Yehuda Krinsky
Rabbi Chaim Yehuda (Yudel) Krinsky (born 1933) is a Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic rabbi. He served for forty years in various positions, but principally as one of the chaffeurs to the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. He served as spokesman[1] for Schneerson and the movement, and was the executor of Schneerson's secular will,[2] and emerged at the helm of the movement's finances in 1995. Krinsky refused to appear before the Crown Heights Rabbinical Court ( officially sanctioned by the Rebbe) in 1995, and was issued with a Contempt of Court letter by the Courts Rabbis Marlow and Osdoba.
Krinsky grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA and was educated at the Boston Latin School. He arrived in New York City in 1946, and studied at the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn, where he was ordained as a rabbi. He was called upon to join Schneerson's staff in 1957.[3]
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Activities
In the late 1950s Krinsky created the Lubavitch News Service and was appointed by the Rebbe as spokesman for the Rebbe when called upon. He assisted in taking Schneerson's talks around the world via satellite.[4]
After Schneerson's wife passed on in 1988, the Rebbe appointed Krinsky as one of the possible executors of an earlier version of a secular will. Krinksy claims he lost the Rebbe's copy of the will that contained the names of those that the Rebbe had designated in July 1988 to lead the 3 principal organisations, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Agudas Chasidei Chabad and Machane Israel Inc
Krinsky told the courts that in 1988 Rabbi Schneerson set about reorganizing the organizational structures of the Lubavitch movement and Krinsky claims that he was instated as secretary of the three controlling boards. Currently, Krinsky is now the disputed Chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, and Machne Israel, the movement's educational and social services-arms, and secretary of the umbrella organization Agudas Chasidei Chabad, and director of the Kehot Publication Society.
Merkos L'inyonei Chinnuch has been active in helping to build new schools, and helping to expand the movement's reach around the world.[5]
In 1995, the Crown Heights Rabbinical Court in Brooklyn NY decided that he had not been appointed to positions in Merkos and Agudas Chassidei Chabad, and had only been appointed as one of 3 people to run Machane Israel Inc.
Family
Krinsky is married to Devorah Krinsky. Devorah is the daughter of the late Rabbi Zev and Ethel Kasinetz. Krinsky's son Rabbi Levi Krinsky, married to Shternie Klein, is the director of Chabad of New Hampshire. Another son, Rabbi Hillel David Krinsky married Shterna Sarah Garelik, daughter of Gershon Garelik the chief rabbi of Milan[6]. He is the president of Jewish Educational Media. Another son, Menachem M. Krinsky, married Miriam Turner from Chicago. A fourth son, Rabbi Shmaya Krinsky married Rivkah Gutnick, daughter of Australian commodities magnate Joseph Gutnick [7]. His oldest daughter, Sheine B., is married to Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman, associate director of the Kehot Publication Society [8]. His second daughter, Chana, is married to Rabbi Joseph Futerfas, director of Camp Gan Israel, New York.
Trivia
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He was named among the fifty most influential living Jews in an article in The Forward in 2005.[9]
He was named second among the fifty most influential US Rabbis by Newsweek in 2007, behind Marvin Hier.[10]
He was named fourth among the fifty most influential US Rabbis by Newsweek in 2008.[11] and 2009 [12]
Sources
- ^ Jewish faithful flock to Brooklyn orthodox sect leader, Michael Sperter, New York Times Magazine, March 19, 1992
- ^ PDF of Schneerson's will
- ^ Krinsky's testimony to the Helsinki Commission
- ^ Rabbi using modern medium in call for traditional values, New York Times, January 23, 1983
- ^ Lubavitchers Learn to Sustain Themselves Without the Rebbe, David Gonzalez, New York Times, November 8, 1994
- ^ Marriage announcement for Hillel David Krinsky, New York Times, April 8, 1981
- ^ Rivkah Gutnick, Shmaya Krinsky, New York Times, June 5, 1994
- ^ Marriage announcement ofr Sheine B. Krinsky, New York Times, April 3, 1979 "New York Times". http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50E11F7355D12728DDDAA0894DC405B898BF1D3 Marriage announcement ofr Sheine B. Krinsky, New York Times, April 3, 1979.
- ^ Rapper, Republicans, Relief Org. Heads and Rabbis Named to Forward 50, by America's National Jewish Newspaper., PR Newswire, November 10, 2005
- ^ The Top 50 Rabbis in America, Newsweek, Michael Lynton, April 2, 2007
- ^ Top 50 Influential Rabbis in America, Newsweek, Michael Lynton, April 11, 2008
- ^ 50 Influential Rabbis