224-16 Francis Lewis Boulevard by a deed dated 8 June 1995.[24] In September 2014 an application for a "new 4 story and cellar community facility building" on that lot was filed with the Department of Buildings, naming Gedalia Shemtov and the "Chabad Shluchim Office" as owner. A Gedalya Shemtov is also named as the owner's contact on 2006 building filings for Keren Peulos Inc. at 816 Eastern Parkway.[25][26] In June 2026 residents objected to New York Police Department barricades and identity checks around the anniversary gathering. The NYPD said they were needed because of antisemitic threats.[27]
Finances
Congregation Ohel Chabad Lubavitch (EIN 11-3400862) is registered care of Samuel Lipsker at 226-20 Francis Lewis Boulevard. It has been tax-exempt since August 1998 and is classed by the IRS as a church, so it files no public returns.[28]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Eric Knowles, BSA Approves Ohel Chabad Lubavitch Variances Over Community Opposition CityLand, 14 November 2013, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Sue Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch, New York: Schocken, 2003, pp. 66–67.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Samuel C. Heilman and Menachem M. Friedman, The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010, pp. 15, 17–18.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Chabad.org Staff, President Trump Marks Oct. 7 With Prayer Visit to Ohel Chabad.org, 7 October 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army, 2003, p. 68.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Tzemach Feller, Thousands Convene in New York for the Annual International Conference of Shluchim Lubavitch.com, 12 November 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Luke Tress, Trump visits Queens gravesite of Chabad rabbi to mark Oct. 7 New York Jewish Week (JTA), 7 October 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Juan Melamed, Argentina's president-elect, Javier Milei, visits Lubavitcher rabbi's grave to offer thanks for his surprise victory Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 27 November 2023, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 COLlive, Israeli Minister Ben Gvir Visits the Rebbe's Ohel COLlive, 25 April 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Michael Gannon, CB 13 unanimously rejects Ohel Chabad Queens Chronicle, 29 October 2015, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, pp. 29, 37.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 54.
- ↑ Chaim Miller, Turning Judaism Outward: A Biography of the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Brooklyn: Kol Menachem, 2014, ch. 14.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 63.
- ↑ Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army, 2003, p. 74.
- ↑ Baila Olidort, In Conversation: Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky Lubavitch.com, interview first published 2009, republished 17 June 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 237.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 245.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army, 2003, pp. 84–85.
- ↑ Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army, 2003, p. 86.
- ↑ Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army, 2003, p. 69.
- ↑ Marcy Oster, Ivanka Trump visits the Lubavitcher rebbe's grave ahead of election Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 6 November 2016, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Efrat Weiss, Extreme rightist convicted of supporting terror group Ynetnews, 25 June 2007, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ New York City Department of Finance, ACRIS, deed FT_4160004743516, parties and document record NYC Open Data, recorded 14 June 1995, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ New York City Department of Buildings, job filing 420498447 NYC Open Data, pre-filed 16 September 2014, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ New York City Department of Buildings, job filing 302193114 NYC Open Data, pre-filed 31 July 2006, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Michael Gannon, Cambria residents slam security plan Queens Chronicle, 2 July 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ ProPublica, Cong Ohel Chabad Lubavitch Nonprofit Explorer, accessed 10 November 2026.