Coming soon to YouTube: Britney Spears and the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
No, the apocalypse is not imminent. But the world may never be the same as Chabad of the Tri-Valley prepares to hurtle at warp speed into the 21st century, launching a major outreach effort called JewTube on the world’s most popular video sharing Web site.
“If you can’t bring people to the synagogue or the sermon, you can bring the synagogue or the sermon to the people,” joked Rabbi Raleigh Resnick, the Chabad rabbi in Pleasanton, Livermore and Dublin and creator of JewTube.
In mere weeks, the 400-plus members of Chabad of the Tri-Valley’s email network will be able to download Resnick’s monthly video clips on YouTube, home to video files on celebrities, athletes, mundane and perverse minutiae from people craving their 15 minutes of fame — and now the spiritually enriching messages of a Chabad rabbi.
The first clip, slated to appear by the beginning of July, will feature an introductory message from the rabbi. Future snippets will include how-to demonstrations and lessons on Shabbat and the Jewish holidays.
But why YouTube?
“YouTube is an amazing thing,” said Resnick, 26, who migrated from New York City to the Bay Area with his wife right before Rosh Hashanah in 2005. “It reaches millions of people, and it’s such a powerful tool that can be harnessed in positive or negative directions. Most people will view my announcements or sermons on JewTube, many more than read it now in email form.”
In addition, noted Resnick, whose father was the personal physician to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, “Chabad has utilized technology for several years. Chabad had the first Jewish presence on the Web when it did a satellite broadcast of menorah lightings throughout the world in the 1980s. YouTube and the Internet are other ways to promote Jewish communal values.”
Resnick said JewTube’s launching comes on the yahrzeit of Chabad’s most famous sage, Schneerson, who died in 1994.
“Jewish outreach has grown exponentially in the past 13 years,” Resnick said. “There are well over 3,000 Chabad houses in the world. JewTube is in line with Rabbi Schneerson’s outreach work from the 1950s, and is the fruition of his dream to bring Judaism to every corner of the planet.”
Resnick is especially excited about Jewish life in his nook of the Bay Area, the Tri-Valley. “We’ve seen tremendous growth at Chabad here and in the community in general in the past two years,” he said. “My wife and I moved here to build Jewish communal life in the area. And there’s been a lot of activity in the area.”
Attendance at their weekly Friday night and monthly Shabbat morning services averages 20-50 worshippers. Forty children attend their Sunday religious school. And they typically attract more than 100 people to their family-friendly Shabbat evenings.
Although Resnick has not set a specific agenda for future video broadcasts, he does have a general vision of JewTube’s first several months. He plans live demonstrations on how to light Shabbat candles and the Chanukah menorah, how to strap on tefillin and how to drape oneself in a tallit. For the holidays, for example, JewTube will post a video on how to light the menorah correctly — something, Resnick said, many people might not know.
“JewTube can really be comical if it takes off,” laughed Resnick. “Can you imagine ‘How to shake a lulav’? Three to the right, three to the left, three in front.”
The key to JewTube’s success in spreading Chabad’s message, said Resnick, is grabbing people’s attention with a contemporary technological tool and providing an alternative to the often gossipy and offensive clutter on YouTube.
“Everything in the world has equal balance,” Resnick said. “Water can drown someone, or it can revive them. A hammer can break or kill, or it can build an entire building. We will use modern technology to reach young Jews and further Torah, mitzvot, and make the world a godly place.”
For more information, go to www.JewishTriValley.com