Our Encounter with Montreal
17 February 2011
The My Encounter with the Rebbe team spent a whirlwind 10 days in Montreal interviewing members of the community who had personal encounters with the Rebbe.
Though the trip is over and the team is back in Crown Heights, the interviews and experiences of these special Yidden are now recorded for posterity.
Some highlights from the trip, from the diaries of Yechiel, Mendy & Zalmy:
A typical cold and snowy day in Montreal...but we are still out there trucking!
- COLD The first thing we learned when we arrived:
Icicles form in your mustache (from your breathing) just from walking from the house to the car!
We’re not in Crown Heights!
- COLDER We bought an external hard drive to record the high-definition interviews we’d be filming on the trip. We left it in the car the night that we arrived, and it was so cold that the next day it wouldn’t turn on! We had to exchange it.
-Montreal’s Beis Rivkah girls had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Mrs. Sarah Feigelstock, a former teacher at the school.
Mrs. Leah Gniwisch's sister was very ill, and her cousin made an emergency trip to NY to receive a blessing from the Rebbe
- This trip was health-heavy. Countless stories were told about the Rebbe’s blessings for health, despite the doctors’ worst prognosis’ and how the people rebounded miraculously.
- Where’s the camera?! When we were setting up for the presentation at Yeshiva, Zalmy had to run back and get his camera. (not funny..)
-We caught personal stories of how the Rebbe knew each person personally and guided each individual with deep insight, although each one came from a completely different walk of life.
- EVEN COLDER! And then there was that Monday that we had a school presentation at 10 AM, an interview at 1 PM, and another interview at 8 PM. Well at 6:30 PM we loaded the car with all the equipment, and the car didn’t turn on – it was just too cold!
- We interviewed Rabbi Simcha Zirkind, who told us about his various Shlichusen in Tunisia, and Rabbi Moshe Chaim Sapochkinsky, who was in the Rebbe’s room on the day of Yud Shvat when the Chassidim presented the “Ksav Hiskashrus.” The description of those fateful events was dramatic.
- We need to read books with sales tips or go to a sales training seminar. There are so many people who have tremendous material to share but for whatever reason are not yet willing to do an interview. By the Kiddush on Shabbos, a few younger members of Anash opened up about their personal stories with the Rebbe. Only because we didn’t have the cameras rolling! Why don’t they think about their own children and go on camera?! We have our work cut out…
- Rabbi and Mrs. Chaim Meyer and Feigel Minkowitz gave us a glimpse of what it was like to live as Chassidim in pre-war (and war-torn) Soviet Russia. They barely escaped the battlefront with their lives. On the way out of Russia, Mrs. Minkowitz actually accompanied the Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson with a trainload of Polish citizens who were passing across the Iron Curtain.
- COOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD! Um, did we mention how cold it was?
- There was a total of 28 interviews and more than 40 hours of footage all together. Many thanks to our devoted camera man Zalmy Glassner for his tireless work in keeping up with our off-the-wall schedule!
Our first interview in Montreal with Rabbi Mayer Plotkin. His vivid memory and talented story-telling are legendary. We documented more than 3.5 hrs of footage, and we will need to sit with him for at least another 10 hours!
Setting up an interview with Rabbi Moshe Chaim Sapochkinsky. He was in the Rebbe’s room on the day of Yud Shvat when the Chassidim presented the “Ksav Hiskashrus.” The description of those fateful events was dramatic.
Mrs. Leah Sapochkinsky in interview. We usually try to shoot in a corner of the room to create more depth in the shot, rather than a flat wall.
Rabbi Gurary merited many instructions from the Rebbe in his formative teenage years. Here, he shares a few of them with us.
Mr. Yankel Abramczk and his son who was given a brocha by the Rebbe that miraculously saved his life.
Mr. Rosler still remembers the first Farbrengen that he attended. The Rebbe had never met him, nonetheless, the Rebbe called him up to his table and gave him a bottle of Mashke saying "Give this out to Jews all over".
Mrs. Rosler was very active in the Rebbe's mitzvah campaigns. Here she tells us a little bit about their activities and the Rebbe's encouragement for them.
Rabbi Zirkind tells us of his various experiences as a Shliach in Tunisia.
Mrs. Jurkowicz befriended the Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana, on the way out of Russia. The Rebbe always appreciated it.
Mr. Manis Sunnenshine, the first interview on 'Open Mic Day' at the Montreal Torah Center (MTC) talks about his first time seeing the Rebbe at Selichos in 1956.
Reb Binyomin Zeig retells his visit with the Rebbe, when the Rebbe asked to give his son a nickel.
