Editing Menachem Mendel Schneerson (section)

===New York===
[[File:Schneerson kiddushin.jpg|thumb|237x237px|Menachem Mendel Schneerson officiating at a wedding ceremony.]]
In 1941, Schneerson escaped from Europe via [[Lisbon]], Portugal.<ref>''Last Sea Route From Lisbon to U.S. Stops Ticket Sale to Refugees'', ''The New York Times'', March 15, 1941</ref> On the eve of his departure, Schneerson penned a treatise where he revealed his vision for the future of world Jewry and humanity.<ref>Eli Rubin, [http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2236391/jewish/Lisbon-1941-The-Messiah-the-Invalid-and-the-Fish.htm Lisbon, 1941: The Messiah the Invalid and the Fish] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702194635/http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2236391/jewish/Lisbon-1941-The-Messiah-the-Invalid-and-the-Fish.htm |date=July 2, 2014 }}, Caption: An article that appeared in ''The Argus'' (Melbourne, Australia), Tuesday, May 6, 1941.</ref> He and his wife, Chaya Mushka, arrived in New York on June 23, 1941.<ref>Jewish Educational Media, [http://www.chabad.org/1558408 The Rebbe and Rebbetzin Arrive in America] ''The Early Years'', vol 4.</ref>

Shortly after his arrival, his father-in-law appointed him director and chairman of the three Chabad central organizations, [[Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch]], [[Machneh Israel (Chabad)|Machneh Israel]] and [[Kehot Publication Society]], placing him at the helm of the movement's Jewish educational, social services, and publishing networks. Over the next decade, Yosef Yitzchak referred many of the scholarly questions that had been inquired of him to his son-in-law. He became increasingly known as a personal representative of Yosef Yitzchak.<ref name=rapaport>Rapoport, Chaim. ''The Afterlife of Scholarship''. Page 144. {{ISBN|978-0-615-53897-6}}</ref>

During the 1940s, Schneerson became a naturalized US citizen, and seeking to contribute to the war effort, he volunteered at the [[Brooklyn Navy Yard]], using his electrical engineering background to draw wiring diagrams for the battleship [[USS Missouri (BB-63)|USS ''Missouri'' (BB-63)]],<ref name="army">Fishkoff, Sue. ''The Rebbe's Army'', Schoken, 2003 (08052 11381). Page 73.</ref><ref>Milton Fechtor, [http://www.chabad.org/141185 Wiring the Missouri] ''Jewish Educational Media''.</ref><ref>Yaakov Hardof, [http://www.chabad.org/724789 Rabbi Engineer] ''Jewish Educational Media''</ref> and other classified military work.<ref name=farfromempty/>

In 1942, Schneerson launched the [[Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch#Roving Rabbis|Merkos Shlichus]] program, where he would send pairs of yeshiva students to remote locations across the country during their summer vacations to teach Jews in isolated communities about their heritage and offer education to their children.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}
[[File:הרב שמריהו גוראריה לצד חותנו הרייצ.jpg|left|thumb|262x262px|A dinner for the [[Tomchei Tmimim|Tomchei Tmimim Yeshiva network]] in 1943, from right to left: Menachem Mendel Schneerson, his father-in-law [[Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn]], and his brother-in-law [[Shemaryahu Gurary]].]]
As chairman and editor-in-chief of [[Kehot Publication Society|Kehot]], Schneerson published the works of the earlier Rebbes of Chabad. He also published his own works, including the [[Hayom Yom]] in 1943 and Hagadda in 1946.<ref>Joseph Telushkin, ''[[Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History]]''. HarperCollins, 2014. Page 472.</ref>

On a visit to Paris in 1947, Schneerson established a school for girls and worked with local organizations to assist with housing for refugees and [[Displaced persons camps in post–World War II Europe|displaced persons]].<ref name="Rebbe 2014. Page 475"/> He often explained that his goal was to "make the world a better place" and to do what he could to eliminate all suffering.<ref>Schneerson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, ''Sefer Hama'amorim Melukot Al Seder Chodshei Hashana Volume 2'' Kehot Publications, 2002. {{ISBN|978-1-56211-602-6}}. page 271.</ref> In a letter to Israeli President [[Yitzhak Ben-Zvi|Yitzchak Ben Tzvi]], Schneerson wrote that when he was a child the vision of the future redemption began to take form in his imagination "a redemption of such magnitude and grandeur through which the purpose of the suffering, the harsh decrees and annihilation of exile will be understood ..."<ref>Menachem M. Schneerson, ''Igrot Kodesh''. Kehot Publications, 1989. {{ISBN|0-8266-5812-1}}. Volume 12, page 404.</ref>

In 1991, a car in convoy with Schneerson's motorcade accidentally struck two [[Guyanese Americans|Guyanese American]] children while running a red light. One of the children was killed. The incident triggered the [[Crown Heights riot]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EFDF1E3AF930A25755C0A962958260&scp=4&sq=schneerson&st=nyt|work=The New York Times|title=Rabbi Schneerson Led A Small Hasidic Sect To World Prominence|first=Ari L.|last=Goldman|date=June 13, 1994|access-date=April 30, 2010|archive-date=January 11, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111075234/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/13/nyregion/rabbi-schneerson-led-a-small-hasidic-sect-to-world-prominence.html?scp=4&sq=schneerson&st=nyt|url-status=live}}</ref> <!-- these sentences added as a result of an Rfc over the question of where to mention the Crown Heights riot in the article. please do not move this content or turn it into a subsection without discussion on the Talk page -->