Baal Shem Tov	(lit., "Master of the Good Name"): R. Yisrael ben R. Eliezer (1698-1760), founder of Chassidism.
The Maggid of Mezritch	(lit., "the preacher of Mezritch"): R. Dov Ber (d. 1772), disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, and mentor of the Alter Rebbe.
The Alter Rebbe	(lit., "the Old Rebbe"; Yid.): R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), also known as "the Rav" and as Baal HaTanya; founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch trend within the chassidic movement; disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch, and father of the Mitteler Rebbe.
The Mitteler Rebbe	(lit., "the Middle Rebbe"; Yid.): R. Dov Ber of Lubavitch (1773-1827), son and successor of the Alter Rebbe, and uncle and father-in-law of the Tzemach Tzedek.
The Tzemach Tzedek	R. Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (1789-1866), the third Lubavitcher Rebbe; known by the title of his halachic responsa as "the Tzemach Tzedek"; nephew and son-in-law of the Mitteler Rebbe, and father of the Rebbe Maharash.
The Rebbe Maharash	(acronym for Moreinu ("our teacher") HaRav Shmuel): R. Shmuel Schneersohn of Lubavitch (1834-1882), the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe; youngest son of the Tzemach Tzedek, and father of the Rebbe Rashab.
The Rebbe Rashab	(acronym for Rabbi Shalom Ber): R. Shalom Dov Ber Schneersohn of Lubavitch (1860-1920), the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe; second son of the Rebbe Maharash, and father of the Rebbe Rayatz.
The Rebbe Rayatz	(acronym for Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak), also known (in Yiddish) as "der frierdiker Rebbe" (i.e., "the Previous Rebbe"): R. Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950), the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe; only son of the Rebbe Rashab, and father-in-law of the Rebbe. In this text, he is referred to as "my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe."
The Rebbe	Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902), the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe; eldest son of the saintly Kabbalist, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, rav of Yekaterinoslav; fifth in direct paternal line from the Tzemach Tzedek; son-in-law of the Rebbe Rayatz.