Leib Groner
Rabbi Yehuda Leib ("Leibel") Groner (born 1931) was a secretary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson for over 40 years.
Leibel's connection to the Rebbe began at a very young age, when the Rebbe attended his Bar Mitzvah and spoke for some 20 minutes. In 1949, the Rebbe asked Leibel to join the team of Merkos, thus adding Rabbi Groner to his Secretariat.
Groner was the Rebbe's 'right hand man' and was always seen at the Rebbe's side. He has been the closest Mazkir to the Rebbe. In fact, in 1984 the Rebbe referred to him as 'My General'. He was the sole Mazkir to be called by his first name, as all other the Rebbe would call by their last name.
After Gimmel Tammuz, Groner went on to become a public speaker, and goes around the world retelling many of his encounters with the Rebbe.
Politics
Groner has been associated in recent years with a number of right-wing campaigns. In 2005 he was part of a delegation along with Menachem Brod who had a "heated debate" with Ariel Sharon, pleading with him not give away land, something which Israel would soon regret.[1]
Family
He is married to Yehudis Groner, His son Rabbi Yossi Groner, is the Rabbi of Congregation Ohr HaTorah in Charlotte, North Carolina.His other son Rabbi Menachem Mendel Groner is a Rosh Yeshiva at the Chabad Yeshiva in Kiryat Gat, Israel alongside the city's Chief Rabbi Moshe Havlin. His brother was Yitzchok Dovid Groner, who was the most senior Chabad rabbi in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and the director of the Yeshivah Centre there.