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Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Yiddish: מנחם מענדל שניאורסאהן; Russian: Менахем-Мендл Шнеерсон; Modern Hebrew: מנחם מנדל שניאורסון; April 5, 1902 OS – June 12, 1994; AM 11 Nissan 5662 – 3 Tammuz 5754), known to adherents of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or simply the Rebbe, was a Russian-American Orthodox rabbi and the most recent Rebbe of the Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty. He is considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century.

As leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, he took an insular Hasidic group that almost came to an end with the Holocaust and transformed it into one of the most influential movements in religious Jewry, with an international network of over 5,000 educational and social centers. The institutions he established include kindergartens, schools, drug-rehabilitation centers, care-homes for the disabled, and synagogues.

Schneerson's published teachings fill more than 400 volumes, and he is noted for his contributions to Jewish continuity and religious thought, as well as his wide-ranging contributions to traditional Torah scholarship. He is recognized as the pioneer of Jewish outreach. During his lifetime, many of his adherents believed that he was the Messiah. His own attitude to the subject, and whether he openly encouraged this, is hotly debated among academics. During Schneerson's lifetime, the messianic controversy and other issues elicited fierce criticism from many quarters in the Orthodox world, especially earning him the enmity of Rabbi Elazar Shach.

In 1978, the U.S. Congress asked President Jimmy Carter to designate Schneerson's birthday as the national Education Day in the U.S. It has been since commemorated as Education and Sharing Day. In 1994, Schneerson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his "outstanding and lasting contributions toward improvements in world education, morality, and acts of charity". Schneerson's resting place attracts both Jews and non-Jews for prayer.

Early life and education
Menachem Mendel Schneerson was born on April 5, 1902 (OS) (11 Nissan, 5662), in the Black Sea port of Nikolaev in the Russian Empire (now Mykolaiv in Ukraine). His father was rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, a renowned Talmudic scholar and authority on Kabbalah and Jewish law. His mother was Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson. He was named after the third Chabad rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Tzemach Tzedek, from whom he was a direct patrilineal descendant.

In 1907, when Schneerson was five years old, the family moved to Yekatrinoslav (today, Dnipro), where Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was appointed Chief Rabbi of the city. He served until 1939, when he was exiled by the Soviets to Kazakhstan. Schneerson had two younger brothers: Dov Ber, who was murdered in 1944 by Nazi collaborators, and Yisrael Aryeh Leib, who died in 1952 while completing doctoral studies at Liverpool University.

During his youth, he received a private education and was tutored by Zalman Vilenkin from 1909 through 1913. When Schneerson was 11 years old, Vilenkin informed his father that he had nothing more to teach his son. At that point, Levi Yitzchak began teaching his son Talmud and rabbinic literature, as well as Kabbalah. Schneerson proved gifted in both Talmudic and Kabbalistic study and also took exams as an external student of the local Soviet school. He was considered an illui and genius, and by the time he was 17, he had mastered the entire Talmud, some 5,422 pages, as well as all its early commentaries.

Throughout his childhood, Schneerson was involved in the affairs of his father's office. He was also said to have acted as an interpreter between the Jewish community and the Russian authorities on a number of occasions. Levi Yitzchak's courage and principles were a guide to his son for the rest of his life. Many years later, when he once reminisced about his youth, Schneerson said "I have the education of the first-born son of the rabbi of Yekaterinoslav. When it comes to saving lives, I speak up whatever others may say."

Schneerson went on to receive separate rabbinical ordinations from the Rogatchover Gaon, Joseph Rosen, and Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, author of Sridei Aish.

Marriage and family life
In 1923, Schneerson visited the sixth Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, for the first time. He met the rabbi's middle daughter Chaya Mushka (Mousia) – they were distant cousins. Sometime later they became engaged, but were not married until 1928 in Warsaw, Poland. Taking great pride in his son-in-law's outstanding scholarship, Yosef Yitzchak asked him to engage in learned conversation with the great Torah scholars that were present at the wedding, such as Meir Shapiro and Menachem Ziemba. Menachem Mendel and Chaya Mushka were married for 60 years, and were childless.

Menachem Mendel Schneerson and Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn were both descendants of Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, known as the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Chabad Lubavitch. Schneerson later commented that the day of his marriage bound the community to him and him to the community.

In 1947 Schneerson traveled to Paris, to take his mother, Chana Schneerson, back to New York City with him. Schneerson would visit her every day and twice each Friday and prepare her a tea. In 1964, Chana Schneerson died.

On February 10, 1988, Schneerson's wife, Chaya Mushka Schneerson died. A year after the death of his wife, when the traditional year of Jewish mourning had passed, Schneerson moved into his study above the central Lubavitch synagogue on Eastern Parkway.

Berlin
After his wedding to Chaya Mushka in 1928, Schneerson and his wife moved to Berlin, where he was assigned specific communal tasks by his father-in-law Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who also requested that he write scholarly annotations to the responsa and various hasidic discourses of the earlier Rebbes of Chabad-Lubavitch. Schneerson studied mathematics, physics, and philosophy at the University of Berlin. He would later recall that he enjoyed Erwin Schrödinger's lectures. His father-in-law took great pride in his erudite son-in-law's scholarly attainments and paid for all the tuition expenses and helped facilitate his studies throughout.

During his stay in Berlin, his father-in-law encouraged him to become more of a public figure, but Schneerson described himself as an introvert, and was known to plead with acquaintances not to make a fuss over the fact that he was the son-in-law of Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn.

While in Berlin, Schneerson met Joseph B. Soloveitchik and the two formed a friendship that remained between them years later when they both emigrated to America. He wrote hundreds of pages of his own original Torah discourses, and conducted a serious interchange of halachic correspondence with many of Eastern Europe's leading rabbinic figures, including the Talmudic genius known as the Rogachover Gaon. In 1933 he also met with Chaim Elazar Shapiro, as well as with Talmudist Shimon Shkop. During this time he kept a diary in which he would carefully document his private conversations with his father-in-law, as well as his kabbalistic correspondence with his father, Levi Yitzchak Schneerson.

Paris
In 1933, after the Nazis took over Germany, the Schneersons left Berlin and moved to Paris, where Menachem Mendel (known as "RaMash" before accepting the leadership of Chabad) continued his religious and communal activities on behalf of his father-in-law, Yosef Yitzchak.

While in Paris he took a two-year course in engineering at a vocational college, where he was a mediocre student; this was his only formal secular education.

During that time, Yosef Yitzchak recommended that Professor Alexander Vasilyevitch Barchenko consult with Schneerson regarding various religious and mystical matters, and prominent rabbis, such as Yerachmiel Binyaminson and Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler turned to Schneerson with their rabbinic and kabbalistic queries.

On June 11, 1940, three days before Paris fell to the Nazis, the Schneersons fled to Vichy, and later to Nice, where they stayed until their final escape from Europe in 1941.

New York
In 1941, Schneerson escaped from Europe via Lisbon, Portugal. On the eve of his departure, Schneerson penned a treatise where he revealed his vision for the future of world Jewry and humanity. He and his wife Chaya Mushka arrived in New York on June 23, 1941.

Shortly after his arrival, his father-in-law appointed him director and chairman of the three Chabad central organizations, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Machneh Israel and Kehot Publication Society, placing him at the helm of the movement's Jewish educational, social services, and publishing networks. Over the next decade, Yosef Yitzchak referred many of the scholarly questions that had been inquired of him to his son-in-law. He became increasingly known as a personal representative of Yosef Yitzchak.

During the 1940s, Schneerson became a naturalized US citizen and seeking to contribute to the war effort, he volunteered at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, using his electrical engineering background to draw wiring diagrams for the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), and other classified military work.

In 1942 Schneerson launched the Merkos Shlichus program where he would send pairs of yeshiva students to remote locations across the country during their summer vacations to teach Jews in isolated communities about their heritage and offer education to their children.

As chairman and editor in chief of Kehot, Schneerson published the works of the earlier Rebbes of Chabad. He also published his own works including the Hayom Yom in 1943 and Hagadda in 1946.

On a visit to Paris in 1947 he established a school for girls and worked with local organizations to assist with housing for refugees and displaced persons. Schneerson often explained that his goal was to "make the world a better place", and to do what he could to eliminate all suffering. In a letter to Israeli President Yitzchak Ben Tzvi, Schneerson wrote that when he was a child the vision of the future redemption began to take form in his imagination "a redemption of such magnitude and grandeur through which the purpose of the suffering, the harsh decrees and annihilation of exile will be understood ..."

In 1991, a car in convoy with Schneerson's motorcade accidentally struck two Guyanese American children while running a red light. One of the children was killed. The incident triggered the Crown Heights riot.

Seventh Chabad Rebbe
After the death of Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn in 1950, Chabad followers began persuading Schneerson to succeed his father-in-law as Rebbe on the basis of his scholarship, piety, and dynasty. Schneerson was reluctant, and actively refused to accept leadership of the movement. He continued, however, all the communal activities he had previously headed. It would take a full year until he was persuaded by the elders of the movement to accept the post.

On the first anniversary of his father-in-law's passing, 10 Shevat 1951, in a ceremony attended by several hundred rabbis and Jewish leaders from all parts of the United States and Canada, Schneerson delivered a Hasidic discourse (Ma'amar), the equivalent to a President-elect taking the oath of office, and formally became the Rebbe. On the night of his acceptance, members of the Israeli Cabinet and Israel's Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Herzog sent him congratulatory messages.

