Yehuda Krinsky

Krinsky grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts and was educated at the Boston Latin School. At the age of 12, he was sent by his parents to study at the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn, where he received his rabbinic ordination.[1] He joined the Lubavitcher Rebbe's staff in 1952 as a driver.[4]

In 1956 Krinsky was invited by Rabbi Schneerson to join his staff, then headed by Rabbi Mordechai Aizik Hodakov.[4] Krinsky's position included work on behalf of the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. At that time, Schneerson also appointed Krinsky to direct the Lubavitch News Service. In this capacity, he was in charge of disseminating the Rebbe's talks around the world via satellite.[5]

In 1972, Rabbi Schneerson appointed Krinsky to serve on the administrative boards of the movement's umbrella organization, Agudas Chasidei Chabad, and the educational arm, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch.

In 1990, Rabbi Schneerson selected Krinsky to serve as the official secretary of the movement's three central organizations, Agudas Chasidei Chabad, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, and Machneh Israel, the movement's social services arm.

Today, Krinsky is Chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch and Machneh Israel, secretary of Agudas Chasidei Chabad, and director of the Kehot Publication Society. He has been active in helping build new schools and expanding the reach of the Chabad movement around the world.[6]

He has been active in efforts to retrieve a large library of books connected to the Chabad movement which is in the custody of the Russian government. Many of the books were seized from the previous leader, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, as part of a Soviet crackdown on religion after the Russian Revolution of 1917.[7]

Krinsky married Devorah Kasinetz, daughter of Rabbi Zev and Ethel Kasinetz. Their children are:

• Rabbi Levi Krinsky, director of Chabad of New Hampshire
• Rabbi Hillel David Krinsky, who is married to Shterna Sarah Garelik, daughter of Rabbi Gershon Garelik, the head Lubavitcher rabbi in Milan, Italy.[8] Krinsky is the president of Chabad's Jewish Educational Media.
• Menachem M. Krinsky, who is married to Miriam Turner of Chicago
• Rabbi Shmaya Krinsky, who is married to Rivkah Gutnick, daughter of Australian commodities magnate Joseph Gutnick[9]
• Sheine B. Krinsky, who is married to Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman, associate director of the Kehot Publication Society[10]
• Chana Krinsky, who is married to Rabbi Joseph Futerfas, director of Camp Gan Israel, New York

Krinsky's achievements have been recognized in the press. He appeared in several lists of influential American Jews, including the Forward 50 in 2005.[11]

From 2007 to 2013,[12] Newsweek magazine compiled an annual list of the fifty most influential rabbis in the United States. Krinsky was nominated to the list each year. His placings varied from year to year, but he never dropped from the top five.

• 2007: 2nd place[13]
• 2008: 4th place[14]
• 2009: 4th place[15]
• 2010: 1st place[16]
• 2011: 1st place[16]
• 2012: 2nd place[17][18][19]
• 2013: 4th place[20]