Yehuda Krinsky
American Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi, secretary to Menachem Mendel Schneerson from 1957 and chairman of the movement's central educational and social-services bodies
| Yehuda Krinsky
| |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Rabbi; secretary to Menachem Mendel Schneerson; chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch and Machne Israel; secretary of Agudas Chasidei Chabad |
| Known for | Executor of Schneerson's 1988 will; spokesman for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement |
Yehuda Krinsky (also Yudel Krinsky) is an American Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi who joined the secretariat of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, in 1957 and became one of the most powerful figures in the movement's central administration after Schneerson's death in 1994.[1][2] Chabad.org described him in November 2025, aged 91, as "chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch and Machne Yisrael—Chabad's educational and social-services arms".[3] He is also corporate secretary of Agudas Chasidei Chabad (AGUCH), the body that owns 770 Eastern Parkway.[1][4]
Krinsky was Schneerson's driver, spokesman and named executor. He was the aide who found the Rebbe after his stroke at the Ohel in 1992, and he later led the organisations that took the messianist faction in the movement to court over the main synagogue at 770.[5][6] In 2022 Russia put him on a list of Americans barred from entering the country.[4]
Early life and the secretariat
Krinsky told Lubavitch News Service in 2009 that he came to New York from Boston at the age of 13 to study in a yeshiva, four years before Schneerson became Rebbe.[1] Heilman and Friedman cite him as "then a young Hasid from Boston" recalling the gathering of January 1951 at which Schneerson first delivered a discourse as Rebbe.[7] In the summer of 1957, weeks before his wedding, Krinsky returned from a "Merkos Shlichus" tour of Florida and the West Indies with Leibel Raskin. Chaim Hodakov, Schneerson's chief of staff, then asked him to join the secretariat.[1]
Sue Fishkoff describes Krinsky as having been at Schneerson's side from 1957 and as his personal driver.[8] Krinsky drove the Rebbe to his father-in-law's grave in Queens, often several times a week. He said that after a telephone was installed in the car in the 1970s, the Rebbe "would often instruct me to place calls to convey messages or directives".[1] In 1988 he drove Schneerson's wife, Chaya Mushka, to hospital.[9]
Spokesman
Krinsky was the movement's public voice for decades. In December 1970 the Jewish Telegraphic Agency quoted "Rabbi Yudel Krinsky, a spokesman for Rabbi Menachem Schneerson" as opposing public demonstrations for Soviet Jews: "If you want a favor from someone, you don't step on his toes." He argued that "Russia does not respond to demonstrations" and that quiet diplomacy worked better.[10] According to Chabad.org, it was to Krinsky that Schneerson gave the phrase "Tell him these are our tanks against assimilation", for a New York Times reporter in 1974. That phrase named the mitzvah tanks.[11]
During the 1988 Israeli election, Schneerson pressed his supporters in Israel to vote as he directed over the "Who is a Jew" question. Krinsky claimed a victory of sorts: people converted by non-Orthodox rabbis, he said, were "seeking Orthodox conversions 'by the thousands'". Heilman and Friedman call this "wishful thinking".[12] On whether the Rebbe was the Messiah, Krinsky said during Schneerson's lifetime that if he were asked "who was the most suitable [candidate for Messiah], beyond any question in my mind, it would be the Rebbe".[13]
Wills and the central organisations
After Chaya Mushka Schneerson's funeral on 10 February 1988, Schneerson asked Krinsky to arrange a will and to have lawyers review the corporate papers of Chabad's three central organisations: Agudas Chasidei Chabad, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch and Machne Israel. Krinsky described the task himself: "to make sure that any vacancies on the boards be filled".[1] Chaim Miller writes that Schneerson signed the will on 14 February 1988, leaving his property to Agudas Chasidei Chabad. Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky was named executor, with Avraham Shemtov and Shalom Simpson as alternates.[14] According to Fishkoff, the corporate papers of the three bodies were redrawn between 1988 and 1990 with Schneerson as president, Hodakov as vice-president, Nissen Mindel as treasurer and Krinsky as secretary. She adds that Krinsky and Shemtov are "acknowledged internally as the two most powerful men" in the movement.[15]
M. Avrum Ehrlich writes about a second, unsigned will said to have been drafted on 30 August 1988. It would have put the movement in the hands of Hodakov, Mindel and Pikarski, and left Krinsky only a share, with Hodakov and Mindel, in running Machne Israel.[16] Ehrlich reports that messianist critics have accused Krinsky of cancelling this draft by telephone on 1 March 1992, the day before the Rebbe's stroke, and of refusing to testify about it before a rabbinical court (beit din). Krinsky maintains that the document was not valid and was declared void by Schneerson.[17] These claims are allegations. They have not been tested in any court, and the draft has never been registered. The first will was registered with the State of New York.[16] Ehrlich concludes that Krinsky "is probably the most powerful individual in the contemporary Habad movement", having used the executorship and the revival of Agudas Chasidei Chabad from 1985 onwards to secure his position.[2]