Interview with Reb Bentzion Weider. When he passed by the Rebbe for 'Dollars,' the Rebbe literally read his mind.
A letter from the Rebbe giving Mr. Saulie Zajdel a brocha for his election in city council.
Professor Teitelbaum talks about the Rebbe's encouragement for him to get his Phd.
Professor Teitelbaum's wife, Sarah, discusses her encounters with the Rebbe. We used the library at the Montreal Torah Center (MTC), giving us a lot of room and a shallow depth of field.
This was late Sunday night. Can you see the time on (the top right of) the camera's screen? We went for another full 4 hours! Do the math. And we were on the road at 6:30 the next day.
Mr. Murray Dalfin met with the Rebbe at "Dollars." The blessing by that meeting changed his life, because his business became very successful after that. We did the interview here at 8 am.
Rabbi Sirota describes his younger years as a Chabad Chossid in Soviet Russia. When he came to NY in 1971, the Rebbe was deeply involved in his Shidduch!
Mrs. Chana Sirota describes how her father was jailed by the communists for 15 years (!), and how the Rebbe's blessings helped them get out of Russia in 1972.
Mr. Moshe Saltzburg told us how the Rebbe encouraged him to open a big and beautiful Litvishe Yeshiva (and to include air conditioning!) even though it would be direct competition to the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Montreal.
Here, Rabbi Moshe Feder points out to Mendy Alevsky who is who in a picture of bochurim in the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Shanghai, China. He started his Lubavitch Yeshiva education back in Otwock in 1936 when the Previous Rebbe was still living there.
An interview with Mr. Arnold Dalfen. Arnold's first encounter with the Rebbe was when he went with his two uncles to visit the Previous Rebbe seudah (meal) for Acharon Shel Pesach in 1941.
An interview with Rabbi Zushe Silberstein. Amongst many things, he spoke about the special attention that the Rebbe gave the groups of French Yidden that came to Farbrengens from Montreal.
Mrs. Minkowitz shared with us the blessing she received when struggling through the birth of one of her children, and some other interesting discussions she had with the Rebbe. She has a vivid memory and a great personality.
Some fascinating letters that Rabbi Minkowitz received from both the Rebbe and the Previous Rebbe. Our last interview in Montreal ended at 2:30 in the morning!
The My Encounter with the Rebbe team spent a whirlwind 10 days in Montreal interviewing members of the community who had personal encounters with the Rebbe.
Though the trip is over and the team is back in Crown Heights, the interviews and experiences of these special Yidden are now recorded for posterity.
Some highlights from the trip, from the diaries of Yechiel, Mendy & Zalmy:
A typical cold and snowy day in Montreal...but we are still out there trucking!
- COLD The first thing we learned when we arrived:
Icicles form in your mustache (from your breathing) just from walking from the house to the car!
We’re not in Crown Heights!
- COLDER We bought an external hard drive to record the high-definition interviews we’d be filming on the trip. We left it in the car the night that we arrived, and it was so cold that the next day it wouldn’t turn on! We had to exchange it.
-Montreal’s Beis Rivkah girls had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Mrs. Sarah Feigelstock, a former teacher at the school.
Mrs. Leah Gniwisch's sister was very ill, and her cousin made an emergency trip to NY to receive a blessing from the Rebbe
- This trip was health-heavy. Countless stories were told about the Rebbe’s blessings for health, despite the doctors’ worst prognosis’ and how the people rebounded miraculously.
- Where’s the camera?! When we were setting up for the presentation at Yeshiva, Zalmy had to run back and get his camera. (not funny..)
-We caught personal stories of how the Rebbe knew each person personally and guided each individual with deep insight, although each one came from a completely different walk of life.
- EVEN COLDER! And then there was that Monday that we had a school presentation at 10 AM, an interview at 1 PM, and another interview at 8 PM. Well at 6:30 PM we loaded the car with all the equipment, and the car didn’t turn on – it was just too cold!
- We interviewed Rabbi Simcha Zirkind, who told us about his various Shlichusen in Tunisia, and Rabbi Moshe Chaim Sapochkinsky, who was in the Rebbe’s room on the day of Yud Shvat when the Chassidim presented the “Ksav Hiskashrus.” The description of those fateful events was dramatic.
