Two weeks ago, on the 24th of Teves, about half a million people watched a special television program on Israel’s Channel 10 about the Rebbe and the faith of his Chassidim that he is Melech HaMoshiach. Beis Moshiach Magazine presents a review of this film, which includes a discussion with its director, Yoav Shamir. We asked him how he came to be so excited about this project and what he would personally ask the Rebbe if he were only able to do so.
Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry
A week ago on Tuesday, I received an e-mail message from a close friend of mine. “You must check this out,” he wrote to me. He had attached a link to a preview for a film that would be broadcast on Sunday, the 24th of Teves, entitled “The Lubavitcher Rebbe – We Are Ready for the Coming of the Moshiach.”
My curiosity had been aroused. Enhanced by the dramatic high-quality camera work and professionally arranged music, the preview was breathtaking. “We Are Ready For the Coming of the Moshiach. He was born a hundred years ago, but for many believers – (cut to Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, New Brunswick, NJ: “We pray every day, sixty-five times a day, for one thing – Moshiach”) – he never died…”
After a few thrilling clips of the Rebbe encouraging the singing of his chassidim in 770, leading into the film’s illuminating title, it turned out to be far more than just “We Are Ready For the Coming of the Moshiach.”
The promo then concludes with a defining invitation to its viewers: “A fascinating and moving film about the man whom the whole world believes is the Moshiach.”
My excitement was at a fever pitch. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Israel TV’s Channel 10, not known for being overly religious, had gone through the trouble to invest considerable resources, or at least gave its permission to a producer, to spend several days on a journalistic research project complete with interviews, filming, editing, etc. in order to bring the message of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach to the world! If that isn’t a sign of the Redemption, then what is?
Overwhelmed with tremendous excitement, I proceeded to call several of my friends and share my feelings with them. I know very well that the Rebbe is asking us, Chabad Chassidim, to prepare the whole world to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu, to bring the Rebbe’s message that Moshiach is coming and that the Rebbe is Melech HaMoshiach, despite the trial of Gimmel Tammuz. The Rebbe has even revealed to us the best way to achieve this, “the lights of Tohu in vessels of Tikkun.” In other words, the most powerful messages will be properly accepted if we know how to use “vessels of Tikkun.” And there are no better “vessels of Tikkun” than the visual medium of television and the like!
According to the situation prevailing today, someone whose uniqueness lies in being an actor known to the public as a screen star can suddenly turn into the one being interviewed to give his opinion on issues of peace, war, and security. And his words make banner headlines, as if he were the army chief of staff.
As for us, instead of using the media to instill unvarnished messages of Redemption, we tend to vacillate. And what does the Rebbe do? It is as though the Rebbe is telling us, “No problem. Continue with your regular activities. I’ll make certain to send other good Jews to bring the most intense lights of Tohu into vessels of Tikkun.”
In fact, it turns out that the general public in Eretz HaKodesh, who live off empty and shallow radio and television programs, are simply longing for something of quality with real depth, content, and positive messages on the Redemption. Thus, when a film such as “The Lubavitcher Rebbe – We Are Ready for the Coming of the Moshiach” comes along, it receives a serious and proper platform with a lot of positive and encouraging reactions.
I must point out that my friends tried to temper my enthusiasm. “Let’s wait until we watch the entire film,” they cautioned, “and then we’ll see if its objective is merely to smear those who believe in the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach!”
As did many others, I waited with much anticipation for the film to be broadcast. On Monday morning, the film was posted on the Chabad.info website. I immediately began to watch it for the purpose of making a study of the film and to prepare for a brief interview with its producer, Yoav Shamir. The results are before you now.
WHY ARE THEY SO HAPPY?
Divine Providence established the connection between Yoav Shamir, the producer of this television special on the Rebbe, and the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. As with many others during their military service, “I served alongside a Chabad baal t’shuva. He wanted me to put on t’fillin for a long time, and when I finally agreed to do so, he was simply overjoyed. His reaction amazed me and I became quite curious: why had this made him so happy?”
Yoav Shamir’s second encounter with Chabad was during his work on a film dealing with Israelis who had traveled to the Far East after their military service. “I met one of the Rebbe’s shluchim in India, Rabbi Danny Winderbaum, and I was most impressed by him and other Chabad Chassidim who didn’t withdraw from society,” says Shamir. “In contrast, when I made a film in Mea Sh’arim, I saw a closed community that had no desire to be in contact with the outside world. I met people in Chabad who were interested in me and are familiar with my culture. Theirs is a community that is an integral part of Israeli society.”
At the conclusion of the film’s production, what was your feeling about the Rebbe and Chabad chassidus?
“I don’t know, I’m still digesting it all,” said Shamir frankly. “A small window has opened for me, but there are still many things that I don’t understand. What the Rebbe has done is amazing enough. He led a relatively small community to the position that it holds today. In this respect, I can compare him, l’havdil, to [the late founder of Apple Computers] Steve Jobs, who invented something totally new. It is most impressive in a very insightful manner how the Rebbe laid the foundations for things to move forward. This is not something self-explanatory.”
