Rabbi Shmuel Butman, who was the public face of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect during the antisemitic riots in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 1991, and who every Hanukkah for decades saw that possibly the world’s largest menorah was illuminated in Central Park, died on July 22 in Manhattan. He was 81.

The announcement of his death on the Chabad community website recalled that Rabbi Butman had written The Rebbe in Paris, a book about Rabbi Menachem Schneerson’s three visits to the French capital; published a weekly pamphlet called “L’Chaim”; written a weekly column for The Jewish Press; and hosted a weekly program for COL-live.com, the Chabad-Lubavitch website.