Reiterating a longstanding core Chabad principle at his inaugural talk, he demanded that each individual exert themselves in advancing spiritually, and not rely on the Rebbe to do it for them, saying: "Now listen, Jews. Generally, in Chabad it has been demanded that each individual work on themselves, and not rely on the Rebbes. One must, on their own, transform the folly of materialism and the passion of the 'animal soul' to holiness. I do not, God Forbid, recuse myself from assisting as much as possible, however; if one does not work on themselves, what good will submitting notes, singing songs, and saying lechayim do?" At the same talk, Schneerson said "one must go to a place where nothing is known of Godliness, nothing is known of Judaism, nothing is even known of the Hebrew alphabet, and while there to put oneself aside and ensure that the other calls out to God." When he spoke to Forward journalist Asher Penn that year, he said, "...we must stop insisting that Judaism is in danger, an assertion that does little but place Jewry on the defensive. We need to go on the offensive."

As Rebbe, Schneerson would receive visitors for private meetings, known as yechidus, on Sunday and Thursday evenings. Those meetings would begin at 8 pm and often continue until five or six in the morning and were open to everyone. Schneerson, who spoke several languages including English, Yiddish, Hebrew, Aramaic, French, Russian, German and Italian, would converse with people on all issues and offer his advice on both spiritual and mundane matters. Politicians and leaders from across the globe came to meet him, but Schneerson showed no preference to one person over another. His secretary once even declined to admit John F. Kennedy because Schneerson was already meeting 'ordinary' people who had requested appointments months previously. Those meetings were discontinued in 1982 when it became impossible to accommodate the large number of people. Meetings were then held only for those who had a special occasion, such as a bride and groom for their wedding or a boy and his family on the occasion of a bar mitzvah.

During his four decades as Rebbe, Schneerson would deliver regular addresses, centered on the weekly Torah portion and on various tractates of the Talmud. These talks, delivered without text or notes, would last for several hours, and sometimes went for eight or nine hours without a break. During the talks, Schneerson demonstrated a unique approach in explaining seemingly different concepts by analysis of the fundamental principle common to the entire tractate, and referenced both classic and esoteric sources from all periods, citing entire sections by heart.

Women and girls
In 1951 Schneerson established a Chabad women's and girl's organization and a youth organization in Israel. Their mission was to engage in outreach which was exclusively directed at women and teens. In 1953 he opened branches of these organizations in New York, London and Toronto. In a marked departure from an entrenched tendency to limit high-level Torah education to men and boys, Schneerson equally addressed his teachings to both genders. He addressed meetings of the organizations, and led gatherings exclusively for women. Schneerson would describe the increase in Torah study by women as one of the "positive innovations of the later generations".

International outreach
That same year, Schneerson sent his first emissary to Morocco, and established schools and a synagogue for the Moroccan Jewish community. In 1958 Schneerson established schools and synagogues in Detroit, Michigan, in Milan, Italy, and in London, England.

Beginning in the 1960s, Schneerson instituted a system of "mitzvah campaigns" to encourage the observance of ten basic Jewish practices, such as tefillin for men, Shabbat candles for women, and loving your fellow for all people. Schneersohn's campaign brought the concept of tefillin to Jewish men everywhere, and he has been referred to as "the great modern popularizer of tefillin". Until his campaign, tefillin was largely the domain of the meticulously observant.

Following the death of his mother Chana Schneerson in 1964, Schneerson began to offer an additional weekly sermon in her memory. These sermons consisted of original insights and unprecedented analysis of Rashi's Torah commentary, which were delivered at the regular public gatherings. Schneerson gave these sermons each week until 1992.

Chanukah campaign
In 1973, Schneerson started a Chanukah campaign to encourage all Jews worldwide to light their own menorah. After all tin menorahs were given out that year, a military manufacturer was commissioned to make tens of thousands of additional menorahs for distribution. In 1974, a public lighting of a Chanukah menorah was held by the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in years following menorah lightings on public grounds were conducted in cities worldwide. Legal challenges to the lightings on public grounds reached the Supreme Court and it was ruled that public lightings did not violate the Constitution. Public lightings continue in thousands of cities today.

Lag BaOmer parade
Chabad established an annual Lag BaOmer parade at '770', one of the largest celebrations of its kind, where thousands of Jews celebrate the holiday.

Iran youth immigration
In 1979, during the Iranian Revolution and Iranian hostage crisis, Schneerson directed arrangements to rescue Jewish youth and teenagers from Iran and bring them to safety in the United States. The Iranian government's hostility towards the United States was seen by Schneerson as behavior that could threaten the country's status as an "untouchable" superpower, and that would cause it to try to appease Arab countries, thus "endanger[ing] the security of Israel". As a result of Schneerson's efforts, several thousand Iranian children were flown from Iran to the safety of New York.

Noahidism and Jewish outreach
In 1983 Schneerson launched a global campaign to promote awareness of the Supreme Being and observance of the Noahide Laws among all people, arguing that this was the basis for human rights for all civilization. Several times each year his addresses were broadcast on national television. On these occasions Schneerson would address the public on general communal affairs and issues relating to world peace such as a moment of silence in U.S. public schools, increased government funding for solar energy research, U.S. foreign aid to developing countries and nuclear disarmament.

In 1984, Schneerson initiated a campaign for the daily study of Maimonides's Mishneh Torah. Each year at the completion of the learning cycle there is Siyum celebration marking the end of the cycle and beginning of the new one. These events have been attended by many Jewish leaders.

Sunday office hours for charity
In 1986, Schneerson began a custom where each Sunday he would stand outside his office, greet people briefly, give them a dollar bill and encourage them to donate to the charity of their choice. Explaining his reason for encouraging charitable giving among all people, Schneerson quoted his father-in-law who said that "when two people meet, it should bring benefit to a third." People in line would often take this opportunity to ask Schneerson for advice or request a blessing. Thousands of people attended this event each week, which lasted up to six hours, and is often referred to as "Sunday Dollars".

Schneerson's wife, Chaya Mushka Schneerson died in 1988. During the week of shiva Schneerson wrote a will in which he bequeathed his entire estate to Agudas Chasidei Chabad, the Chabad umbrella organization.

During a talk in 1991, Schneerson spoke passionately about Moshiach (the Messiah) and told his followers that he had done all that he could to bring world peace and redemption, but that it was now up to them to continue this task: "I have done my part, from now on you do all that you can." A few months later, when a reporter from CNN came to meet him at dollars, he said, "Moshiach is ready to come now, it is only on our part to do something additional in the realm of goodness and kindness."

His message: become righteous
On Sunday, March 1, 1992, Gabriel Erem, the editor of Lifestyles Magazine told Schneerson that on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday they would be publishing a special issue and wanted to know what his message to the world was. Schneerson replied that "'Ninety', in Hebrew, is 'tzaddik'; which means 'righteous.' And that is a direct indication for every person to become a real tzaddik—a righteous person, and to do so for many years, until 120. "This message", Schneerson added, "applies equally to Jews and non-Jews".

Work habits
During his decades of leadership, Schneerson worked over 18 hours a day and never took a day of vacation. He rarely left Brooklyn except for visits to his father-in-law's gravesite in Queens, New York. Schneerson was opposed to retirement, seeing it as a waste of precious years. In 1972, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, instead of announcing a retirement plan, Schneerson proposed the establishment of 71 new institutions to mark the beginning of the 71st year of his life.

Illness and death
In 1977, during the hakafot ceremony on Shemini Atzeret, Schneerson suffered a heart attack. At his request, rather than transporting him to a hospital, the doctors set up a mini-hospital at his office where he was treated for the next four weeks by doctors Bernard Lown, Ira Weiss, and Larry Resnick. He made a full recovery from the heart attack with few if any noticeable lasting effects or changes to his work habits. Fifteen years later Schneerson suffered a serious stroke while praying at the grave of his father-in-law. The stroke left him unable to speak, and paralyzed on the right side of his body. During this time, the hope that Schneerson could be revealed as the Messiah (Moshiach) became more widespread. On the morning of June 12, 1994 (3 Tammuz 5754), Schneerson died at the Beth Israel Medical Center and was buried at the Ohel next to his father-in-law, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, at Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York. Shortly after Schneerson's death, the executors of his will discovered several notebooks in a drawer in his office, in which Schneerson had written his scholarly thoughts and religious musings from his earliest years. The majority of entries in these journals date between the years 1928 and 1950 and were subsequently published. Following age-old Jewish tradition that the resting place of a tzadik is holy, Schneerson's gravesite is viewed by many as a holy site and has been described by the Yedioth Ahronoth as "the American Western Wall", where thousands of people, Jews and non-Jews, go to pray each week. Many more send faxes and e-mails with requests for prayers to be read at the gravesite.

Wills
Schneerson died without naming a successor as leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty, causing controversy within Chabad about Schneerson's will. He did, however, write one legal will, which was signed before witnesses, whereby he transferred stewardship of all the major Chabad institutions as well as all his possessions to Agudas Chassidei Chabad.

Another will, no executed copies of which are known to be in existence, named three senior Chabad rabbis as directors of Agudas Chassidei Chabad.

Messianism
Schneerson had a passion and desire to raise awareness of the coming of the Messiah. During his life, many of his admirers hoped that he would be revealed as the Messiah. They pointed to traditional Jewish theology which teaches that in every generation there is one person who is worthy of being the Messiah, and if God deems the time right, he will be revealed by God as such. Schneerson's supporters have claimed that many Jews felt that if there was indeed a person worthy of such stature, it was Schneerson. Although Schneerson constantly objected to any talk that he could be the Messiah, this notion sparked controversy, particularly among those who were unfamiliar with these traditional teachings. Detractors criticized a children's song with the words "We want moshiach (the messiah) now / We don't want to wait", that Schneerson commended. Since Schneerson's passing, the Messianic movement has largely shrunk, although some followers still believe him to be the Messiah. The Chabad umbrella organization, Agudas Chasidei Chabad, has condemned Messianic behavior, stating that it defies the express wishes of Schneerson.

