Tens of thousands visit rebbe’s grave

More than 50,000 people visited the grave of the seventh Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, on the 17th anniversary of his death.

Along with the visitors Tuesday at Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, N.Y., an estimated 1 million more people sent requests to be left at the grave via fax and e-mail.

The yartzheit came just days after the 70th anniversary of the rebbe’s arrival in the United States from Nazi-occupied France.

Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher rebbe, died in 1994 and has been without a successor.

Visitors to his grave included Jews and non-Jews, Chasidim and secular Jews, and people from around the world, including some who made the trip specifically to pay their respects.

Throughout the year, a few hundred thousand people visit the gravesite seeking blessing, guidance and spiritual inspiration. The gravesite receives more than 400,000 prayer requests each year via fax and hundreds of thousands more via e-mail, according to Chabad.