It’s been two years since the start of the ‘Parsha B’Daka’ initiative. It exposes tens of thousands of people to the central message of the weekly ‘D’var Malchus’ sicha in one minute. The chassidim behind this project, R’ Yitzchak Kobi and R’ Eitan Gurion, spoke to us about this special production and the hundreds of moving responses they receive each week from dozens of countries across the world.
Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry
Tell us, is it really possible to present the central ideas of the weekly Torah portion as they appear in the holy sichos of ‘D’var Malchus’ in just one minute?
Sounds unreal? Absolutely.
But what can you do? People have no time today. They want everything, here and now. This is a modern version of “Teach me the whole Torah on one foot.”
However, someone has accepted the challenge through the amazing project known as “Parsha B’Daka.” This is a fascinating initiative in its second year running and it reaches tens of thousands of subscribers throughout Eretz Yisroel and the world at-large each week. It offers a short film clip with considerable effort invested into its production from a visual and pictorial standpoint, including brief on-the-mark texts expressing ideas and concepts from that week’s “D’var Malchus” sicha.
The public response to this initiative grows constantly, as its architects receive dozens of reactions, questions, and suggestions each week.
This highly innovative project is the joint venture of two avreichim from the Chabad community in Tzfas – R’ Yitzchak Kobi, an attorney and expert in real estate, and R’ Eitan Gurion, an educator and graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Yerushalayim. The division of work between the two is quite simple: Rabbi Kobi handles the writing, having considerable experience from previously serving in Hebrew University as the publicist for the student newspaper, whereas Rabbi Gurion, who developed his own expertise in design and image production, is in charge of distribution.
“We are used to video clips of rabbinical figures speaking on the weekly Torah portion, halachic issues, or Chassidic philosophy. While this is one way to spread the wellsprings, our experience has shown that this approach is suitable for someone raised in the yeshiva world and accustomed to listening to long lectures. Anyone coming from the secular world who acquires knowledge through the concise application of visual aids knows that in order to influence the non-religious community, you have to use their tools to the point that even an old-world rabbi can have a powerful effect upon many of them. Therefore, we have built a format with texts, but without an announcer,” explains Rabbi Gurion.
The clips are dynamic and constantly changing, and the producers are not the type to sit on their laurels. Their current distribution list numbers close to five thousand subscribers. “In fact, we estimate that we reach tens of thousands of additional people each week, as the video clips make their way via WhatsApp and other digital tools, where they are shared with thousands more,” says Rabbi Yitzchak Kobi.
THE MEDIA INFLUENCE HAS UNDERGONE SOME CHANGES
This exciting initiative began about two years ago during a farbrengen in the “Heichal Levi Yitzchak” Synagogue of Kiryat Chabad, Tzfas with the mashpia, Rabbi Yaron Neeman. “I’ll never forget that farbrengen,” recalled Rabbi Gurion. “Rabbi Neeman urged us to be shluchim. A shliach is not only someone who receives an official appointment and goes out to live in some remote location, he explained. Every avreich, and surely baalei t’shuva, with non-Torah observant friends in their immediate circle upon whom they can have some influence, must become a shliach.”
Two weeks later, the Gurion family flew to 770. During the visit, R’ Eitan sat in his hosts’ home and decided to implement Rabbi Neeman’s proposal in practical terms. “I had previously made a living in content writing, a skill I acquired over time. My writing is in marketing, and the idea is that people connect to brief texts. I wrote up something based on the Rebbe’s teachings on the weekly Torah portion and sent it by e-mail to ten friends.
“The responses were not long in coming. It turned out that most of the recipients had read the post I sent and there were those who were even asking for more information.”
This repeated itself several times over the next few weeks with these same ten friends. With the passage of time, Rabbi Gurion was asked to make a promotional film for one of the Chabad organizations, and he understood from the feedback he received that the influence within the media today had changed. “I realized that e-mail and SMS messages belong to days past; widespread influence today is through WhatsApp or other light Internet programs. I decided to put out short one-minute video clips, which I sent via my mobile phone. The responses were quite enthusiastic.”
