29 Years Ago Tonight – “May it have its Effect”

As hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world are preparing for Pesach and Yud Alef Nissan by watching a historic Farbrengen with the Rebbe, the Rebbe’s own note prior to the telecast has surfaced.

On Nissan 8, 5742, 3 days prior to the live Yud Alef Nissan satellite broadcast, JEM’s founder Rabbi Hillel Dovid Krinsky wrote a short letter to the Rebbe apprising the Rebbe of the details of the event: The time of the broadcast, the plans for “the pre-Farbrengen show,” and for installing phone lines in 770 to answer viewers who’d call in for information.

The Rebbe responded, “May it be G-d’s will that all the above be successful, and may it have a deep effect, etc.” – referring to an actual, literal, effect in people’s day-to-day lives; something to which the Rebbe referred numerous times over the years when responding to Rabbi Krinsky’s reports of the broadcasts’ success.

In the end, the Farbrengen celebrating the Rebbe’s 80th birthday lasted over 5-1/2 hours, and the Rebbe handed a personal memento to each participant – over 10,000 in number – a specially printed edition of the Tanya.

Order the Farbrengen here. For a public viewing near you, click here. or watch a clip here.