Jewish Educational Media Releases 35-Year Old Video Recording of Rebbe

LUBAVITCH HEADQUARTERS -- (June 15, 2007)

The younger generation of Chabad-Lubavitch representatives barely knew the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In another era, they might have been decidedly impoverished by second-hand recollections as their only means to an appreciation of life in the presence of this spiritual leader.

But a significant portion of the Rebbe’s interface with his Chasidim has been recorded on video, giving viewers an almost immediate experience of the farbrengen, and practically a direct lens onto the Rebbe as he interacted with many who sought him out.



Interest in archival materials relating to the Rebbe generally peaks at this time of year, when Jewish communities worldwide mark the anniversary of his yahrzeit, and ponder his leadership, his life and his legacy.

Scheduled to be released for the yahrzeit, a three-part video takes viewers back in time, to 1972, the mid-point of the Rebbe’s career, as he leads a Chasidic farbrengen. Languishing in a box for 35 years, the fading, barely perceptible, magnetic signal was recently restored by Jewish Educational Media, the video archive and production arm of Chabad- Lubavitch.

In this particular address by the Rebbe, on the twenty-second anniversary of the passing of his predecessor, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, of righteous memory, the Rebbe devotes three segments of his talk to a discourse that declares the world, spiritually speaking, for all its malaise and misery, still "a beautiful garden" if we only learn how to cultivate it.

Recorded on now-antiquated half-inch video, the talks have been translated from the Yiddish, with subtitles in Hebrew, English, Russian, and French, and released on DVD. Like similar audio-visual treasures around the world, the tapes were degraded and totally unplayable. Specialized cleaning equipment, analysis, signal-processing and transfer to a more stable, durable format for production were employed in this project, part of a broader restoration program by JEM.

With remarkable audio and video clarity, the black and white scenes bring to life words spoken in a different era, but with no less resonance to a contemporary audience . Reliving the life of his own father-in-law and mentor, the Rebbe analyzes the final address – or, in his words, "the last will and testament" of the previous Rebbe.

The restoration and release of this Farbrengen were made possible by a grant from Yaakov and Karen Cohen of Potomac, Maryland. The Living Archive restoration, preservation and access effort was initiated through a grant from the Rohr Family Foundation.

More information about The Living Archive Restoration, Preservation, Access project is at www.TheLivingArchive.org

Google Link to Video excerpt

http://video.google.com

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From Living Torah (Volume 37, Episode 145)

www.livingtorah.org



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* The Rebbe - a collage.

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1970’s Farbrangen restored.

Brookly, NY - A fading, barely-perceptible, magnetic signal on a 35 year-old videotape is about to give a shot in the arm to Jewish communities around the world.
Filmed on the tenth day of the Jewish month of Shevat in 1972, seven hour-long reels of a Farbrengen, public address, by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, spent three-and-a-half decades in a storage box. If not for a team of archivists and producers, it might have stayed there for another 35 years.

Instead, major parts of the address have been translated, subtitled and released on DVD in time for the thirteenth anniversary of the Rebbe’s passing.




Jewish Educational Media, the videos producer, is in the midst of a massive campaign to re-invent itself as a bona fide archive aiming to gather, restore and preserve a host of multimedia treasures – and then to share them with the world.


As part of this effort, a one-of-a-kind collection of public addresses by the Rebbe from the 1970’s is being restored.

This particular address, on the twenty-second anniversary of the passing of the Rebbe’s predecessor, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, of righteous memory, was recorded on now-antiquated half-inch video.


Like similar audio-visual treasures around the world, the tapes were degraded and totally unplayable. It required specialized equipment for cleaning, analysis, signal-processing and transfer to a more stable, durable format for production.
The results are astounding.

With remarkable audio and video clarity, the black and white scenes bring to life words spoken in a different era, but which resonate today as they did then. Reliving the life of his own father-in-law and mentor, the Rebbe analyzes the final address – or, in his words, “the last will and testament” of the previous Rebbe. Throughout three interwoven talks, the Rebbe explains that this world – despite its trials, tribulations, and seemingly endless difficulties, is “a beautiful garden” if we only learn how to nurture it and work it.


The DVD release features the first three talks of the public address interspersed with Chasidic Niggunim - and subtitles in English, Hebrew, Russian and French.
The restoration and release of this Farbrengen were made possible by a grant from Yaakov and Karen Cohen of Potomac, Maryland.


The Living Archive restoration, preservation and access effort was initiated through a grant from the Rohr Family Foundation.


More information about The Living Archive Restoration, Preservation, Access project is at www.TheLivingArchive.org

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Also on Living Torah this week (Volume 36, Episode 143):
* A Jewish vacation
* A Jew is happy about his Jewish identity
* The Rebbe at 4:00 AM

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