United States
Schneerson spoke of the position of the United States as a world superpower, and would praise what he considered its foundational values of '"E pluribus unum'—from many one", and "In God We Trust". He called on the government to develop independent energy, and not need to rely on totalitarian regimes whose countries national interests greatly differed from the U.S. Schneerson also called for the U.S. Government to use its influence on countries who were receiving its foreign aid to do more for the educational and cultural needs of their deprived citizens.

Schneerson placed a strong emphasis on education and often spoke of the need of a moral educational system for all people. He was an advocate of a Department of Education as a separate cabinet position from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Schneerson proclaimed 1977 as a "Year of Education" and urged Congress to do the same. He stated that education "must think in terms of a 'better living' not only for the individual, but also for the society as a whole. The educational system must, therefore, pay more attention to the building of character, with emphasis on moral and ethical values. Education must put greater emphasis on the promotion of fundamental human rights and obligations of justice and morality, which are the basis of any human society".

The Ninety-Fifth Congress of the United States issued a Joint Resolution proclaiming 1978 as a Year of Education and designating April 18, 1978, as "Education Day, U.S.A.". Each year since, the President of the United States has proclaimed Schneerson's birthday as "Education Day, U.S.A." in his honor.

During his life, Schneerson had great influence on numerous political leaders from across the aisle, many of whom would seek his advice. He was visited by presidents, Prime Ministers, Governors, Senators, Congressmen and Mayors. Notable among them are John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Jacob Javits, Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, David Dinkins and Joe Lieberman.

According to Howard Mortman's book, When Rabbis Bless Congress, Schneerson was the rabbi most mentioned in Congress.

Israel
Schneerson took great interest in the affairs of the state of Israel, and did whatever was in his power to support the infrastructure of the state and advance its success. He was concerned with the nation's agricultural, industrial and overall economic welfare, and sought to promote its scientific achievements, and enhance its standing in the international community. Schneerson consistently recognized the role of the Israel Defense Forces and stated that those who serve in the Israeli army perform a great mitzvah.

In 1950, Schneerson encouraged the establishment of Israel's first automobile company, Autocars Co. (Hebrew: אוטוקרס) of Haifa. By 1956, the company was responsible for 28% of Israel's exports. Schneerson established a network of trade schools in Israel to train Israeli youth, new immigrants and Holocaust survivors. In 1954, Schneerson established a school for carpentry and woodwork. In 1955, he established a school for agriculture. In 1956, he established a school for printing and publishing and, in 1957, a school for textiles.

Although he never visited Israel, many of Israel's top leadership made it a point to visit him. Israeli President Zalman Shazar would visit Schneerson whenever he came to New York and corresponded extensively with him, as would Prime Minister Menachem Begin who visited the Schneerson numerous times, including a famous visit before going to Washington to meet President Carter. Ariel Sharon, who had a close relationship with Schneerson, often quoted his views on military matters and sought his advice when he considered retiring from the military. Schneerson advised the general to remain at his post. Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Benjamin Netanyahu also visited and sought Schneerson's advice. Israeli politicians and military experts who came to consult with him were surprised by his detailed knowledge of their country's local affairs and international situation. Despite his advisory meetings with American and Israeli political notables, Schneerson stated his nonpartisan policy many times, warning of his non-involvement in politics.

Schneerson publicly expressed his view that the safety and stability of Israel were in the best interests of the United States, calling Israel the front line against those who want the anti-Western nations to succeed. He was opposed to land for peace, which he called an "illusion of peace", saying that it would not save lives, but harm lives. Schneerson stated that this position was not based on nationalistic or other religious reasons, but purely out of concern for human life. Benjamin Netanyahu said that, while he was serving as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in 1984, Schneerson told him: "you will be serving in a house of darkness, but remember, that even in the darkest place; the light of a single candle can be seen far and wide ..." Netanyahu later retold this episode in a speech at the General Assembly, on September 23, 2011.

Just before the outbreak of the Six-Day War, Schneerson called for a global Tefillin campaign, to see that Jews observe the Mitzvah of wearing Tefillin as a means of ensuring divine protection against Israel's enemies. Speaking to a crowd of thousands of people on May 28, 1967, only a few days before the outbreak of the war, he assured the world that Israel would be victorious. He said Israel had no need to fear as God was with them, quoting the verse, "the Guardian of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers". Within the Haredi community, criticism of the campaign was voiced at the Agudat Israel convention of 1968. However, following the incident, Yitzchok Hutner, a prominent Orthodox rabbi who had corresponded with Schneersohn in the past, wrote to Schneerson privately, distancing himself from the convention. Hutner wrote that he had not been at the convention and asked forgiveness for any pain his earlier letters (discussing halachic issues regarding the tefillin campaign) may have caused.

After the Operation Entebbe rescue, in a public talk on August 16, 1976, Schneerson applauded the courage and selflessness of the IDF, "who flew thousands of miles, putting their lives in danger for the sole purpose of possibly saving the lives of tens of Jews". He said: "their portion in the Hereafter is guaranteed". He was later vilified by ultra-haredi rabbis for publicly praising the courage of the IDF and suggesting that God chose them as a medium through which he would send deliverance to the Jewish people. Schneerson protested vehemently against those elements within the ultra-haredi society who sought to undermine the motivations and actions of the soldiers.

Soviet Jewry
Schneerson greatly encouraged the Jews who lived in Communist states. He sent many emissaries on covert missions to sustain Judaism under Communist regimes and to provide them with their religious and material needs. Many Jews from behind the Iron Curtain corresponded with Schneerson, sending their letters to him via secret messenger and addressing Schneerson in code name as 'Grandfather'.

Schneerson, who had an intimate knowledge of the Soviet government and their tactics, opposed demonstrations on behalf of Soviet Jews, stating that he had evidence that they were harming Russia's Jews. Instead, he advocated quiet diplomacy, which he said would be more effective. Schneerson did whatever was in his power to push for the release of Jews from the former Soviet Union and established schools, communities and other humanitarian resources to assist with their absorption into Israel. On one known occasion he instructed Senator Chic Hecht to provide President Ronald Reagan with contact information of people who wished to leave so that he could lobby their release.

Following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, Schneerson called for efforts to rescue Ukrainian Jewish children from Chernobyl and founded a special organization for this purpose. The first rescue flight occurred on August 3, 1990, when 196 Jewish children were flown to Israel and brought to a shelter campus. Since then, thousands of children have been rescued and brought to Israel, where they receive housing, education, and medical care in a supportive environment.

Natan Sharansky, the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, said that Chabad Lubavitch was an essential connector to Soviet Jewry during the Cold War, while Shimon Peres has stated that it's to Schneerson's credit that "Judaism in the Soviet Union has been preserved".

Impact
Schneerson initiated Jewish outreach in the post-Holocaust era. He believed that world Jewry was seeking to learn more about its heritage, and sought to bring Judaism to Jews wherever they were. British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said of Schneerson "that if the Nazis searched out every Jew in hate, the Rebbe wished to search out every Jew in love". He oversaw the building of schools, community centers, and youth camps and created a global network of emissaries, known as shluchim.

Today there are shluchim in all of the 50 US states, in over 100 countries and 1,000 cities around the world, totaling more than 3,600 institutions including some 300 in Israel. Chabad is very often the only Jewish presence in a given town or city and it has become the face of Jewish Orthodoxy for the Jewish and general world.

Schneerson's model of Jewish outreach has been imitated by all Jewish movements including the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Haredi. His published works fill more than 200 volumes and are often used as source text for sermons of both Chabad and non-Chabad rabbis. Beyond the Jewish world, Peggy Noonan has written that moral issues would be better addressed by leaders such as Schneerson than by politicians, and since his death, Schneerson has been referred to as the Rebbe for all people.

Recognition
Schneerson's work was recognized by every US president from Richard Nixon to Joe Biden. In 1978, Schneerson became the first rabbi to have a U.S. national day proclaimed in his honor, when the U.S. Congress and President Jimmy Carter designated Schneerson's birthdate as "Education Day USA". Each year since, the President has called on all Americans to focus on education in honor of Schneerson. In 1982, Ronald Reagan proclaimed Schneerson's birthday as a "National Day of Reflection" and presented the "National Scroll of Honor" that was signed by the President, Vice-President and every member of Congress.

Many officials attended Schneerson's funeral, including New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Benjamin Netanyahu and the entire staff of the Israeli consulate in Washington.

President Bill Clinton penned a condolence letter "to the Chabad-Lubavitch community and to world Jewry" and spoke of Schneerson as "a monumental man who as much as any other individual, was responsible over the last half a century for advancing the instruction of ethics and morality to our young people". Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin cited Schneerson's great scholarship and contribution to the entire Jewish people and proclaimed, "The Rebbe's loss is a loss for all the Jewish people." Foreign Minister Shimon Peres cited words from the prophet Malachi as applying with particular force to Schneerson: "He brought back many from iniquity. For a priest's lips shall guard knowledge, and teaching should be sought from his mouth. For he is a messenger of the Lord."

Shortly after his death, Schneerson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, honoring Schneerson for his "outstanding and enduring contributions toward world education, morality, and acts of charity". President Bill Clinton spoke these words at the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony:

"The late Rebbe's eminence as a moral leader for our country was recognized by every president since Richard Nixon. For over two decades, the Rabbi's movement now has some 2000 institutions; educational, social, medical, all across the globe. We (the United States Government) recognize the profound role that Rabbi Schneerson had in the expansion of those institutions."

