Rabbi Shlomo Cunin (Hebrew ברוך שלמה אליהו קונין) is the director of Chabad-Lubavitch of California, activities on the West Coast of the United States. He was sent by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson as a Shliach in 1965, and together with Rabbi Menachem Shmuel David Raichik, he built a network of Chabad Houses throughout California and Nevada.
Chabad of California's mission is to reach out to others with acts of goodness and kindness. West coast Chabad is a community-based nonprofit organization whose efforts are rooted in traditional Jewish values—and many of its programs help the needy regardless of background or belief.
Rabbi Cunin, sent by the Rebbe, began West coast Chabad in 1967; Chabad now runs the largest network of nonsectarian educational and social services under Jewish auspices on the West Coast.
West Coast Chabad Lubavitch is part of the largest Jewish organization in the world, with over 2,700 branches spanning the globe. Chabad embraces a philosophy of study, meditation, and social outreach that combines rigorous academics with proactive community involvement. Our rapidly growing array of educational and social services programs has made us one of the most dynamic forces in modern Jewish life. “Chabad” is a Hebrew acronym for “Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge", and Lubavitch is the town in White Russia where the movement was based for more than a century. (The word “Lubavitch” actually means “brotherly love,” which is emblematic of the love and dedication that characterizes Chabad Lubavitch and its representatives.) [Founded in 1772 by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Chabad promotes the mystical, traditional, legal and social principles of the Torah -- while using modern methods and technology for education, community outreach, youth programs, crisis intervention, and other social services.]
Chabad has consistently been at the forefront of Jewish education and community activism. The work of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe who assumed leadership of the movement in 1950, is legendary. Motivated by a profound love for humanity and spurred by boundless optimism, the Rebbe lifted the global Jewish community from the ashes of the Holocaust and launched an unprecedented range of Jewish institutions, outreach programs and social services.
Cunin is a member of Agudas Chasidei Chabad of Russia. He is working to help recover the Chabad library.