The sun’s blessings, solar energy and the Rebbe

The blogger at Jewish Climate Initiative has a post about the Rebbe’s early recognition of the possibilities of solar energy.

“So why did Rabbi Schneerson get it twenty eight years ago, when so many other smart people didn’t? The date of his utterance, April 11th, 1981 provides us with a clue. The Lubavitcher Rebbe gave his speech on solar power three days after the last Birkhat Hahama celebration…

Speaking on the Shabbat after the last Birkhat Hahama, Rabbi Schneerson was doing just that. He was challenging his listeners to use that day, an obscure but precious resource from our tradition, to think about whether their generation was using the sun’s blessings wisely.”

Read it all here.

Here’s the a clip from the sicha he references: (You will note that this Farbrengen, held in honor of the Rebbe’s birthday, did not take place on Shabbos. Chabad.org tells me that 11 Nissan 1981 was a Wednsday.)

My Encounter behind the scenes: NY edition

In continuation to yesterday’s post. 

While those interviews were going on in Israel, My Encounter producer Yechiel Cagen was conducting others on the home front.

Find out what its all about after the break.

JEM team meet to discuss Living Torah Campaign

The entire JEM team met this morning to discuss a new campaign to keep Living Torah funded and on the air. More on all that when the details are finalized. For now – a picture.

My Encounter behind the scenes: Rabbi Kaplan, others, interviewed in Israel

Here’s a behind the scenes look at an interview with Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan, filmed last week.

The interview took place in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem. The cameraman you see is the supremely able Dror Lebendiger. JEM’s Israel director Zushe Wolf conducted the interview, that’s his vacant chair (he was probably taking this picture). 

Are you wondering why it was necessary to interview Rabbi Kaplan, he of Baltimore MD, in Israel?

I’ll let you in on a little secret. There’s a new My Encounter project on the production fast track, the subject of which is the Rebbe sensitivity; it will feature stories about the Rebbe’s concern for individuals and his attention to their varied and detailed needs.  Rabbi Kaplan tells just such a story, and waiting for his return would delay the whole project. Enter JEM Israel, setup, shoot, and in hours the tape is being edited.

Now check out the magic a good cameraman and lighting technicion can make of a plain looking room. 

Pretty nifty, huh? The dappled lighting pattern creates a nice, textured effect; the shallow focus provides good depth of field; just the look were aiming for.

After the break, behind the scenes pics and screenshots from other interviews filmed that day.

Shliach and his Bar Mitzvah take JEM tour

The staff at JEM are usually happy to show any visitors that come by around, but we have a particular soft spot for Shluchim.

Rabbi Ovadiah Goldman, Shliach to Oklahoma City and Mendel, the Bar Mitzvah boy at the JEM production office.

The two Shluchim and JEM director Elkanah in the JEM archive.

The Rebbe pleads: Finish the operation!

To my endless shame, this blog pretty much ignored the war raging in Israel these last few weeks.

In the two clips below, the Rebbe pleads with Israeli politicians to let the IDF achieve its objectives: Making Israel safe for Jews and destroying its enemies.

Alas, it appears I may be too late.

The first clip is audio only  with subtitles, but well worth a listen. From Peace Upon the Land.

The second is a sicha from the same period, the first Lebanon War. From Living Torah.

Behold, even as the queasy and weak of heart bungle, the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. 

This is a preview of the Six Day War segment from “Peace Upon the Land“.

Rabbi Dovid Hollander, OBM

Rabbi Dovid Hollander has passed on. Baruch Dayan Haemes. Word from Collive.

Rabbi Hollander served as a pulpit Rabbi in Brooklyn for a long, long time. He grew up in the Bronx, went to Yeshiva College (now RIETS) and graduated NYU and Brooklyn Law school. He was president of the RCA and the Hebrew Alliance of America. A passionate speaker, he campaigned against orthodox rabbis recognizing “denominations” of Judaism that deny the existence of G-d or his Torah.

In his My Encounter with the Rebbe interview, he says that because few of his colleagues were willing to take on this issue, he felt alone and asked the Rebbe for support. The Rebbe encouraged him wholeheartedly. The oldest active pulpit rabbi in America, he served well into his nineties. (He told the Rebbe years back that he was considering retirement, which the Rebbe discouraged.) There’s lots more to say here. I don’t do the man or the interview justice, but such are the constraints of time.