In 2009, the National Museum of American Jewish History selected Schneerson as one of eighteen American Jews to be included in their "Only in America" Hall of Fame.

Schneerson's contribution with respect to comprehension of human emotion is considered by many to be unparalleled; as Elie Wiesel said of the Rebbe, "When the Rebbe was alone with anyone, it was an opening. He opened doors for his visitor, or his student or Chasid—secret doors that we all have. It wasn’t a break-in. It was just an invitation. And that was really the greatness of the Rebbe. I think the Rebbe had a great talent for that—one of the greatest and the best that Judaism has ever seen." Schneerson is often considered to be one of the most, if not the most, influential rabbis of the twentieth century.

Criticism
From the 1970s onwards, Elazar Shach of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak was publicly critical of Schneerson, accusing him of creating a cult of crypto-messianism around himself. He objected to his calling upon the Messiah to appear and eventually called for a boycott of Chabad and its institutions. Though Schneerson never responded publicly to Shach's attacks, he did rebuke those who disparaged (religious and non-religious) Jews and for bringing division among them in apparent response to Shach, explaining that "every Jew, regardless of differences and levels of observances, is part of Am Echad", the unified Jewish people.

Scholarship and works
Schneerson is recognized for his scholarship and contributions to Talmudic, Halachic, Kabalistic and Chasidic teachings. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, who knew Schneerson from their days in Berlin, and remained in contact once the two men came to America, told his students after visiting Schneerson "the Rebbe has a gewaldiger [awesome] comprehension of the Torah", and "He is a gaon, he is a great one, he is a leader of Israel."

According to Mordechai Eliyahu, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, his meeting with Schneerson "covered all sections of the Torah". Eliyahu said, "The Rebbe jumped effortlessly from one Talmudic tractate to another, and from there to Kabbalah and then to Jewish law ... It was as if he had just finished studying these very topics from the holy books. The whole Torah was an open book in front of him".

Schneerson's teachings have been published in more than two hundred volumes. Schneerson also penned tens of thousands of letters in reply to requests for blessings and advice. These detailed and personal letters offer advice and explanation on a wide variety of subjects, including spiritual matters as well as all aspects of life.

Books in Hebrew and Yiddish

 * 1943: Hayom Yom – An anthology of Chabad aphorisms and customs arranged according to the days of the year
 * 1944: Sefer HaToldot – Admor Moharash – Biography of the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Shmuel Schneersohn
 * 1946: Haggadah Im Likkutei Ta'amim U'minhagim – The Haggadah with a commentary written by Schneerson
 * 1951–1992: Sefer HaMa'amarim Melukot – chassidic discourses (6 volumes)
 * 1951–2014: Sefer HaMa'amarim Hasidic discourses including 1951–1962, 1969–1977 with plans to complete the rest (29 volumes)
 * 1962–1992: Likkutei Sichot – Schneerson's discourses on the weekly Torah portions, Jewish Holidays, and other issues (40 volumes)
 * 1981–1992: Torat Menachem Hitvaduyot – transcripts of talks in Hebrew, 1982–1992 (63 volumes)
 * 1985: Chidushim UBiurim B'Shas – novellae on the Talmud (3 volumes)
 * 1985–1987: Sichot Kodesh – transcripts of talks in Yiddish from 1950 to 1981 (50 volumes)
 * 1985–2010: Igrot Kodesh – Schneerson's Hebrew and Yiddish letters (33 volumes)
 * 1987–1992: Sefer HaSichot – Schneerson's edited talks from 1987 to 1992. (12 volumes)
 * 1988: Hilchot Beit Habechira LeHaRambam Im Chiddushim U'Beurim – Talks on the Laws of the Holy Temple of the Mishneh Torah
 * 1989: Biurim LePirkei Avot – talks on the Mishnaic tractate of "Ethics of the Fathers" (2 volumes)
 * 1990–2010: Heichal Menachem – Shaarei – talks arranged by topic and holiday (34 volumes)
 * 1991: Biurim LePeirush Rashi – talks on the commentary of Rashi to Torah (5 volume)
 * 1991: Yein Malchut – talks on the Mishneh Torah (2 volumes).
 * 1992: Torat Menachem – Tiferet Levi Yitzchok – talks on the works of his father, Levi Yitzchak Schneerson on the Zohar (3 volumes)
 * 1993–2022: Torat Menachem transcripts of talks in Hebrew, 1950–1973. Planned to encompass 1950–1992 (76 volumes)
 * 1994–2001: Reshimot – Schneerson's personal journal discovered after his death. Includes notes for his public talks before 1950, letters to Jewish scholars, notes on the Tanya, and thoughts on a wide range of Jewish subjects penned between 1928 and 1950 (10 volumes)

Books in English (original and translated)

 * The Teachings of The Rebbe - The Chassidic Discourses of The Rebbe in English
 * Letters from the Rebbe – eight volume set of Schneerson's English letters
 * Path to Selflessness – work discussing the bond between the individual soul and God
 * Garments of the Soul – discussing the sublime importance of mundane activities, and their effect on the soul
 * The Letter and the Spirit – six volumes so far published of the Rebbe's English letters
 * Sichos in English – fifty-one volumes published of the Rebbe's talks in English

Works available online

 * The Teachings of The Rebbe - Chassidic Discourses (English)
 * Chabad.org – Literature
 * Sichos B'Laha"k – The Rebbe's unedited talks (Hebrew)
 * Sichos in English
 * Igros Kodesh (Hebrew)
 * Toras Menachem (Hebrew)
 * Hayom Yom (Hebrew)
 * The Rebbe's 10-point Mitzvah campaign
 * Audio recordings of the Rebbe's addresses (Yiddish)
 * The Rebbe's weekday Farbrengen's (video)
 * The official archive of all the Rebbe's weekday talks (Yiddish)
 * Who Was Rabbi Schneerson?/Lecture by Henry Abramson/June 2013

Works available on iTunes

 * AskTheRebbe! - Answers from the Rebbe's Letters. (English)

Biography

 * Biography of Menachem Mendel Schneerson
 * The Rebbe's life (in Hebrew)
 * The Rebbe's life (English)
 * Video Lecture on Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Chabad by Henry Abramson of Touro College South
 * Early Years: The Formative Years of The Rebbe.

Historical sites

 * The Ohel, about Schneersons burial site
 * Videos of the rebbe
 * Proclamation of Education and Sharing Day 2002 by President George W. Bush also honoring the 100th birthdate of Rabbi Schneerson
 * Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A., 2007
 * Numerous proclamations by President Reagan citing work of Rabbi Schneerson and promotion of the Seven Noahide Laws
 * Congressional Gold Medal Recipient Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
 * Tributes to the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Menachem Begin, Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Israel Meir Lau, John Lewis, Joseph Lieberman, Yitzhak Rabin, Aviezer Ravitzky, Jonathan Sacks, Lawrence Schiffman, Adin Steinsaltz, Margaret Thatcher, Elie Wiesel and Elliot Wolfson.
 * Family Tree
 * Commemorative remarks upon the occasion of the 10th Yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb of the Orthodox Union
 * Timeline of Menachem Mendel Schneerson 1928–1938
 * My Encounter with the Rebbe, an oral history project undertaken by Jewish Educational Media, JEM to record the history of Rabbi Schneerson

title: Menachem Mendel Schneerson


text:
Kerbogha

Qiwam al-Dawla Kerbogha (Kürboğa), known as Kerbogha or Karbughā, was atabeg of Mosul during the First Crusade and was renowned as a soldier.

Early life
Kerbogha was a Seljuk Turk who owed his success to his military talent. He supported Malik-Shah I's wife Terken Khatun and her four-year-old son Mahmud I who was installed on the throne at Baghdad. Kerbogha was sent with an army to secure Isfahan and to arrest Berkyaruq. However, Mahmud's supporters were defeated by Berkyaruq' forces at Isfahan in January 1093. A month later, he joined the Seljuk prince Ismail ibn Yaquti against Berkyaruq army which was victorious once more. Later on, Kerbogha joined Berkyaruq, then he was sent in 1094 to fight against Tutush I who declared himself Sultan in Syria, but he was imprisoned along with his brother Altuntaş in Aleppo then Homs. Upon the death of Tutush, he was released by Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan.

In 1095, he served under the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustazhir in his attempted reconquest of Aleppo. In 1096, he managed to capture Harran, Nisbis and Mosul, in which he ended the Uqaylid Dynasty rule.

The First Crusade
In 1098, when he heard that the Crusaders had besieged Antioch, he gathered his troops and marched to relieve the city. He departed from Mosul on 31 March. On his way, he attempted to regain Edessa following its recent conquest by Baldwin I, so as not to leave any Frankish garrisons behind him on his way to Antioch. For three weeks he pointlessly besieged the city before deciding to continue on to Antioch. His reinforcements could have perhaps ended the Crusade before the walls of Antioch, and, indeed, the whole Crusade was perhaps saved by his time wasted at Edessa. By the time he arrived, around June 7, the Crusaders had already won the siege, and had held the city since 3 June. They were not able to restock the city before Kerbogha, in turn, began besieging the city.

During the siege, on 27 June, Peter the Hermit was sent as emissary to Kerbogha by the Crusaders to suggest that the parties settle all differences by a duel. Presumably feeling his position secure, Kerbogha did not see this course of action as being in his interest, and he declined.

