Several classes of Beis Rivkah in Montreal got to participate in a remarkable program on the Rebbe’s history.

As part of their tour to Montreal, Rabbi Yechiel Cagen, Director of the My Encounter with the Rebbe project and Senior Interviewer Rabbi Mendy Alevsky visited Beis Rivkah, conducted a seminar for the 7^th and 8^th grades.

At first, Rabbi Cagen gave the girls an overview of the My Encounter with the Rebbe project, its importance and its aims, showing them samples of the videotaped testimonies. The girls asked questions and got to learn about the opportunity they have to learn from those who had experiences with the Rebbe – Yechidusen, Shlichusen, and a multitude of other experiences.

Then the girls got a most exciting surprise! They learned that they would be witness to – and take part in – an interview on their own!

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Day Four was great, BH. Just catching up now to post yesterday’s interview. Busy Day!

We interviewed Rabbi Simcha Zirkind in the morning where he told us about his various Shlichusen in Tunisia. Then he went on to speak about the many Montrealers he brought to the Rebbe for dollars and Machne Yisroel Development fund. In the late afternoon, we got teh rare oppurtunity of hearing stories about the Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana.

Mendy Alevsky getting a laugh with Mrs. Jurkowicz.

In the late afternoon, we got the rare opportunity of hearing stories about the Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana. In the interview with Mrs. Jurkowicz, she told us about her time she spent with Rebbetzin Chana in Poking, Germany. As a young girl, she used to help Rebbetzin Chana in different things she needed. She mentioned that one time, while helping Rebbetzin Chana pack her bags, she got to see the Tzemach Tzedek’s gartel. She also described the loving personality of Rebbetzin Chana .

Much more there, but gotta run and get ready for Shabbos!

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Day three was BH great!

Just about to start interview with Mr. Yankel Abramczk.

In the early morning (8 am), we interviewed Mr. Yankel Abramczk. He spoke about how the Rebbe gave a special brocha to his young son, when the doctors had given up hope on him. Abramczk also related how once he and HaRav Yosef Blumenthal were in yechidus (private audience) with the Re…bbe where he remembers that the Rebbe and HaRav Blumenthal held a deep discussion in learning ‘throwing’ various maare mekomos (sources) at each other. He was amazed!

In the afternoon, we were off to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Rosler. Mr. Rosler spoke about the kiruvim (special attention) the Rebbe gave to him and pointed out to a letter that the Rebbe sent him congratulating him on growing a beard and putting on Rabbenu Tam’s tefillin. Normally, the Rebbe would write to Rosler in Yiddish, but this letter the Rebbe told Rosler that he davka wrote in English, so he could show it to his friends and be an influence on them. Mr. Rosler let us scan the letter and you can see it in the photo album.

Mendy Alevsky interviewing Mr. Rosler.

Mrs. Rosler describes how she was always nervous when going into to yechidus

with the Rebbe and how the Rebbe made her so comfortable and got her to speak openly about the concerns that were bothering her. Once her brother took ill and the Rebbe took an active interest telling her the exact medical advice the doctor had giver her, describing the medical issues involved.

That’s it for now…

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On Monday, the My Encounter with the Rebbe interview team arrived in Montreal and has already captured the testimony of 5 individuals. The rigorous interview schedule includes 25 interviews to be conducted by two experienced interviewers over a 10-day period.

Most of the interviews will be conducted in private homes.  But in a first of its kind experiment, on Sunday, January 23rd, the camera crew will set up a studio at the Montreal Torah Center. People from across the community are invited to stop in throughout the day to retell shorter experiences and encounters with the Rebbe.

If you or someone you know has an interesting story about the Rebbe, please email the My Encounter team at: interviews@jemedia.org or call 347.450.1770.

At the end of the week, the My Encounter team plans on giving behind-the-scenes presentations to the girls of Bais Rivkah and to the boys of the Cheder. Details to follow!

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Today the My Encounter team interviewed four people in Montreal. Hectic Day!

Rabbi & Mrs. Sapochkinsky talked about some of their early memories of the Frierdiker (Previous Lubavitcher) Rebbe in New York and of Rabbi Itche Meir Gurary spoke …about the special attention the Rebbe gave him as a young Yeshiva student in Crown Heights.