R’ Eitan Gurion smiles when he looks back at the first clips he produced; they were relatively primitive in comparison to those he makes today. “It took me some time to rebuild the skills I had before I became frum,” he says with a chuckle. According to him, in recent months, he came up with a concept that he’s been running with in all his new clips. However, as someone who by his very nature is never satisfied with his achievements, he knows that things will change again in the near future, developing better content and visual effects.
In the last few months, R’ Eitan joined forces with his good friend, R’ Yitzchak Kobi. “All the writing, design, and production assignments were posing a heavy burden on me. I recalled that Yitzchak was blessed with an exemplary flair for composition. He frequently writes in the Chabad Tzfas weekly newsletter – ‘Lubavitch’, and I was very impressed by his brief and spot-on writing style. He was pleased to take on the assignment – and I was equally happy about it. Since then, I can safely say that the entire project has received a major jumpstart with a far higher level of professional quality.”
“This is exactly what I like to do in life,” says Yitzchak Kobi, “to take the Rebbe’s sichos and turn them into brief understandable points with messages that can be implemented on a daily basis. I had previously worked on various writing projects in spreading Chassidus. When R’ Eitan turned to me, I felt at that point in time that I was missing some aspect of shlichus activity and so I accepted the challenge most enthusiastically.”
GRINDING ONE DIAMOND IS ENOUGH TO SAVE A JEW
Why do you make such an effort that it should be short, no more than a minute?
“People don’t have much patience these days to read twenty-five lines of WhatsApp text, as opposed to a video clip with eye-catching visual aids that draw the heart as well. We make certain not to go over one minute, as people don’t have much patience for that either these days. I personally send it to all my colleagues and the workers in my office, most of whom don’t look as if they have any connection to Yiddishkait.”
I’m interested to know about the work that goes into the content of these clips. You’re about to start your third year on this program. Don’t the messages begin to repeat themselves?
Rabbi Eitan Gurion: “Every ‘D’var Malchus’ sicha has so many points and concepts that it’s possible to create video clips from them for decades without repeating. One can always illuminate the same concept or subject from another angle.”
Rabbi Yitzchak Kobi: “In the final analysis, all of the ‘D’var Malchus’ sichos are one and the same. The Rebbe tries in many different ways to get us to live ‘Moshiach and the Redemption’, living with an awareness of Redemption. The ‘D’var Malchus’ sichos ask us to devote ourselves to the objective of bringing the Geula. The Rebbe wants to uplift us to the vantage point of Redemption, thereby awakening us to a greater understanding of ‘Do everything in your ability.’”
How do you choose the point or points that you want to emphasize in the sicha?
Rabbi Eitan Gurion: “At first, we used those messages we gathered from the Rebbe’s sichos in the ‘Likkutei Sichos’ series. Then, one week, I used a point that I took from one of the ‘D’var Malchus’ sichos in 5751-5752. After seeing the additional fortitude contained therein, we decided to be stringent about using only themes discussed in the weekly ‘D’var Malchus.’”
Rabbi Yitzchak Kobi: “In the ‘D’var Malchus’ sichos, we can perceive how the Rebbe gives us the strength to change our nature, open our eyes, and live a Geula’dike life. The Rebbe instills within the person learning the ‘D’var Malchus’ an awareness of Redemption, i.e., how to look upon the world properly, how to see G-d at every corner and in every aspect of our lives.
“Before I get to work collecting the quotes and arranging the texts, I learn the sicha with all the commentaries. Then, I sit and listen to the class given over by Rabbi Yossi Ginsburgh, shliach in Ramat Aviv, and if there are any questions, we consult with Rabbi Isaac Landa.”
Surely there are cynics who will claim that a one-minute long sicha can weaken the Rebbe’s messages.
Rabbi Yitzchak Kobi: “I refer them to the differences in approach between the Alter Rebbe and Rabbi Pinchas Koritzer and the parable that the Alter Rebbe gives about the king’s son, where if just a drop of the mixture created by grinding the diamond in the king’s crown enters his mouth, it’s worth it to save his life. The Rebbe’s ‘D’var Malchus’ sichos are the gem in the king’s crown, and we should have no concern about grinding it into powder and giving it to people who are far from Torah and mitzvos. We are certain that far more than a drop enters many people on a weekly basis.