Meanwhile, inside the city, Peter Bartholomew claimed to have discovered the Holy Lance through a vision. This discovery re-energized the Christian army. At the same time, disagreements and infighting broke out within the Atabeg's army. Kerbogha's mighty army was actually made up of semi-nomadic Turkmen, adding to regular armies and levies from Mosul, Jazira, Palestine, and Damascus, and the internal quarrels amongst the Emirs took precedence over any unity against the Franks. The only thing that united his allies was a common fear of Kerbogha's real goal, which was the conquest of all their lands. If Antioch fell to him, he would have been invincible.

On 28 June, when Bohemond, the leader of the Christian army, decided to attack, the Emirs decided to humble Kerbogha by abandoning him at the critical moment. Kerbogha was taken by surprise by the organization and discipline of the Christian army. This motivated, unified Christian army was in fact so large that Kerbogha's strategy of dividing his own forces was ineffective. He was quickly routed by the Crusaders. He was forced to retreat, and returned to Mosul a broken man.

Later life
Despite his defeats outside the cities of both Edessa and Antioch, Kerbogha's position in Mosul went unchallenged through the rest of his life. He spent time raising Imad ad-Din Zengi, the namesake of the Zengid dynasty, who took power in Mosul in 1127 following the rule of a series of Seljuk vassals after Kerbogha's death in 1102.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Kerbogha


text:
Talk:Scythians

Add Armenian, Greek, and New Persian transliterations
(Old Persian: Sakā; New Persian: ساکا Saka; Greek: Σάκαι Sakai; Armenian: սկյութները Skyout'nerə; Latin: Sacae, Sanskrit: शक Śaka), and Sai (Chinese: 塞; Old Chinese: *sˤək), respectively.[8]

Gendered differences.
This Wikipedia page paints a very different view of Scythian gender relations than this article here:. Does the 'gender roles' section need to be updated? 14.2.37.229 (talk) 14:11, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

 * https://translate.yandex.ru/?from=tabbar&source_lang=sv&target_lang=en&text=skiv 176.65.114.181 (talk) 15:44, 18 August 2023 (UTC)
 * yes .. it needs updating TheRightofHerWay (talk) 21:10, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Role regarding women must be edited to reflect updated science
I will be making edits to this wiki to reflect the updated science regarding women in Scythian society. Anyone with a brain can do a mere google search and see National Geographic and world history encyclopedia tell a very different tale than this Wikipedia, let alone scientific research completed.

I plan on making it a sub-article for Scythian Women including a section on Scythian Warrior Women

if anyone would like to work on it with me, please reply.

For anyone who plans to vandalize edits made - understand that i will, as i have in the past, seek assistance from Wikipedia, who will hold you accountable for your efforts to discredit the veracity and faith that Wikipedia seeks to keep as a source of information. There is no question any longer - the science is clear. You have no argument in removing my updates, and you will be punished for not complying with Wikipedia terms.

I am saying this ahead of time - not as a threat... because its not a threat. I will simply do it, regardless.. so that you dont have to ask "who reported me?"... i'm just forewarning everyone I am 100% a snitch who will run to daddy and tell on you.. so that you're not surprised if you decide to play games and find yourself getting in troubles. You can know, it was me. Hello. TheRightofHerWay (talk) 21:29, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

New Book: The Scythian Empire
C. Beckwith has a new book out (2023) would be great if somebody could update the article with any new information.

Germsteel (talk) 08:05, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Before Common Era
Using BC instead of BCE is a Christian centred view 74.14.53.231 (talk) 14:34, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

 * Isn't BCE based on Christ's supposed birth? 2605:8D80:482:3E80:FD31:E942:BE95:2508 (talk) 02:25, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Scythians


text:
Talk:Pyongyang

About that north-south, east-west grid
In : This cites a Library of Congress country study from 2009 (actually I believe it's this one from 2008 – same book (5th ed.), different scan, different URL). I had a look at satellite photos of Pyongyang on Google Maps, and I have to ask – are they though?

From what I could see, only the area on the north side of the river between Pyongyang Station and Pyongyang Thermal Power Plant, and then on the east side of the river surrounding Juche Tower and the Party founding monument, are on what could be described as a roughly north-south–aligned grid. Much of the rest of the city is rather more disordered, with diagonal grids, grids orthogonal to whatever major road, railway or river delimits them, or wholly organically arranged. The spaces in those grid squares themselves are also often disordered. The wording implies a somewhat uniform grid like in Beijing or Los Angeles, covering a majority of the city, but that's just not the case here. The "orderly appearance" thing also sounds a bit propaganda-like; MOS:FLOWERY? – oatco (talk) 00:51, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

 * I don't believe the Library of Congress puts out North Korean propaganda.--Jack Upland (talk) 02:54, 1 November 2023 (UTC)
 * You're right, they probably don't, but my point otherwise stands – only some of the streets are laid in an approximately north-south grid, and the orderliness of its appearance is still a point-of-view thing. – oatco (talk) 16:12, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Pyongyang


text:
Fernando and Nefty Sallaberry

Oscar Neftalí Sallaberry Valls (Nefty, born March 1, 1964, in Ponce, Puerto Rico) and Fernando Ramón Sallaberry Valls (born November 25, 1965, in Barcelona, Spain), are Puerto Rican (and Fernando also, Spaniard) singers and actors who were part of the original lineup of the band Menudo. Nefti and Fernando are the sons of Santiago Sallaberry, a doctor in oncology.

Nefty
Nefty started with Menudo at age 13, and stayed in the group until he was 15. Nefty graduated in 1986 from Marquette University in Computer Sciences. He is an Information Technology Officer (ITO) in a company in Puerto Rico.

Fernando
Fernando started in Menudo at age 12, and was one of the primary voices in the group until he left at age 15. He sang lead vocal on Chiquitita, which became one of Menudo's biggest hits. After he left the group, Fernando became popular as a soloist in Puerto Rico and in South America. He suffers from Neuromuscular disease, a rare condition that has no cure. It is difficult for him to move, and he has needed his family's assistance for the last few years. He continues to gain strength and movement, but is confined to a wheelchair.

XCHANGE
In 1987, four of the original five Menudo members, Carlos Melendez, Ricky Melendez, Nefty Sallaberry and Fernando Sallaberry reunited on a project they called: XCHANGE. There was some publicity, and they recorded a few demos (EPs), but were not offered a recording contract. They soon disbanded.

In pop culture
Fernando and Nefty are played by Guisseppe Miguel Agrelot and by Fabricio Andres Broda Braida, respectively, in the 2020 Amazon Prime Video series based on Menudo, "Subete A Mi Moto".

With Menudo (Nefty Sallaberry)

 * Los Fantasmas (1977)
 * Laura (1978)

With Menudo (Fernando Sallaberry)

 * Los Fantasmas (1977)
 * Laura (1978)
 * Chiquitita (1979)
 * Felicidades! (1979)
 * Mas Mucho Mas (1980)

Without Menudo (Fernando Sallaberry)

 * Menudo Presenta A Fernando (1982)
 * Fantasia (1983)
 * Los Idolos Juventiles 83-Fernando, Rene Farrait, Arturo Vazquez (1983)
 * Al Amor O A La Vida (1986)

title: Fernando and Nefty Sallaberry


text:
Capital asset pricing model

In finance, the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is a model used to determine a theoretically appropriate required rate of return of an asset, to make decisions about adding assets to a well-diversified portfolio.

The model takes into account the asset's sensitivity to non-diversifiable risk (also known as systematic risk or market risk), often represented by the quantity beta (β) in the financial industry, as well as the expected return of the market and the expected return of a theoretical risk-free asset. CAPM assumes a particular form of utility functions (in which only first and second moments matter, that is risk is measured by variance, for example a quadratic utility) or alternatively asset returns whose probability distributions are completely described by the first two moments (for example, the normal distribution) and zero transaction costs (necessary for diversification to get rid of all idiosyncratic risk). Under these conditions, CAPM shows that the cost of equity capital is determined only by beta. Despite its failing numerous empirical tests, and the existence of more modern approaches to asset pricing and portfolio selection (such as arbitrage pricing theory and Merton's portfolio problem), the CAPM still remains popular due to its simplicity and utility in a variety of situations.

Inventors
The CAPM was introduced by Jack Treynor (1961, 1962), William F. Sharpe (1964), John Lintner (1965a,b) and Jan Mossin (1966) independently, building on the earlier work of Harry Markowitz on diversification and modern portfolio theory. Sharpe, Markowitz and Merton Miller jointly received the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for this contribution to the field of financial economics. Fischer Black (1972) developed another version of CAPM, called Black CAPM or zero-beta CAPM, that does not assume the existence of a riskless asset. This version was more robust against empirical testing and was influential in the widespread adoption of the CAPM.

Formula
The CAPM is a model for pricing an individual security or portfolio. For individual securities, we make use of the security market line (SML) and its relation to expected return and systematic risk (beta) to show how the market must price individual securities in relation to their security risk class. The SML enables us to calculate the reward-to-risk ratio for any security in relation to that of the overall market. Therefore, when the expected rate of return for any security is deflated by its beta coefficient, the reward-to-risk ratio for any individual security in the market is equal to the market reward-to-risk ratio, thus:

 * $$\frac {E(R_i)- R_f}{\beta_{i}} = E(R_m) - R_f   $$

The market reward-to-risk ratio is effectively the market risk premium and by rearranging the above equation and solving for $$E(R_i)$$, we obtain the capital asset pricing model (CAPM).