Shamir says that what aroused his curiosity more than anything else was how Chassidim deal with the trial of Gimmel Tammuz.
If you would meet the Rebbe in 770, what would you ask him?
“There’s nothing to ask, only to see, to experience and to understand, to film and to document. When you ask a question, the answer itself already represents a kind of barrier to the truth.”
In an article written about him by media critic Yirmi Amir, Shamir declared that “the film on the Lubavitcher Rebbe does not show a lot of new material, but it reminds all of us that there’s no more appropriate time to show it than during this period, two weeks before the election, when we all need Moshiach more than ever.”
Even while many viewed the film “among those who believe in the Rebbe, certain that he is the Moshiach – may he come speedily in our days, Amen – others think differently. Be that as it may, everyone longs for the charismatic leader with the piercing blue eyes, radiant smile, and long white beard, who continues to attract millions of Jews worldwide through his emissaries spread throughout the globe.”
AN INDESCRIBABLE LOVE
The program opened with a most moving scene, which was included in the promo. Many of the media critics felt that it summed up the film quite adequately. The interviewer made a simple request of Rabbi Avraham Shemtov: “Please describe the Rebbe for me.” Rabbi Shemtov tries to respond, but he eventually just covers his face with his hand and begins to cry. The message that comes out of the film despite, yes despite, the wide spectrum of Chabad personages interviewed for this production is that everyone feels that the Rebbe is here now, not just someone tucked away in our memories of a time long ago. It was amazing to see how not a single person who was asked the question “Do you think that the Rebbe is Moshiach?” gave a negative reply.
In one of the film’s early scenes, the reporter accompanied a group of T’mimim on mivtzaim. In a most clear-cut manner, he gives the viewer an opportunity to experience the repeated efforts to find a Jew, and the great joy they express when they find one who agrees to enter the Mitzvah Tank and put on t’fillin. It turned out that Shamir got a real flashback as he recalled the first time he met with Chabad Chassidim.
The film editors went through hours of footage, and they chose precisely those images that conveyed a message of Redemption. Quite simply, the main message that the average viewer understood from the film was that the Rebbe himself encouraged and kindled the flame of tremendous anticipation for the coming of Moshiach, and did more than just allude to the possibility that he is Melech HaMoshiach.
Before setting out on their mivtzaim route, the head Tankist, R’ Yishai Eliefja, declared, “We are going out with the Mitzvah Tank. This is a campaign to bring Moshiach, to spread Yiddishkait, and the holy light of Torah and mitzvos among all Jews throughout the world.” For example, filming inside the tank included a special focus on a scene in which the loudspeakers proclaimed the words “We Want Moshiach Now!” Similarly, at a later point in the film, as the Rebbe and his Chassidim are highlighted on the screen, Shamir purposely chose the moment when they sang before the Rebbe for the very first time, “Am Yisroel, have no fear, Moshiach will be here this year. We want Moshiach now, we don’t want to wait!” as the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, encouraged the children’s singing with animated handclapping.
Some of the more inspiring moments in the film came during the scenes of children at Camp Gan Yisroel L’Yaldei HaShluchim. The campers sang with great fervor: “Gan Yisroel is our camp; to bring Moshiach is our task.” All of the interviewer’s questions to the children focused on the Rebbe, the Redemption, and Moshiach. It was most stirring to see how children, who had never seen the Rebbe, assert that they love the Rebbe more than anything else in the world. When the interviewer tries to request from one of the children, “Describe this love for me,” the boy thinks for a moment and says, “It’s impossible to describe the love.”
Another fascinating scene depicted last year’s Gimmel Tammuz farbrengen at the Beis Menachem Synagogue in Kfar Chabad. Yoav Shamir brought excerpts of the chassidic niggunim, enthusiastic dancing, even pictures from the shul’s women’s section. However, the only words brought from the farbrengen, or if you prefer, what the film’s producer understood from the farbrengen were the final words from the speech by R’ Ami Pikovsky: “The main objective is to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu – Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach L’Olam Va’ed!”
“I DON’T THINK SO – I KNOW SO!”
One of the main interviewees in this film, who also appeared in the brief promo, was Rabbi Yosef Carlebach. After receiving a powerful first impression of this charismatic and creative Chassid, the Rebbe’s shliach at Rutgers University in New Jersey, director of one of the largest Chabad Houses in the world, the viewer understands the message with a sense of true recognition. Before entering the large facility built according to the same design and with the same bricks as 770 Eastern Parkway, Rabbi Carlebach points to his cornerstone as shliach, the main objective for every day of his shlichus: a brick from the original 770 structure adorned by the words “Welcome Melech HaMoshiach: Humble Ones, The Time of Your Redemption Has Arrived.” “We know that Moshiach is coming, and we also know that Moshiach will stop over here when he comes to pick up the Jewish people,” Rabbi Carlebach said with much conviction.
