By COLlive reporter
The Jewish Life Television network (JLTV) recently completed airing the “Friends of Chabad” television show and will be selling the 10 episodes DVD and Blu-ray disk for home viewing.
They will be sold at Walmart’s chain of hypermarkets and discount department stores across the United States which numbers 4,743 branches, COLlive.com has learned.
The show is hosted by Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight, film producer and screenwriter Steven Paul, and the brothers Rabbi Chaim Nachum Cunin of Chabad West Coast Headquarters and Rabbi Levi Cunin of Chabad of Malibu.
It began as one of the many tributes for Rabbi Tzemach Cunin OBM, who ran Chabad of Century City in Los Angeles, California, and tragically passed away in his prime at the age of 43.
“While Tzemach was learning in Australia, Jon Voight was filming a movie there and they got really close and started learning together,” Rabbi Chaim Nachum Cunin said. Voight, who isn’t Jewish, is a staunch supporter of Chabad and appears annually at the Chabad “To Life” Telethon.
Episodes were filmed at Bais Chaya Mushka on Pico Blvd. which is a replica of 770 Eastern Parkway – Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York. “The fact that it was filmed there has special significance since Tzemach was involved in every detail of the construction and building of the school,” his brother Rabbi Levi Cunin told COLlive. “Tzemach insisted that the building be constructed as strong as possible – in fact, more than necessary – since young children will be learning there daily,” he said.
“Friends of Chabad will take you on a journey of discovery, enlightenment and joy!” producers of SP Releasing and JLTV said of the show.
Running for a total of 220 minutes, episodes review the history of Chabad in Russia and Hebron, the mystical teaching of Kabbalah and the Exodus, the role of the Rebbetzins (wives of the rabbis), as well as the resurgence of Jewish life in Germany and South Africa.
“Chabad is one of the largest Hasidic groups and Jewish religious organizations in the world,” the jacket of the DVD reads. “Today, the movement runs more than 5,000 centers globally, providing outreach and educational activities for the Jewish community.”
Producers said the show explores “the origins of Chabad, the teachings and philosophies of the organization, the idea of always engaging in acts of kindness, and the movement’s ongoing mission to transform darkness into light.”
And now, you can find the dancing chassidim at a Walmart near you.
VIDEO: Steven Paul tells about the DVD
The promo of the series
