Toronto Television Series Finds Home at Jewish.TV

The Toronto-based television program “Messages” has found a new home at Jewish.TV, the multimedia portal of Judaism website Chabad.org, where it can be found under the heading “Wisdom From the Rebbe: Learning From the Rebbe’s Talks.”

The long-running show, which produced 182 episodes during its seven years of production, brought the teachings of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, to a late-night audience in Ontario. From the Jewish.TV platform, producers say, the show will continue its mission of looking at key teachings of the Rebbe from a scholarly point of view.

“The Rebbe’s syntax is very much a Torah one,” explains Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, director of Chabad-Lubavitch at Flamingo in the Toronto suburb of Thornhill and a scholar-in-residence for many of the television series’ episodes. “To understand what the Rebbe says, a person needs a significant amount of Torah background. This program gives the average layperson the ability to understand the message of what the Rebbe is saying.”

During its run, each episode of “Messages,” which reached more than 50,000 people on Canadian television, brought together three student panelists, one guest expert and host Michael Kigel to discuss an issue about which the Rebbe spoke. The group would watch a short Jewish Educational Media clip of one of the Rebbe’s talks, after which the students would take turns asking relevant questions for the scholar to clarify. The group would discuss the topic – Jewish motherhood, for example – until they collectively felt that the issue was understood.

“What’s really special about this program is that it brings out the intellectual power of the Rebbe’s videos,” says Rabbi Shais Taub, creative director of Jewish.TV. “This show helps us to take what the Rebbe said and translate it into our own ideas and thoughts, and bring it into our own lives. Watching the show will encourage people to engage in their own type of thoughtful discussion to put the Rebbe’s message into their own words.”

According to Rabbi Moshe Spalter of Chabad of Toronto, the show’s executive producer, “Messages” was professionally produced with a polished three-camera shoot, 26-person crew and high-quality lighting and audio. Guest experts included well-known rabbis and lecturers, including Chabad at Binghamton University director Rivkah Slonim; educator, writer and Chabad.org editor Chana Weisberg; and Rabbi Manis Friedman, director of Bais Chana Women’s International.

For Spalter, the series filled a void in productions about the Rebbe.

“This is really the only video series that exists that studies the teachings of the Rebbe rather than the life of the Rebbe himself,” says Spalter. “It’s more than actual footage of the Rebbe. It studies his words.”

During the show’s time on television, Kigel witnessed its profound effects firsthand.

“I am absolutely convinced that everyone who had any contact with the show – the participants, the studio crews, the audience, myself – were spiritually enriched by it,” says Kigel, who, since the show ended, moved from Toronto to Vienna. “While the show aired on TV, people often came up to me to thank me for certain episodes and to discuss their content with me. It was most significant that many Jews who were altogether ignorant regarding [Chassidic thought] could open themselves, in the comfort zone of their living room, to these influences.”

For all those involved in the production of “Messages,” the continuation of the program will only increase its impact.

“This show is enormously beneficial, especially for those who have little Jewish background or familiarity with the Rebbe,” says Kaplan. “Broadcasting it on Jewish.TV is a significant step forward in bringing the Rebbe’s teachings to audiences who might have missed it previously.”