Last week, a camera crew went on the road to to three Living Torah viewings to discover what people think about the My Encounter with the Rebbe project.

Here is a short clip from their trip to Toronto, Canada, Brooklyn Heights, NY, and Hillside, NJ.

Today, Gimmel Tammuz, make a hachlata for that will inspire yourselves and your children! 1. Sign up to Living Torah at www.jemstore.com and 2. Make sure not one more testimonies don’t get lost at www.1000encounters.com!

On Yud Shevat, 5725 (1965), fifteen years after the Frierdiker Rebbe’s passing, the Rebbe gave a historic talk on the critical importance that Chassidim document the stories of their generation, in order for the younger generation to learn from them, and to pass them on to future generations.

It has been sixteen years since Gimmel Tammuz. We each seek to be inspired by learning the stories of our Rebbe. And those who don’t have stories of their own, must rely on the older generation.

The My Encounter with the Rebbe oral history project fulfills this request of the Rebbe’s from over 45 years ago. Its leaders do their best to make sure the events are documented for future generations. And they have only just begun.

Help JEM preserve these precious encounters by giving toward the project here. Now, in honor of Gimmel Tammuz, every dollar given will be doubled by a generous donor.

The campaign to save 1,000 interviews for the My Encounter with the Rebbe oral history project is in full swing, with people around the world donating and promoting the project.

To date, 366 people of diverse backgrounds have been interviewed about their encounters with the Rebbe. But there’s still so much more to learn!

Average expenses per 5-hour interview

Some items discovered from past testimonies are the Rebbe’s involvement in:

• The launch of the USDA’s WIC program
• The US Sixth fleet’s establishing a base in Haifa, Israel
• Young Israel’s campus Kosher Clubs
• Underground work with the Mossad in Moscow
• Foretelling stem cell research
• Extraterrestrial exploration
• A view on the Hippie movement
• A US State Department letter to the Soviets
  (more…)

In honor of Gimmel Tammuz, JEM has just released a new DVD in The Early Years series. The new DVD features eighteen amazing recently-recorded interviews shedding further light on the Rebbe’s early years.

When they started the My Encounter with the Rebbe project, one of JEM’s highest priorities was to document the Rebbe’s life before the coming to America. From these interviews, we released a four-part series called The Early Years covering the Rebbe’s life from 1902-1941.

For this release, JEM located and interviewed a number of fascinating individuals, including Yisroel Adamski of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, who remembers the Rebbe’s parents celebrating the Rebbe’s wedding in Dnepropretrovsk. Below is an excerpt from the interview.

Please help JEM save 1,000 encounters! There are still many people out there with priceless memories to share. Help JEM record more interviews like these, before it’s too late!

Responding to a renewed effort to interview Mazkirim, senior Shluchim and others with major interaction with the Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Kahan, the Rebbe’s chief chozer, and Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, the Rebbe’s secretary and secretary of Lubavitch’s three central Mosdos, sat down for a 3-hour videotaped session.

A clip of Reb Yoel’s interview, featuring his observations from the year 1951 — as the Rebbe was formally taking the helm of the Chabad Lubavitch movement — appeared in this week’s Living Torah.

According to Rabbi Yechiel Cagen, the project leader, this summer will see a renewed push to interview “high value persons” who have especially unique and deep experiences to share. “Mazkirim, senior Shluchim, older Chassidim, and anyone with an especially rich interaction with the Rebbe — these are all people we want to hear from. If for nothing else, we need to hear from them for our childrens’ sake.”

See some of Reb Yoel’s interview here:

Please help JEM’s My Encounter project here: www.1000Encounters.com.

In a recent trip to Israel, we interviewed Yisroel Katzover, a senior journalist who covered the IDF for several decades for numerous Israeli newspapers and media channels. Through the years, he consulted and received much advice and guidance from the Rebbe.

This interview was filmed as part of the Faithful and Fortified Series.

We can only do these interviews with your help!

Help us in our ongoing campaign to save 1000 Encounters!

Were excited to announce the launch of www.1000encounters.com.

Over the next three years, we hope to reach our goal of recording 1000 personal encounters with the Rebbe. The new site will allow you to track our progress and get involved. In addition to giving you the opportunity to support or even dedicate an interview, you can also suggest family members or friends with encounters to share.

A generous sponsor has pledged to match every dollar donated towards the project! Our goal is to obtain enough funding for 100 interviews by Gimmel Tammuz (June 15).

Time is of essence – so help us preserve these priceless testimonies before it’s too late!

Check it out and let’s get rolling!

Recently, our office in Israel interviewed Yaakov Peri, the head of the Shin Bet – Israel’s FBI – from 1988 to 1995.

Sitting in his living room, he told us of his hush-hush meeting with the Rebbe, and of the Rebbe’s active interest in his agency’s strategy for combating the first intifada. He then went on to discuss how the Rebbe spoke to him about the psyche of a terrorist and of the threat
of terrorism.

Although the Rebbe didn’t usually have private meetings with individuals in 1990, his was a notable exception.

It was truly one of our best interviews yet! It will be featured in one of our upcoming Faithful and Fortified videos.

An excerpt from the interview: (more…)

Whenever a My Encounter with the Rebbe alumnus passes away, we take it very personally. Each interviewee bares a part of his or her soul – sharing what usually is a most personal relationship with the camera, and ultimately thousands of others. But there’s a silver lining to the sadness – the fact that a part of them will live on through their My Encounter testimony.

This time, we got a taste that’s much worse . Lady Amelie Jakobovits, the widow of the London’s former Chief Rabbi, Lord Jakobovits passed away this past Friday, May 7^th. She had taken ill on the very day we were to interview her.

Lady J. was the daughter of Rabbi Elie Munk of Ansbach, Germany. With the rise of the Nazis, Rabbi Munk was forced to leave Germany in 1937. He chose the same destination as the Rebbe did several years earlier – Paris, France. Rabbi Munk became a rabbi of a shul in Paris. His daughter, Lady J, remembered the Rebbe visiting her father on Friday nights to discuss Torah matters when the Rebbe was in Paris in the 1930s.

(more…)

A few months ago, JEM released a fascinating film: Faithful and Fortified, Volume I - The Inside Story of the Rebbe’s Involvement in Israel’s Security, As Told By Its Defense and Government Leaders.

We are currently working on one of the next volumes, called Faithful and Fortified: Army Chaplains and Religious Leaders. It will feature interviews from Israel’s Rabbinical and religious leaders and their relationships to the Rebbe.

Here is a short clip of the interview we did with Rabbi Mordechai Peron, the former Chief Rabbi of the IDF from 1971-1977. The interview took place at Rabbi Peron’s house and lasted close to four hours.

It was shown at a Merkos Chanukah party.