Digitally Restored Audio Takes Listeners Back to Rebbe’s Defining Message

A New York project using the latest in audio preservation technology has released digitally enhanced recordings of some of the very first public talks delivered by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, giving listeners a taste of the historic moment when the Rebbe formally assumed the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch.

In one recording, silence envelops attendees of the 1951 Chasidic as the Rebbe delves into metaphysical concepts such as the purpose of a soul’s descent into a body and the unity of creation. Delivered on the first anniversary of the passing of the Rebbe’s predecessor and father-in-law, the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, the discourse – known as Basi L’Gani – was based on a treatise the previous Rebbe had composed and marked for delivery on the date he passed away.

Available from Jewish Educational Media on a revamped Web site in partnership with Chabad.org, the offerings were released in time for celebrations of 60 years since Lubavitch Chasidim accepted the Rebbe as their Rebbe. The anniversary of the date, the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, falls out this year on Sunday night, Jan. 24.

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Although the Rebbe didn’t formally assume leadership until that date in 1951, his Chasidim began looking at him as their leader following the passing of the previous Rebbe.

Of the small group assembled in that Brooklyn, N.Y., room decades ago, few could have possibly imagined the revolution shaping around them as the Rebbe, after concluding his first discourse, offered a “statement,” laying the groundwork for the reenergizing of Jewish life that would take place under his leadership across the globe.

“The three loves – love of G-d, love of Torah and love of one’s fellow – are one,” said the Rebbe, encapsulating the driving force behind the actions undertaken since then by tens of thousands of Chasidim and hundreds of thousands of others inspired by his example. “One cannot differentiate between them, for they are of a single essence. … And since they are of a single essence, each one embodies all three.”

Wealth of Video

JEM director Rabbi Elkanah Shmotkin said that the release joins other initiatives timed to coincide with the anniversary, including the full online release of each week’s installment of “Living Torah,” its acclaimed video series featuring footage of the Rebbe at his public talks and interviews of those who were able to speak to him face to face.

The restorations were accomplished as part of the Living Archive, a preservation project undertaken by JEM with the support of the Rohr Family Foundation. Much of the materials presented in other videos available on the site were preserved through the Federman Video Archive.

The new additions, which have already spurred interest among many users who have downloaded them from TheRebbe.org, comes as tens of thousands of people study Torah, tractates of the Talmud, and the Rebbe’s teachings in advance of the anniversary.

When the Living Archive effort was launched, it quickly garnered the attention of historians and preservationists.

“You can look back at these unique audiovisual items and have an appreciation for the cultural heritage that the Rebbe created,” Joshua Harris, chief archivist for National Geographic, said after one JEM presentation. “It has an outstanding historical value for the group, but also for America as well. I’ve never seen any collection quite like it.”

Washington attorney Martin Jacobs said that the materials JEM has released to the public are priceless.

“I was at a lecture shortly after the Rebbe [passed away in 1994],” he explained, “and [the lecturer] said that the Rebbe would be observed through pictures. It’s not just his published teachings, but videos that will occupy a valuable space for a whole generation of Jews.”

Shmotkin said that the organization is also expanding, on the order of tens of thousands, the number of photos available of people meeting the Rebbe during his weekly Sunday distribution of dollar bills for charity in the late 1980s and early 90s. Today’s younger generation, he pointed out, was not privileged to have met the Rebbe, who passed away in 1994, in person. The pictures of people’s fathers, mothers and other family members receiving a blessing and a word of advice from the Rebbe fill the void by providing a personal link to the past.

“You cannot imagine,” said Shmotkin, “how valuable this visual connection is for today’s children.”