By COLlive reporter
Once upon a time in the not too distant past, the long-serving head of the Hebrew Academy in Huntington Beach, Rabbi Yitzchak Newman, decided to join his shul’s (Congregation Lubavitch of Long Beach) Kiddush club for a Chassidishe farbrengen.
Rabbi Newman’s presence added a degree of wisdom and inspiration to those in attendance.
As is usually the case at a Chassidishe farbrengen, not only did Rabbi Newman inspire others, but he himself ended up inspired. This particular farbrengen, Rabbi Newman had the good fortune to sit next to Aron Fried, a creative filmmaker and a proud alum of the Hebrew Academy.
Over the years, Rabbi Newman had expressed the challenge of conveying to parents of all walks of life that Rabbis are people too. Meaning, that Rabbis are mere mortals that put their pants on one leg at a time. This is important because some families are intimidated by the beards on the school campus. Realizing that the visual message can be more impactful than the written or spoken word, on this Shabbos he turned to Aron Fried and threw down the gauntlet and asked, “Aron, when will you use your talents and make a video for your school?” Aron responded brilliantly, “I’ll accept the challenge if you make Kiddush on mashke!” And so the deal was sealed.
Not long afterwards, the social media campaign was born and the rest is history as they say – the video went viral. In fact, one of the staff posted it on their page and within one hour it had 23,000 hits. More importantly, it resulted in precious inquiries for the school.
This all just goes to show, that you never know what can transpire when Jews get together for a Chassidishe Farbrengen. Enjoy and look out for the sequel…
VIDEO:
well done
Such good examples
Kol HaKavod to the school that started me off in my Yiddishkeit!!
Shulammis Saxon
Brilliant video Aron Fried and PHENOMENAL school Hebrew Academy of Huntington Beach, you rock!!!!!