Why a dollar?

People from all walks of life would come to 770 for an in-person audience, albeit brief, with the Rebbe. The Rebbe would say that when two people get together, it should benefit a third person. So he would make every person a Shliach – Mitzvah emissary – to give a dollar to charity.

Often, the recipient would exchange the dollar and give a different one to charity, saving the Rebbe’s dollar as an eternal memento of their moment with the Rebbe – a keepsake given to them by the Tzaddik.

Why do many of the women have their hair covered?

According to Halacha, Jewish law, married women are supposed to cover their hair. When visiting the Rebbe, many women who would not do so on a regular basis, would cover their hair with a shawl or kerchief out of respect for Jewish tradition.

Why are there doubles of the same person with the Rebbe?

Look closely: Is there a child who can barely be seen at the bottom of the picture? Additionally, if there is a parent holding a child, we will try to present two stills: One to name the parent, and another for the child. We try not to present doubles of the same moment.

Is the Rebbe looking at the individuals?

The purpose of this site is to identify the people in the photos. Often, the best camera angle on the person is not while they are interacting with the Rebbe, but after they have received their dollar and blessing from the Rebbe and are walking away. Especially for babies or young children – sometimes their faces can only be seen to the camera as they are walking away.

On the video, you’ll be able to watch the entire interaction.

For how long would the Rebbe stand?

Hours and hours. We do not know of even one time that the Rebbe requested the line be stopped, even for a short break. By the way, the video stills that will populate this site will be from the Rebbe’s 86th through 90th years of age.

What’s on the DVD?

You will receive a DVD with the video and audio of your moment with the Rebbe. Sometimes that might be a brief few seconds. Other times, it might be a word of blessing or advice, lasting a little while. But to each person who went by the Rebbe, the moment is everlasting and unforgettable.

Who is doing all this work?

Jewish Educational Media has embarked on an ambitious project to gather, restore, preserve and provide access to the audio-visual record of the Rebbe’s life.

As part of the public access effort, a team is going through the raw materials of the “Sunday Dollars,” transferring them to digital media, and capturing stills of each individual with the Rebbe for presentation on this site. When you place your order, a video editor will prepare your own DVD.

The groundbreaking web programming for this site has been done by the Chabad.org team.

TheRebbe.org is a joint project of JEM and Chabad.org.

Why must I identify myself when I order a DVD?

People would often discuss private matters with the Rebbe. To protect the individuals’ privacy, if there is any discussion with the Rebbe, we will ask the person placing the order to identify themselves as the individual in the video, or their next-of-kin.

I visited with the Rebbe on a different date. When will you be posting more stills?

By our estimate, there are over 500,000 images of individuals with the Rebbe contained in the “Sunday dollars” videos alone. We will continue to post new stills, but we are still learning how to balance putting up just the right amount of stills at once so that we don’t overwhelm everyone with 500,000+ stills on one day!

How is this project funded?

The web programming and design is being funded by Chabad.org. Everything related to the video – its acquisition, restoration, capturing the video stills, and the production of the finished DVDs is funded by Jewish Educational Media’s Living Archive Project.

Click here to contact us about funding opportunities.