Special Report: 2006-11-28

By now, this may be old news to many, but I have had many requests from students to make it available somewhere. During the recent Kinnus HaShluchim, an Israeli bocher took a brief video of the "shvil" in 770 using his cell phone. The video is of very poor quality, as good as such a camcorder can produce. Before my own editorializing, please take a look for yourself. Watch very carefully, and make a note of your reaction at about the 10-second mark...

Now, whatever you may think about this, I will suggest that your initial reaction was one of shock. Maybe you gasped, maybe your pulse quickened. I showed this video repeatedly to the girls at Bnos Rabbeinu and the first 4-5 times there was mass screaming!

When we get over our initial reaction and involve our seichel, it seems that we can come to one of three theories:

    1. Faked/Edited video
    2. The camera is seeing something we cannot
    3. Mistaken Identity
       
  1. As a professional photographer I have viewed the video many times in many ways, and I feel confident that it was not faked or edited. There are many reasons for this opinion, but no, I cannot "prove" it.
     
  2. Perhaps the most "controversial", but worth considering... As I have taught my photography students, there are physical "realities" in the world that we cannot see. We know of them, but rarely think about it. For example, radio waves, X-rays, etc. exist, but we can't see them with our eyes. Sometimes a demo drives this concept home better than just talking about it. Please try this for yourself... take a video remote control "clicker", aim the front at yourself, and press a button. See the light on the front come on? You don't, because it emits infrared light, and your eye cannot see that. Now take a cheap digital camera, like a cellphone camera, aim it at the same remote light, and press the remote button. WOW, you see the bulb brightly lit! The lesson? The light exists, and is glowing brightly, but it is beyond the capabilities of our eyes to see. The camera, however, is sensitive to infrared, and can "see" the light! Here is a picture of a remote control "lit up", in case you don't have such a camera:

     
  3. My personal choice is probably #3, mistaken identity. However, as "Akiva" states so well in his blog (http://mpaths.com): "The video is so astounding because the posture, hand contents, and gait appear to be a perfect match. Of course, more detailed items such as beard details and profile are only glimpsed and the low quality of the video prevents any further detail extraction."

Whatever your choice, I ask does it really matter? In my opinion, your initial reaction is what counts here. Again, as Akiva states, " ... people I've spoken to who saw it who had the privilege of seeing the Rebbe in person ... were stunned, several brought to tears. While that impact doesn't prove anything, it certainly speaks for the depth of feeling and longing." I have personally showed this video to some people who are definitely not "meshichist", and they too gasped. To me, what your reaction shows is how well "tuned" you are to Moshiach as a reality and the Rebbe as Moshiach. In the case of the Bnos Rabbeinu girls, the reaction was beyond what even I expected -- they are obviously very well tuned to Moshiach! Thank you, Bnos Rabbeinu!!

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are mine alone, and may or may not reflect those of Bnos Rabbeinu -- H. Belkin

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