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The My Encounter with Rebbe team is still in Montreal, with 25 interviews scheduled between now and January

26th. This is our first interview with Rav Meir Plotkin. We hope to update you daily on the news of our road trip!

Our first interview in Montreal with Rabbi Mayer Plotkin.

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You may know that JEM’s  My Encounter with the Rebbe is a time-sensitive project.  The mission is to get people who’ve had important interactions with the Rebbe in an interview on tape.

In a few short days, JEM’s My Encounter with the Rebbe team will be trekking out to Montreal to do a sweep of interviews with Chabad elders and other individuals to capture precious testimony of the Rebbe.

Baruch Hashem, in the past few years, JEM has had the zchus of conducting a handful of very important interviews in Montreal, such as the interviews with the late Rabbi Yitzchok Hendel OBM, Rabbi Moshe Eliyahu Gerlitzky OBM, Rabbi and Mrs. Hershel Feigelstock Sheyichyu and of course the late Rabbi Menachem Zev ‘Volf’ Greenglass OBM. Click here to see some of the My Encounter video interview Rabbi Hendel and Rabbi Greenglass.

Here’s where you come in: You know people in Montreal.  There are so many great people in this important city and we need your info on getting to them.  If you know of any individuals you think should be interviewed for the project, please email the My Encounter team at interviews@jemedia.org

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Rabbi Wolf Greenblass, zt”l, of Montreal, passed away this week at the age of 94.  He committed his life to educating Jewish students from nonobservant families on the beauty and intricacies of living a Torah life.

But before he established the Yeshiva, before becoming the mashpia of the Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal, before he went on to document Chabad customs in Sefer HaMinhagim, before the Rebbe called him “my kabbalist…” he was a young bochur learning in the Previous Rebbe’s yeshiva in Otwock and in Lodz.

A few years ago, through JEM’s My Encounter with the Rebbe project, we were privileged to interview Rav Greenblass, may his memory be a blessing.  Part of the interview was featured in The Early Years series, in which he and his friends Rabbi Yitzchok Hendel and Rabbi Herschel Fuchs describe one of the Rebbe’s rare visits to the Yeshiva, and how he interacted with the students, and with his father-in-law, the Previous Rebbe.

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Interviewing all the people in the world who’ve ever had yechidus with the Rebbe is a mammoth task.  This week we were snowed out of 2 different interviews in the New York metropolitan area.  But even the post office, which prides itself in delivering the mail through “snow, sleet or storm” cannot top a group of people who are set on learning and sharing the life story of the Rebbe – because they have the Rebbe’s own model to never be deterred as their own example. Which is how we spent our snow days in our editing caves, reviewing this great interview we caught last week with Dr. Naftali Loewenthal, a Lubavitcher professor in University in London.

He tells over his fascinating stories, in a most modest and humble fashion.

Some highlights:

1. The Rebbe encouraged him and his wife in their studies and in their professions as lecturers in University, where they are still are today.  Dr. Loewenthal reaches Jews of all walks of life through his lectures on Jewish spirituality.

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Reb Mottel Fisher was one of the handful of American boys that joined Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson for his Shabbos afternoon Tanya Shiur in Brownsville during the 1930s. In August of 1939, only weeks before World War II broke out, Reb Mottel with a few of his friends – including Rabbis Avrohom Hecht and Mottel Altein, set out in the historic trip to join the Central Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Otwock, Poland, to be with the Frierdiker Rebbe. On the way to Poland, the group traveled through Paris, meeting with the Rebbe, who came to see them in the train station.

After returning to the US, and following the Frierdiker Rebbe’s escape from Europe – Mottel was part of the first class in the newly-established Lubavitcher Yeshiva at 770, studying there until 1944.

Last week, sponsored in part by a special grant by Dovid and Malkie Smetana to interview thirty elderly people of critical importance in the coming months, Reb Mottel came back to Crown Heights to relive and share his experiences, reminiscing about his “good old days” in 770 for the My Encounter with the Rebbeproject.

The interview took place at the home of Rabbi and Mrs. Hershel Chitrik. After the interview, he met up with his old friend Rabbi Avrohom Hecht at their old Yeshiva stomping grounds – 770, speaking about their memories of the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe in various parts of 770.