Rabbi Hollander and My Encounter producer Yechiel Cagen. Courtesy of COLlive.

Update: I see now the Circus Tent covers this nicely.

Another “My Moment” week up, more coming….

As I’ve blogged before, another week of dollars has been added to “My Moment with the Rebbe” at chabad.org. The pace of these becoming available should pick up soon. (We upgraded some of the technology too, as JEMnation readers know.) 

I'm pretty sure this is former Israeli MK Rechavam "Gandhi" Ze'evi

And to warm the frostbitten heart: A couple of Chossanim came into JEM last week to pick up “My Moment with the Rebbe” DVDs of their Kallahs getting dollars, as presents leading up to their wedding. Isn’t that just darling?

But seriously, it makes the perfect gift. Chosson: ask (surreptitiously, to preserve the surprise!) her family if she’s ever gotten a dollar, and when. Check out the weeks available online. Have a great married life. It’s that simple.

Poll question: Logos

Polling and results certified by the Nevada Gaming Commission and Vince McMahon. Vote early and vote often.

Inspired by the many logos of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club

My top five

As promised, my five favorite JEM titles (in no particular order):

1. Tishrei with the Rebbe – For me, this will always be the benchmark by which all others are judged. Aptly subtitled: “Days of Awe” and “Days of Joy”. Most of the footage was being shown for the first time. The soundtrack and audio mix is spot on. Highlights (on volume 1) include: Erev Rosh hashono at the Ohel, panim, lekach, birkas habonim…. I could keep going. Truly a masterpiece.
2. Davening with the Rebbe – The first (by my recollection) to use top notch editing and effects. In particular, the haunting (I know there’s a better word) around-the-year intro, over a backdrop of pages from the Rebbe’s siddur and an exquisite, original score. Audio mix also excellent.
3. America is No Different – Presentation of archival films at its best. A slice of history. I hate to keep going on about the music, but here again it hits all the right notes. The highlight was the Frierdiker Rebbe’s citizenship proceedings from 1949, (amazingly) in full color. It was many years before the quality and substance of that first color film was matched. (Parenthetically, I think the Rebbe was responsible for the filming of that event.) The book that accompanied it was great on its own. 
4. Embers – This is probably the soundest – script-wise – of all. It has a focused, overarching premise, and it moves. The new threat from communism is introduced: “Yoseph Yitzchok my son (from the Rebbe Rashab), dark clouds are descending upon Russia”. It vividly recalls the Frierdiker Rebbe’s struggle and the years of darkness and doubt that followed. The clandestine efforts to keep the sparks (embers) of Yiddishkeit alive during those years. It packs an emotional punch, showing the Rebbe crying for the plight of the Jews behind the Iron Curtain and then addressing them publicly in Russian. Then the rebirth of the last twenty five years. The only downside here is the prominently featured Mr. Putin who has fallen out of favor these last few years. (Embers, by the way, was the answer to yesterday’s “What’s missing in this picture” question. Congratulations to commenter dfruendlich who will collect his prize of an ice cream cone one of these days.)
5. The Early Years – Breakthroughs in both content and presentation. Mounds of original research, newly unearthed material, in a historical context. (Too many, the Rebbe’s early life was private, and should remain so. In my humble opinion, debunking much of the half-baked misinformation from this time period has proven worthwhile.)

Honorable Mention: Peace Upon the Land, Reflections, Cornerstones.

Top five JEM releases, reader favorites

Now hear this. 

I’ve chosen my five favorite JEM releases of all time. I’ve circled four of them in the photo below, again using my trusty crayons. One of my choices is not pictured. Which is it? 

The first commenter with the correct answer will be invited to the JEM production office to receive a prize of my choosing.

Past JEM releases, excepting (at least) one

 Stay tuned for my choices, together with my reasons  and  reviews.

What are your favorite JEM videos? Speak now or forever hold your peace. 

Commenting activity from JEM employees has been particularly dismal. Let me hear you! 

I might have to start calling you out by name. Things could get ugly.

Fancy new hardware (For readers who like buttons and blinking lights)

The imposing Tower of Tech

This is a look inside the climate controlled closet that houses JEM’s Terrific Tower of Tech (working title).

Dani fiddling with wires and working his magic

Networks administrator/geek-in-chief Dani Shimoni added a shiny new piece of equipment a few days ago.

