Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 5, 1902 OS – June 12, 1994 NS), known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe amongst his hasidim, was a prominent hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn.
In 1950, a year after the death of his father-in-law, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, he assumed the leadership of Lubavitch. He led the movement until his death in 1994, greatly expanding its worldwide activities and founding a network of institutions to spread Orthodox Judaism among the Jewish people.
His focus on messianism was controversial and his legacy is deeply polarising within Orthodox Judaism. During his life time and after his death his followers have considered him to be the Jewish Messiah, and Chabad Messianists await his return from the dead as a Messianic figure.