 * $$E(R_i) = R_f + \beta_{i}(E(R_m) - R_f)\,$$

where: Restated, in terms of risk premium, we find that:
 * $$E(R_i)$$ is the expected return on the capital asset
 * $$R_f~$$ is the risk-free rate of interest such as interest arising from government bonds
 * $$\beta_{i}$$ (the beta) is the sensitivity of the expected excess asset returns to the expected excess market returns, or also $$\beta_{i} = \frac {\mathrm{Cov}(R_i,R_m)}{\mathrm{Var}(R_m)} = \rho_{i,m} \frac {\sigma_{i}}{\sigma_{m}}$$
 * $$E(R_m)~$$ is the expected return of the market
 * $$E(R_m)-R_f~$$ is sometimes known as the market premium
 * $$E(R_i)-R_f~$$ is also known as the individual risk premium
 * $$ \rho_{i,m}$$ denotes the correlation coefficient between the investment $$i$$ and the market $$m$$
 * $$ \sigma_{i}$$ is the standard deviation for the investment $$i$$
 * $$ \sigma_{m}$$ is the standard deviation for the market $$m$$.

 * $$E(R_i) - R_f = \beta_{i}(E(R_m) - R_f)\,$$

which states that the individual risk premium equals the market premium times β.

Note 1: the expected market rate of return is usually estimated by measuring the arithmetic average of the historical returns on a market portfolio (e.g. S&P 500).

Note 2: the risk free rate of return used for determining the risk premium is usually the arithmetic average of historical risk free rates of return and not the current risk free rate of return.

For the full derivation see Modern portfolio theory.

Modified betas
There has also been research into a mean-reverting beta often referred to as the adjusted beta, as well as the consumption beta. However, in empirical tests the traditional CAPM has been found to do as well as or outperform the modified beta models.

Security market line
The SML graphs the results from the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) formula. The x-axis represents the risk (beta), and the y-axis represents the expected return. The market risk premium is determined from the slope of the SML.

The relationship between β and required return is plotted on the security market line (SML), which shows expected return as a function of β. The intercept is the nominal risk-free rate available for the market, while the slope is the market premium, E(Rm)− Rf. The security market line can be regarded as representing a single-factor model of the asset price, where β is the exposure to changes in the value of the Market. The equation of the SML is thus:

 * $$ \mathrm{SML}: E(R_i)= R_f+\beta_i (E(R_M) - R_f).~ $$

It is a useful tool for determining if an asset being considered for a portfolio offers a reasonable expected return for its risk. Individual securities are plotted on the SML graph. If the security's expected return versus risk is plotted above the SML, it is undervalued since the investor can expect a greater return for the inherent risk. And a security plotted below the SML is overvalued since the investor would be accepting less return for the amount of risk assumed.

Asset pricing
Once the expected/required rate of return $$E(R_i)$$ is calculated using CAPM, we can compare this required rate of return to the asset's estimated rate of return over a specific investment horizon to determine whether it would be an appropriate investment. To make this comparison, you need an independent estimate of the return outlook for the security based on either fundamental or technical analysis techniques, including P/E, M/B etc.

Assuming that the CAPM is correct, an asset is correctly priced when its estimated price is the same as the present value of future cash flows of the asset, discounted at the rate suggested by CAPM. If the estimated price is higher than the CAPM valuation, then the asset is overvalued (and undervalued when the estimated price is below the CAPM valuation). When the asset does not lie on the SML, this could also suggest mis-pricing. Since the expected return of the asset at time $$t$$ is $$E(R_t)=\frac{E(P_{t+1})-P_t}{P_t}$$, a higher expected return than what CAPM suggests indicates that $$P_t$$ is too low (the asset is currently undervalued), assuming that at time $$t+1$$ the asset returns to the CAPM suggested price.

The asset price $$P_0$$ using CAPM, sometimes called the certainty equivalent pricing formula, is a linear relationship given by
 * $$P_0 = \frac{1}{1 + R_f} \left[E(P_T) - \frac{\mathrm{Cov}(P_T,R_M)(E(R_M) - R_f)}{\mathrm{Var}(R_M)}\right]$$

where $$P_T$$ is the future price of the asset or portfolio.

Asset-specific required return
The CAPM returns the asset-appropriate required return or discount rate—i.e. the rate at which future cash flows produced by the asset should be discounted given that asset's relative riskiness.

Betas exceeding one signify more than average "riskiness"; betas below one indicate lower than average. Thus, a more risky stock will have a higher beta and will be discounted at a higher rate; less sensitive stocks will have lower betas and be discounted at a lower rate. Given the accepted concave utility function, the CAPM is consistent with intuition—investors (should) require a higher return for holding a more risky asset.

Since beta reflects asset-specific sensitivity to non-diversifiable, i.e. market risk, the market as a whole, by definition, has a beta of one. Stock market indices are frequently used as local proxies for the market—and in that case (by definition) have a beta of one. An investor in a large, diversified portfolio (such as a mutual fund), therefore, expects performance in line with the market.

Risk and diversification
The risk of a portfolio comprises systematic risk, also known as undiversifiable risk, and unsystematic risk which is also known as idiosyncratic risk or diversifiable risk. Systematic risk refers to the risk common to all securities—i.e. market risk. Unsystematic risk is the risk associated with individual assets. Unsystematic risk can be diversified away to smaller levels by including a greater number of assets in the portfolio (specific risks "average out"). The same is not possible for systematic risk within one market. Depending on the market, a portfolio of approximately 30–40 securities in developed markets such as the UK or US will render the portfolio sufficiently diversified such that risk exposure is limited to systematic risk only. In developing markets a larger number is required, due to the higher asset volatilities.

A rational investor should not take on any diversifiable risk, as only non-diversifiable risks are rewarded within the scope of this model. Therefore, the required return on an asset, that is, the return that compensates for risk taken, must be linked to its riskiness in a portfolio context—i.e. its contribution to overall portfolio riskiness—as opposed to its "stand alone risk". In the CAPM context, portfolio risk is represented by higher variance i.e. less predictability. In other words, the beta of the portfolio is the defining factor in rewarding the systematic exposure taken by an investor.

Efficient frontier
The CAPM assumes that the risk-return profile of a portfolio can be optimized—an optimal portfolio displays the lowest possible level of risk for its level of return. Additionally, since each additional asset introduced into a portfolio further diversifies the portfolio, the optimal portfolio must comprise every asset, (assuming no trading costs) with each asset value-weighted to achieve the above (assuming that any asset is infinitely divisible). All such optimal portfolios, i.e., one for each level of return, comprise the efficient frontier.

Because the unsystematic risk is diversifiable, the total risk of a portfolio can be viewed as beta.

Assumptions
All investors:

 * 1) Aim to maximize economic utilities (Asset quantities are given and fixed).
 * 2) Are rational and risk-averse.
 * 3) Are broadly diversified across a range of investments.
 * 4) Are price takers, i.e., they cannot influence prices.
 * 5) Can lend and borrow unlimited amounts under the risk free rate of interest.
 * 6) Trade without transaction or taxation costs.
 * 7) Deal with securities that are all highly divisible into small parcels (All assets are perfectly divisible and liquid).
 * 8) Have homogeneous expectations.
 * 9) Assume all information is available at the same time to all investors.

Problems
In their 2004 review, economists Eugene Fama and Kenneth French argue that "the failure of the CAPM in empirical tests implies that most applications of the model are invalid".

 * The traditional CAPM using historical data as the inputs to solve for a future return of asset i. However, the history may not be sufficient to use for predicting the future and modern CAPM approaches have used betas that rely on future risk estimates.
 * Most practitioners and academics agree that risk is of a varying nature (non-constant). A critique of the traditional CAPM is that the risk measure used remains constant (non-varying beta). Recent research has empirically tested time-varying betas to improve the forecast accuracy of the CAPM.
 * The model assumes that the variance of returns is an adequate measurement of risk. This would be implied by the assumption that returns are normally distributed, or indeed are distributed in any two-parameter way, but for general return distributions other risk measures (like coherent risk measures) will reflect the active and potential shareholders' preferences more adequately. Indeed, risk in financial investments is not variance in itself, rather it is the probability of losing: it is asymmetric in nature as in the alternative safety-first asset pricing model. Barclays Wealth have published some research on asset allocation with non-normal returns which shows that investors with very low risk tolerances should hold more cash than CAPM suggests.
 * Some investors prefer positive skewness, all things equal, which means that these investors accept lower returns when returns are positively skewed. For example, Casino gamblers pay to take on more risk. The CAPM can be extended to include co-skewness as a priced factor, besides beta.
 * The model assumes that all active and potential shareholders have access to the same information and agree about the risk and expected return of all assets (homogeneous expectations assumption).
 * The model assumes that the probability beliefs of active and potential shareholders match the true distribution of returns. A different possibility is that active and potential shareholders' expectations are biased, causing market prices to be informationally inefficient. This possibility is studied in the field of behavioral finance, which uses psychological assumptions to provide alternatives to the CAPM such as the overconfidence-based asset pricing model of Kent Daniel, David Hirshleifer, and Avanidhar Subrahmanyam (2001).
 * The model does not appear to adequately explain the variation in stock returns. Empirical studies show that low beta stocks offer higher returns than the model would predict.
 * Some data to this effect was presented as early as a 1969 conference in Buffalo, New York in a paper by Fischer Black, Michael Jensen, and Myron Scholes. Either that fact is itself rational (which saves the efficient-market hypothesis but makes CAPM wrong), or it is irrational (which saves CAPM, but makes the EMH wrong – indeed, this possibility makes volatility arbitrage a strategy for reliably beating the market).  The puzzling empirical relationship between risk and return is also referred to as the low-volatility anomaly.
 * The model assumes that there are no taxes or transaction costs, although this assumption may be relaxed with more complicated versions of the model.
 * The market portfolio consists of all assets in all markets, where each asset is weighted by its market capitalization. This assumes no preference between markets and assets for individual active and potential shareholders, and that active and potential shareholders choose assets solely as a function of their risk-return profile. It also assumes that all assets are infinitely divisible as to the amount which may be held or transacted.
 * The market portfolio should in theory include all types of assets that are held by anyone as an investment (including works of art, real estate, human capital...) In practice, such a market portfolio is unobservable and people usually substitute a stock index as a proxy for the true market portfolio. Unfortunately, it has been shown that this substitution is not innocuous and can lead to false inferences as to the validity of the CAPM, and it has been said that, due to the impossibility of observing the true market portfolio, the CAPM might not be empirically testable. This was presented in greater depth in a paper by Richard Roll in 1977, and is generally referred to as Roll's critique. However, others find that the choice of market portfolio may not be that important for empirical tests. Other authors have attempted to document what the world wealth or world market portfolio consists of and what its returns have been.
 * The model assumes economic agents optimize over a short-term horizon, and in fact investors with longer-term outlooks would optimally choose long-term inflation-linked bonds instead of short-term rates as this would be more risk-free asset to such an agent.
 * The model assumes just two dates, so that there is no opportunity to consume and rebalance portfolios repeatedly over time. The basic insights of the model are extended and generalized in the intertemporal CAPM (ICAPM) of Robert Merton, and the consumption CAPM (CCAPM) of Douglas Breeden and Mark Rubinstein.
 * CAPM assumes that all active and potential shareholders will consider all of their assets and optimize one portfolio. This is in sharp contradiction with portfolios that are held by individual shareholders: humans tend to have fragmented portfolios or, rather, multiple portfolios: for each goal one portfolio — see behavioral portfolio theory and Maslowian portfolio theory.
 * Empirical tests show market anomalies like the size and value effect that cannot be explained by the CAPM. For details see the Fama–French three-factor model.