At the conclusion of the tour of this immense building, Rabbi Carlebach describes how much the intense longing for Moshiach came from the Rebbe himself. “We have a tremendous role in the history of mankind, but more importantly, a tremendous role in the future of mankind through this concept of Moshiach. Moshiach is a campaign that the Rebbe started. It’s not that the Rebbe invented something new. Moshiach is at the very heart of Judaism. We pray every day, sixty-five times a day, for one thing. What is that one thing? Moshiach. Neither health, nor parnasa… these are all important, but not sixty-five times a day.”
Throughout much of Jewish history, the faith in Moshiach was a hope for the unknown future, never referred to as something actual and real. Now, Rabbi Carlebach proceeds to elucidate this point with a metaphor straight out of the kitchen. “The Rebbe took it from the back burner to the front burner. However, the Rebbe didn’t just place the faith in the imminent coming of the Moshiach and the Redemption on the front burner; he put the dial on high. So now that it’s on the front burner, you say, ‘What are you doing?’” Rabbi Carlebach asked in a form of explanation.
Towards the end, the film deals quite obviously with the issue of whether or not Chabad Chassidim still think that the Rebbe is Melech HaMoshiach. During the search for answers, the viewer goes inside 770 and is captivated by the fervent yearning and intense faith that the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach will enter at any moment and reveal himself for all to see. The Rebbe’s holy chair and the sound of the Chassidim singing “Yechi Adoneinu” bring even the most skeptic observer into the experience of 770 in all its majesty. The Tankist R’ Yosef Yitzchak Abelsky, who was in 770 at the time, explained to the photographer in the clearest possible language that the faith in the Rebbe as Melech HaMoshiach is the actual inheritance of every Chabad Chassid in the world.
Among all those interviewed for this production, the one who brought the message home with the most precision was Mrs. Leah Kahn, the wife of the chozer R’ Yoel Kahn. Shamir asked her, “Did you think that the Rebbe was Moshiach?”
Mrs. Kahn replied, “I didn’t think – I do think. I think so now. I’m certain. I’m sorry to have to tell you this if you have any questions – Certain.”
“That he’s the Moshiach?” Shamir probed, trying to be absolutely sure that he didn’t misunderstand her.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Kahn, as she began to elaborate. “Understand that the four or five thousand people who were here yesterday are not crazy, all right? They know something. They feel something. It speaks to them. They’re not out of touch. They’re connected.” In order to explain herself clearly to both the viewer and interviewer, she uses terms that everyone can understand: “You have to connect. You have to put the plug into the outlet to be connected in order to begin to understand a little.
“But just know that that’s it. This is the fact, whether you understand it or not…”
IN ANOTHER THIRTY YEARS, ALL OF JUDAISM WILL BE CHABAD!
Within a day after the film’s presentation, Yoav Shamir was the subject of articles by some of Eretz Yisroel’s leading journalists. He received dozens of complimentary phone calls, SMS messages, and e-mails.
This is not Yoav Shamir’s first film. Along with a film in India (where he also encountered Chabad shluchim and their activities) which documented the condition of Israelis who emigrated there and became involved with drugs, Shamir touches upon a variety of Israeli themes in his productions, e.g. the Arab-Israeli conflict and anti-Semitism towards Israelis living in the Diaspora. I took the opportunity during our interview to ask him:
What caused Channel 10 to invest such tremendous resources and airtime and to bring in a producer such as you to create a film about the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Chabad, and Moshiach?
“As I have already said, Chabad had aroused my interest for some time already. I really think that Chabad is Israeli in its purest form. Israelis meet up with Chabad in Eretz Yisroel and all over the world, and in most cases the encounter with Chabad takes up a sizable portion of their trip.
“If I were to look at myself as a Jew and ask myself, ‘In what direction is religion heading?’ I have no doubt that Chabad is the most meaningful force in Judaism today. I am also certain that thirty years from now, all of Judaism will be Chabad. This is my appraisal, and I’m sorry if I’ve been exposed as a prophet.
“In fact, especially after the production of this film, Chabad and the Rebbe through his Chassidim and shluchim have tremendous influence over a vast number of powerful associations and individuals, including philanthropists, politicians, celebrities, presidents, prime ministers, etc. While Chabad is not raucous and strident like some political party, under the surface it is a movement with a great deal of power and impact.
What surprised you the most in the production of this film?
“Without a doubt, it was seeing children who had never seen the Rebbe, yet every word they uttered was about the Rebbe. When a child explains to you that he loves the Rebbe with deep adoration, this is quite moving and it proved to me how dominant the Rebbe’s influence is over every Chassid and anyone who has a connection to him, even now. “
In summation, would you like to convey a message to the readers of Beis Moshiach?
“First of all, it’s important to emphasize that throughout the production, I thought about the Chabad community. In the final analysis, I wanted the film to be something that even Chabadnikim could see.
“Apart from that, the film has whetted my appetite for more. I feel that I want to delve into this subject more deeply, and I believe that this will continue. You can expect some secular nudnik to ask more and more questions in the future…”