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Interview with Mrs. Deren (3)
Abstract
Footage from the 1997 documentary “A Life Apart: Hasidism in America” (directed by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky), the first in-depth documentary about Hasidic Jews, members of a distinctive group within Judaism that has roots in pre-World War II Eastern Europe.

Interview with Mrs. Deren, a Chabad (Lubavitcher) Hasid in Pittsburgh. Night before the bris (circumcision) of her grandson, the child of her daughter Chanie and her husband, Berel Lazar. (Part 3) 2/20/1995

Terms you may encounter:
Shaliakh/shlikhim/shlikhus: Chabad emissary/emmisaries; a Chabad outreach mission

00:00:26 - In Mrs. Deren's home: children, grandchildren and their parents, grandmother to welcome Berel and Chanie Lazar's baby son the night before his bris. Refreshments are handed out to the children and they recite a brukha (blessing) before eating cookies.

00:02:04 - Rabbi Lazar explains that it is the custom the night before a bris for children to gather in the presence of the newborn to recite Torah so that he can start his life with Torah. His daughter says a blessing over cookies and the children continue eating. He and his daughter sing the Yiddish song, "Rozhinkes vemandlen" [Raisins and Almonds].

00:06:50 - (Partial audio) Lazar daughter with her baby brother. Children put pennies in a pushke (charity box). Rabbi Lazar explains that giving to charity is one of the fundamental virtues taught to children from the earliest age.

00:11:17 - Interview with Mrs. Deren: About how her father turned down a job as a mohel (Trained performer of ritual Jewish circumcisions) in a hospital because they asked him to dress less Hasidic. More about her family's early days in the U.S. About how unusual it was to wear a sheitl (wig worn by Orthodox Jewish women).

00:15:41 - About devotion to a rebbe being as natural to her family as "breathing." About the early days of Chabad's devotion to shlikhes. About children being the reward of shlikhes. Her wishes for her new grandson.

00:19:31 - About her mother's meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe in the 1930s and his assurance that her children would remain Hasidic in America.
Duration
00:22:49 (HH:MM:SS)
Language:
English
Copyright Date
1997
Rights Declaration:
This recording is protected by copyright. You are free to view it but not download it. Please contact the Brooklyn College Archives for further information about how you may use this recording.
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