Roger Dayala goes a step further and claims the CAPM is fundamentally flawed even within its own narrow assumption set, illustrating the CAPM is either circular or irrational. The circularity refers to the price of total risk being a function of the price of covariance risk only (and vice versa). The irrationality refers to the CAPM proclaimed ‘revision of prices’ resulting in identical discount rates for the (lower) amount of covariance risk only as for the (higher) amount of Total risk (i.e. identical discount rates for different amounts of risk. Roger’s findings have later been supported by Lai & Stohs.

title: Capital asset pricing model


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Carol Reed

Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), The Third Man (1949), and Oliver! (1968), for which he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Director.

Odd Man Out was the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. The Fallen Idol won the second BAFTA Award for Best British Film. The British Film Institute voted The Third Man the greatest British film of the 20th century.

Early life and career
Carol Reed was born in Putney, southwest London. He was the son of actor-producer Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, Beatrice May Pinney, who later adopted the surname of Reed. He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury.

He embarked on an acting career while still in his late teens. A period in the theatrical company of the thriller writer Edgar Wallace followed, and Reed became his personal assistant in 1927. Apart from acting in a few Wallace-derived films himself, Reed became involved in adapting his work for the screen during the day while he was a stage manager in the evenings. This connection ended when Wallace died in February 1932. Taken on by Basil Dean, Reed worked for his Associated Talking Pictures, successively for ATP as a dialogue director, second-unit director and then assistant director. His films in the later role working under Dean were Autumn Crocus, Lorna Doone and Loyalties and (with Thorold Dickinson) Java Head.

Early films
His earliest films as director were "quota quickies". Of his experience making Midshipman Easy (1935) his first solo directorial project he was harsh on himself. "I was indefinite and indecisive", he said later. "I thought I had picked up a lot about cutting and camera angles, but now, when I had to make all the decisions myself and was not just mentally approving or criticising what somebody else decided, I was pretty much lost. Fortunately, I realised that this was the only way to learn – by making mistakes." Graham Greene, then reviewing films for The Spectator, was much more forgiving, commenting that Reed "has more sense of the cinema than most veteran British directors". Of Reed's comedy Laburnum Grove (1936), he wrote: "Here at last is an English film one can unreservedly praise". He was perceptive about Reed's potential, describing the film as "thoroughly workmanlike and unpretentious, with just the hint of a personal manner which makes one believe that Mr. Reed, when he gets the right script, will prove far more than efficient."

Reed's career began to develop with The Stars Look Down (1940), from the A. J. Cronin novel, which features Michael Redgrave in the lead role. Greene wrote that Reed "has at last had his chance and magnificently taken it." He observed that "one forgets the casting altogether: he [Reed] handles his players like a master, so that one remembers them only as people."

War years
The scripts of several of Reed's films in this period were written by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, with the screenwriters and director working for producer Edward Black, who released through the British subsidiary of 20th Century Fox. The best known of these films are probably Night Train to Munich (1940), with Rex Harrison; Kipps (1941), again with Michael Redgrave; and The Young Mr. Pitt (1942), with Robert Donat in the title role, set during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

From 1942, Reed served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps: he was granted the rank of Captain and placed with the film unit, and then with the Directorate of Army Psychiatry. For the latter body a training film, The New Lot (1943), was made, recounting the experiences of five new recruits. It had a script by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, with contributions from Reed, and was produced by Thorold Dickinson. It was remade as The Way Ahead (1944).

Post-war
Reed made his three most highly regarded films just after the war, beginning with Odd Man Out (1947), with James Mason in the lead. It is the tale of an injured IRA leader's last hours in an unidentified Northern Irish city. In fact, Belfast was used for the location work, but it remains unnamed in the film. Filmmaker Roman Polanski has repeatedly cited it as his favourite film.

It was the producer Alexander Korda, to whom Reed was now signed, who introduced the director to the novelist Graham Greene. The next two films were made from screenplays by Greene: The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).

The Third Man was co-produced by David O. Selznick and Korda, with the American actors Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten in two of the leading roles. Reed insisted on casting Welles as Harry Lime, although Selznick had wanted Noël Coward for the role. The film required six weeks of location work in Vienna, during which Reed by chance discovered Anton Karas, the zither player who became responsible for the film's music, in a courtyard outside a small Viennese restaurant.

Reed once said: "A picture should end as it has to. I don't think anything in life ends 'right'". While Greene wanted Holly Martins (Cotten) and Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli) to reconcile at the end of the film, after Lime, her lover, is killed by Martins, Reed insisted that Anna should ignore him and walk on. "The whole point of the Valli character in that film is that she'd experienced a fatal love – and then comes along this silly American!"

According to the film critic Derek Malcolm, The Third Man is the "best film noir ever made out of Britain". The film won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the predecessor of the Palme d'Or.

Later career
Outcast of the Islands (1952), based on a novel by Joseph Conrad, is considered by some to mark the start of his creative decline. The Man Between (1953) is dismissed as a rehash of The Third Man. It "makes no startling impact, such as we have learned to expect from its director, on either the mind or the heart", complained Virginia Graham in The Spectator. While the fable A Kid for Two Farthings (1955), Reed's first colour film, set in the East End of London, has been claimed as one of very few authentic cinematic depictions of an Anglo-Jewish community, it suffers from the stereotyping of Jews and is no more than a "whimsical curiosity" according to Michael Brooke. It was the last film Reed made for Korda's London Films; the producer died at the beginning of 1956.

Trapeze (1956) was Reed's first venture into the then relatively new CinemaScope wide screen process, and, although largely shot in Paris, was made for the US Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions company and was a success at the box-office. Our Man in Havana (1959) reunited him with Graham Greene who adapted his own novel.

He was contracted to direct a remake of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) by MGM, but then Marlon Brando was cast as Fletcher Christian, and problems with the mock Bounty and the weather at the locations caused delays. Brando had insisted on creative control, and the two men argued incessantly. Reed left at a relatively early stage of production and was replaced by Lewis Milestone. The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), made in the United States, was a box-office failure, and was the last film over which Reed also served as producer. Oliver! (1968), made at Shepperton in Surrey, was financially backed by Columbia, and won the Academy Award for Best Director. "The movie may have been over-produced but it seemed everyone liked it that way", writes Thomas Hischak.

Personal life
From 1943 until 1947, he was married to the British actress Diana Wynyard. After their divorce, he married in 1948 the actress Penelope Dudley-Ward, also known as Pempie, the elder daughter of Freda Dudley Ward, who had been a mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII, then Duke of Windsor). They had one son, Max. His stepdaughter Tracy Reed, Ward's daughter, also had an acting career. Actor Oliver Reed was his nephew.

In 1952, he became only the second British film director to be knighted for his craft. The first was Sir Alexander Korda in 1942, the producer of some of Reed's most admired films.

Reed died from a heart attack on 25 April 1976, aged 69, at his home at 213 King's Road, Chelsea, where he had lived since 1948. He is buried in Kensington Cemetery, Gunnersbury, West London. A blue plaque has been placed on his former home in his honour.

title: Carol Reed


text:
El Reencuentro

El Reencuentro was the name that six ex-members of musical group Menudo used for their comeback project remembering Menudo's golden era. Ricky Melendez, Rene Farrait, Miguel Cancel, Johnny Lozada, Ray Reyes, and Charlie Masso re-joined to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their success in Latin America, North America, Spain and several other countries in the world. They started in 1998 as an experimental project and they had an unexpected success that continued until 2015 through North and Latin America.

1998
In the late 90's, former members of Menudo reunited for a radio special in Sistema 102, a local Puerto Rican radio station. Hundreds of fans gathered outside the radio station that night and the idea kicked off for a one time concert to be held at the Centro de Bellas Artes in Santurce.

