Audio interview of Shirley Geller, born 1949, by Dr. Justin Jaron Lewis via the telephone from the interviewee's home in Ottawa to the interviewer's office. 00:00 Interview begins with an introduction of the interviewer and interviewee, as well as location information; 01:13 Shirley talks about meeting Reb Zalman at the synagogue when she was around six or seven years old. She also took the same Hebrew class with his son; 02:23 She remembers a story about Zalman’s strict opinion on trick-or-treating. She also remembers going to his house and spending many happy evenings in his basement with him and other children; 03:00 Shirley remembers a time she was playing an instrument on her porch and Zalman and a group of kids invited her to walk with them through the streets in the north end of Winnipeg and they hopped to several synagogues along the street; 04:30 Shirley took many courses with Reb Zalman such as Jewish History. She jokes she “had a minor in Reb Zalman.” She continues to talk about the assignments she worked on in his courses; 08:14 Shirley talks about how Zalman officiated her brother’s wedding ceremony and how fun it was; 08:58 Shirley mentions she continued to keep in touch with him after she left Winnipeg; 12:00 Shirley talks about the Psychology of Religion course. She wanted to take it, but it was always booked years in advance. She talks about some of the labs from the course and how cool they were; 13:17 Shirley was planning on going to Zalman’s 90th birthday party in Boulder, Colorado but he died. She continues to say the last time she talked to him was about ten years ago when her brother passed away; 17:50 Shirley tells a story Zalman told her about his experiences in a work camp in France during World War II; 19:50 Justin asks Shirley if Zalman told any Hasidic stories. Shirley does not remember a lot of Hasidic stories from Zalman; 22:38 Shirley tells a story about her mother receiving dishes and she was not sure if they were kosher so she asked for advice from Zalman about what to do with the dishes. Zalman knew she did not have a lot of money, so he gave her easy instructions to keep the dishes; 24:06 Justin asks if Shirley thinks Zalman was more stringent that he was often perceived to be. Shirley believes he was. There were certain rules with Zalman even though he was overall fun to be around; 25:10 Justin asks if Zalman was the rabbi of the Lubavitch in the area and Shirley states he was until he divorced his first wife; 30:00 Shirley talks about the community and the schools she went to in Winnipeg; 35:04 Justin asks Shirley what her parents thought of Zalman. Shirley states her mother loved Zalman even though much of the Winnipeg community disapproved of him; 36:46 Justin asks if Shirley knew about the technology Zalman was interested in; 37:25 Justin asks if the swing Zalman had was something he built himself. She said she was not sure if Zalman built that or where he got it from; 38:00 Justin asks about Zalman’s unusual teaching methods; 39:46 Shirley provides more contacts to Justin for the oral history project. She also asks about Justin’s background; 47:00 Justin thanks Shirley for her interview.
description
Audio interview of Shirley Geller, born 1949, by Dr. Justin Jaron Lewis via the telephone from the interviewee's home in Ottawa to the interviewer's office. 00:00 Interview begins with an introduction of the interviewer and interviewee, as well as location information; 01:13 Shirley talks about meeting Reb Zalman at the synagogue when she was around six or seven years old. She also took the same Hebrew class with his son; 02:23 She remembers a story about Zalman’s strict opinion on trick-or-treating. She also remembers going to his house and spending many happy evenings in his basement with him and other children; 03:00 Shirley remembers a time she was playing an instrument on her porch and Zalman and a group of kids invited her to walk with them through the streets in the north end of Winnipeg and they hopped to several synagogues along the street; 04:30 Shirley took many courses with Reb Zalman such as Jewish History. She jokes she “had a minor in Reb Zalman.” She continues to talk about the assignments she worked on in his courses; 08:14 Shirley talks about how Zalman officiated her brother’s wedding ceremony and how fun it was; 08:58 Shirley mentions she continued to keep in touch with him after she left Winnipeg; 12:00 Shirley talks about the Psychology of Religion course. She wanted to take it, but it was always booked years in advance. She talks about some of the labs from the course and how cool they were; 13:17 Shirley was planning on going to Zalman’s 90th birthday party in Boulder, Colorado but he died. She continues to say the last time she talked to him was about ten years ago when her brother passed away; 17:50 Shirley tells a story Zalman told her about his experiences in a work camp in France during World War II; 19:50 Justin asks Shirley if Zalman told any Hasidic stories. Shirley does not remember a lot of Hasidic stories from Zalman; 22:38 Shirley tells a story about her mother receiving dishes and she was not sure if they were kosher so she asked for advice from Zalman about what to do with the dishes. Zalman knew she did not have a lot of money, so he gave her easy instructions to keep the dishes; 24:06 Justin asks if Shirley thinks Zalman was more stringent that he was often perceived to be. Shirley believes he was. There were certain rules with Zalman even though he was overall fun to be around; 25:10 Justin asks if Zalman was the rabbi of the Lubavitch in the area and Shirley states he was until he divorced his first wife; 30:00 Shirley talks about the community and the schools she went to in Winnipeg; 35:04 Justin asks Shirley what her parents thought of Zalman. Shirley states her mother loved Zalman even though much of the Winnipeg community disapproved of him; 36:46 Justin asks if Shirley knew about the technology Zalman was interested in; 37:25 Justin asks if the swing Zalman had was something he built himself. She said she was not sure if Zalman built that or where he got it from; 38:00 Justin asks about Zalman’s unusual teaching methods; 39:46 Shirley provides more contacts to Justin for the oral history project. She also asks about Justin’s background; 47:00 Justin thanks Shirley for her interview.
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