Pinto, The Early Years, and Israelis

P. G. last night in his office in 788 Eastern Parkway (the office wing of 770)
Note clicking on the picture will link to a different -zoomed in one.

Last night I saw the premiere of The Early Years III for bochurim in 770 . . .

Though it seemed that there were more revelations, as it were, in the previous one, this one had it's share of interesting things:

• Above all is the famed information about the Rebbe's classes in the Sorbonne. Much has been written about it (here and here)
• We learn about the Rebbe's involvement in smuggling children out of Nazi controlled Austria.
• The Rebbe's words at the outbreak of WWII to write to the Frierdiker Rebbe in Warsaw, Poland; despite the war, the letter would be received and answered with or with out a letter, telegraph or phone call.
• The experiences of the Rebbe's parents at the time - the correspondence between the Rebbe and his father, and Reb Levik's words to a distant cousin (Mordechai Schneerson) about Jewish pride.
  
• In the bonuses I was taken by a story about the FR -he said the haftorah of Shabbos Rosh Chodesh for fifty minutes(!) one time in Paris -one could hear as if the navi himself spoke.

Much to my dismay though, the video was marred by the audience watching it . . . the Israeli bochurim.
Before I continue, let me make clear that I am not (G-d forbid) judging Israelis, even those learning in 770, as a whole. I am close with many of the Israeli bochurim in 770, both in kvutzah and older. What is more, I have no hate or strong dislike for any of those present by the screening.
However . . .

The crowd at large began to complain about the English narration, so it was switched for the Hebrew one . . .
Fine.

I understand Hebrew, most Israelis don't understand English -Why should I be selfish.
It has always irked me that while the vast majority of American Bochurim speak or at least understand, English, Hebrew and Yiddish (with many also knowing French, Spanish, or Russian depending on where they spent their yeshivah years), the average Israeli knows only his native Hebrew.

About twenty minutes into the screening the (Israeli) bochur in control of the DVD remote suddenly skipped one of the chapters on the disk . . . Why? A lady was speaking about her memories of the Rebbe in prewar France.
I know that Americans and Israelis seem to have slightly different standards of the boundaries of tznius . . . I tend to think that even in Chabad, Israelis have clung unto a very chitzonius'dik, Hungarian'esque viewpoint. Sadly, I don't know what I missed to report on it here.

All of these things can be explained one way or another, reasons can be given to justify either side.
What truly irked me, really got my blood boiling, was the total immaturity of the crowd . . . Whenever someone spoke in a language other then Hebrew, they would laugh (The Russian man really got them going). They made comments as to the lack of hiskasrhus in the statements of the Olam'isher Yidden interviewed in how they saw the Rebbe. When they saw reenactments of various scenarios mentioned by the people interviewed, they went wild. What was so funny in seeing a young man in a brown coat (perhaps it was the brown shoes on his feet?) and gray cap walking around an Austrian cottage, or two vintage cars pull up to each other, was quit frankly beyond me . . .

It's all too bad, as I would have otherwise greatly enjoyed the video . . .

What can I say?


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