Five Towner wins Emmy; his heart’s in Jewish video

A Cedarhurst native who davens in Agudath of the Five Towns, won an Emmy award for a daytime travel adventure show, but his principal focus is on Jewish themed videos.

The winning show, “Born to Explore” with Richard Wiese, has not been seen by the Torah observant community since it airs on Shabbat mornings on ABC, but David Jasse’s DMJ Digital Media on Central Avenue in Cedarhurst edits the footage for the half hour program and produced the graphics for the show’s opening animation.

Jasse and DMJ are better known in the community for their videos for Darchei Torah, TAG, Hatzalah, Achiezer and Chai Lifeline.

“We found him very creative, very pleasant and very easy to work with,” said Rabbi Elozer Kanner of Hatzalah, He said the “excellent, superb” film is on their website. “His understanding of the community is what allows him to portray what we do.”

“David brings a real set of talent and creativity to the films and projects which he produces,” said Rabbi Boruch B. Bender, president of Achiezer. “He created one of our first films and we are thankful for the time and effort he invested in the project.”

“Last week was a dream come true for DMJ,” said Jasse. “In the same night, part of our team was out celebrating the Emmy, and I was attending Chai Lifeline’s annual Gala dinner in New York City. I watched over 1,100 people give a standing ovation to a little girl battling with cancer after watching her being featured in our mini documentary ‘Two Journeys’.”

Cedarhurst has been Jasse’s home for the last eight years and he moved DMJ there two years ago. He said that it’s “amazing” to work close to home, noting that there are great places for his employees to eat in the area. “Aside from occasional annoying car honking in town, it’s really peaceful and a great place to work,” he noted. “A good portion of our clients are here in town, including Darchei Torah, TAG and Hatzalah.”

Jasse grew up in New Hyde Park and was raised conservative, becoming Torah observant over the last 15 to 20 years with his wife. “We were both just becoming observant when we got married 17 years ago,” he said.

His connection to Jewish-oriented videos began “when I was single and eating out all over the Upper West Side of Manhattan,” he recounted. “On that life-changing night, I went to the [family of Rabbi Yosef Chaim] Goldings and saw my first shomer Shabbos family. We got to talking about what I did and the rabbi introduced me to the world of Orthodox Jewish video. So I went from CNN, CBS, FOX and fashion and cooking shows at that time, to HASC and Agudath Israel dinners via Rabbi Golding. It even led to field producing for Siyum Hashas for Rabbi Golding the last three cycles! Thank you Rabbi Golding!

“I got to work a bit on Uncle Moishy through Rabbi Golding — we’re in the credits!” Jasse also interviewed Rabbi Moshe Sherer, zt”l.

His company produces many dinner and yeshiva videos, he said, “because we’re very good at them, and in addition, business usually comes from the social circles you spend your time with. Years ago, before I was observant and had a family, I did a substantial number of fashion videos for CNN, MTV and other clients. Now I’m immersed in Yiddishkeit and the work usually follows your passions.

“It’s very fulfilling to put my professional talents from network television to use for the community. I’ve done everything from hair cut and color videos for Redken to fabric videos, but producing an awesome short film for Chai Lifeline is very satisfying. It was amazing that our work was used for such holy purposes.

“As far as yeshiva videos specifically, I love getting into the inner workings of yeshivas. It was a privilege to interview Rabbi Bender of Darchei Torah, an icon, as well as Dr. Bernard Lander of Touro College a few years ago — a zechus to be involved with these giants.”

Jasse points to his coverage of the Siyum Hashas as “awesome. I’ve worked on all three and they’ve all been incredible surreal experiences — 80,000 in MetLife stadium was awe inspiring.”

He said that in the 1990s, he traveled “to Moscow, Petersburg, Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine and other cities to interview the shulchim of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, long before I even heard of him. I also worked on Chanukah Live when the Rebbe was alive. They introduced me to the Rebbe and the shame is I had no idea who he was at the time.”

He cited a fundraising effort for the SINAI special needs schools in New Jersey that involved videos and “an entire branding campaign” that jumped their funds raised from five million to 10 million as a major challenge. “Putting my professional experience and G-d given talents to good use to help, that’s why we’re here in this world.”

“The greatest challenge is getting paid professional rates for this type of holy work,” Jasse said. “The advertising agencies know it takes money to make money and pay you for your time. For the non-profits, they think the best way to make money is to save money, but they’re missing an opportunity to take their fund raising to the next level.”

While Jasse’s firm donates some services, it works mostly with “the top Jewish non-profits [that] understand they have to spend to make.”