Thankfully, before she put me on the bus for the big city, Mommy made sure I was carrying my new school supplies. So I broke out the crayons for this here demonstration.

You like shapes and colors? I graduated kindergarten at the top of my class.

Inside the green box are the Avid Unity drives. They are high speed hard drives connected by an even higher speed fiber optic network to the editing computers. In the olden (black and white, 15 frames per second) days, a given project (Cornerstones, say) could only be worked on by one editor from one computer. Transporting it meant backing it up to a hard drive a whole lot more inefficient work. No longer!

In the red circle are the network servers. Stalwart and smart fellas, those two.

Finally, the orange arrow points to the newer high speed drives, just installed to process the My Moment with the Rebbe orders. So when you find a picture of yourself getting a dollar from the Rebbe (and you of course order it), an editor can look up the exact time it took place and create a DVD for you, without having to pop in a tape, digitize etc.

Let’s see. These new babies hold 15 terabytes of data. My old Casio calculator/organizer/hangman machine held 100 kilobytes. Can anybody count how far we’ve moved up?

The Living Archive: Get hip to it

Today I ran into the revamped website of The Living Archive project. I don’t know how long it’s been around, but now it’s got pie graphs and other graphs and colors and restored samples and lotsa other cool stuff. Check it out the site and learn about the project here.

Here’s the idea, in short: We are increasingly reliant on multimedia. Pictures and audio/video recordings keep the Rebbe’s image and voice alive. We are lucky to have them.  We are losing them. (Not simple enough? I’m coming up with a mathematical formula to express this.)

Little site, lots of content. Find a history of JEM’s archive, really a history of recordings of the Rebbe, here.

The letters of support section is fascinating. As I’ve said before, academics love these videos.

Dr. Elliot Udell – Praying for Israel in 1991 (JEMnation exclusive)

Last week Yechiel Cagen sat down for a My Encounter with the Rebbe interview with Dr. Elliot Udell, who served as the Rebbe’s podiatrist in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

A ground invasion in an urban area is tricky business. Things can get hairy real fast. But as has been demonstrated whenever Israel takes the correct attitude in defending itself, the casualties are miraculously low. Bli ayin horah, and may it ever remain so. The guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.

Lech Walesa and the Rebbe, from “My Encounter with the Rebbe”

 

Lech Walesa - Commanding Heights

Lech Walesa is regarded as a hero for the cause of liberty in the twentieth century. His contribution is remembered alongside other, more widely known names like Reagan, Gorbachov and Thatcher.

His activism fueled demands for free elections, and his Solidarity Party brought down the Polish communist regime, giving rise to similar movements in other countries of Eastern Europe. For his efforts, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was Poland’s president from 1990 until 1995.

Click here and here for two clips from the excellent PBS documentary Commanding Heights. Walesa’s (pronounced Walensa) role in the burying the communist regime is featured prominently.

In his My Encounter with the Rebbe interview, Mr. David Chase tells of how, before a business trip to Poland, the Rebbe gave him dollar bills to give to someone there, someone “that will deserve it, who can help the Jewish people”.

Mr. David Chase, My Encounter with the Rebbe

A holocaust survivor, Mr. Chase had deep reservations about the widespread antisemitism he he remembered from his youth in Poland. In a meeting with Walesa, he voiced this concern, to which the Polish nationalist responded: “Tfoy Buggoyes Moy Bug, your G-d is my G-d”. Set at ease, Mr. Chase gave the Rebbe’s dollar to the future president, together with an explanation about the man who sent it. He keeps the dollar in his pocket until this day.

From the transcript:

Years later, we went to Israel, by air force, by Polish Air Force One, ten ministers, I and Wałęsa. We went to-not Jerusalem but we went to Tel Aviv, to the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv and there are pictures of many, many Jewish people from different countries, including a picture of the Rebbe of blessed memory.

And we stood in front and General Arad was next to us, he was the head of the holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, at the mountain, with us. When we looked at, when Wałęsa looked at the picture, he bowed in front of the Rebbe. And Arad said, what is he doing? Mah Zeh? I said it’s very simple; that’s his Rebbe. And I said to him [He says it in Polish], this is your Rabbi…

For more on this topic, click here.

Last year’s visit with Chabad in Israel  here.