Ray Reyes was the member that took the idea to the next level, and began contacting members Ricky Meléndez, Johnny Lozada, René Farrait, Miguel Cancel, Charlie Massó and Xavier Serbiá, with Xavier being the only member to decline participating in the event. Despite the idea of having a concert at Centro de Bellas Artes, response was so big that the band had to move the concert to Coliseo Roberto Clemente and tickets went sold out in less than an hour so it ended up being three consecutive concerts in San Juan and tour around America.

The band got a million-dollar record contract with Fonovisa Records that distributed their gold-selling live album El Reencuentro: 15 Años Después.

2005-Present
After the 1998 concert, the band didn't reunite until 2005. The band continued to reunite sporadically during the late 2000's. In 2010, they performed in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

Following the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, the group released a single titled "Amistad" to raise funds. This was the first and only time that the group released any original material. The track was written by Omar Alfanno and Roberto Sueiro with Miguel Cancel and Charlie Massó providing lead vocals.

On August 25, 2015, El Reencuentro announced that they would no longer be performing as a group. Already slated shows had to be canceled and Lozada apologized to fans saying the issue had been over the timing of payment for the band's performances.

During 2015, four of the members of El Reencuentro went back on tour, this time under the name 'Menudomania Forever'. These included Masso, Farrait, Reyes and Cancel. They were joined by 13 other Menudo from different eras, including Robert Avellanet, Jonathan Montenegro and Rawy Torres.

In 2019, Melendez, Lozada, Cancel, Reyes, and Farrait reconciled and began performing together once again under the name Menudo but without Masso due to disagreements between Lozada and Masso. In September 2019 their "Subete a Mi Moto Tour" began in their native Puerto Rico and spread internationally.

Reyes died on April 30, 2021, of an apparent heart attack. He was 51.

title: El Reencuentro


text:
Price–earnings ratio

The price–earnings ratio, also known as P/E ratio, P/E, or PER, is the ratio of a company's share (stock) price to the company's earnings per share. The ratio is used for valuing companies and to find out whether they are overvalued or undervalued.
 * $$\text{P/E}=\frac{\text{Share Price}}{\text{Earnings per Share}}$$

As an example, if share A is trading at $$24$ and the earnings per share for the most recent 12-month period is $$3$, then share A has a P/E ratio of $$24⁄$3$ = $8$ years. Put another way, the purchaser of the share is investing $$8$ for every dollar of annual earnings; or, if earnings stayed constant it would take 8 years to recoup the share price. Companies with losses (negative earnings) or no profit have an undefined P/E ratio (usually shown as "not applicable" or "N/A"); sometimes, however, a negative P/E ratio may be shown. There is a general consensus among most investors that a P/E ratio of around 20 is 'fairly valued'.

Versions
There are multiple versions of the P/E ratio, depending on whether earnings are projected or realized, and the type of earnings.
 * "Trailing P/E" uses the weighted average share price of common shares in issue divided by the net income for the most recent 12-month period. This is the most common meaning of "P/E" if no other qualifier is specified. Monthly earnings data for individual companies are not available, and in any case usually fluctuate seasonally, so the previous four quarterly earnings reports are used and earnings per share are updated quarterly. Note, each company chooses its own financial year so the timing of updates varies from one to another.
 * "Trailing P/E from continued operations" uses operating earnings, which exclude earnings from discontinued operations, extraordinary items (e.g. one-off windfalls and write-downs), and accounting changes.
 * "Forward P/E": Instead of net income, this uses estimated net earnings over next 12 months. Estimates are typically derived as the mean of those published by a select group of analysts (selection criteria are rarely cited).

Some people mistakenly use the formula $market capitalization⁄net income$ to calculate the P/E ratio. This formula often gives the same answer as $market price⁄earnings per share$, but if new capital has been issued it gives the wrong answer, as market capitalization = (market price) × (current number of shares), whereas earnings per share = $net income⁄weighted average number of shares$.

Variations on the standard trailing and forward P/E ratios are common. Generally, alternative P/E measures substitute different measures of earnings, such as rolling averages over longer periods of time (to attempt to "smooth" volatile or cyclical earnings, for example), or "corrected" earnings figures that exclude certain extraordinary events or one-off gains or losses. The definitions may not be standardized. For companies that are loss-making, or whose earnings are expected to change dramatically, a "primary" P/E can be used instead, based on the earnings projections made for the next years to which a discount calculation is applied.

Interpretation
The price/earnings ratio (PER) is the most widely used method for determining whether shares are "correctly" valued in relation to one another. But the PER does not in itself indicate whether the share is a bargain. The PER depends on the market's perception of the risk and future growth in earnings. A company with a low PER indicates that the market perceives it as higher risk or lower growth or both as compared to a company with a higher PER. The PER of a listed company's share is the result of the collective perception of the market as to how risky the company is and what its earnings growth prospects are in relation to that of other companies. Investors use the PER to compare their own perception of the risk and growth of a company against the market's collective perception of the risk and growth as reflected in the current PER. If investors believe that their perception is superior to that of the market, they can make the decision to buy or sell accordingly.

Historical P/E ratios for the U.S. stock market

Since 1900, the average P/E ratio for the S&P 500 index has ranged from 4.78 in Dec 1920 to 44.20 in Dec 1999. However, except for some brief periods, during 1920–1990 the market P/E ratio was mostly between 10 and 20.

The average P/E of the market varies in relation with, among other factors, expected growth of earnings, expected stability of earnings, expected inflation, and yields of competing investments. For example, when U.S. treasury bonds yield high returns, investors pay less for a given earnings per share and P/E's fall.

The average U.S. equity P/E ratio from 1900 to 2005 is 14 (or 16, depending on whether the geometric mean or the arithmetic mean, respectively, is used to average).

Jeremy Siegel has suggested that the average P/E ratio of about 15 (or earnings yield of about 6.6%) arises due to the long-term returns for stocks of about 6.8%. In Stocks for the Long Run, (2002 edition) he had argued that with favorable developments like the lower capital gains tax rates and transaction costs, P/E ratio in "low twenties" is sustainable, despite being higher than the historic average.

Set out below are the recent year end values of the S&P 500 index and the associated P/E as reported. For a list of recent contractions (recessions) and expansions see U.S. Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions.

Note that at the height of the Dot-com bubble P/E had risen to 32. The collapse in earnings caused P/E to rise to 46.50 in 2001. It has declined to a more sustainable region of 17. Its decline in recent years has been due to higher earnings growth.

Due to the collapse in earnings and rapid stock market recovery following the 2020 Coronavirus Crash, the trailing P/E ratio reached 38.3 on October 12, 2020. This elevated level was only attained twice in history, 2001-2002 and 2008-2009.

In business culture
The P/E ratio of a company is a major focus for many managers. They are usually paid in company stock or options on their company's stock (a form of payment that is supposed to align the interests of management with the interests of other stock holders). The stock price can increase in one of two ways: either through improved earnings or through an improved multiple that the market assigns to those earnings. In turn, the primary drivers for multiples such as the P/E ratio is through higher and more sustained earnings growth rates.

Consequently, managers have strong incentives to boost earnings per share, even in the short term, and/or improve long-term growth rates. This can influence business decisions in several ways:
 * If a company wants to acquire companies with a higher P/E ratio than its own, it usually prefers paying in cash or debt rather than in stock. Though in theory the method of payment makes no difference to value, doing it this way offsets or avoids earnings dilution (see accretion/dilution analysis).
 * Conversely, companies with higher P/E ratios than their targets are more tempted to use their stock to pay for acquisitions.
 * Companies with high P/E ratios but volatile earnings may be tempted to find ways to smooth earnings and diversify risk—this is the theory behind building conglomerates.
 * Conversely, companies with low P/E ratios may be tempted to acquire small high-growth businesses in an effort to "rebrand" their portfolio of activities and burnish their image as growth stocks and thus obtain a higher PE rating.
 * Companies try to smooth earnings, for example by "slush fund accounting" (hiding excess earnings in good years to cover for losses in lean years). Such measures are designed to create the image that the company always slowly but steadily increases profits, with the goal to increase the P/E ratio.
 * Companies with low P/E ratios are usually more open to leveraging their balance sheet. As seen above, this mechanically lowers the P/E ratio, which means the company looks cheaper than it did before leverage, and also improves earnings growth rates. Both of these factors help drive up the share price.
 * Strictly speaking, the ratio is measured in years, since the price is measured in dollars and earnings are measured in dollars per year. Therefore, the ratio demonstrates how many years it takes to cover the price, if earnings stay the same.

Investor expectations
In general, a high price–earning ratio indicates that investors are expecting higher growth of company's earnings in the future compared to companies with a lower price–earning ratio. A low price–earning ratio may indicate either that a company may currently be undervalued or that the company is doing exceptionally well relative to its past trends. The price-to-earnings ratio can also be seen as a means of standardizing the value of one dollar of earnings throughout the stock market. In theory, by taking the median of P/E ratios over a period of several years, one could formulate something of a standardized P/E ratio, which could then be seen as a benchmark and used to indicate whether or not a stock is worth buying. In private equity, the extrapolation of past performance is driven by stale investments. State and local governments that are more fiscally stressed by higher unfunded pension liabilities assume higher portfolio returns through higher inflation assumptions, but this factor does not attenuate the extrapolative effects of past returns.

Negative earnings
When a company has no earnings or is posting losses, in both cases P/E will be expressed as "N/A." Though it is possible to calculate a negative P/E, this is not the common convention.

Related measures

 * Cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio
 * Price-to-earnings-growth ratio
 * Present value of growth opportunities
 * Price-to-dividend ratio
 * Return on investment
 * Social earnings ratio
 * EV/Ebitda
 * Earnings yield – the inverse of price–earnings ratio

title: Price–earnings ratio