The Children’s Rally That Almost Didn’t Happen
As the summer of 1986 came to a close and the children returned home from camp, everyone expected the annual children’s rally at 770. Each year, the Rebbe would come downstairs, join the children, and address them. But this time, because of a misunderstanding between the organizers, Tuesday passed without a rally – and no one knew whether anything would happen the following day.
Then, shortly after 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, word spread that the Rebbe would come downstairs to daven Minchah with the children. It was made clear that this was only for Mincha, and the Rebbe’s secretaries strongly indicated that there would be no Sicha. Still, a microphone, a platform, and coins were quietly prepared – just in case.
The Rebbe remained in his room, waiting for the campers to arrive. At approximately 4:00, some sixty boys from Camp Gan Yisroel entered the shul and sat on the front benches. A smaller group of girls from Camp Emunah gathered in the women’s section.
At 4:15, the Rebbe entered the shul, encouraging the children’s singing as he walked to his place. After Shmonei Esrei, he informed Rabbi Leibel Groner that he wished to speak to the children. The microphone was hurriedly brought forward, and the Rebbe then motioned for a Chumash. One of the shul’s Chumashim was brought to him, and the Rebbe studied it throughout the remainder of the davening.
Immediately following the final Kaddish – without the customary recitation of the Twelve Pesukim – the Rebbe began a twelve-minute Sicha. At its conclusion, he said that the talk should be translated into English for the children. When the translation ended, and Rabbi Avraham Shemtov (who had done the translation) hesitated, unsure what should happen next, the Rebbe motioned that the children should begin singing.
The crowd was so small that, from the back of the shul, the children were barely noticeable. With bochurim and adults standing behind them, it appeared almost like an ordinary weekday sicha rather than a children’s rally.
The Rebbe then stepped down from the platform and distributed three coins to every child and counselor: one for that day, one for the following day, and a third “to do with as they see fit.”
What had seemed unlikely to happen became a uniquely intimate rally – just a small group of children, an unexpectedly delivered Sicha.
Nearly forty years later, while looking through old boxes, Avraham Berns discovered a tape bearing the date of the rally – 22 Av, 5746 (1986). Suddenly, the obscure event was no longer preserved only in written recollections. There it was on film – faded and grainy, but recorded!
This discovery captures the heart of JEM’s work: locating, preserving, restoring, and sharing the audiovisual record of the Rebbe’s life and teachings. Every old tape has the potential to hold something that has been unseen – or even unknown – for decades. Recovering this footage does more than add another recording to the archive; it brings a nearly forgotten moment back to Chassidim worldwide.
Many thanks to Rabbis Mendel Gourarie, Motti Hazan, Memkeh Schmukler, Yossi Wolowik and Mendel Kaplan of the JEM team for going above and beyond to ensure the tapes were published.