- We need to read books with sales tips or go to a sales training seminar. There are so many people who have tremendous material to share but for whatever reason are not yet willing to do an interview. By the Kiddush on Shabbos, a few younger members of Anash opened up about their personal stories with the Rebbe. Only because we didn’t have the cameras rolling! Why don’t they think about their own children and go on camera?! We have our work cut out…
- Rabbi and Mrs. Chaim Meyer and Feigel Minkowitz gave us a glimpse of what it was like to live as Chassidim in pre-war (and war-torn) Soviet Russia. They barely escaped the battlefront with their lives. On the way out of Russia, Mrs. Minkowitz actually accompanied the Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson with a trainload of Polish citizens who were passing across the Iron Curtain.
- COOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD! Um, did we mention how cold it was?
- There was a total of 28 interviews and more than 40 hours of footage all together. Many thanks to our devoted camera man Zalmy Glassner for his tireless work in keeping up with our off-the-wall schedule!
Our first interview in Montreal with Rabbi Mayer Plotkin. His vivid memory and talented story-telling are legendary. We documented more than 3.5 hrs of footage, and we will need to sit with him for at least another 10 hours!
Setting up an interview with Rabbi Moshe Chaim Sapochkinsky. He was in the Rebbe’s room on the day of Yud Shvat when the Chassidim presented the “Ksav Hiskashrus.” The description of those fateful events was dramatic.
Mrs. Leah Sapochkinsky in interview. We usually try to shoot in a corner of the room to create more depth in the shot, rather than a flat wall.
Rabbi Gurary merited many instructions from the Rebbe in his formative teenage years. Here, he shares a few of them with us.
Mr. Yankel Abramczk and his son who was given a brocha by the Rebbe that miraculously saved his life.
Mr. Rosler still remembers the first Farbrengen that he attended. The Rebbe had never met him, nonetheless, the Rebbe called him up to his table and gave him a bottle of Mashke saying "Give this out to Jews all over".
Mrs. Rosler was very active in the Rebbe's mitzvah campaigns. Here she tells us a little bit about their activities and the Rebbe's encouragement for them.
Rabbi Zirkind tells us of his various experiences as a Shliach in Tunisia.
Mrs. Jurkowicz befriended the Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana, on the way out of Russia. The Rebbe always appreciated it.
Mr. Manis Sunnenshine, the first interview on 'Open Mic Day' at the Montreal Torah Center (MTC) talks about his first time seeing the Rebbe at Selichos in 1956.
Reb Binyomin Zeig retells his visit with the Rebbe, when the Rebbe asked to give his son a nickel.
Interview with Reb Bentzion Weider. When he passed by the Rebbe for 'Dollars,' the Rebbe literally read his mind.
A letter from the Rebbe giving Mr. Saulie Zajdel a brocha for his election in city council.
Professor Teitelbaum talks about the Rebbe's encouragement for him to get his Phd.
Professor Teitelbaum's wife, Sarah, discusses her encounters with the Rebbe. We used the library at the Montreal Torah Center (MTC), giving us a lot of room and a shallow depth of field.
This was late Sunday night. Can you see the time on (the top right of) the camera's screen? We went for another full 4 hours! Do the math. And we were on the road at 6:30 the next day.
Mr. Murray Dalfin met with the Rebbe at "Dollars." The blessing by that meeting changed his life, because his business became very successful after that. We did the interview here at 8 am.
Rabbi Sirota describes his younger years as a Chabad Chossid in Soviet Russia. When he came to NY in 1971, the Rebbe was deeply involved in his Shidduch!
Mrs. Chana Sirota describes how her father was jailed by the communists for 15 years (!), and how the Rebbe's blessings helped them get out of Russia in 1972.
Mr. Moshe Saltzburg told us how the Rebbe encouraged him to open a big and beautiful Litvishe Yeshiva (and to include air conditioning!) even though it would be direct competition to the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Montreal.
Here, Rabbi Moshe Feder points out to Mendy Alevsky who is who in a picture of bochurim in the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Shanghai, China. He started his Lubavitch Yeshiva education back in Otwock in 1936 when the Previous Rebbe was still living there.
An interview with Mr. Arnold Dalfen. Arnold's first encounter with the Rebbe was when he went with his two uncles to visit the Previous Rebbe seudah (meal) for Acharon Shel Pesach in 1941.
An interview with Rabbi Zushe Silberstein. Amongst many things, he spoke about the special attention that the Rebbe gave the groups of French Yidden that came to Farbrengens from Montreal.
Mrs. Minkowitz shared with us the blessing she received when struggling through the birth of one of her children, and some other interesting discussions she had with the Rebbe. She has a vivid memory and a great personality.
Some fascinating letters that Rabbi Minkowitz received from both the Rebbe and the Previous Rebbe. Our last interview in Montreal ended at 2:30 in the morning!
No Comments to “Our Encounter with Montreal”