Filmmaking Session in Beth Rivkah

Several classes of Beth Rivkah Girls Academy in Montreal, Canada, got to participate in a remarkable program on the Rebbe’s history.

As part of their tour to Montreal, Rabbi Yechiel Cagen, Director of the “My Encounter with the Rebbe” project and senior interviewer Rabbi Mendy Alevsky visited Beis Rivkah, conducted a seminar for the 7th and 8th grades.

At first, Cagen gave the girls an overview of the video project, its importance and its aims, showing them samples of the videotaped testimonies.

The girls asked questions and got to learn about the opportunity they have to learn from those who had experiences with the Rebbe – Yechidus, Shlichus, and a multitude of other experiences.

Then the girls got a most exciting surprise: They learned that they would be witness to – and take part in – an interview on their own with the supervision of the principal Rabbi Yosef Minkowitz.

As Cagen and Zalmy Glassner, the project’s Montreal cameraman, set up for an interview, they explained what each piece of gear did – the lights, microphones, reflectors, meters, lenses, cameras and other pieces of gear and what they each do.

Then they introduced the interviewee, Mrs. Sara Feigelstock, one of the first teachers in Beth Rivkah, whom the girls had all met before but they had never heard about her experiences during her earlier years.

After all the girls crowded around to watch the interview, four lucky girls were chosen to ask the questions prepared by the “My Encounter with the Rebbe” research team. And what a job they did.

After exhausting the prepared questions the girls went on to ask Mrs. Feigelstock questions of their own, such as were you nervous before your first Yechidus? How did you prepare? What was Montreal like when you were first sent here? Did you ever meet the Rebbetzin?

Besides for the information they gleaned from Mrs. Feigelstock, the girls learned to appreciate the memories and experiences of those who came before them, and especially those lucky enough to have interacted with the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin.

During their visit, the My Encounter with the Rebbe team also made presentations at the Montreal Torah Center, grades 9th through 11th at Beth Rivkah, and at the Yeshiva for the 7th and 8th grade boys.