“Look, we work very hard to bring pure Rebbe to our viewers. Even someone who currently doesn’t want to hear about Yiddishkait can connect to these clips and be impressed by their G-dly message.
“I recall when I was studying law that if one of the lecturers would quote a Chinese or Korean sage, everyone would become silent and listen with great awe, whereas if they would quote a Torah scholar, the response would be one of derision. Why? Because in those days, we received an education that made us think that Jewish wisdom has no depth. Our goal in this project is to reveal the great profoundness in Judaism to a wide audience.”
Together with the high level of content, there’s the surrounding backdrop. We’re talking about meticulous design and captivating visual elements. A great deal of thought goes into this project, with the objective of catching both the eye and the heart. “I studied art at ‘Bezalel’ for four years,” says Rabbi Gurion with a laugh. “This is work that requires thought and coordination each week to find the appropriate visual effects to match the written content.”
Rabbi Gurion has numerous examples and he shares one with us from last week. “The Rebbe speaks in the ‘D’var Malchus’ about placing the Alef in Gola to transform it into Geula. After thinking long and hard about what illustrations to use, I finally decided on the sun and the moon. It seemed fitting to me, also in light of the midrashim stating that while the moon receives its light from the sun, when Moshiach comes, G-d will give it the strength to illuminate on its own. The truth is that in such cases, I use a lot of intuition.”
RESPONSES EVEN FROM ARAB COUNTRIES
The two receive numerous responses. As soon as the video clip goes up, numerous responses come in. “My wife has a friend, a teacher in a secular school. One week, my wife forgot to send her the clip and the friend asked on Friday when it would be sent. She surprised my wife and said that she screens it in class each week.”
Rabbi Eitan Gurion: “One of our subscribers, a Chabad baalas t’shuva, received our clip a few weeks ago from her father. He added that he had come across this amazing clip and he wanted to share it with her. Last week, a woman wrote to us that this is the only time during the week that she learns religious messages.
“We receive responses from all over the world – the United States, Russia, and even from Arab countries. There’s a major Arab media site on the Internet that we were surprised to discover has been publicizing our clips for some time – not sporadically, but with a special headline every week.
“When I checked my e-mail this week, I found responses from Canada and Norway. Each week, I reveal more countries where our clips reach. When I flew this year to the International Shluchim Conference, I sat near a shliach from one of the country towns and he told me that he sends the clip to all his friends and supporters every week.”
Rabbi Yitzchak Kobi: “There are a number of shluchim who have told me that they have stopped writing weekly parsha thoughts and send our video clips instead. This is the regular d’var Torah that they send to their congregants before Shabbos.”
“In the coming weeks, we plan to go out on a wide-scale publicity trip to increase the growing circle of subscribers who receive the clips. Our objective is to reach half a million Hebrew-speaking viewers throughout the world each week. We have begun working with a ‘brand group’ including directors, filmmakers, actors – all of whom have worked professionally in their respective field. These are very serious people and they all claim with much enthusiasm that our format is most appropriate for the young non-religious crowd.
“We write to the Rebbe and are constantly privileged to receive encouragement and blessings. We honestly feel that we are giving tremendous nachas to the Rebbe.
“We want to reach more and more people to show them these clips. Based on the responses that we receive, they definitely have a positive inner effect. When I participated this year in the International Shluchim Conference, I met with a variety of shluchim who still work with flyers and brochures, spending a great deal of money on printing. You have to understand that the strength contained within these video clips is beyond all measure, literal Redemption. We give shluchim a powerful tool, free of charge, that can help them in their outreach work with their supporters. Just imagine, a Jew comes into a Chabad House, looks around, buys something – how much influence can you have on him already? A chat for a minute or two, sometimes a little longer, and then he leaves and doesn’t come back.
“We offer a means to send him something each week, resulting in a more long-term source of influence. It also doesn’t arouse any fear or hesitation – no bearded rabbis lecturing. It’s all done with high-quality visual effects, pleasing to the eye. I also turn to Chabad avreichim, mainly baalei t’shuva. Each one has a circle of non-religious Jews around him – at work or in their families. They can take the film clip and pass it on to all their friends on social media.”