The 1992 stroke and the succession struggle
On 2 March 1992 Krinsky waited outside the Ohel while Schneerson prayed at his father-in-law's grave. At 5:40 p.m. he knocked, found that the Rebbe had collapsed and called Hatzoloh.[5] Afterwards, Heilman and Friedman write, the secretaries "primarily Yehuda Krinsky and Leibel Groner, but also Binyamin Klein and Shalom Mendel Simpson, took over. But they often quarreled over what was best."[18] Ehrlich describes rival Groner and Krinsky camps over the Rebbe's medical care, with the Krinsky faction working to moderate the movement's public image.[19] When Shmuel Butman's International Committee to Bring the Moshiach staged a "coronation" of the stricken Rebbe, Krinsky called the event "dishonest, dangerous, confusing, sacrilegious" and "a horrible exploitation".[20]
Interviewed in May 2009, Krinsky again called Schneerson the most suitable candidate for Messiah during his lifetime. Asked whether he still held that view now that the Rebbe was dead, "Rabbi Krinsky paused for a long time; he offered no further reply."[21]
Litigation
These are civil cases. Krinsky was not a named party; he acted through the bodies he leads.
- Library dispute with Barry Gourary (civil). Agudas Chasidei Chabad sued Barry Gourary, the nephew of Schneerson's wife, for the return of books removed from the 770 library. It won in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Agudas Chasidei Chabad v. Gourary, 650 F. Supp. 1463, 6 January 1987, No. CV-85-2909), and the judgment was affirmed by the Second Circuit (833 F.2d 431, 17 November 1987).[22] Ehrlich writes that Krinsky gave evidence at the trial and that the case revived Agudas Chasidei Chabad under his leadership.[23] See Schneerson library case.
- Suit against Russia (civil). Agudas Chasidei Chabad sued the Russian Federation in 2004 over the Schneersohn library and archive (D.D.C. No. 1:05-cv-01548). In 2006 Krinsky, described as "secretary to the Rebbe and Chairman of the Lubavitch worldwide Educational and Social Services divisions", welcomed Judge Royce Lamberth's refusal to dismiss: "There is much joy in the global world of Lubavitch over this ruling."[24] He attended the 2013 hearing at which Lamberth called Russia a "scofflaw" and imposed sanctions of $50,000 a day.[25] In 2024 the DC Circuit held that the Russian Federation itself was immune, which voided the 2010 default judgment. The Supreme Court denied certiorari on 20 January 2026 (No. 24-909).[26][27]
- 770 synagogue (civil). Agudas Chasidei Chabad, owner of 770 Eastern Parkway, and Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, "chaired by Yehuda Krinsky" and owner of 784–788, have fought the messianist "Congregation Lubavitch" and its gabbaim for control of the main synagogue.[6] The case began in 2004, when Merkos sued over the removal of a cornerstone plaque that called the Rebbe "of blessed memory". The court later recorded that the defendants "were arrested and prosecuted" for removing it; the outcome of that prosecution is not stated.[28] On 27 December 2007 Justice Ira Harkavy ejected Congregation Lubavitch, Inc. (CLI) from both buildings.[29] On 3 February 2009 the Appellate Division affirmed against CLI but struck out the congregation and the gabbaim, "since neither is a party to this action".[30] On 24 May 2011 it refused to extend the judgment to them, and it declined to sanction the owners.[31] On 25 April 2020 the Civil Court gave Agudas and Merkos possession against the gabbaim and the other respondents. It held that the Rebbe had granted "full authority to the owners, through Boards of Trustees, not the congregants or the Gabboim". The notices to quit were signed by Shemtov and Krinsky "as Chairman of their respective corporations". The court described an exhibit, a letter of 12 June 1987 from the "Committee of Agudas [Union of] Chasidei Chabad" to the Crown Heights rabbinical court, as "signed Rabbi Krinsky, Shemtov, Mordechai Mentlik and David Raskin".[28] On 19 January 2024 the Appellate Term upheld the judgments against the gabbaim Zalman Lipskier and Avrohom Holtzberg and the caretaker Sholom Ber Kievman, but dismissed the renewed claims against CLI as already decided.[32]
Later role
In 2022 the Russian foreign ministry put Krinsky, Avremel Shemtov and Shlomo Cunin on a list of 963 Americans barred from Russia, describing Krinsky as "rabbi, secretary of Agudas Chasidei Chabad".[4] On 7 October 2024 he was among the Chabad officials who received Donald Trump at the Ohel, where Chabad.org described him as "chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement".[33] He addressed the international conference of emissaries in November 2025.[3] At the relaunch of the Machne Israel Development Fund in September 2026 he was introduced as "Chairman of Machne Israel and MIDF". Rabbi Shmaya Krinsky is the fund's executive director.[34]
