TS, I was careful in my post to stress that he was not in the top tier of influencers among the already religious. He did a lot for kiruv, that i agree with, but the fact that there is an infrastructure and a thriving community of observant jews is the result of others’ work.
By the time the lubavitcher rebbe became rebbe (nasi? Of who? He’s not my nasi. Some chabad chasidim also didn’t accept him, such as Rav Nesanel Quinn) there already existed numerous important organizations. Agudah, tzeirei, young israel, the OU, Torah umesorah, and many others. When he became rebbe, there already were many yeshivos, chadorim and beis yaakovs. Torah umesorah was already involved in its herculean efforts to establish day schools across the country. Yeshivos included Torah vodaas, chofetz chaim, yeshiva of Brooklyn, chaim berlin, bais hatalmud, Mir, breuers ( i should have mentioned rav yosef breur in my list earlier) yeshiva university and its schools, etz chaim cheder, yeshiva of eastern parkway, yeshivas rabbeinu yaakov yosef (RJJ), the many chasidish/oberlander mosdos of the bluzhever rebbe, the satmar rov, rav yonsan shteif, bobov,, and many others were at near full capacity.
To say that he came to an empty landscape and established lubavitch schools in a place where there were no others is false, and myopic. It’s a part of chabad mythology where the lubavitcher rebbe is the central figure of the Jewish world when he in fact occupied a relatively modest position in its leadership.