Sources give Krinsky's titles differently. Fishkoff calls him "secretary of Chabad's three major institutions and the man regarded as the movement's administrative head".[35] Heilman and Friedman call him "the head of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the central organization of Lubavitch".[36] Ehrlich calls him "the head of the AGUCH organization".[17] The Russian list and COLlive's 2013 report call him secretary of Agudas Chasidei Chabad.[4][25]
See also
- Abraham Shemtov
- Agudas Chasidei Chabad
- Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch
- Machne Israel
- Chabad messianism
- Schneerson library case
- Ohel (Chabad)
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Baila Olidort, In Conversation: Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky Lubavitch.com, interview first published 2009, republished 17 June 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 M. Avrum Ehrlich, The Messiah of Brooklyn: Understanding Lubavitch Hasidim Past and Present, Jersey City: KTAV, 2004, p. 249.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Menachem Posner and Dovid Margolin, 6,500 Chabad Rabbis Gather for Largest Jewish Conference in World Chabad.org, 16 November 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Anash.org, Chabad Figures Among 963 Americans Banned by Russia Anash.org, 22 May 2022, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Samuel C. Heilman and Menachem M. Friedman, The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010, pp. 237–238.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, pp. 250–251.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 47.
- ↑ Sue Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch, New York: Schocken, 2003, pp. 73–74.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 221.
- ↑ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Lubavitcher Hassidim Oppose Public Demonstrations on Behalf of Soviet Jews JTA Daily Bulletin, 31 December 1970, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Mordechai Lightstone, Mobilizing the Mitzvah Tanks: The Untold Story of the 'Are You Jewish?' Guys Chabad.org, 7 June 2017, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 226.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 214.
- ↑ Chaim Miller, Turning Judaism Outward: A Biography of the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Brooklyn: Kol Menachem, 2014, ch. 14.
- ↑ Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army, 2003, p. 262.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Ehrlich, The Messiah of Brooklyn, 2004, pp. 246–247.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Ehrlich, The Messiah of Brooklyn, 2004, pp. 246, 248.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 242.
- ↑ Ehrlich, The Messiah of Brooklyn, 2004, pp. 155–159.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, pp. 243–244.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, pp. 277–278.
- ↑ US District Court, Eastern District of New York, Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Gourary, 650 F. Supp. 1463 (E.D.N.Y. 1987); US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Gourary, 833 F.2d 431 (2d Cir. 1987).
- ↑ Ehrlich, The Messiah of Brooklyn, 2004, p. 163 nn. 3–5 and p. 249.
- ↑ Lubavitch.com, Chabad May Sue To Recover Library, Says Federal Judge Lubavitch.com, 6 December 2006, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 COLlive, Judge Labels Russia as 'Outlaws' COLlive, 20 June 2013, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Howard Friedman, Certiorari Denied in Chabad's Suit Against the Russian Federation Religion Clause, 20 January 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, Docket No. 24-909 supremecourt.gov, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County, Agudas Chasidei Chabad of the United States v Congregation Lubavitch, Inc., index nos. 106105/2011 and related, decided 25 April 2020 (Harriet L. Thompson, J.), FindLaw, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kings County, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Inc. v Sharf, 2007 NY Slip Op 52495(U), 27 December 2007, Justia, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Appellate Division, Second Department, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Inc. v Sharf, 59 AD3d 408 (2d Dept 2009) CourtListener, 3 February 2009, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Appellate Division, Second Department, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Inc. v Sharf, 84 AD3d 1185 (2d Dept 2011) CourtListener, 24 May 2011, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Appellate Term, Second Department, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Inc. v Congregation Lubavitch, Inc., 2024 NY Slip Op 24017, 19 January 2024, Justia, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Chabad.org Staff, President Trump Marks Oct. 7 With Prayer Visit to Ohel Chabad.org, 7 October 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Tzemach Feller, Machne Israel Development Fund Relaunches With New Generation of Supporters Lubavitch.com, 3 September 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army, 2003, p. 31.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 8.